Category: Nancy Davies Tang

So it's 2019....A New Year

So it’s 2019….A New Year

Posted on by Nancy Tang

A new year, a new season! January is typically the month I rest up and take a little break, but this year the new season seems to have come earlier….. working on websites for The Bangor Art Society, Belfast Harbor Artisans, converting GlassOrchids.com over to GlassOrchids.art, working on a site for my sister, and one for SouthWestHarbor Artisans…and helping River Arts with theirs.

Getting the agendas set for the coop meetings this weekend, and entering pieces for shows at River Arts and the Bangor Art society. I need to organize my studio and stock, and make new work, and do taxes… planning my garden for this spring….applying for shows……why did I ever think Jan/Feb were slow months?

This year I’ve left 2 coops, and am going to try and pare down what I make to those things that have been selling, and things I just love to make. I’m hoping to focus a bit on obtaining a few new wholesale accounts too. 20+ years doing this and I’ve still not found the Golden Mix, the formula to maximize income based on wholesale. retail, coops, consignment, online sales……. sometimes I feel like Jason of the Argonauts.

Now, just to get back to something I said above.. I’ve moved GlassOrchids.com to GlassOrchids.art.. why? Well, maybe you’ve read my saga of Google Jail? GlassOrchids.com is in google jail so I get no traffic or search engine placement. I made an innocent / but ignorant mistake and will pay for it forever apparently….. but hopefully with GlassOrchids.ART I’ll be able to recover…. time will tell….

Anyway, till next time,

Nancy

Habitat for Humanity – Restore Painted Door Auction – Bangor, ME

Posted on by Nancy Tang

I’ve been working on a door for the Habitat for Humanity  Restore Painted Door Auction and wanted to share the progress & process so far.  I’ve got to do this outside because it’s too large for my studio, (read that as – I have no clear table space left because I live in chaos) and the weather has been bad. I got one good day the other day and finished sanding and priming the door, and began the actual painting. The deadline is quickly approaching so I’m working in the garage on these rainy days.

For some reason this project has begun an obsession with Koi for me and I’ve also created 2 pieces in kiln fired and glass enamel pieces featuring koi. This is the largest painting I’ve ever done, my back is a wreck from leaning over, but I’m having a great time with it!

The door was sanded and primed with house paint. The painting itself is created with acrylic paint and will be sealed with acrylic sealer.

The door is not finished yet but here’s the progress:

 

Habitat for Humanity Restore, Bangor, ME

Glass Art – Koi Pond using Glass Enamels

Posted on by Nancy Tang

This week I’ve been working on this glass art piece of a koi pond using enamels for glass. I’ve never worked with this material before but I am really enjoying it and like the effect.  The image shows the piece after the first firing, with the second layer of glass enamel applied. Just waiting to be fired again.

 

Glass Art piece - A 9" glass disc with koi pond
Glass Art – Koi Pond, 9″ disc.

The Process

First I create a drawing on the high fire paper (the paper that acts as a kiln separator to keep the glass from sticking to the kiln shelf), then I begin to add the details using the glass enamel mixed with a medium to make it paint-like. I also use the enamel as a powder as you may notice in this image (you can see the green ‘dust’ on the water.) I’ve fired this piece twice, with layers of enamel added each time, to get the desired effect. I might fire them anywhere from 2-5 times depending oh how they come out.

This is a great way to create glass art that has a more painterly feel. The possibilities seem endless when creating kiln fired glass art!

I will display the piece in a metal stand when completed.

Check out more of my art at NancyDaviesTang.com

I’ve also been working on a project for Habitat for Humanity that you might like to see HERE.

 

Nancy Davies Tang. Title:  Koi Pond. Medium: Kiln fired glass and glass enamels. Price: $450

 

Down Time - What we do in Maine when the tourists go home

Down Time – What we do in Maine when the tourists go home

Posted on by Nancy Tang

It’s Artist Down Time  here in Maine. The time of year when the tourists have fled to warmer climes and I sit looking out the window at 3′ of snow. Often customers at the cooperatives will ask us what we do all winter; we wonder this too…..

Once we close the cooperatives in late October (mostly) we do holiday shows, enjoy our families and then comes the lull in January/February. We make no money in the winter months unless we have successfully navigated the Etsy  or other online waters. There are a few shows between the new year and spring but not many, and generally not great anyway.  Mostly I plan to make a lot of stock over the winter and to get to all those house cleaning projects I’ve put off all summer, but what really happens is I collapse,  the last two winters I’ve experienced severe family illnesses, I try to enjoy the holidays, I do my taxes (OMFG) and come April I’ve created NOTHING.  I’ve spent a lot of time organizing stuff for the coops, researching new products, new galleries, applying to shows, working on the websites, ordering supplies and I’ve even finished a few paintings. I haven’t been in the studio.. except to clean .. for months. I plan to do better, but I always seem to fail.

It’s ok my taxes are done, family is ok,  and I still have April!! I have hope!! Maybe I’ll get some backstock created!! Maybe I’ll get some new products done!! I have designed a few pieces for an art gallery so hey I’m ahead already! A little down time is also good for the soul, helps us to recharge for the crazy season that is just around the corner!

