D5 – Like Starbucks in Vale – Harold Williams "BagBowl" Cooney

Wednesday, September 9th, 2026. Studio Uncle Fish, Irmo, South Carolina.

Reporting my from the front lines of my little life, day one of hopefully being not a cigarette smoker. Let’s not talk about it.

Be chill. Have a good day. That’s what I want for me.

I was up to one in the morning last night, enjoying the last links in a chain of somewhere in the reasonable neighborhood of 160,000 cigarettes. Good times. God probably smokes cigarettes. Let him have mine.

To find and follow my breath. To brew Foldgers in my van and drink it like Starbucks in Vale. Vale is not great, but you get the idea.

I get a walk in. Nothing much, the neighborhood. About 4 miles would be my guess. Walking is the ultimate goal of this business.

Studio Assessment

In a progressive future, there will be a link to a tour of the glass shop.

The beginning of another great day here at studio Uncle Fish. My bench and work area are clean and organized. I am ready to … push hours of buttons on my cell phone.

Buddy, there are no finished goods in the kiln to be split, and this is not how the game of beadmaking survival works.

The over-long quarter-cores from yesterday.

Everything is good. No finished goods, though. So, that’s not great. It’s gonna take a bit still. Everything will even out. To some very humble number at which flourishing as a human is still hopefully possible. Or not. We can’t know. It’s only Wednesday.

eBay Charity Auctions

After cleaning the studio, the first order of business is national service. Read about my 100% donation eBay charity auctions program, benefiting food programs around the United States, by clicking here. Link to live auctions by clicking here.

I noticed at about midnight last night that eBay seems to have turned my page back on. Permanent and irrevocable suspension from the single best charity auction platform seems to have left my life.

It is nearly 1:30 pm the next day. I will work to confirm and understand the situation.

And my 2pm the answer is in. No. Not allowed. First call into eBay. The guy told me I was irrevocably and permanently banned from the platform, and he hung up on me.

I immediately called again, and my second call was thankfully handled by a better communicator. Guy number two for the day placed me on hold for a long while, coming back suddenly to tell me he was going to have my account reinstated. He them put me back on hold, and it’s been ~~20, 22,~~ 27 minutes now, I’m pacing in the shade behind the shop.

Buddy, the dude came back on line and said everything is all set. I made a listing with him on the phone. Good and going, 2:50 pm. Listing scheduled for normal new listing time of 3pm Eastern. Excellent.

Back in the game and ready to move on with my day, 3:20 pm. Blessed. So thankful. Have 7 listings scheduled. There are problems, but they can wait. One auction running!

Etsy

Shop the Zanfirico Harold Etsy store by clicking here. You buy, I backpack.

Buddy, it’s been 11 days since I posted new items to Etsy. Can’t sell what’s not listed. It’s no money, no horses over here.

Etsy is still more successful than my social life.

I use the app to make sure everything is okay with my store and move on 3:25 pm.

Lampworking

In a progressive future, there will be a link to photograph history or plans or some shit.

A try with silvers and sparkle. Good luck to it.

Reds, grey, black, and like a brillo sparkle ish. Much larger try. This is the size to work with. I think there are 10 sets.

Spent all day pulling cane and dpomg things to try and be able to pull cane. The bottom right picture is white ribbon, I pulled three logs. This ribbon will go 6×3 with the Cooney cane.

Buddy, this is the reality of the most successful interpretation of Cooney cane to date. Chunks of color in a tube. Looks unworkable, but it works.

Decent sized try with white, red, orange, yellow, and green. Hopefully, it looks great, and I can get 10+ sets.

Conclusion

Another good day in the studio. Somehow, that successful feeling is allowed by my brain when no finished goods are in the kiln.

The game of beadmaking survival is pretty simple. Make one, sell one.

It will still be a couple of days to push the prep I have through to finished stuffs. I dont see how numbers this week could be any good. That would be three weeks running.

Harold Williams "BagBowl" Cooney