Are sure u want to take this journey? ::sigh:: this is not a fun story.
Let us start at the beginning. One year ago I was gainfully employed at Ron Hinkle Glass, working hard, learning stuff. Happy happy joy joy. I didn't take it personally when Ron had to lay off me & another employee because I really want my own glass art business and really thought, think--thunk?? I have, had, will have?? The smarts to do it and succeed.
So I started looking for a place to set up a glass production shop. There is no garage or suitable out building where we live and it is a rental anyway.
WV is loaded w/ natural gas, by that I mean this is where they find it in the ground. I went looking for a property w/ gas included, to reduce the most obvious cost of doing business. I looked at a lot of properties, with real estate agents and alone. I asked every single person I have met sincewe moved here if they know about any property that would be suitable. With or without gas available for free use. I followed up on any & every possible
lead. No no no no no no no no.
Found an old farm house that has free gas available b/c the well is on the land, I fell in love w/ it a bit. Had my dad convinced to help me buy it, but in the end it just was not enough gas. Then we decided building to suit was a good idea so Istarted looking for vacant land w/ natural gas available. Getting free gas wasn't going to happen, just being on it was a challenge.
My dad came to visit last September to be involved in it all b/c it was his credit that would secure financing. Such a generous offer from him. He believes in me and my business and I am so grateful for that. So he was here and we were following up on some details about a property we were hoping to buy & build on. (Details the lousy real estate agent-total chavanest jerk-left out) Just like that it was a big no. No this was not going to be the property. At this point I had been making it my full time job to find a property and was already finding materials and contractors. So I had all this work built up and thought I was going to have a great building and a beautiful business and live happily ever after. But the rug got pulled out from under me and daddy went home to Arkansas and there was no plan. I was completely crushed. What now??
Well we had looked at a deteriorated old mill that was being demolished. It had gas already, was only 4 mi from where I live. It was not suitable for some reasons, but it turns out there was a building available at the mill next door. This building is perfect: concrete floors, aluminum walls, basically fireproof. It was built to be a wood drying kiln in the 80's, it is just a
big tall square w/ huge bay doors that open up the entire front. It has huge fans in the ceiling already, three phase electric & gas installed. The back has another small room that houses the old boiler. Really a neat perfect building. Big enough for all the production space I could need & room outside to add storage or gallery space.
So I called my dad & said why not that one? I met he landlord again & he was super cool. He wants to revive the buildings at his mill & turn it into an artists community. Just perfect. He wouldn't charge me rent til I got up & going and then a huge discount, b/c ultimately he wants to sell the building. That was September. The building had 2" gas line going to the boiler. Raise your hand if u would have had to see smell touch feel taste the gas before u moved your shit in. Wish I had my hand up. I made an assumption. They said there was gas. I believed them. So I moved in.
There is this other glass worker named Rob. We met working at Ron Hinkle Glass. Rob is talented. He knows a lot of glass from working in the old factories. He knows stuff I don't (didn't) know. I know some stuff he doesn't know. So we were gonna play together. Pretty exciting to have someone else to help make this jive. We had beautiful ideas of things to
make with glass.
Rob threw in some equipment & tools & 'know how' that I did not have and we got to work setting up a glass hot shop. I have a furnace that works & was ready to use so we got it installed. And I built a reheat furnace in welding class, it wasn't the best but it would do til the money started rolling in. We had to run a gas line from the back of building to equipment. Because there was no need for it before, install electrical outlets & lighting in the main room. Rob was busting his ass. He built another furnace, we were going to have it for clear & my existing pot furnace for the colored glass. Was gonna be so sweet. So we get close to having everything ready to fire up!
While all this was going on the landlord was involved in opening a laundry mat in a building at the front of the mill. Kinda a big production and he was always in a tizzy b/c he had some pretty serious & unnecessary delays himself. So I wasn't bothering him. Free rent. Well they broke the gas main doing their work and we were told. No big deal. They would fix it and they did, took a couple of months. Winter approaching. Ok. No bitching from me.
We got the call the line was repaired and the gas was on! Went to the shop turned it on...they said it would take a while to purge the line...you'd
think we would at least smell it...
by now...
there is no gas to this
building. Ok. Wait.
What???
Rob is real neat guy. He is so smart. And he is backwoods WV. No fuckin around. This guy is tough. He said he knew a lot of stuff. And he does. Turns out he didn't know really what I needed for my glass shop. But he Tried. Real hard. He put together that tank furnace at his house & we loaded it on a trailer and hauled it to the shop. There it was unloaded, but it was not a priority to the initial phase of the business, so it is a pile of brick in the corner. No combustion system yet, just a pile of brick. Not in order to put them back into a furnace, just a pile of brick. But according to Rob it is valued at $5,000 AND well worth me just up & dumping my boyfriend of 4 years to be in love w/ Rob instead. So on Christmas Eve Rob finished up the last of the 4 tasks I really needed his help w/ & left his key.
