Meet The Boomer!

I am pleased to introduce Chris, from Chris1 !

1. What is/are the name of your shop/s?

Chris1.etsy.com and vintage1.etsy.com

2. What kind of items do you sell?

Chris1 sells all kinds of one of a kind fused glass items including platters, night lights, glass ACEOs and business cards along with all kinds of one of a kind dichroic jewelry including wire wrapped and silver metal worked jewelry.

3. How long have you been engaged in your art/craft?

29 yrs first starting with stained glass then moving on to stained glass stepping stones while experimenting with the kiln back in the early 90's. Then in 2001 full time fusing with new large kilns and more equipment. Now and again i go back to stained glass but not very much.

4. Do you consider yourself a hobbyist or a professional craftsperson?

With all the classes and knowledge I've gained in the last 8 yrs I consider myself an artist.

5. What inspires you?

Everything inspires me! Music, nature, designs, landscaping, everything makes my head spin out glass thoughts and how would I do this in glass thoughts.

6. Please share with us what a typical day is like in your workshop or studio? It's hard to answer this one cause my studio is in the basement and I have a room on the 1st floor where my computer is located that has my mid size kiln and 2 small kilns in it so I do a lot of firing here. I spend my time doing lots of house work stuff while I am waiting for my kilns to finish firing, or my enamel paints to dry or or whatever has to be done. I guess I'm very lucky in some ways.

7. What keeps you company while you’re working on a project?

In the studio it's the radio that keeps playing all my great oldies but goodies music. In my computer room my TV and computer keeps me going.

8. What is your favorite 'task' related to your art/craft?

Opening the kiln after it's been fired....and seeing how everything looks! Most of the time it's a surprise and it's just like Christmas Day when you open presents!

9. What is your least favorite 'task' related to your art/craft?

The lest favorite would be using my tile saw! I am totally soaked after using it.

10. What are some of the venues you use to promote your shop/ware?(Do you blog?)

Yes I do have a blog, here is the link. http://fusedglass.blogspot.com/ I have this shop also http://www.1000markets.com/users/chris1 Also this shop http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&seller_id=25101 and of course I use twitter http://twitter.com/lpi...most all of my sales come from word of mouth and Etsy. I belong to the BBEST TEAM which stands for Boomers and Beyond Etsy Street Team and CGGE TEAM which stands for Creative Glass Guild of Etsy.

11. Related to your craft,tell us about a funny, strange or unusual situation you found yourself in.

At the moment I can't think of any but I know that it happens to all of us.

12. Tell us something about you that we wouldn’t necessarily know by talking with you in the forums.

That is a difficult one also. That I tend to follow the thought of what will happen if I do this or try that with my work that is.

13. What’s your favorite book and why, favorite movie and why, favorite kind of music?

My favorite books were romance but then I got bored with them so switched over to mysteries. Janet Evonavich is one of my favorite authors, JA Janice is another. I have many others that I like their style of writing and will pick up books from the library where I work 1 day a week filling the for sale books that are donated. Check them out at your local libraries...50cents to 2dollars a book beats paying full price for them. Music I like is most all of the oldies but goodies..music from the 60's - the 90's.

14. Would you care to share any 'words of wisdom' with other aspiring artists or crafters?

Just let your mind go... don't be locked into something...take it and roll with it. Think outside of the box...and have fun!

Please leave our team mate a comment, about her work, her life, her artistic process! She would love to hear from you!