Wednesday, September 16th, 2026. Studio Uncle Fish, Irmo, South Carolina.
In my waking half-sleep, warmly thinking about how grateful I am for my life, I start on my path as a non cigarette smoker.
And then I drove to town for Starbucks and cigarettes.
Studio Assessment
In a progressive future, there will be a link to a tour of the glass shop.
Slow start to the day, which is not great. Very pleasant, though. It’s good to feel good.
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.
There is nothing to pack and ship. I am able to move on at 2:30! Hell, I am slacking! Except I’m working nonstop. Interesting. Maybe it’s just an inefficient life.
Etsy
Shop the Zanfirico Harold Etsy store by clicking here. You buy, I backpack.
I move on at 3 p.m., but it’s time to go get oxygen!!!
Lampworking
In a progressive future, there will be a link to photograph history or plans or some shit.
8pm here now. I have worked through the cores I have remaining from the uncomfortably faded rainbow cane.
In kiln, I have the last of the cores of the silver try from a couple of weeks ago. At that time, the plan was to split prep around a variety of designs as a method to stock an inventory based Etsy store. Like a beadmaker does.
Since this prep was made, the angle of attack has changed. This prep was intended for marbles and marble beads. It is enough prep to make a few marbles for my store, a few marbles for my charity auctions, a few single marble beads for the store, and, most importantly, a single strand of marble beads. A strand of marble beads is a good ticket item $150-$200. If I was betting on being a beadmaker, production of a strand from this prep would be the logical priority.
But, yeah, the goal is not to be captain beadmaker, even though I kinda wish it was. Strands of marble beads are very challenging to make, and as an object, they can look boss. It confuses me but the choice is clear. Do not make the strand. Vac and segment the prep. Make marbles and split for the board, the store, and eBay. Bet on Zanfirico Hanks.
Conclusion
It’s difficult to explain the transition from striving to be a beadmaker to trying to build whatever Zanfirico Hanks is called.
My experience this evening with these silver preps for marbles tells the story well.
After acknowledging that I wasn’t going to be the kind of person who processes that prep looking for a single bead set, I had problems actually processing the material. Incorrect core sizing causes failure. Difficult to explain. Three preps. I couldn’t even finish the first one correctly. I had to salvage the first and remove the other two from the kiln and change their materials.
This problem acknowledges two things.
One of the difficulties with being a beadmaker is that things like a set of marble beads require patent consistency. It isn’t easy. There’s often trouble as there was with this prep. It has been difficult for me to admit that things in the universe around me have progressed to the point where there’s not enough slack in my business for me to constantly be struggling to figure things out. These types of issues – prep doesn’t play, needs to be changed in the fly – combined with how difficult things are to sell and how low prices are just make beadmaking non-functional as a career. I’m not trying to blame the universe. I’m just not good enough of a craftsman to survive the current environment. It’s true now, and it’s been true for several years now.
Second, the best solution to my prep problems is diversity. I changed one of the preps to have a red core and the other prep to have an orange core. I was able to alter the diameter of these materials and alleviate the issue I was having. This maneuver provides me diversity. Instead of one piece of prep producing one aesthetic of object, I have one piece of prep producing three aesthetics. This prep will make decent to fair marbles. Marbles do not require match consistency because they are sold as singles and not sets of 6-10.
Anyway, Zanfirico Hanks presents itself as a solution this evening. Thinking coherently through the Zanfirico Hanks thing to make decisions works in this case. Don’t fight the universe and struggle to make traditional beadmaking sets. Do process for variety into the most simple singular of objects because that is how excellent single object collections are made.
Bro, kinda stressful. A great day. Unhealthy and unprofitable, sure. But a good day in the glass shop.
Zanfirico Hanks 
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