Is it lame to wear your own pendants?

[Wilbur]

I was having a conversation with a couple friends about this, and im on the fence...

is it lame/arrongant/ pretentious/ to wear your own pendents? the few times ive worn my own work, its certainly opened up converstaions that likely could have led to sales had i followed through, but its a rarity that i wear them before theyve been sold.

what are your thoughts?

if you make pendents, do you wear your own work?

[FifDeez]

I wear my own but I end up selling it no matter how nice or expensive it is. I find its easier to wear a sick pendant someone else made because then when someone asks to buy it u say na I can't I picked this for me from a buddy I know. Then I get to keep one for once! I notice all the time I never keep any of my nicest stuff and I don't know why, just for the $$ I guess? But what's funny is, its why I, and most of us got into the biz is to make something sick one day for ourselves.

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[James Sowell]

I wear my own.
that way when i say i blow glass people dont think all i make is dirty hippie pipes

i usefully rock this one when i go outside probably my favorite opal just cant give it up
79379
middle piece
79380

[yinzer]

i know a guy who only wears his own pendants. he's the best glassblower in the world, so he doesn't "believe" in "advertising" for other people, or supporting other glassworkers. THAT'S lame. wearing something you made and enjoy, saving nicer items for yourself for once,even showing something you're proud of off a bit and/or trying to make a sale, not so lame. i guess what I'm trying to say is that its only lame if you're a d-bag about it.

i have had to have a talk with a couple of "those guys" that wear their own t-shirt to their show/flameoff/event though, lol.

[Icarus]

i have had to have a talk with a couple of "those guys" that wear their own t-shirt to their show/flameoff/event though, lol.

Shit, I've been that guy, at least for a business name shirt. That's not cool, huh? Is it any better if you actually printed the shirt yourself? No? Well, point taken.

[JayBoogie]

I was wondering about this last night hahah. And icarus, I wear shirts that I print all the time haha no shame in that :)

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[Cosmo]

I wear my own. But I'm weird about selling them. Once I've worn them I won't sell them. One time I did give one to a friend though.

I have a bunch I've bought or traded with other people for. But I never wear them. I'm always afraid something will happen to them.

[Aymie]

Pendants are the way I collect art from my peers and friends. I don't need a hundred or so pipes. So, when I rarely wear a pendant I made. However, I almost always wear a pendant if it is up for auction that day so when people comment on it, I can direct them to where they can buy it.

I do have a sweet rainbow and black chain that I made and wear as often as possible.

My daily pendant game is pretty boring to most. I usually wear Mer (made by Misha) or one of my simpler pendants from Corinne. I generally prefer work by another simply because I like to keep that person close to me for the day.

[STROKER]

i have had to have a talk with a couple of "those guys" that wear their own t-shirt to their show/flameoff/event though, lol.[/QUOTE]
Yinzy you k ow I'm vain. I sport a stroker shirt everywhere I go.
"Don't just smoke it, Stroke it"
As for pendys, I don't wear jewelry but if I did I would for sure sport my own. My wife wears some of mine and always gets questions and compliments

[Icarus]

Yinzy you k ow I'm vain. I sport a stroker shirt everywhere I go.
"Don't just smoke it, Stroke it"

How in the fuck can I get a 2X of that?! That's awesome!

[STROKER]

How in the fuck can I get a 2X of that?! That's awesome!
Icky I have had alot of requests for them and I intend to have a run printed up for the public soon. I will not forget ya.
I'm planning on giving one away with every heady purchase.

[STROKER]

I use custom ink and they do a super high quality shirt but they are pricey unless I buy a bunch. I may buy 30 or so to see how serious everyone was.

[yinzer]

Shit, I've been that guy, at least for a business name shirt. That's not cool, huh? Is it any better if you actually printed the shirt yourself? No? Well, point taken.

i mean essentially, it depends on the shirt, imo. it can be obvious, or not, if done correctly. but if you're walking around with a picture of yourself on your shirt, and big letters that say "I AM STROKER, TELL ME I'M PRETTY", your'e pretty much the guy that wears a def leppard shirt to a deaf leppard concert, and sings all of the words loudly, but mixes them up with journey songs.

(i totally just hi fived myself. hi inernet.)

[Aymie]

I am so going to print shirts that say "I am Aymie, tell me I'm pretty." When I was JoAnn Fellatio, my tag line was "Just put it in your mouth"...I definitely should have made a shirt.

[harpentuan]

My opinion is , if it is something you made and it is unique and you are proud of it... wear the shit out of that thing!

