#himteckerjam

Yes i do! You saw that sparkly pipe I made earlier...

Oh shit,that’s Thomas?I better warn AMR. Whenever he gets started on here, he comes our way right after

Headwraps are not synonymous with black people. Indians, Asians, Latinos, and some Native American tribes wear headwraps.

Same with jewelry, though there are a few designs that are considered African. However a tribe in South Africa is going to have different ways of making jewelry, designs, and types or said jewelry than a West African tribe or black Americans.

I don’t know about you, but no one in my family is passing down any artistic history. In fact, any things they pass down to me are likely very different from a group of black people from literally anywhere else. Literally saying all black people share a culture is the same as saying all Native Americans share a culture. Nooo. Just no.

I don’t want to be “Not like other black kids”. I WANT TO BE ACCEPTED BY OTHER BLACK KIDS. I would not be telling people to not treat someone different based on their  interests if I wanted to be a ‘token’. “Tokenism” is when a person tries to be accepted by a group they don’t belong to. Where they accept themselves being used as an out to justify shittyness. I don’t want that. You are like the 3rd or 4th person who has tried to project their old self hate onto me. I like being me, I like being black. Hell, if I truly didn’t I wouldn’t say I was. This is the INTERNET for Christ’s sake. I could just pretend to be white, reblog white power nonsense, shit like that. I’m not a token, and me disagreeing with you doesn’t make me one.

 Five days till my birthday! Shout out to whoever got me that Crockpot

Do you know how long I’ve lusted for that? I’m gonna make beef stew-- the kind with a red wine base

See that big ass number? Its actually up to $1,453 at this point. My shop rent is about $150 a week and, sadly, its climbed up this high because of circumstances I cannot exactly help: A lag in my product selling, fatigue/depression (having fibromyalgia and SAD [seasonal affective disorder] due to it being Summer has kicked my ass. I’ve already gone on nightshift and I’m getting three times as much done, though!) keeping me from doing as much as I want and more has really kicked me ass. The result is me ending up here deep in the red.

However, I am not asking anyone to help me pay this enormous sum! I’m asking help getting the materials to make the glass to do it myself

As folks know I am a rare, legendary pokemon in my industry: a Black glassblower. A Black female queer one at that. So there’s some pressure on me to make it and a good bit of it is self imposed. I’d like to be the person who, somewhere down the line, takes on some other Black folk and train them as my apprentice. And then we’ll really be out here.

Cant do that if I’m out on my ass with no place to hook my torch up. 

If I can get the materials to pay half of this off (which will be close to $1k by the middle of june) I’ll be more comfortable and so will the guys who run the shop I work at. I’m far from the only person who’s incurred this much debt in rent but all the others who have make and sell much higher value pieces. My price range would make it very, very difficult 

So I’m hoping here to get about $600. 100% of it is going to go to materials: 8 pieces Schott tubing [scientific glass], about 5 different colors of frit [finely ground pigmented glass], at least $30 in rod [I use Import/Chinese rod since it doesnt exactly go ON the glass I sell. I wont sell product made of imported materials] and as much second quality/odds rod as I can grab onto. 

I want to make a $2,500 order. It’ll be distributed by three different venues to ensure at least 80% of it sells. But I need the materials to do it.

Usually I am a bit squirrely about asking for donations and easily susceptible to guilt or feeling like I’m bothering people but I’ve made a Youcaring. I’m asking for $600. Just enough by a hairline to get the materials I need and, hopefully, a new set of claws if I meet goal. My claws are old, crooked and can sometimes ruin my pipes. It’d be nice to know I have a good, solid pair to work with while making this order. Click ^ to donate

I’ve told the guys who run the shop I’m crowdfunding this. they wish me the best of luck and definitely dont want to see me go after 2.5 years working and learning with them. but they still need their money. And if I lose my spot at this shop I lose my chance to learn the lathe. Something I’ve been wanting for years now that could really advance my career.

And if you’re one of those people who frowns on donations I’ve got an Etsy you can buy my products from if you’re interested.

If you’re one of those people who wants to help but is broke I’d appreciate a reblog. Anything helps! Here I am featured on blacketsy as Himteckerjamglass, again, or, even this post will do. 

If for some reason you dont like Youcaring, my paypal is [email protected]. Baring that, I’m also an illustrator. I’m reopening commissions for this. 

^ I do full color above for $50 per single character. Sketches such as on the left are $25. Linework for $35. 

So yeah, this is me reaching out. Boost, reblog, throw me a dollar, give me a really tight hug-- anything helps. I’ve almost 1,000 followers and if a little over half  of you threw a dollar my way I’d be good to go.