indieview with jeffrey woods of woodeye

Indieview with Jeffrey Woods of Woodeye Studios

Where can buyers find your work?

I sell primarily via my main online store at Woodeye.com and Etsy at

Woodeyeglass.etsy.com. My glassware is also featured on a number of

other online stores such as MixtGoods.com, MartiniArt.com, and

NewYorkBarStore.com, as well as dozens of small galleries and

boutiques around the country.

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How did you get started working with glass?

It's kind of funny actually, because glass was one of the only art

forms I had not worked with during my many years either studying art

in college, or as a practicing artist afterwards. I spent years as a

painter, stone and metal sculptor, and silversmith before I took 8

years off from my art to work in the software industry. By the time I

was done selling my soul to people who could care less, I knew that it

was time to be my own boss and have a go at a full time arts career

once more. I knew that I wanted to move into a functional art form so

I searched around trying to find a niche that would suit my particular

skills and design talents. I explored several areas from concrete

staining, to high end briar pipe carving, to silk screening and

t-shirt design, but in each case I either felt like the market was too

limited or too saturated for me to make an impact. At some point I

came across someone who was creating sandblasted slate wall reliefs,

and I was immediate excited by what the technique could allow me to

do. I purchased some basic equipment, a few pieces of various stones

and tiles, and then as an after thought I grabbed an old glass from

the cupboard. An hour later that after thought had my mind racing once

more, and I had suddenly abandoned the tile and stone etching ideas

for which I had bought the equipment, and was solidly set on glass as

my medium of choice. Even then though I was envisioning just simple

etched glass, but it did not take long before I became frustrated by

the sameness of the clear or frosted "colors". I had spent years as a

painter and sculptor known for bold colors and designs, and I knew I

needed to find away to bring that intensity to my glassware. So after

about 6 month of mono color glass etching I bought and airbrush and

started experimenting with glass paints... with very little success to

begin with. Painting on glass is a temperamental art that requires a

lot of care and consistency in your work! It took me months to iron

out the kinks before I could finally start combining the painting and

etching successfully... but the end result was all worth it!

What was your very first design and what influenced it?

My first glass design was my Art Deco Olives martini glass. I had

found a great deal on a box of crystal martini glasses, and I decided

they were a great form to start with. In fact that was all I sold at

first, just Art Deco Olive martini glasses in clear or frosted

versions. I created it wile thinking of the classic martini image with

it's olive on a stick, and it was an immediate hit... at least by my

then very easy to please standards. I think I sold my first set less

than a day after putting them online.

Out of all of your creations/designs, which one is your favorite?

This is an incredibly hard choice really, but if I had to pick, I

guess my painted Purple and Blue Bubbling Arrows champagne flutes are

my favorite... for the moment anyway. Though my Purple and Turquoise

Snowflake martini is a close second.

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What inspires and motivates you?

Motivation is an easy one for me, in that I really like to pay my

mortgage on time every month, and yet I also have no desire to do

anything other than create as I am now. I am now very much motivated

by the enterprise itself, the desperate desire to not merely be a

starving and struggling artist (I did that plenty already), but rather

to legitimately survive on my own creations. I use to work a lot less

and make a lot more when I did software work in SillyCon Valley, but I

have never been happier to be overwhelmed with work than I am right

now. To know that my glassware brings a smile to someone's face, plus

puts food on my plate... and to know that's all because of my own hard

work, that's what makes it all really worthwhile.

Inspiration is another item altogether, I just wish I could record all

the designs that flicker thru my mind every single day. I have never

had any problem with inspiration, because the world around me

constantly throws ideas at me, and I can't catch but a tiny fraction

before they are washed away. I have been confident in my identity as

an artist for a very long time because in many ways I could see no

alternative. I see images in the contours of trees, or the way a

shadow plays on the wall, or watching geckos hunting upon my studio

window. My mind is one of those that races along and seeing and

creating on the fly, and I have hundreds of designs stacked up just

waiting for me to have an opportunity to use them.

Do you have anything special in the works for the new year?

This year was huge for me, and next year will only be bigger still.

First I will be turning my glorified carport studio into a fully

enclosed and functional workspace that does not leave me at the whims

of the weather as I am now. I was out painting glasses at 1 am with a

propane blower heater because it rained for 3 days and I am behind on

Christmas orders... I look forward to having walls on my studio! Once

my new studio is completed in January then I get to work on my next

cycle of products and designs. I will be introducing a painted and

etched flatware line in the spring, as well as sun catchers, and

perhaps most excitedly will be my return to galleries with a series of

free standing and hanging glass sculptures that I hope to have on

display by next fall. Last year was the year that made my glassware

line a reality, but next year is when I make it grow and shine!

I hope everyone has a wonderful new year!

Jeffrey Woods