My Ersatz Ocean

I love the ocean. If I were ever to live somewhere other than London it would have to be a coastal town.

I also love sea glass. But as I don't live near an ocean I decided I'd spend this week trying to obtain the next best thing, tumbled glass. Hence the title of my post, the ersatz ocean I refer to is my tiny stone tumbler, which has finally come out of it it's box ten years after I bought it (long story involving an ex boyfriend who liked pebbles).

Initially I just wanted to make tumbled glass chips, but then I got the idea to try a whole jar, and so make a vase. I used an old curry paste jar, which is a lovely square shape with a long neck. It looked lovely all frosted.

To decorate it I marbled it using nail polish to create a crashing waves pattern. Overall I'm quite happy with the result. It's the first thing I've made for years.

Introduction

My situation is basically this:

I am going to turn forty at midnight this New Years Eve, and already I'm evaluating where my life is going.

I am single, with a young son who's almost two, I share a house with a friend of twelve years, I have a BA in Literature, and a crappy dead end job in a shop. I have much to be thankful for, the main one being my wonderful son, the light of my life, and the best, if most radical decision I've ever made in my life. What would I like to change? Well being single kind of sucks, but that's a topic for another blog. The other thing is my job, which I've held down for seven years (less ten months on maternity leave), and I reside at exactly the same place in the pecking order as when I started there. That's the nature of small businesses, there isn't much of a career ladder.

I was trying to find a new job, just for a change of scene, but the moment I read the words 'must be flexible' my heart sinks. Because for 'must be flexible' read the words 'must not have kids'. Having kids means you can't be flexible in a shop involving shift work, you can't come in to work at a moment's notice, you can't just stay home when they don't need you, and you can't organise your life around the company's needs. In short, employment opportunities for women with toddlers are limited.

My solution, to start my own online business, become one of these 'mumtrepreneurs' I've been hearing about. I'm going to sell craft supplies, it's a market I have some experience with and one which I can see is growing, it also has a very strong online presense. So far I've set up shops on Etsy.com and Folksy.com and I also sell quite a lot on eBay. Bit by bit I'm going to build up my business until it's something I can make a living at.

I hope anyone reading this will wish me luck.