[Icarus]

Also, I totally wear my own pendants. I usually don't sell them afterwards, but if I have something I really like, or it has some kind of memory or emotion or whatever associated with it, and it "fits" me, I'll keep it and wear it. I've only done this with like three or four out of thousands though, so it's not something I do often. Truthfully, I don't really like "heady" pendants. A lot of stuff is way too big or wild for me. I like something small and subtle that can easily slide up in a neck hole if needed. Just personal preference though.

[quix]

What reason could there possibly be to spend time judging someone based off who made their pendant. lol.

[blackstoneglass]

I wear my own. If I won't wear it, why would anyone else?

[mattholimeau]

Interesting thread!


i have had to have a talk with a couple of "those guys" that wear their own t-shirt to their show/flameoff/event though, lol.

I don't understand - especially if its their own show - why would you "have a talk" with them? That's just smart marketing - some way to label that you're the staff, while also reinforcing the brand. If you're running a show/flameoff/event, or just participating in one, to me it seems silly to NOT wear a shirt that tells people both who you are, that you belong there, and what your place is. (If you've charged admission, and you're just wearing street clothes, and no nametag or any identifying thing, that's just amateurish and seriously hinders a good first impression.)

---

As to the whole, wearing your own pendants... I'd figure it bad form to *not* wear your own pendants. I don't typically wear jewelery, but every now and then I'll wear a pendant I made to work, if only to experience the point of view of my theoretical customer. What's "too heavy", does the cord material irritate me, what's the right cord length, if it's a chain will it break, etc, etc. Granted, it's all completely subjective (I'm sure my threshold of "too heavy" is much higher than a 100 lb woman), but even highly subjective anecdotal evidence is going to be miles better than not thinking about these things at all. I've heard it called "eating your own dog food" - as a software company, do you use your own software in house in a production environment? If not, shame on you! (Course, I should say - if you're a company that makes and sells dog food, do you feed that food to your own dogs? If not, shame on you.)

"Don't just smoke it, stroke it"... not sure I get it.... seems like you're implying you want to light my penis on fire, or that you have some wierd pipe fetish. (Maybe the logo in the upper right corner will be of some guy in a trenchcoat flashing bystanders, but instead of a penis he has a pipe between his legs. Hah. Now the question.. do you make that pipe something all heady lookin or not.) I wouldn't be able to wear that most places (any t-shirt I own that has a direct drug reference, pot leaf or whatnot, I stuck in the back of my closet in a "cool, but can't really wear" pile, years ago). At the same time... it would be neat to have more glass-oriented t-shirts. Maybe we should do a t-shirt exchange thing? Print up a bunch of t-shirts with your logo on it, and send em all out, and get someone else's logo'd shirt in return? Might be a bit expensive to participate... but would also be really cool if it worked: go get 30 shirts printed, and end up with 30 different glass company shirts. (If you think that's a cool idea and you'd participate, PM me - if I hear any noise I might look into how that might work.)


I am so going to print shirts that say "I am Aymie, tell me I'm pretty." When I was JoAnn Fellatio, my tag line was "Just put it in your mouth"...I definitely should have made a shirt.

Aymie, make sure it's got a rainbow penis somewhere on it, and I *want* one!

Would you... elaborate on this JoAnn Fellatio story? I get the feeling I wanna see pics. ;)

---

When I wear the cotton cords, I have had the thought that if I get sweaty or something, maybe I should not sell it... but I counter that with the thought that the cotton cord is plenty likely a placeholder - almost all the ones I've given away, the woman taking it says she already has a nicer necklace she wants to put it on. (Then I realize I don't care much, since I haven't actually sold a one, hah. I do have like 60 of em [went on a bit of a kick before, during, and after the recent pendant exchange on here] sitting in a display case I'd like to find something to do with, and I haven't worn any of those. My general philosophy has been if I wear one, I'm keeping it - but that's not really because I feel like I have to, just kinda what I seem to tend to do.)

[MarCoGlass]

I like wearing mine once in awhile. My family always tells me I should. I like to wear my friends work too but I Def think it'll help sales to wear your own when you go out.

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[Swim]

no man, its lame to NOT wear your shit. honestly, I dont even smoke out of other peoples shit unless its a trade or free. this is the strangest question.

[Nomad]

I used to wear the pendants that I made. But after a wile it was only women who wore them so I stopped wearing them.

I know a person who wears his own t-shirts all the time. The logo is like a time warp into the 90's also. It was kind of embarrassing hanging out with the guy. He had his stickers and crap on everything also. It was effective marketing. But I did not wear the stuff. Well once he made me wear it to vegas and it was a nightmare. I still have the embroided jacket though. It was kind of cool but it doesn't fit me anymore.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11/13/1db098fb22e670ab7eabf07241432e26.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11/13/a1f473f2a80bd314ebf291fa8a3ff48a.jpg
I thought it was cool at first.

