Many of our customers start out making jewelry as a hobby, or because they can’t find original jewelry and don’t want to buy mass produced pieces and sometimes it’s to design around a specific outfit or occasion. Then…their friends or co-workers see their beautiful pieces and start asking for their own jewelry. It’s a pretty common story. Believe me, I understand this as it’s pretty much how we got into the business. I bought some beautiful pieces in Venice and all my friends began asking me to buy for them when I went back. Because we had a son-in-law from the area, we were going back and forth a lot. It you are at this junction, there are so many parts of the business to consider. I recommend selling for a while to this ready-made group of customers, who can give you feedback, let you know if something falls apart, or just doesn’t work. After selling to this close group of people, consider home parties before you sign up for fairs or shows. From your friends, you can branch out without spending a lot. For the home party, you can reward the hostess with a piece of jewelry of her choice. Home parties are still intimate, and friends will help sell your jewelry as they can try on, and admire each other’s choices. The profits you get from this part of your new occupation can go towards stocking your inventory. But don’t over stock on anything, be frugal as you are still learning what your customers like and don’t like. Google
Tag: Venice
Sales Tax & You
We all collect and pay sales taxes in the state where we have our business. But how will you manage and pay taxes in 50 states with some 9,600 different tax districts? This very important bill is being hidden in with other important legislation in the hopes to get it passed without notice by the very people it impacts! Everyone! Read the email from Tod Cohen, Vice President & Deputy General Counsel, Government Relations, eBay Inc. It’s easy to send your opinion to Congress, Follow this link and submit your signature to stand up for Small Businesses! Your input is needed, back in the spring, signatures, letters and calls like this stopped its passage. “Dear Ebay Vendor, You may have heard that Congress is considering an Internet sales tax bill called the “Marketplace Fairness Act” that is anything but “fair” for small online businesses. If you want to help us protect small businesses and entrepreneurs from new tax burdens, please get involved now. If the Marketplace Fairness Act is allowed to become law, it could require online sellers like you to collect sales taxes nationwide from the more than 9,600 tax jurisdictions. You could also face the prospect of being audited by tax collectors from other states. On behalf of our eBay community, we are pushing Congress to include meaningful protections for small businesses. Earlier this year, the Senate passed a bill now being considered by the House of Representatives. The good news is that hundreds of thousands of consumers and small business owners contacted Capitol Hill to express their concerns. This public outpouring has resulted in the House taking time to ask much-needed questions about how this bill will impact e-commerce and small businesses like yours. Despite this positive development, the bill’s supporters and their Washington lobbyists still want to get the bill through Congress by attaching it to important pieces of legislation that Congress must pass, such as the government funding and debt ceiling bills. Congress must fix the Senate bill by significantly increasing the small business exemption. That is why we need your help. If you oppose attempts to force an unfair Internet sales tax bill into law, raise your voice and let your representatives in Congress know. Thank you for helping to keep the Internet a fair and open marketplace for all. Sincerely,Tod Cohen Vice President & Deputy General Counsel, Government RelationseBay Inc”. Google
Vajont 50 Years
This year marked the 50th year anniversary of the tragedy of Vajont. They were situated in a remote and beautiful area about 100km northeast of Venice, just beyond Vittorio Veneto along the Piave River valley and the roadway which eventually leads through the Dolomiti to Austria. Looking up at the dam from the valley below does not give you the sense of the size of the landslide. It appears tranquil. It is only when you reach the dam itself that you have the realization of that the mountain is where the lake should be.
The Dam of Vajont project seemed an ideal location nestled in the Vajont Gouge of two opposing mountains and harnessing the power of the Vajont River before it flows into the Piave River on it’s way to the Adriatic. Never mind that the generations before had named the mountain, Monte Toc, “the mountain that walks ” nor that the area had been devastated in prior centuries by flood or landslides.
The plans for this project was envisioned in the 1920s but only authorized in 1943 to meet the growing need for industrialization. It was built by SADE (Societa Adriatica di Elettricita) whose engineers completed the engineering analysis, including the landside sites in the facing mountains. It was an ambitious project which included building basins higher in the mountain to feed the lake created by the dam. Construction begin in 1957, based on the older engineering analysis, but by 1959 the mountain began shifting on the side where construction of a road had begun. Three separate studies concluded that the entire side of Monte Toc was unstable and could fall into the lake. But, these analysis were ignored, why and whose fault are still unanswered questions. Or maybe as you read other reports their were business and political interests which fogged the normal sensibilities of engineers.
SADE received the ok from Rome and the Italian government in February 1960 to proceed with filling the reservoir, and with the spring thaw in the mountains the water level began to rise. Throughout the summer of 1960, minor landslides occurred. But the water level continued to rise. On 4 November 1960 when the water level was at about 190 meters (620 feet) a large landslide of approximately 800,000 cubic meters (one million cubic yards) fell right into the lake. SADE stopped filling the reservoir and began some plans to build a basin just before the dam which would make it usable in case of further erosion, which by now was foreseeable. They reduced the water level by about 50 metres (160 feet) during this phase.
