Bitcoin Accepting Company Highlight: Glasscraft Inc (with fundraiser)
Anyone that's every tried to get into glassblowing knows that it's expensive. From torches to tools to glass itself, things add up pretty quickly. If you've been following my glassblowing articles before this you'll know I'm working with just a few tools, many of them home fabricated. We're going to feature Glass Craft today, a company that not only accepts bitcoin but has a membership that offers pretty nice discounts on the stuff I (and all other lampworkers) need. All proceeds from this article and any donations marked "glasscraft membership" sent to the bitcoin address at the end of the article will be used to help us by this yearly membership, which I'll go into below.
Formed in 1970 by a man by the name of Homer Hoyt, known for writing a glassblowing book by the name of Glassblowing: An Introduction. It was formed with the stated goal to share essential tools, techniques and information to glassblowers. It started in Eugene Oregon but has a location in Golden Colorado at this point. In 2009, it merged with Winship Glass with Dave Winship. Dave and a crew of 10 other interesting people make up Glasscraft today, which is still providing glassblowers all over with tools, glass and information. Now they accept bitcoin, which is partially why we want to shine a bit of a spotlight on them.
Being that much of my money is made here on Steemit, a lot of my cash is generally in the form of cryptocurrency, specifically bitcoin. The fact that Glass Craft accepts bitcoin makes the process of us giving them our money that much easier. We hope to encourage other bitcoin loving glass artists to start spending their bitcoin there to help both GlassCraft and the bitcoin economy. It keeps money out of the hands of the banks and into the hands of the people, which is the goal at the end of the day.
We've got a shopping cart of between 225-250 dollars USD that we're trying to get the money together for, if anyone is interested in helping. This is for glass, as I am nearly completely out of just about everything. If anyone's coming to Anarchapulco and wants to support both us and this bitcoin supporting company, consider purchasing a tool for us to bring with you. Most glassblowing tools are small but the cost of shipping to Mexico is often too much for our budget. If you're interested in that, contact me and we'll talk more about it.
I think it's important to support businesses who accept bitcoin because it not only keeps them accepting it, but it shows them that there's real value and use. When they see a growing percentage of their customer base using bitcoin, they'll start encouraging it through the means of discounts, as they're already pretty generous with them. Most of our colored glass we're planning on ordering is on clearance, which is why we're getting so much glass for that little money in our cart.
They've got this membership that they have available for 100 dollars USD a year. It's got the following perks: 25 percent discount on color from certain companies, 15% color on Kimble Tubing and rod (higher quality borosilicate producer), 20 percent discount on simax and chinese clear and colored tubing and rod, 5-15 percent discount on most tools and supplies. This pretty much covers most of their website, save for exclusive expensive items. For someone like me, discounts like that are huge as that little bit of money goes a long way here, or it could be spent on more glass or tools, which are always desired.
All the proceeds from this article plus any donations sent to the first address below marked glasscraft membership are to pay for the membership. If you want to donate for our order or tools, use the second bitcoin address below. Thanks for reading.
Glasscraft Membership Address: 1Q85iEuyy6uY2tpSfHk1i6JukyhXHkU4cW
General Glassblowing/Order Fund Address: 1LAS6Dr7jBD9HTzKFT9tcg9Nv3KAXphtZX