Never enough time

Never enough time

Posted on by Nancy Tang

Sure I said I’d be posting my SnapDragons(tm) on the site in a week; that was two weeks ago. There isn’t enough time in a day is there?  I’ve launched my art site NancyDaviesTang.com ,  moved and mocked up my supply website at UGotGlass.com, which is inactive at the moment because again.. there is just NO time. I’ve also launched a sit for my lavender & market garden farm WinterRose.farm.  I’ve entered two shows one with the Bangor Arts Society and the other with river arts. The former won 2nd place and the latter saw one piece featured in the local paper. Ye ha… I am moving along,  just not getting everything on the list done! Ah well, we do what we can…..

~Nan

Re-launch Code Name: Glass Orchids

Posted on by Nancy Tang

I’ve been working  hard to re-launch this website and finally got the shipping & shopping carts to work (I think). I’ve integrated this site with my Square account so you can pay for your orders and it all flows through one processor. This will make it much easier for me to manage customers, orders and finances.  Currently I’m working to make navigation easier for shopping, adding more products and trying to get ranked in the search engines again. Thanks for bearing with me these last two years as the site has been going through growing pains. Last year about this time I got hacked multiple times and decided to move to a new host and convert to a WordPress design. I haven’t had enough time to really get it up and running and there has been a big learning curve.

Over the next week or so I’ll be adding SnapDragons(tm) – Interchangeable dichroic glass pendants, bracelets & rings along with the Snaps, and many other new products.

Thanks again for all your support over the years,

~Nancy Davies Tang

 

It’s not all cake and wine! Relaunch of Glass Orchids!

Posted on by Nancy Tang
Banner image for relaunch of Glass Orchids.
Relaunch of Glass Orchids – dichroic glass jewelry made by Maine Glass Artist, Nancy Tang

 

The Relaunch of Glass Orchids 

….has been and ongoing task for about a year now, and I’m getting closer to really having GlassOrchids.Art up and running smoothly.  Recently I’ve noticed a lot of new subscribers to my website. So many that it seemed suspicious. That’s the world we live in now isn’t it? But you know what? I was right. Checked out several of them and they were known spammers. So I’ve disabled subscriptions on the site, deleted them all and removed 100 spam comments that were waiting for me to review.

It is no small task to relaunch Glass Orchids, I’ve had to back up and migrate the entire site to a new host and then deal with all the little glitches that occur when plugins think it’s the old site.  Having run GlassOrchids.com for over 20 years, I now have to try and regain search engine placement, and that’s a whole job unto itself! Learning all the SEO changes and how to  make that work in WordPress vs. an HTML site is another whole ball of wax too. I’ve learned a whole lot though, and I do enjoy working on the site.  I highly recommend a plug in called Wordfence. (and no I don’t get paid to say that, I just find the plugin really helpful.) Watching the live feed of website activity is both fascinating and terrifying; so many bots trying to login and take over!!

Now I can get back to working in the studio creating dichroic glass jewelry and art pieces. I’ve got a Bangor Art Society show coming up in a few weeks and need to make a fused glass wave artwork for it. I’ll post images when it’s complete!

Stay warm folks!
~Nancy

If you’ve arrived  here from outside the site, please visit my home page at: GlassOrchids.Art

Sooooooo today....

Sooooooo today….

Posted on by Nancy Tang

I got the blog to show my posts : ) sure sure you think it’s easy…. no no it’s not lol. Anywho, the website she is up and running. Now I’m waiting for my host to add the SSL certificate so you can shop without worry.  That should take a day or so. In the meantime, I’ll be adding more items and trying to get some inventory on here for you to buy.

IDK how anyone gets anything done. Today I amended the soil in my garden beds, searched each leaf of cukes and squashes like the backs of a child’s ear for squash bug eggs and removed them all, killed cucumber bugs with my bare fingers (yes it’s war), sprayed all those plants with an organic insecticide. I dealt with some issues at the artist coop I am shop manager for,  drove my husband over a friends house to go fishing, took a friend to lunch for her bday and to the lake to go swimming, did some grocery shopping, worked on this site and purchased the SSL, did the dishes, fed the cats, fed the chickens,  and am going to fry up the fish my husband caught today, after which I must do laundry for the week.  It doesn’t seem like that should take all the hours in a day but, believe me, it does.  How the time flies…..

It was a glorious day, the weather was perfect and I spent it doing great things with people I love.  It goes fast folks, enjoy every minute…..

~Nan

It’s not all fun and games that’s for sure….

Posted on by Nancy Tang

I’ve been trying to find the time to port my website over from it’s existing host to this  new one for about a year. People think, oh you’re an artist, that must be so much fun! Well, yeah it is.. but honestly, it’s about 1/5th creating art and 4/5’s doing paperwork, marketing, ordering supplies, and trying to sell our work via FB, Etsy, Ebay, Shows, Shops and yes…. having a functioning website. So folks, bear with me. I’m hoping to have this puppy  up and running  over the next few months…. and now I have to figure out how to make the DNS point to this new place instead of my old site… sheesh.

Anywayyyyyyyyyyyy,

~Nan