Serendipity!

Serendipity: the effect by which one accidentally stumbles upon something fortunate, especially while looking for something entirely unrelated (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serendipity).

Pretty much sums up a recent occurrence for me. Over the weekend, I participated in a local benefit event were I, along with other artists/craftspeople, sold our wares to raise money for local women who are going through cancer treatment. First time that I ever dared to sell my glass work to complete strangers. And, I did sell a few pieces, which was quite gratifying.

But as nice as it was to be able to contribute to the cause, the serendipitous event is even more exciting. I was sitting next to a co-worker who was also selling her work and we were chatting about various creative projects. And then it happened...she came up with an idea where the two of us could combine our skills, her's with fabric and mine with glass, and create a potentially lucrative product. Not at all what I had expected to get out of the event, but we're both completely psyched about making this a reality, so we've met, come up with some tasks for each of us and perhaps in a couple of weeks, we'll have our first prototype that we can start showing to people for feedback.

This same person has also requested some beaded bookmarks to be used as a marketing incentive for another project she's working on.

And yet another bit of serendipity...I was at a dinner party and happened to mention that my hobby was making glass beads. The person I was talking with immediately came up with the idea of making beaded wine charms and told me that she would commission a set of 8 if I could put some together (and I can, they're not going to be hard to make). So, I'm also really psyched about doing this little project with an eye to being able to offer this as a product for sale.

I think I've mentioned this before...I always saw my glass hobby as just that...something I did that I liked and was fun. I never believed that I could sell my things, or that there was any business potential to what I was doing.

I'm starting to believe....
Serendipity is a wonderful motivator!