New Things Brewing - A Mobile Glass Shop - Whats That?!

Things are stirring at RachelEscoeGlass. A really exciting journey is coming into play that I have been dreaming about for years now. I am in the middle of getting my own mobile glassblowing studio together!

As my love, Chris Byers would say, “Hell Yeah.” Let’s do this!

For a long time it was a mere pipe dream, mostly because in reality I knew how much it would cost to build my own glass shop, but through many years of working my buns off at various day jobs, putting a little savings away at a time and realizing that life is short; I decided to do it. As my love, Chris Byers would say, “Hell Yeah.” Let’s do this!

What also helped me to get here, is being able to teach you all how to blow glass! My beginner glassblowing workshops have given me some much needed consistency in my career as an artist. I am currently teaching my classes in the evenings at a community glass shop here in town. Once I have my own little mobile shop together, I will be able to make these even more accessible by holding workshops in the mornings and afternoons on weekends.

Once the glass shop is HOT, I will be continuing to teach my beginner glassblowing workshops in various locations including the possibility of bringing the shop to your home and taking your workshop in the comfort of your own driveway! If dimensions and logistics allow it. Intermediate classes will be set in motion as well for those of you that have expressed interest in taking more workshops with me!

Having this shop will allow me to continue to make my own body of artwork from my home and have potential opportunities to showcase glassmaking at various events, festivals and markets in the area. I will be offering opportunities to book private events with me for weddings, bat/bar mitzvahs, birthdays, etc. 

Further down the line, if all of this takes off, I would like to eventually take the studio to Portland Public School events and showcase/introduce glassblowing to underserved youths. Show them something that is naturally a very expensive medium to experience and give them an opportunity to make some glasswork!

While the plans are already in motion and certain pieces of equipment are being made for me as we speak, I do need some help from you to make this studio complete.

That is to make it mobile!

In order for me to bring my glass shop to you, I need to purchase a truck or trailer and some other essential things to bring my wild glass shop experience to life! I will be starting a kickstarter with further details very soon here.

So please please stay tuned in to RachelEscoeGlass. Sign-up below for my newsletter to stay informed, follow me on Instagram @RachelEscoeGlass and help spread the word!!

I hope you are all in good health and enjoying the seasons changing right meow! Talk soon

Having a Baby & Running Your Small Business

Women in business and starting a family. Now that is a whole big topic isn’t it! I am going through a huge new and exciting adventure. Which is becoming a parent, a new mom to my sweet baby boy and navigating how to run my glass art business at the same time. Thankfully I’m a big planner. I put most of my ducks in a row to be able to go on maternity leave. Although, when you are running your own business, especially a small business, it isn’t like you get any paid leave benefits! At least for me, that is a straight up, “hell no,” when it comes to that! Unless I sell some of my currently made work online and in stores. Factor in the fact that I am the only person on staff at Rachel Escoe Glass. If I had other employees, well then that would be another story.

I literally do all of it. I plan my projects out, make the work, photograph my work, apply for submissions, market my artwork all over the place, design, update and run my own website, social medias and customer support. I also do all of the sales and shipping at my humble abode here in Portland, Oregon. Don’t get me wrong, I love doing all of this. Being my own boss is wonderful! And of course, as an artist I obviously always want to be solely making work. In reality running your own business requires much more than just making work. For now, I have lots of new ideas brewing up inside my brain. Drawing and sketching those out is a great way to pass time when the babe is sleeping! I will be posting pictures of those on my Instagram through out my maternity leave. Check it out @RachelEscoeGlass.

My main reasoning for wanting to write this little spiel is to let everyone know that I am still here, I can’t wait to get back into the glass shop and make you all some fun glasswork. I am very excited to re-open my glassblowing workshops too! Hopefully this summer of 2021 if covid numbers start to get better. I really do enjoy teaching all of you fine folks the art of glassblowing. I intend to be back in the glass shop by April 2021. So if you have any questions or ideas about projects you want made , please feel free to e-mail me. I would love to talk shop and plan some projects with you. You can also pre-book workshops with me anytime. Just check out my website and click on workshops info. I currently have an array of in-stock glass art available right now at Rachel Escoe Glass. Please take a look at my online shop and info on where to find my work in person.

This subject will be an ongoing blog theme for me. Please, if you feel the need to share your stories with me, I would love to hear from other women in business; who are navigating family life as well. In the meantime I will be here spending quality time with my lovely bundle of joy, healing from my delivery and enjoying the little things!

Toodles for now my friends! Stay safe and healthy out there.

Frequently Asked Questions : What projects are you working on right now?

• I am constantly evolving how I see the landscape around me. For those of you who know my mountain  vessel series, it is continuously ever changing. Which is how projects should be for an artist. Stagnation is a killer of creativity. That is why I am so happy that I have found my niche. To give those of you some background on my mountain vessel series. About 3-4 years ago, I started transforming my perspectives of the mountains around me here in the Pacific Northwest onto my glasswork. I wanted people to see my favorite time of day, which is dusk. It is this amazing time of day when blues, purples and pinks in the sky create this highlighted almost rainbow affect against the crispy sillhouetted mountain lines. 

To find a technique that actually translates those feelings, emotions and views I get from looking at the mountains was pretty incredible. Spending all of this time honing in on my glassblowing skills and then taking an idea and translating it into glass. As well as having it be something I actually imagined was life changing for me. 

I am constantly learning everyday and I hope that when people experience this series, they invoke some feelings of contentment and peace that resonates from my viewings of the cascade mountain range . Currently I am looking towards using different techniques like enamel painting to create more detail in this series. I have been thinking of incorporating people and their actions into my landscape stories as well. So stay tuned to see more!

• Another Project I am working on right now is putting together and creating a limited addition glass series where a majority of the proceeds, probably 50%, will go to a non-profit organization supporting social justice and the BLM movement. I would like to be able to donate 100% proceeds of the sales to a non-profit, but I am a small solo owned business and it does cost money to make these pieces. If you have any suggestions for non-profits in Portland please let me know. I am researching diligently right now.

Announcement details will be coming soon. I’m super excited to work on this and be able to give back in some way shape or form. 

Thinking Of Doing A Spring Clearance SALE : Next Weekend : What Do You All Think?

I’ve got lots of Glass Pumpkins, Fiddlehead Sculptures and Sample Mountain Drop Vessels that originally were made for all of the art markets I was going be apart of this summer. Due to Covid-19 all of those events were canceled. I am going to miss interacting with all of you great folks.

So I would love to hear some feedback from all of you if you think I should do a spring clearance sale ONLINE this next weekend? Comment on my blog and let me know what you think????

Final Day : Day 7 : Isolation Residency : Reflections and Mindfulness : Using My Non-Dominant Hand

Today I painted with my left hand instead of my dominant right hand and with no intent of what I was going to paint. I let the paint strokes, my feelings of the world and its current state fall together into this piece.

#weareinthistogether