My Background.
I graduated from Point Pleasant High School in 1996. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and this is going to sound really dumb, but most kids in highschool can only see as far as their nose- and I expected the world to end on Dec 31, 1999 at midnight. I didn't give much thought to what I wanted to do with my life. I just knew that I loved playing softball. So I went where I could play and that was WV State College, now WV State University. My coach told me that under NAIA or whoever governs the college players, she stated that my degree was undecided and I needed to figure something out. Not giving any of it much thought, I remembered my drafting class in High School. I really liked it and I was really good at it too. So I talked to a counselor and decided that my direction would be Computer Graphics and Design. CADD, Autodesk with some really helpful computer classes in the middle. I had a class once a week that was more spatial related. It turns out, this is the class that was most important to the rest of my career. I graduated and ended up working for EQT, an oil and gas company. I grew so much in the time I worked there. I made the hour drive every week day. Rain, snow, it didn't matter. My boss was hard, but maybe I needed that. Later, Chesapeake Energy came to town and people were leaving in droves. Better benefits, better bonuses. I patiently waited for a spot for me there. By the way, I made maps, lots of maps. I entered data. I pulled from that data. I collaborated and worked with most people in the company. I had the freedom to make and design lots of maps. This was GIS. I loved it. This ended too soon. A guy came from Oklahoma and made an announcement. We were all being cut, except for a few. I had an opportunity to go to Oklahoma. I didn't. Family is everything to me. I may not see them everyday, but at least we are around the corner if we need each other. I had another job right away working for E.M.S. Energy Management Services. They were out of Lexington and had an office in Teays Valley. I processed Trimble data and prepared data files to go back to energy companies. I worked on compliance projects and traveled to southern WV and eastern KY. When I heard of a job closer to home, like 20 minutes ! I thought this would never happen. I was surprised that I could make good money this close to home. I tried. I lasted 1 month. This position was not for me. I encountered the worst individual I had ever met in my life. It wasn't going to work out and I was encroaching on her territory. I was there to bring ESRI. She wasn't having it and made my life hell while I was there, I tried to speak to the owner of the company and he just said either get along or one of you will be gone. I took that as, I'm the new girl and even though she causes so much stress for everyone else, he would get rid of me. I wasn't going to give him that chance. I prayed like crazy to get out of that situation. A friend I met at CHK called from Triana, I left and went to there to work, they were another O&G company in Charleston. I was back with my O&G family. I felt at home. It was nice for a good while until I received a call to come back to EQT. And this time it was more than I had ever been paid with more vacation too. I thought it was unreal. Well, it was. 8 months later, due to the slow down in coal production, there wasn't a need for our department anymore. The guy who brought me on was so sorry. He didn't see this coming. After all this... I asked my husband if I could stay home for awhile or just change careers all together. I took a USPS rural carrier test and passed. Lets just say that I'm not cut out to work for the USPS. Maybe it was my depressing area, maybe it was the booby loving creep that I was subbing for ? I don't know. I didn't want to do that either. Meanwhile, In the midst of this, I began cutting stainless steel at RCBI in Huntington. An old college friend led me around the facility and I thought why not try cutting stainless on their laser ? So many questions went through my head. This is crafting ? Can you make real money crafting ? Will people like it ? You've never really sold anything before ? This is crazy. - Ok, so I talked myself into it. HAHA. Alan, at the Capitol Market gave me my first good wholesale order in 2016. I needed to be a business first before he would buy anything from me though. So I registered as a business. It was slow going but interesting and I discovered that I may have a talent for creating things.
Below is the WV home sign that was one of my first cuts. I really like it. After each piece was cut from this massive laser at RCBI, I popped them out of the laser bed and took it all home. Later I grinded them with the Eastwood Contour Grinder, or just a regular grinder. Sometimes I painted my pieces and added Cricut vinyl to them. The black WV with the white home is one of my favorites, the heart had a magnet on the back of it so you could move it around. Counter Point hatched shortly after RCBI in early 2017.
I'm not cutting stainless at the moment for a couple of reasons. The initial investment is expensive. The rental time of the machine is expensive, the stainless steel sheets are not cheap and the time involved to create the files is extensive. It's an all day adventure. You're running an $800,000 machine that -you- could break if -you- don't watch it carefully. Pack a lunch and bring a drink because when the file is ready to cut, there's no stopping now. The guys at RCBI were awesome and really helpful. I will probably go back and cut a few more things in the future.
My husband had the crazy idea of buying our own laser. We did a lot of research- mostly him and just like that, it happened. We had a laser in our home. With my background, I felt pretty good about what I could do with it.
Sunday, 11/24/2019 10:24 PM