Christmas sucked. No money. No gas. No glass. Rob bailed. There was more but it is too personal for this writing.
I guess the guys working at the mill knew this all along, but WV get a kick out of this sort of thing so they never mentioned it. Apparently it slipped the landlord's mind, that the gas line to the building was cut a few years back when some electrical upgrades were made to another building. No one intended to ever use the boiler agian so they decided not to repair the gas line. Ok. He is a busy guy, a lot of business to attend to, he forgot, I get it.
My life is hanging on this, what now?
He says he will put in a temporary line since it is winter & snowy already (the ground was not
frozen yet, it would have been easy to do permanent line then, I even had access to digging equipment, but ok...). On December 10, he said he had a quick fix & would
get it done.
Finally on new year's I told the landlord since he had not yet installed a temp line like he said he would, I would be happy to do it if he would buy materials. So we did. And there was gas. It wasn't that cut and dry but
recounting it all is ridiculous.
So the gas was on. I got the furnace fired up, which takes days, especially the first time after storage. But it got hot and I started trying to make glass.
Now keep in mind it, at this point it is Jan. I have been laid off since the end of March the year before. Rob has come and gone. Moved into the building starting the end of Sept. Since then, the gov enrolled me in welding class at the votech to retrain me for the workforce b/c I'm a displaced glass worker. Welding class has been a blast! I have learned an immeasurable new sets of skills. I have had access to materials & tools to build equipment for the hot shop. And I got to participate in the VICA SkillsUSA competition.
So anyway, it was Jan, the gas was on, I was trying. So why wasn't it working? My timing was still good. The glass was good. Maybe it was the reheat furnace, it was pretty shoddy construction after all.
I knew going into business for myself I would have to learn a lot. One of the things I did not know I didn't know about was natural gas volume. The temporary line a cannot possibly get enough volume from any size line to run
the kind of BTU's I need b/c is has to travel so far all the way across the mill. Once I had this realization I approached the landlord and said I was trying not to inconvenience him, but that temp line was not going to work. He got mad. We made up. He talked to his people and learned why it wasn't working for himself. And he said he would put in the permanent line.
Relief. The fire was put out the beginning of February.
Soon he let me know the laundry mat and is using gas too. He doesn't need a meter, it is his gas line. We need to know my usage, so my building needs a meter & regulator. He said that just the meter was $1200 and hard to find locally. He also said he wouldn't pay that much. I made some calls & found a friend in Chattanooga TN who knows this stuff. He has the meter & regulator right for my usage for $900. Landlord said that was better & he
would pay it and order it and install it & the permanent line. Said he was calling my guy w/ his guy to make sure we all know what we are talking about. He said that on March 4. And again on March 9. I know the meter
still hasn't been ordered.
By now there have been so many set ups and let downs, many not enumerated here, that I am not reacting quite as irrationally to the let downs. I just focus on welding class and doing my best. I have taken this time to rebuild the reheat furnace--Her Holy Hottness!! And rebuild my bench, as well as any other small improvements I can make while the fire is out.
The landlord is a savvy business man and has been a successful banker for years. He wants to sell this building & knows it has to have a live gas line for me to buy it. I believe he will get this done in a somewhat timely fashion. It is up to him to act & use his resources. He sees now that it takes a lot to make a glass shop operate. And he wants to know how I think I can pull it off. I have answers, but we do not have an appointment to discuss them. I'm not trying to fuck him w/ a gas bill, I am trying to be gainfully self employed. He knows that. He called me the other day "I haven't seen u around the mill in a while." to do what? Finger myself & fantasize about blowing glass in my own shop SOMEDAY. No, I said "Hey U
wanted numbers, I have numbers." He is always talking to someone else while we are
on the phone & then he just stops listening or drops the phone or hangs up or something. He is very good at letting me know I am not a priority. I felt the conversation was unproductive, I don't know why he bothered to
call & we still do not have an appointment to meet. He has not called my guy in Chattanooga. He has been gracious about the rent & a month of gas that did not produce anything, but has not done anything at all lately. So u tell me--why does he ignore me and my business and why am I not allowed to
have a sense of urgency when I may not have any income at all starting tomorrow. Why is it ok for him to do me this way?
Today is April 10. I filed last week to renew my unemployment, they usually don't let it continue after a year. Strong emphasis on YEAR. Tomorrow I will find out if I still have any income. I am still enrolled in welding
class so I think I'll get an extension at least until it ends in June. If he would be serious about helping me fire up July first after the national welding competition that would be perfect. I wonder when I will get the chance to
ask him that.
Now u understand why I didn't start my blog with his lovely story.
Maybe I will be a welder when I grow up.
Amber Carman
www.ambersglass.com
Amber Carman is a hot sculpted glass artist, that's what my business card says anyway.
