I've made up my mind. And it only took a year! I will be discontinuing hand stamped metal. I won't be giving it up completely. I'll keep some supplies so I can stamp words of inspiration, but no more custom orders. But I'm very happy to announce that I'll be going back to lampwork beads!
It's been a really long time since I've been able to sit at the torch, years I think. I have a lot of catching up to do, and a million tutorials to read through for inspiration.
What changed my mind? I have a new day job which is going to be super busy with a lot of overtime from October through February. That in itself will make it impossible for me to keep up with custom orders during the busy holiday season. So I had to make the decision, and that made it a whole lot easier. And I have to say, a ton of weight has been lifted off my shoulders.
I've had a blast creating hand stamped jewelry, it's been very successful and a whole lot of fun. I feel this could have been something I could have quit my day job for. But as life moves forward and the need for health insurance becomes more and more important I need a stable job where health insurance is offered. I'm sure many of you can understand that.
I'm not entirely thrilled with this new job. I'll have to make collections calls at some point each month, which I will dread. But the people I work with are great and there are plenty of team members so I can now take vacations that are longer then 2-3 days. Which is something I sorely needed. After years of working with only a few days off at a time I was ready to go insane! So that was a trade off, for sure.
But I believe things happen for a reason so I'm thrilled to be back at a craft I love: lampwork. And we'll see where this new job takes me. I can always change later on. So stack of colored glass, HERE I COME!!
