glasses, glasses everywhere, and not a drop to drink

Every now and then I end up with an unusual freelance project and my house gets taken over with unusual art supplies.  A few months ago, a friend of mine asked me if I would be interested in taking on a job for a local charity, painting some wine glasses for a fundraiser.  It's a good cause.  "How hard could THAT be?" I asked myself...always a dangerous question that ranks right up there with "What could go wrong?"and "Think I should have another?"

So, the local Family and Childrens' Services have a long-standing annual fundraiser, where the well-heeled can buy a ticket for a tour of even more well-heeled houses, and sample some local wines and eat delicious food at those houses.  There are musicians and artists involved as well, and it's a lovely evening.  At the end, the guests take home a hand-painted wine glass as a memento. 

I talked to my awesome arty friend Ben, and asked if he would be interested in splitting the work, since there are  (ahem)  THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY glasses to be painted by the end of August.  With unusual paints and squeeze bottles, and they all have to fired in the oven.  He agreed (good man), and we made a plan.  Then I got sick with Lyme and didn't do anything beyond survive for a few weeks which set back the process considerably.  And now it's time to get crackin' because it will be the end of August before we know it, and there are FIFTEEN CASES of glasses in my basement that need to be painted! 

But now we've found a production method.  Ben does the design, and I fill in and add details and the sponsor's name.  It's actually pretty fun, each one is turning out differently and the clients are happy and I'm eager to see how they are received at the event.  We do need to keep painting two cases per week to get them done in time...