Oops, or Trying to Find the Opportunity

Confidence:

I've been carting around bins of fused glass pieces for years now.  I thought I had figured it all out.  Lots of bubble wrap, bins that nest when not in use and stack really nicely while I pack up and load.  After a while it became habit and I become confident.

Disaster:

My last show (several weeks ago) was ok, but not great.  I won my first award, but sales were lackluster at best.  Finally it was time to pack up and load out.  This was a show that required us to dolly out to the street so first I wanted to pack everything, take down the tent and then move everything at once.  I failed to notice the slight slope in the walk way as I stacked my bins... see what's coming?  I didn't.  I leaned my shelves on the bins to get them out of the way while I took down the tent with help from my hubby and my friend.  Bins and shelves seem to be doing fine and I'm almost done!  Just getting the canvas into the bag and suddenly CRASH!.  That's when I said "Oops"  or maybe "Oh S---" or maybe something worse.

4 bins stacked, 4 bins went over - gravity had finally won.  Luckily they landed on grass, sadly, it turns out that my method for packing glass is not as good as I thought.  I immediately tried to reach in to assess the damage and immediately cut myself so I had to back off, close the bins back up and take them home with no idea of what I lost.  As we loaded the car I kept telling my very patient husband that I was trying to see this as an opportunity - several of those pieces had been with me for years, but mostly I was frustrated and upset.

After a stop for much needed beer and burgers we finally got home and unloaded the car.  Before I even went in the house I just had to see the damage.  I found my gloves and started sorting.  Out of roughly 100 pieces in the 4 bins I lost 19 and they were all bigger pieces.  Probably around $2000 worth of merchandise.  Here is what the damage looks like:

Lesson:

Before my next show I will have a new packing setup.  This one involves sturdier bins and packing with insulation as well as bubble wrap.  I will probably have to pack an extra bin or two but that's what comes from experience.

Opportunity:

Tonight I am going to start to see what I can make from this.  I have some ideas and they do not all involve pot melts.  In fact, I have several shelves full of failed experiments that might come in handy.  Stay tuned for results!