Anyone Still Read Books?

     Seems as if everything is getting more and more technologically oriented and less personal.  The last piece I made was the reading glasses case out of Zebrawood and I'm currently working on another to present to the place where I bought my glasses as a possible inventory item for them. The salesman seems to think it's a sale-able item but I have some reservations.  As I was doing some research on the web (how else?) I came across very few, custom, one of a kind, wooden glass cases.  That either means that there isn't a market or else the individual craftsman, like myself, simply cannot compete with the mass produced items.  I guess I'm eternally hopeful so I'll find out and share the adventure with you.
     That brings me to the subject of actually reading books.  As I was doing my research I came across a book titled The Encyclopedia of Furniture by Joseph Aronson.  Love the technology of being able to log in to my library account, search for the book, and then have it brought to my library branch.  This book was published in 1965 and goes A-Z on any subject related to furniture and the major influences of various countries.  There's just something about sitting in a comfortable chair with a book and cat on your lap, sipping a glass of wine and turning the pages to discover new things!  Although I use the internet a lot, turning pages just has a better feel than clicking the mouse and watching the page load up.  It's a large book with lots of black and white pictures for illustrations.  Much of it is things I look at and don't really care for but I can appreciate the effort and skill it takes to create the pieces. It seems that both Diane and I are trying to find our niche as artists/craftsman/designers/entrepreneurs/etc. in this down economy.  I belong to a woodworking group on LinkedIn and posed the question of how many one many shops are doing much business these days and the responses were pretty dismal.  So, another book I checked out is titled How to Survive and Prosper as an Artist.  It's only a couple of years old so maybe it'll offer some hints as to which way to go.
     I guess this is a rambling kind of post but the next one will have more substance on how I came up with the design and the process I went through to make the glass case.  Very interested in seeing how the manager of the shop reacts to them and what the market will bear $$.  As it stands now, all that's left is to rub out the shellac with 4/0 steel wool and some wax and assemble it.  I'll share the pictures and adventure of this next time.