Framing Continues, and a Super Glue Saga

Yesterday was one of those semi-frustrating days - a lot of wasted mats while trying to frame several pieces, and a few tossed razor blades which were causing the wasted mats. But, I also had myself to blame - sometimes my measuring skills just aren't up to the job. I did finally get a smaller piece done to my satisfaction, only two mats instead of the three I had wanted, but I'm happy with the piece. I also wanted to get the mats cut for a very expensive original artwork by an old friend - King Kuka. 

King Kuka was a Blackfoot artist working in watercolors 
and acrylics, as well as handmade paper. His wife, Sandra, 
was from the Twin Cities, so he was familiar with my area 
of the Cities. We always got along really well. I love this 
larger piece of his and want to frame it properly so that 
it really sparks the love. 

King was a Blackfoot artist, who actually lived in the Twin Cities for quite a while. His wife, Sandra, was from the Cities. I loved his smaller works of softly colored pressed paper pieces, but I have a large gouache of his that retails for $1200, and I want to get it properly matted and framed. That didn't turn out well - I couldn't seem to cut a straight cut, or measure properly, for anything. I finally gave up for the day, took a quick run to Michael's for a frame for the smaller piece, stopped by Chipotle to pick up our dinner, and called it a day. One of those "OK Great/Not OK Ick" days. 

King's bread and butter items were these smaller 
pressed paper, hand painted pieces, just flat matted, 
or framed. I sold a BUNCH of these, as did other 
dealers I knew. They were priced right, really attractive, 
and very distinct. King used heavy watercolor paper 
for the base on these. They were marvelous. 

Between everything in the framing area, DH came up to me mid-afternoon with his tube of super glue attached to his finger. We hunted for a small can of acetone, but only had half-gallon tins. So, off we went to the garden with a huge amount of acetone to get the glue and DH separated. Fortunately the acetone did exactly what was needed, and the tube of glue was separated from his finger quite quickly. He's been working on a lot of small repairs for various items that we sell at the shop. It's already the end of March, and it's not very much longer before we start our official Going Out of Business Sale. I'm petrified. 

Super Glue is great stuff, but it can be touchy to use on 
very small items. I guess DH was working on gluing at 
his workbench yesterday afternoon, with an almost empty 
tube of glue. He managed to glue his finger to the tube. 
NOT good. Acetone removed the two, but a new tube 
of glue was purchased while I was getting a picture frame 
at Michael's. After all of that stress, we decided on 
Chipotle's for dinner. 

On that note, I'm wrapping this up. My largest challenge over the next months will be keeping my stress levels under control. I just need to reach the finish line and close the door behind me. But until I can get there, there is SO much that still needs to fall into place. I just keep reminding myself to stay positive and trust in the system and the people that I've hired to help us. Our signs should arrive this week, and we'll be one step closer to removing my wrought iron gratings and locking the doors behind me. Scary!