[Amorphous]

It's smart marketing to wear your own work. I will often wear a new design of jewelry at least once, so I can get a feel for how it hangs, snags, etc. And I never go to a dressy event without at least 1 piece of my stuff on, it's a good conversation starter and an example of my work if doesn't know much about glass working.

[Aymie]

JoAnn Fellatio was my glass moniker for a few years. It's still the name I use when I vend at fetish type shows. She is fun but she is also trouble. She writes her name on lots of people and makes lots of butt plugs.

[BurntHands]

I don't wear pendants very often but occasionally I'll rock one. I always have one on my keys, dogs collars, and one hanging from my rearview though. James hit the nail on the head, great to have something handy you can't smoke out of. I do love it when other people wear them daily though, especially if I haven't seen them in a while and they still love it.

[shawnette]

I wear my turtle pendant all the time. In fact, last weekend, I was in a store at Disney and this lady says, "Are you Shawnette?" I said yes and she said she recognized my pendant from my pics on Facebook. She's a FB friend who lives in MA! Lmao! Small world.

So anyways, my point is, wearing your own work is not lame.

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[Firekist]

i was... "yelled at" for not wearing my own work. So, in the past .. 14 years i've made 3 pendants i've worn. 1 because i made it for myself, 1 because it was awesome, and 1 because it was awesome and the black backing checked..

it's good advertising, a good conversation starter.. and yadda yadda. if you won't wear it.. why would someone else i guess was my thinking..

i didn't realize you were joann fellatio aymie.. that's pretty funny.

[Aymie]

That's funny. It was months after swooning over your marble hitters and space rock flatties that I realized I "knew" you.

JoAnn Fellatio was born from every good and wild thing I ever experienced with my glass family. Rare sightings still occur.

Those who make our brains hurt should take notice. I am drunk and I still looked at what I posted and edited it for grammar and punctuation mistakes.

[Jxbey]

[QUOTE=FifDeez;868656]I wear my own but I end up selling it no matter how nice or expensive it is. I find its easier to wear a sick pendant someone else made because then when someone asks to buy it u say na I can't I picked this for me from a buddy I know. Then I get to keep one for once! I notice all the time I never keep any of my nicest stuff and I don't know why, just for the $$ I guess? But what's funny is, its why I, and most of us got into the biz is to make something sick one day for ourselves.

Killed the punctuation +1

[FifDeez]

Lol

[FifDeez]

You keep killing the punctuation and I'll keep killing it on the glass. ;)

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[menty666]

I have a pendant I made for myself that has a picture of me on it. It's MIA at the moment though; I really need to clean.

[Wilbur]

For those of you that thought this was a weird question...

This convo stemmed from me being border-line embarassed to be sitting at a bar with a bunch of people who kinda blow glass, talking about blowing glass, saying glass blowing this, glass blowing that, on the torch yeah, basically sitting around making sure everyone one around KNEW they "blow glass" and im over here like jesus guys, at some point you just have to refer to it as working.

theres definetly a "cool-guy" element to glass blowing that i canm appreciate and embarce, but at the same time i find myself wanting to scream, fuck man get over yourself! like alot of the time. and these cats pompously bragging about glass seemed to make my hyper-aware self-stroking. which led me into that question.

[JDNACEglass]

Ive made more sales of my fillacello pendants from wearing them than posting them on facebook or instagram by a long shot, and it is almost always from people who i otherwise would not have any exposure to, so lame or not, ill rock em!

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[glassmax]

is it lame/arrongant/ pretentious/ to wear your own pendents?

No!

[quix]

at some point you just have to refer to it as working.

No. Never, not ever.

[yinzer]

Interesting thread!



I don't understand - especially if its their own show - why would you "have a talk" with them? That's just smart marketing - some way to label that you're the staff, while also reinforcing the brand. If you're running a show/flameoff/event, or just participating in one, to me it seems silly to NOT wear a shirt that tells people both who you are, that you belong there, and what your place is. (If you've charged admission, and you're just wearing street clothes, and no nametag or any identifying thing, that's just amateurish and seriously hinders a good first impression.)


this was mostly a joke..kind of. read post #13 for more information :)

[CheeseNip]

The only pendant I wear at the moment is actually one of my own. I would wear other artists pendants, but I just don't have any yet! Lol. Need to get on a nice collection of other artists work for myself started before long. Really been wanting to fill a nice curio cabinet with all other peoples work lately!