However, after this basin was completed, they resumed filling the reservoir and May of 1962, the water level was at 215 meters (705 feet). The locals living in the nearby towns of Erto and Casso were experiencing earthquakes and had become concerned. Their concerns were over ridden by Rome and SADE who received the authorization to fill the dam to its maximum level. By July 1962, even SADE’s engineers were concerned and ran models on the effect of further landslides of Monte Toc into the lake. They concluded that the wave generated by a sudden fall of the side of the mountain could generate a wave large enough to overflow the damn if the water level was within 20 meters of the top of the dam (66 feet). So the decision was made to lower the water level 25 meters. The engineers decided they could “control” the now certain landsides by controlling the level water in the dam, so once again they proceeded to fill the lake. In March of 1963 the dam was transferred from SADE to the newly formed ENEL (still the power company in Italy). SADE was encouraged to transfer the dam as fully operational in order to receive total payment. The spring and summer saw the reservoir almost completely filled and locals became concerned as slides and earthquakes were continuously felt around the dam. Their fears were growing and on 15 September 1963, the entire side of the Monte Toc slide closer to the lake by 22 centimetres (8.7 inches) on one day. By early October, Monte Toc moved 1 meter in one day (3.3 feet). By then it appeared inevitable that the entire mountain would slide into the lake.
Locals were concerned, but no one sounded the alarm to evacuate the residents or workers. On 9 October 1963, engineers working at the dam noticed trees falling and rocks rolling down into the lake. The water by now had been lowered to the level prior engineering analysis felt would prevent the water overflowing the dam. In fact the engineers were on top of the dam that fateful night, watching mother nature in action as they were confident that the water level was low enough to prevent overflow of the dam. At 10:30 p.m. as the locals below in the village of Longarone watched the World Cup Soccer, unaware of the imminent danger and with no warning by the power company, the entire side of the mountain fell into the reservoir with a speed estimated to be upwards of 110 kilometers (68mph), completely filling up the narrow gorge basin. This catastrophic landslide took only 45 seconds which displaced some 65,000,000 cubic yards of water generating a tsunami with a 250 metre (820 feet) wave of water.
The washbasin effect of the wave first pummeled the villages of Erto and Casso which were 100 feet higher up on the opposite side of the mountain. The water fell back into the reservoir and like a tsunami crested the top of the dam destroying the villages below along the Piave valley. In four minutes of wind and terror, almost 2,000 people were killed (including the engineers from ENEL who stood atop the dam watching) and the nearby villages ofLongarone, Pirago, Rivalta, Villanova and Fae were obliterated, turning the land into a flat plain of mud with impact crater some 200 feet deep.
Some 350 families lost all their members in this 4 minutes of terror and more than 400 children. Within 25 minutes the water was drained from the valley revealing the vast destruction. Today a memorial stands near the entrance to the dam and along the road and memorial are tributes to the children who died and to the workers.
Oddly enough the dam was not damaged substantially. The design of the dam was a engineering model, the choice of the location was the failure. The geological structure of the area, limestone with clay all sloping towards the lake meant the landslide was guaranteed, just when and how fast was the question. 2013 marked the 50th Anniversary. The Giro d’Italia finished in Vajont to commemorate the anniversary. References:1) University of Wisconsin, Steven Dutch2) Google Map, Vajont Italy3) Seconds from disaster, Mountain Tsunami – Video (Worth Watching)4) Vajont the official site 5) Vajont – the Almost Greek Tragedy This is worth reading. KeyWords: Venice, Vajont Dam, Veneto Tourism, Italian HistoryGoogle
Favorite Quotes on Venice
The Grand Tour: In the 17th and 18th Centuries the young wealthy of England and later joined by those of the US, were sent for 2 to 4 years traveling around Europe to broaden their horizons and give them a bit of culture. It became known as the Grand Tour. Probably the beginning of the tour book business and let’s not forget about the tour business.
Venice was on this route for these young aristocrats and on the tour for artists, writers of books and poetry as well. Some of the more famous visitors, indeed, sometimes adopting the city as their own and they had a few things to say.
Some of my favorite:
Truman Capote: “Venice is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs in one go.”
Tiziano Scarpa: “Getting lost is the only place worth going.”
Fran Lebowitz: “If you read a lot, nothing is as great as you’ve imagined. Venice is — Venice is better.”
Henry James: “Though there are some disagreeable things in Venice there is nothing so disagreeable as the visitors.”
Lord Byron: “I stood in Venice, on the Bridge of Sighs; / A palace and a prison on each hand.”
