It’s time once again to roll the Seconds Carts out for our Annual Seconds Sale. Join us on the last Saturday of June, July & August from 10 am – 2:30 pm to shop for beautiful, handmade glass, at amazing prices. Our carts are full of juicy, fun, and original glass pieces that make a great gift for yourself or others. We’ve added a Mysterious New Twist to our Annual Seconds Sale…Our Seconds are already marked at 50% off our Studio First Prices and we will be offering an additional Mystery Discount during these 3 special Saturday events on June 25th, July 30th, and August 27th.
But what might seconds be you ask? Keep reading to find out all you need to know!
Above all at epiphany we value quality and craftsmanship. We take this very seriously and stake our reputations on it! So when something isn’t up to our standards but isn’t cracked, broken, or sharp we make it a “second”. Our seconds are sweet little jewels with slight imperfections and inconsistencies that don’t match our intention for the piece. Flaws that might not even be noticeable to you unless we point them out.
What’s the difference in the paperweights shown here? Two are seconds and two aren’t. Can you tell which is which?
Before we tell you the answer lets talk about a little bit more about intention. Here intention specifically means our ability to control the incredibly difficult medium of molten glass and to make it do what we want. Glass takes years and years to learn how to work with, how to use color, how to make things the same size and the same shape. It takes a lot of practice. And even then we still sometimes end up with things that didn’t turn out right. It doesn’t make them bad, we love the learning experience and the process of blowing glass is our favorite part after all, but it makes them not up to our high standards of quality.
Another factor is consistency. We work with buyers all over the world who order our glass for their museum stores, galleries and department stores. Those buyers are purchasing and selling our works based on a photo they see of the piece. No one likes ordering something and having it arrive looking completely different from the picture! So we need to be vigilant about consistency to keep our clients and their clients happy.
We love “happy accidents” but the inability to consistently control the glass is like shopping for day old bread or at a Nordstrom Rack, good but not the best. Our seconds are signed, but they are signed as “seconds”. We want you to know who made them, but we also want you to know they aren’t part of our line of gallery quality artworks.
We offer our seconds for sale out of our studio only. Marked down 50-90% making them an affordable way for someone to start their collections or give a nice gift without spending a ton of money.
So have you figured out which ones are which at the left? The top two paperweights are both first and the bottom are seconds.
Let’s dive into the different types of seconds and why they are seconds.
Pieces that do not match the size, color, or shape of the work in our lines we sell to retailers. Differences in color, shape, size, pattern or small air bubbles, or tool marks could make pieces a second. While the ring holder on the left is a studio first because it has a nice straight stem. The ring holder on the right is a little shorter and slightly off-center so we add it to our seconds cart.
These are made when we are working on a new product. Either when we are developing something completely new from scratch, like when we designed the Tornado Decanter which took over a year to figure out! Or when we are working out fresh colors and patterns for a classic design like our Sleeping Kitties which are a fan favorite. This year we are coming out with 3 new colors. We went through months of trial and error playing with color and pattern to make the perfect new beauties. In the image on the left you can see some of our rejected colors for the Chocolate Mousse Sleeping Kitty and in the image on the right our perfect version which you can find in our webstore.
Made as the glassblowers at epiphany increase their skill sets. We have all levels of glassblowers here and working your way up from intern to master means learning how each piece is made by assisting and then making it yourself. To do this you have to practice and the practice pieces are often seconds until you get really good at your craft. One very difficult technique to master is the art of striping glass. You can watch a video of us doing it here. To practice this you need to be able to work very quickly on a small piece like an ornament so you can do a lot of the striping part and not all of the other steps which take a lot of time and use up a lot of glass.
Pieces created during our workshops. Our glass artists do a demonstration of the pieces each guest will create so they can watch and learn about the process. Instead of being focused on quality, the artists are focused on communicating and teaching. Glass is tough to master and demands all of your attention so these pieces are often quirky and fun but not refined and polished. The cat and bird demo pieces make wonderful whimsy purchases, each capturing a special feeling.
One thing all of our seconds have in common is that they are not cracked or broken. We will never sell broken pieces, glass is sharp and if something is cracked it may crack more or explode and hurt someone!
We hope this gave you a better understanding of the difference between gallery-quality art glass and our seconds. Now when you drop by during open studio days to see our Seconds carts or visit us for our Annual Seconds Sale you’ll be a more informed shopper!
We’ve added a Mysterious New Twist to our Annual Seconds Sale…Our Seconds are already marked at 50% off our Studio First Prices and we will be offering an additional Mystery Discount during our special Saturday events on June 25th, July 30th, and August 27th, 2022
Each Discount will be unique to that date and we guarantee you’ll love the price as it will be in addition to the already awesome Marked Price of 50% Off the original price.
If you would prefer to book a private appointment to avoid crowds, please call us at 248-745-3768 for scheduling. Don’t forget that we also offer curbside pickup Tuesday – Saturday from 10am – 3pm. Click here for more info.
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Open Shopping: Thursday & Saturday 10 am to 3 pm | Curbside: Tuesday to Saturday: 10 am to 3 pm | Other times: By appointment.
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