🧛🏻‍♀️🖤🐺

-There’s something strange about the chocolate hearts the kids are bringing home from school. You’re certain they shouldn’t be bleeding.

-The Sweethearts are strange, too. They used to say things like “Kiss me” or “Be Mine,” but now they just have an incomprehensible series of letters and numbers. The woman behind the desk at the drug store swears they predict your exact date of death, if you can crack the code.

-You find roses left on the hood of your car, with a note from your secret admirer. It was sweet, at first, but it’s been over a month and the roses haven’t wilted or dried at all, and sometimes the scent is so strong it wakes you up.

-The town has lined Main Street with ribbons and hearts and tiny Cupids hanging from every streetlight. You don’t like the way they sway in the breeze, or the way their arrows are always pointing straight at you.

A) There are a ton of fruits that get categorised as vegetables. Like this also applies to pumpkins, squashes and cucumbers.

Well, you can always flat out ask, but that’s not the best way to go about it. The general script I usually recommend (first made for my brother, who is too nice for confrontation but who was spending WAY too much on secondhand car parts) goes like this. Please keep in mind that it’s only really fair to do this when someone has not already said that the price is firm. (Though, if something is listed weeks ago, I will occasionally ask if they’re still firm on price just to see if that’s changed):

1. Is this item still available? (If it has been for sale for a while, you can probably ask for a lower price--seller may want it gone.) 

2. General question about the item--size, condition, how old it is, etc. Anything not already covered in the description.

3. Appreciation for answer to the question + reason why this may not be perfect for you at the current price. This could be “Oh, it’s way bigger than I thought, I’m not sure if it’ll work for what I have in mind!” (True of the windows I just bought; they’re hella long!) or “Man, I really love this but it’s super far for me to drive!” You are trying to convey some hesitation over buying so that the seller will be motivated to entice you into buying, and to lay groundwork for this:

4. Would you consider...(amount of money). The amount I offer is typically about  half to a third less than asking price, or, if I think I can get away with it, what I would consider the Crazy Good Deal price. (Offering $25 for an item priced at $100 is a Crazy Good Deal; normally I don’t try that low, because it’s almost an insult. In this case, I knew the seller had had them listed for a while, wanted to get rid of them by tomorrow, was flexible on price, and had to admit to some damage to the items.)  Before you get to this point, try to avoid committing to buying or sounding like you Must Have This Thing--you want the seller to know you could still walk away.

Also, don’t put this number on the table right away--you want to get in your explanation and questions (if in person, try to establish a rapport first!) before you put the number down, because from here out it’s just talking money, and that’s all people will pay attention to.

At this point, the seller may say:

Yes, I’d take that. 

No, I’m firm at the listing price

No, but I would take (amount of money).

If it’s 1., congrats! Be appropriately grateful, arrange pickup, and be punctual and polite. If 2., you say either: “Okay, thank you! I can make that work,” or “Okay, thank you for considering that! I can’t make this work at the current price, but please let me know if you change your mind later. I really appreciate your time on this,” or something else like that.  Personally, I rarely even ask on an item if I’m not willing to pay full price; negotiating down is nice, but usually I’ve already decided to get the thing. I don’t like to feel like I’ve wasted the seller’s time.

If they respond with 3., you can either counteroffer with an amount in the middle of your first number and theirs, or you can just take them up on what they said. 

Keep in mind that both of you can walk away from the sale, but that you’re not likely to lose anything by just asking. Be polite, respectful of other people’s time, and read the listing (everybody hates being asked questions they already gave answers to). This, of course, also applies at yard sales or other situations where price is negotiable. My brother really likes the “would you consider...” line because they can always respond with “No, I won’t.” And that’s totally fair! 

My inspiration for this project are some dressers I saw at Anthropology that have gorgeous carved details. But I want my dresser to cost $200 or less rather than $2,000.

Of course I can’t add actual hand-carved wood, but I’ve got clay and some silicon molds + epoxy and a potential overconfidence in my DIY abilities.

First up, I removed the existing hardware and sanded this pretty lady down. She is now looking MUCH better without all those terrible stains (and the drawer pulls weren’t doing it for her, tbh).

I surprised even myself with this one and am so delighted by the outcome. I’ve been using her for a week and dusted her once (with the amount of seal I used, a fluffy swifter duster glides along all the finicky crevices just fine) and she seems sturdy. Time will tell! Thanks for all the kind words on this fun little journey.

Honestly I do very little actual stained glass, in terms of soldering glass together. I wind up using my glass tools a fair bit to cut and shape glass for other reasons, like putting in lights or adding to furniture or even just replacing picture frame glass. Doing basic glass cutting is really easy, and the tools required are very inexpensive--a glass cutter, running pliers, grozing pliers, and sandpaper is all you really need to start. I also have some decent glass nippers. Each of those will run you somewhere in the ballpark of ten dollars, give or take a bit. I think my nippers were closer to $20. If you're just wanting to be able to add fun glass to stuff, then that's very achievable.

The more expensive tools are your soldering iron, and a glass grinder. The grinder isn't technically necessary, but the alternative is sanding/shaping entirely by hand, which sucks. Both of these are worth investing in decent tools. Solder and copper foil tape are also not the cheapest, and neither is glass, though glass, at least, you can sometimes find secondhand. If you're working inside, you also want to consider how you're ventilating, and whether you need some type of breath protection. I tend to do most of my soldering outdoors.