[Shattered Dreams]

might be cool to make a section for people looking for glass trades.
either post about something you would like and someone might offer to make one for you,
or post up something you make that you would like to trade for something made by someone else.
pipes, pendants, whatever.
like the marble exchanges but open all the time and just between two people.

[CheeseNip]

I would definitely try to make use of that section, if we had one. ^

[Wilbur]

No. Never, not ever.

Ok, but you have to admit it sounds a little ridiculous when someones said 'glass blowing' or 'blowing glass' a dozen times in conversation.

[Ness]

I def have no shame repping my own work. On one hand Im proud of it! we all know how many hours of time and how much stress and how much effort is required to cleanly execute many of the techniques used in glass. Its become a source of pride for me. On the other hand one of my absolute favorite aspects of working glass is showing it to others. I always get a kick out of all the different responses I get, and I swear EVERYONE see's something different in a piece. Also, as stated earlier its a great way to promote your work, and an excellent conversation starter.

That being said, I usually enjoy sporting others work more.... Mainly bc if I scooped a piece its bc the artist/artist is amazingly talented and I find their work incredibly inspirational.

interesting post, OP. I did kick this question around a bit myself, but figured I was the only one.

[herperdude]

I don't wear my own glass nor do I use my own pipes. I do how ever claim the first decent piece from who ever is my pupil at the time. I do make my own glass plugs because its cheaper and mine are more ascetically pleasing.

[fourpawsglass]

Always wear my own - what better way to advertise your work. I always make sure I have my cards with me too - that way when they are amazed that you made it, you can give them a card in case they want to purchase one. I do have a collection of other artist's work because we do have to support each other.

[herperdude]

Always wear my own - what better way to advertise your work. I always make sure I have my cards with me too - that way when they are amazed that you made it, you can give them a card in case they want to purchase one. I do have a collection of other artist's work because we do have to support each other.
Got to take care of our own :)

[ropes]

almost exactly same sentiment here i have made 1000s of pendants and i don't believe I've ever worn a single one no matter how nice I have always preferred to collect friends work as i find appreciation in others work even if i could make the style pieces myself but I see each artist has certain styles that they excel at more so than others Truthfully i prefer stone and metal jewelry I rarely wear glass at all pieces i have collected from good friends and masters in their own styles go into a collection due to appreciation. I don't intend to wear pieces i have collected from others as it has a higher value to me rather than use for fashion I prefer real lapis lazuli from Afganistan which has a very unique look and is much rarer and historically valuable strung along with silver smithed pieces or hand carved stone of another kind but a few friends work looks just as much like stone that no one can tell the difference unless informed Likewise on occasion i make pieces i wouldn't necessarily make for sale just because it is something experimental usually not intended to appear as glass and wear because it matches the rest of the stones,metals,leather, etc. usually someone else gets to model the wearables

[hashmasta-kut]

And then you have boring people like myself who wear no jewelry, no tats, piercings, zero body adornment at all, except for clothes and hair some places.

[mattholimeau]

And then you have boring people like myself who wear no jewelry, no tats, piercings, zero body adornment at all, except for clothes and hair some places.

That ain't so boring - I generally run the same way. I only put on one of my pendants if I'm in the mood to talk about glass with people.

I'd have to say, though, that I'm not sure "wearing a pendant" and "getting a tattoo" should be thrown together like that.... as you can always take off the pendant. (Yeah, there's lazer surgery and the whatnot, and piercings can heal, but they're much more involved processes.)

Dunno quite what you mean with the "hair some places"... though I do have way too much nose hair.

[hashmasta-kut]

I mean I am not like a Sasquatch, but yeah too much nose hair, I hear you there.

I lump it all together under the term zero body adornment. I am not decorated in any way.

[mattholimeau]

I hear ya in terms of no body adornment... but I'm just saying a pendant is more like clothes than like a tat.

Really, though, (and this is a bit of a tangent, but maybe interesting) you can't avoid presenting yourself in whatever manner you present yourself. Whether you shave your face, what hairstyle you wear, how you walk, what posture you have, what clothes you wear, what pendant you're wearing that day (or not) - all things that provide mechanisms oft subconscious judgement from other people. In short: stand up straight, dammit, matt, it's important.

[MrSmeeth]

Hell no I make some awesome pendys :)

[hashmasta-kut]

I hear ya in terms of no body adornment... but I'm just saying a pendant is more like clothes than like a tat.



I disagree. Clothes serve a protective and decency function. I dont wear clothes so much to decorate myself, as for a purpose only. Tattoos and pendants are body decoration only. They only serve as protective devices if they are talismans or images to ward off evil spirits.