Laurie’s Cobalt World Blog

NEW ITEMS

About ten days or so ago, we received 46 new styles of cobalt blue glass to add to our offerings.  All of it is American handmade glass and it is gorgeous.  I can’t wait for you to see it.  The creamer shown at the left is just one of the many pieces that will soon be available.

You may recall that in another post I said receiving shipments was like Christmas.  Let me amend that.  The first five cases or so of a shipment are like Christmas.  After that, it starts feeling a little more like work.

I personally inspect every piece of glass.  With handmade glass, small variations and small bubbles are to be expected.  Each piece is unique.  But occasionally we receive a piece with more than a little bubble or a scratch or something that’s more than a small variation, and I refuse to accept those pieces.  So basically, I’m making judgment calls on hundreds of pieces of cobalt glass.

Luckily, the craftsmen who made these items did an excellent job (it can take up to 11 different craftsmen to make one piece).  There were relatively few problems and most of the problem pieces were highly debatable.  But I had to look nonetheless.

(Well, okay, I admit I have to play with them a bit, too, holding them in the light, looking at the beautifully polished surfaces, checking out all of the detail.)

You may be wondering why you don’t see all of those new products on the website yet.  The answer is simple:  we take our own pictures of our products.  Actually, my husband Andrew does that.  And since I only get his photography services part-time, it is taking a while to work through them all.  And of course, there’s a lot of programming involved on the website.  I do that part.

I work on updating the site when he has new pictures ready and catch up on other things in between.  One of the other things we’ve been doing is testing recipes.  We make every recipe we post.  My family loves that.  Especially when we try cookies and then I say, “I want to try it again with a little salt in it.”  “Yeah!” is always the response (or some variation on that).

PHOTOGRAPHS

I received an email asking how we make the white backgrounds for our pictures.  The bright white backgrounds are actually pictures in which we digitally removed the background.  We don’t enhance the products, by the way.  They don’t need that.

The picture of the creamer at the top of the page is an example of a transparent background where we removed the background completely.

Often the deep cobalt color will cause a magenta or other colored shadow to form as the light passes through the glass objects.  In that case, it is sometimes just easiest to remove the background altogether rather than have a distracting color in the picture.

To get the almost-white backgrounds, we use a homemade lightbox.  I made it from a cardboard box, tissue paper, plastic lenses meant to cover a florescent light fixture, and shelf liner.  I made it in one long evening.

The picture of the candlestick is an example of a picture with the background left unaltered.  (It’s also one of the items that will be available soon.)

The lights on top of the light box are just small utility lights clamped onto the bottom of an old metal music stand!  The side lights are desk lamps.  Andrew uses a variety of small boxes to do some of the height adjustment on the camera. 

It’s a pretty low-tech solution.  But so far, we like the results.  I hope you do, too.

SALE ITEMS

You may be wondering about the sale items.  I moved a lot of items to the sale page and drastically cut their prices.  In some cases, the items are hard to find and we only have one left.  I cannot find a reliable source to continue carrying them.  In some cases, I’ve decided not to carry items of that type, that is, items that are not made from glass.  I had thought at one time that I might focus on the color cobalt, but I love the glass so much that I’m going to keep my focus on glass.

(Surprise! there will be a couple of red glass pieces and clear glass pieces in the new products.  I really like them.  It’s not the same level as my love of cobalt, but they are very, very nice.)

If you purchase more than $99 in sale items, I will actually be losing money since I cut the prices so much.  That’s fine with me.  Go for it.  I look forward to the opportunity to show you our outstanding commitment to customer service.  I don’t look at my business as a series of individual transactions but rather as building relationships with customers that will last for years to come.

One last thing - don’t forget that Mother’s Day is right around the corner.  We would be glad to gift wrap your purchase for you and send it directly to mom with a special note from you for no additional charge.  You know you’ve been drooling over the cobalt glassware.  Mom will, too!

In less than two weeks, I’ll be sending out the first ever newsletter for Laurie’s Cobalt World. I’m very pleased with how it is turning out. I hope that you will take a minute or two to sign up for the newsletter.

Just go to our special newsletter sign-up page and enter your email address. There are a few more questions that you can answer or leave blank. Answering them will help us build a better newsletter, but that’s entirely up to you.*

Once you click “Subscribe To List,” you will be sent a confirmation email that you need to click to finish your subscription. That second step helps us make sure that we have the right email and that we don’t send one to someone who hasn’t truly signed up to receive one. We don’t want to be accused of spam!

