Reception piece finalised

This is now the final arrangement of the 17 disks (representing the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae) for the RNOH reception desk. We spent an afternoon yesterday tweaking, moving, adjusting the curves and swapping some over to get the right balance. It will now be marked up for these exact positions, the glass carefully removed, then the stainless steel will be sandblasted and brushed to a silky sheen, reassembled (protecting against scratches) and the glass cleaned and gently silicone-fixed into the clips. Then it will be disassembled again and packed ready for installation on 22 November. I can't wait. Now it's getting so close, I just want to have the whole thing safely delivered and handed over.

Koukan take down

When I arrived to take down the exhibition, I was convinced it had all been to no avail, but the gallery owner gently guided me round and said, Would I like to see all my red dots? What red dots?, I said. And she, with a face like the cat who's got the cream, showed me 5 dots and spaces where something had been removed and sold. I couldn't have been more astonished.

Artists' talks

We did our artists' talks yesterday to a crowded (! huh) room of about 10. I redeployed some of the PowerPoint I'd done at Zest - which at least interested the gallery owner, so maybe just worth doing. A passer-by actually enquired about Hamlet's goblet (my giant wine glass which is in the window) and said he'd come back. But I don't believe he will. One just has to think, 'You never know. If you don't put yourself out there nothing happens.'

New ideas

Here's one of Gudawer's photographs of glass details - he's slightly manipulated this one. We've printed up 20 A4-sized prints of different ones to have in the gallery to attract some of the architectural clientele. I'm sure there's a lot of potential in these if one could just find a designer wanting to fill large white walls with some colour and verve.

Win some; lose some

The good news is that one of my pieces taken by a gallery in Corning has sold. The bad news is that my duo show at the Koukan Gallery opened yesterday and only 4 of my invitees came. Nothing sold for either of us. The good news is that I swapped these fine earrings for one of my pieces on show. I would have done this anyway, but it was a nice venue for seeing my work. The not-so-bad news is that I didn't sell at Art London, though much admired, they told me.

Art London

Last night was the private view of Art London - very champagne and Chelsea set. I have two pieces on the Zest stand and I don't suppose I'll have many opportunities to exhibit in the same space as the likes of John Piper, Elizabeth Frink and Damien Hirst. So it's quite nice. There was nothing on show I would truly have liked to own and some of the prices were goggle-worthy. A lot of meticulously executed still-lifery.

Construction in progress

We had lunch in the workshop in Cambridgeshire where the metalwork for my RNOH project is being constructed. This is how it is looking - not yet finished, but it was in my contract that it should be finally approved by the Commissioner before installation. Which it was. We'd changed the fixing method since they had seen the prototype and I was confidently nervous. Another couple of days now to fit the last pieces (17 altogether, representing the thoracic and lumbar disks of the spine). Then, when I've made my last tweaks, it will get a brush polish and be taken down ready for installation at the venue in mid November. Oh, and the Opera House eggs went into a pear and almond tart which everyone said was outstandingly delicious. A good day.

Murano

It's sometimes challenging to make everything in this blog glass-related. Lunch yesterday at Gordon Ramsey's fine dining (and oddly named) Murano just squeezes in, though the, um, 'chandelier' with bits of glass in it pictured above wasn't very Murano-glass-ish and didn't match up to the superb cuisine (exquisite amuses bouches including risotto marbles, basil sorbet, pesto truffles, lemon and earl grey ice). The second picture I can't justify, but must blog it because these are the free-est-range eggs you can think of - laid onstage at the Royal Opera House last night during the dress rehearsal of Carmen - calm hens all right. We're having them for supper tonight (the eggs, not hens). OK, I'll serve them on a glass plate.