Hello all,

I hope you are all enjoying the nice weather. I must admit, I love the heat but I appreciate not everyone feels the same.

SAFETY ADVICE: Before I go any further, I know most people probably learnt this at school, but I would like to remind everyone about displaying glass & not to leave it in direct sunlight, especially in very hot weather. Glass light catchers are beautiful with the light shining through them but, despite also being called sun catchers, it is important not to hang them at a window that gets direct sun. When sunlight is projected or magnified through or off glass onto other surfaces it can cause smouldering & start a fire. This is not just applicable to light catchers & glass ornaments but to mirrors, crystal handles on furniture & even bottles. If you have glass in a room that gets direct sunlight, consider keeping the blinds or curtains closed during the day. Not just to keep the room cool but as a fire safety precaution. If that is not an option, maybe move the glass to another room. While I dislike preaching to people, I also dislike hearing people have had fires & there have been a few in the press this year due to the hot weather.

Both kilns are running today... And it's VERY hot in here...!!! I can put the air conditioning on, but while it's still bearable I am just making do with having the door open & drinking lots of water. The kilns usually run for around 12-18 hours & I don't open them till the following morning as, even when the programme has finished, it takes hours for the kilns to fully cool. All my glass is fully annealed, which means it has been gradually cooled in a controlled environment to minimise stress & make it less likely to break.

If you haven’t yet paid Riseley tearoom a visit & you are local, please pay them a visit in as it’s well worth it. They have some of my glass for sale in there. Just check the hours on their website as they are not open every day… www.riseleyvillagetearoom.co.uk You will certainly get a warm welcome from the lovely Debbie.

If you are local & want to pop in, I have chain & cord pendants plus earrings on display in the cabinet. Plus a lot of my glass is on display. While I am happy to have visitors, please check I am open before travelling any distance as it’s just little old me & I do sometimes take time off.

I do have a card machine in the office to take payments (cash is also welcome) & there is free parking on site. You can also make purchases on the website & select the collect option when checking out. That way you save on postage costs. We are on a completely flat level from the car park into the building.

On another note, my Facebook notifications are telling me I have a message but when I look there are no new messages. I suspect it is a Facebook ‘blip’ but in case Facebook is hiding messages from me, please use the ‘Contact’ form on here if you want to get in touch as it is more reliable. UPDATE on the ‘missing’ messages… Facebook finally decided to allow me to see them & thankfully all the important ones had been sorted as people had the good sense to contact me on here when I didn’t respond. But there were messages that were being kept from me, which is not very good, especially when trying to run a business. So I can only reiterate that the best way to contact me is via the ‘Contact’ form on here.

And that is all from me for now.

Till next time…