If your email requires special permissions for first-time emailers, take a second to add our email address to your address book: newsletter@cobalt-world.com.

Unsubscribing is even easier, so don’t worry that you’ll be stuck with the newsletter if you aren’t completely satisfied with it. But rest assured that I’m working hard to make sure you are pleased with it.

In each issue, I’ll have a feature article, recipe, tips, product spotlight, and a special offer only available to newsletter recipients. Topics will include entertaining, cooking, home decor, beverages, and more. I’ll keep it brief because I’m sure you are a busy person like me.

Of course, you can choose to forward the newsletter to your friends and make them recipients, too. So they can take advantage of special offers as well. Hint, hint.

You can rest assured that I have personally prepared any recipe I recommend to you. My children love that part of my business. I sometimes make it twice if I want to compare two versions or make sure my improvement is really an improvement. They like that part even more.

The first recipe will be Rosemary Walnuts. They are absolutely delcious and always a bit hit with company and family alike.

But you’ll have to sign up for the newsletter to find out how to make them!

Laurie

*Your private information is not given, sold, or rented to anyone else. Our Newsletter is adminstered by MailChimp. You can read their privacy statement here: http://www.mailchimp.com/privacy.phtml. They don’t give, sell, use, or rent your information except in conjuction with administering this newsletter for Laurie’s Cobalt World.

I’m not sure who gets more excited when a delivery truck pulls up me or our Chihuahuas. They bark out their enthusiasm and run to the door. So do I - run, that is, not bark. I love receiving new cobalt pieces. It feels like Christmas. You’d think that I get to keep it all for myself!

Yesterday, we received two new items. My husband and I were delighted with both, but Andrew clearly favors the large coffee glass mugs. I think he exclaimed something like, “Now we’re talking!” I don’t drink coffee, so I can’t really relate, but he was beaming and said he wanted some of them. I just loved the dark cobalt color and the feel of the mug in my hand.

I reminded him of our deal - nothing from Laurie’s Cobalt World goes into the kitchen and nothing from my kitchen or dining room goes into Laurie’s Cobalt World. He replied, “That rule pertains to you, not me.” Hmph. We’ll see about that!

I may let him have his glass coffee mugs because he has actually been in search of large ones for quite a while. And I have my eye on the new cobalt blue cosmopolitan glasses (what’s good for the goose . . .). I don’t drink cosmopolitans, but these unique glasses are also perfect for serving dessert. I do dessert. Definitely.

As soon as I saw them, my mind started categorizing all of the things that would look gorgeous served in those glasses. Since I’m on a diet, I first thought of a fruit salad. That’s nice, but I quickly moved on to ice cream. Any ice cream would be lovely, but our family favorite would complement the color so well, I think they were just made for each other.

Our family favorite homemade ice cream recipe is made from an unlikely ingredient. In fact, when we have guests, we ask them to try it before we tell them the flavor. Virtually always we are given a look of disbelief. But even months after the visit, friends will recall how much they enjoyed the ice cream.

I’ll mention just one last thing before I tell you what it is. If I told my family that I was making homemade ice cream and asked them what flavor they wanted, they would all ask for this one. There would be no quibble (just a little disbelief that I would be getting off of my diet again so soon after Christmas).

If I asked my extended family for a flavor, they would choose this one, but they would add mashed, sweetened peaches. That’s good, too, but we like it just as it is.

• 2 quarts of whole milk buttermilk
• 2 pts. of half-n-half
• 4 cups of sugar
• 4 tsp. of vanilla extract
• 2 cups of milk

Mix all ingredients, making sure the sugar is well mixed. Freeze in an ice cream freezer according to manufacturer’s instructions. Serve either soft-frozen or ripen in the freezer.

Yes, I’ve made this with low-fat buttermilk and it turns out well. I’ve made it with fat-free buttermilk, fat-free half-n-half, and Splenda instead of sugar. It’s not as good as the real thing, of course, but as a fat-free, sugar-free dessert, it’s a wonderful treat.

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For those of you who could actually like to drink a cosmopolitan from a cosmospolitan glass, here’s a cosmopolitan recipe from Emeril.

Laurie