Peggy Guggenheim: “It is always assumed that Venice is the ideal place for a honeymoon. This is a grave error. To live in Venice or even to visit it, means that you fall in love with the city itself. There is nothing left over in your heart for anyone else.”
Anonymous: “Venice, the only place where you can get seasick by crossing the street.”
Robert Benchley: “Streets flooded. Please advise.”
Ulysses S. Grant: “Venice would be a fine city if it were only drained.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson: “A city for beavers.”
Erica Jong in “A City of Love and Death: Venice” “But come back in November or December, in February or March, when the fog, la nebia, settles upon the city like a marvelous monster, and you will have little trouble believing that things can appear and disappear in this labyrinthine city, or that time here could easily slip in its sprockets and take you, willingly or unwillingly, back.”
Making Round Murano Glass Beads
The round is our essential bead used in almost all designs. It is the easiest bead to make. You need only a mandrel, a torch and some glass.
It all begins with the selection of the glass canes. We use Effetre, known generally in the industry as Moretti. It is a soft glass with a COE of 104, Soda Ash Glass which contains no lead and is worked at temperatures of about 945 C which is about 1733 F.
The steps of making the round bead are shown below.
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| All you need to make a round bead | Begin by winding molten glass around the mandre. |
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| Add Sterling Silver Foil (or 24kt Gold Foil) | Encase the foiled bead with transparent Moretti glass. |
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| Using the round tool assures it’s size. And it gives the Murano Glass Bead that nice smooth shape. | The final step is reheating the bead so all the glass is the same temperature. This helps prevent cracking. |
While we say that the round is the easiest shape to make, it’s still difficult work sitting in front of the heat, attempting to roll the mandrel in one hand while making sure that the cane is in the heat and wrapping around your mandrel. Well it takes some practice, rather like rubbing your tummy and patting your head at the same time.In Murano, the maestro speak about “knowing” the glass. It is a feel and knowing the exact shade of red you need to be sure the bead is thoroughly heated. Google
Traffic Jam Cruise Ships Venice
Since its birth, Venice and La Serenissima have survived the invasion of the Ottomans, the French, the Spanish, the Popes, the Austrians (and I have probably left out a few), but the invasion of the giant ships may be the last straw. The weekend of 21 September saw an invasion of the giants in numbers never seen before. There was a massive jam in the canal of Giudecca, partially due to the “no grandi navi” protestors who even swam in the water to stop the monsters. For a time lapse video of the ships with a view of the Giudecca Canal looking towards San Marco, made and presented Ufficio Stampa del Comune di Venezia, Click here ! A record 12 ships were projected to be in port, with 11 confirmed arrivals. This represented 40,000 tourists who arrived in Venice. Remember that Venice proper. Along with other bus tours, independent tourist, the number surges to about 60,000 tourist per day. Consider that the population of Venice dropped below 60,000 population mark in 2009. There was even a protest at the airport, the ship crews await the arrival of the tourist to transport to the boats. A widely debated subject all around Venice, only those who stand to gain monetarily from these massive cruise ships are on that side. Shopkeepers, restaurants, Murano (they are removed from the scene of possible accidents). The consideration of the contribution to Venice economy is substantial, slightly less than 200 Million Euro, represent about 20% of Venice economy. The pro and con groups include Venessia.com; No grandi navi and Cruise Venice, obviously on the side of the ships and tourism. However even in Murano we have heated arguments pro and con at the dinner table. The words on everyone’s mouth is “Venezia e unica” (There is only one Venice.) And this is true. There are about 4 plans on the table at the moment to be considered in Rome later this year. In case you want my opinion, I think it entirely selfish that a small population of people who choose to travel on cruise ships should endanger this magnificent city for joy of these few to “view up close” San Marco. Some things should be saved, protected, for the good of all – not just a few. I am not against the cruise ships, only that they are not allowed to come near San Marco, which of course sacrifices the Giudecca Canal, but I suppose in all things there must be compromise. It is not unrealistic to ask the cruise industry to protect the very city that makes them money,.Google
All About Gondolas
Little symbolizes Venice like the Gondola. The front of the gondola has the “rebbi”, which looks like teeth of metal. These represent the six sestiere (areas) of Venice. The tooth on the back of the rebbi represents the island of Giudecca. The gondolier (the guy who rows the boat, though today there is at least one woman gondolier) have their own union and the guild for the production of the gondola was written in 1607 the “mariegola” of the gondola builders. It contains the rules for the squero (the gondola companies). The builder is known as the squerarolo. The weight of the gondoliere is factor in the construction of a gondola. It requires 9 different types of wood and is still made without modern tools with the timbers still bent using fire. The Venetian Foot, rather than metric is used to measure because it is more exacting for producing the gondola.
If you want to have a gondola made, fortunately there are still a couple of firms who produce gondolas. It takes about 500-600 hours of work and the wood must be perfect and dried naturally in the open air for several years. And there’s still a demand for them, the Venetian Hotels in both Las Vegas and Macau have authentic gondolas. Check out D.co Tramontin & Figli, established in 1884. www.tramontingondole.itGoogle
Incident on the Grand Canal
It has been a difficult summer in Venice, Read about the major Incident on the Grand Canal.
More Traffic on the Grand Canal
The discussions on how to best control the traffic in this narrowest stretch of the winding canal continue, in official meetings, between residents, and is rehashed daily in the newpapers. Vested interest abound on all sides, with no one wanting to give an centimeter (literally). And I can’t picture the Grand Canal without all these wonderful boats moving through. So as the debates continue, and time goes on, the less likely anything will change. When you live in a city where the water is your street and the boat is your mode of transportation, then you can understand how it’s difficult to change as well as how an accident can happen. However, to get a real sense of the traffic, watch the video made by a local, Manuel Vecchina, who made this video shortly after the accident. Watch Video: Traffic on the Canal And then he proceeded to itemize the traffic in the 10 hour period of the time lapse video:
- 1615 Times a Vaporetto stopped at the Rialto to drop off or pick up passengers
- 700 Taxis traveled under the Rialto Bridge
- 216 Transport boats delivered or picked up goods, laundry, merchandise, food, etc
- 209 Gondole went under the Rialto Bridge
- 168 Private boats, of all sizes
- 39 Alilaguna Airport Shuttles arrived and departed
- 18 Vaporetto “Bus dell’art”
- 13 Ambulances came through the area
- 17 Police Boats patrolled
- 2 Fire Boats
The film condenses 10 hours into 4 minutes, so the boats aren’t moving nearly as fast as it appears. In fact the speed is limited to about 5mph. Hope you’ll enjoy this glimpse of Venice.You might enjoy:Incident on the Grand CanalOur video of a trip on the Grand Canal.
Pickpockets & Gypsies – Oh My!
UPDATE on the problem with Gypsies!This summer has seen more “gypsies” in Venice than normal and they have gotten progressively more aggressive. Their newest business ventures are selling vaporetto tickets, baggage handling and tourist information.
But there’s a bit of a hitch in these new ventures.
(1) They are selling used vaporetto (imob) tickets they have recovered from the trash, so totally worthless.
(2) They charge 5-15 Euro promising to take your baggage all the way to your hotel only to vanish a short distance from where you started.As you paid them in advance. Well you are truly left holding the bag (yours, we hope). And if you entrusted camera bags or computer bags, those may disappear as well.
(3) Selling tourist information, well maybe disinformation, since they actually know little about Venice.
The “helpful” baggage handlers are positioned at the foot of the Calatrava Bridge (Piazalle Roma across the canal) and they are competing with Italians looking for this work as well. And they can be found as you descend from your train at the train station, offering their services.However, unless your hotel is very close to the train station, getting over this bridge will not really help you. You’d be much better off taking the vaporetto to the closest stop to your hotel.
Know before your Go: Search on line, buy a map, but know where your hotel is. Print out a copy of the name and location (and telephone number) of the hotel. Know which vaporetto gets you closest to the hotel.and the vaporetto stop name. (All hotels will have information online about how to arrive, print that out and have with you.)
My favorite Venice Guide Book:
Venice, Knopf Guides ISBN 0-679-74918-7 The best part is the fold out center which names each of the palazzo along the canal. A little Caution: This summer has brought some new nuances to traveling in Venice. So here’s your heads up if you are traveling. Last week in Venice is a good example of everything that can happen.An unsuspecting Japanese tourist had her purse lightened by 35,000 Euro, all in Yen, which for sure makes finding the suspects a bit easier as they will need to exchange to Euro to make it worth their while. This happened near the train station, Santa Lucia. Hint: hanging out in the train station is never a good thing as you are always a target, in any town! So if you must wait, find a café, spend a few Euro to improve your chances of not being subject to (1) pickpocketing and (2) fall prey to a really good scammer. A few years ago, in Milano as we waited for a train, we spotted a young American girl who had been “befriended” by a very good looking young man. Right before our eyes, she left her entire earthly possessions with this young man and went into the tourist office. As soon as she entered the doorway, the young man scurried away with her belongings. Imagine her panic when she came out of the station with absolutely nothing. Fortunately, she did have her passport, but little else other than the clothes on her back. Hint: Don’t give your valuables to a stranger anywhere – no matter how friendly they appear. Remember this when you are traveling. Little things, like someone who offers to carry your briefcase up the stairs at a train station. Sounds like a really helpful person and maybe there are some saints in training around – but imagine your dismay at the top of the stairs when this helpful person has disappeared with your computer and belongings. 
