I first started out in my own crafting business, by providing a component that another company painted and finished. It happened, that at that time, there was a big company that started out in jewelry and expanded to tourism products, in the Native American slot in the market.

This company [...]]]>

"Mission" incense burner

I first started out in my own crafting business, by providing a component that another company painted and finished. It happened, that at that time, there was a big company that started out in jewelry and expanded to tourism products, in the Native American slot in the market.

This company hired and paid Native Americans for their painting talents and signatures. Among the many things they turned out, was also ceramic pots.

I came up with the brilliant idea of miniaturizing the same designs they were already succeeding with and we struck a business deal. I started out with one design and just kept coming up with new ideas, designing and making the mold for it, and presenting it to the company and they kept buying more and more of my designs until they had me so busy, I was working 18 hour days to keep up.

The point was this – I took a short cut, on my way to the market and although it wasn’t my finished product sitting on the shop shelves, I was part of the process and made a living at it.

So what about you? If you dig deep, might you find a company somewhere that would farm out some of their work, in order to hold down on their own costs? Perhaps someone who turns out purses and you could do part of the process like maybe the straps, or the buckles or particular dangles that attach to the zipper.

Maybe someone that turns out children’s clothes and you could provide the service of inserting the zippers. Perhaps a small company that makes childrens wooden toys and you could attach the wheels.

It really depends on the volume they are already turning out and just how badly they are needing to expand. Sometimes, outsourcing is a better remedy than finding a bigger building and hiring more help.

Start looking around. What do you see in almost every gift shop or children’s shops that come from somewhere local? That’s your first clue. Track them down and start asking questions.

Now, this place I bought is kind of in the boonies. Not [...]]]> The dust was barely settled after a horrendous move, when I decided to come talk about it here. That’swhen I discovered my site was all messed up and I couldn’t post anything. Well, that had to wait. Too many things to do.

Now, this place I bought is kind of in the boonies. Not forest but flat land where the wind blows wildly.

It’s actually 2 mobile homes, set parallel to each other with about 50′ between them, with a metal fence connecting at both ends. It’s set up like a square, with a court yard (of sorts) between. The back mobile home is an old gutted out unit, used for storage – that is, until I came along. It’s now a workshop.

Before I could manage to finish getting everything moved in, I was already making plans for that area between the two units. With a metal fence already installed, I thought about adding to it’s height with plywood, running lengthwise.

I didn’t even have a bedroom set up for myself, before I tore into the outdoor project. My idea was to not only provide a wind break but also an awning (roof of sorts) so that, in the summer, I could work on ceramics outdoors. I also envisioned giving classes out there.

I slaved for 4 days, doing the work by myself. Realizing that this structure I had built, was merely sitting on the ground, and not stable at all, I’d better do something to make sure it was held down if a hard wind came.

I had some large steel fence posts that I could drive down into the ground but I didn’t really have anything to attach the uprights to it. I decided to chase down some strong cord, I had remembered seeing and use that until I could get into the hardware store. I was still searching, high and low, for that cable when all of a sudden a huge gust of wind came through. From behind me, I could hear the whole wood structure doing something awful. It had obviously lifted off the ground.

Instead of looking, and realizing I was fool enough to think my 120 pounds could actually do something about it, I just ran for my nearby pickup. You know, something bigger than myself and could protect me from flying wood.

I reached the pickup and turned around to see that within a half second, all my hard work was on the wrong side of the metal fence, upside down and all torn and twisted. I sat down and cried.

The wind continued to blow for another 2 days, before I got my chance to drive the pickup around to the outside of the fence and pick up the pieces.

With torn pieces of wood, including a sheet of plywood, I settled for a small shed to put my saws in and tucked away for the winter.

Now tell me, did I have reason to cry? waaah  Three days of working hard and about 1/2 second to destroy it. Another half hour and this wouldn’t have happened. I was just about to anchor it all down so the wind wouldn’t do this. Sad. So sad.

So guess what I got for Christmas. A $300 gift certificate for Home Depot.  Pray for me.

I still plan to have clay classes out there, by dang it. I think maybe next time, I’ll choose 4X4′s for my studs.

Now to add to the saga, the workshop is not heated. In fact, it’s not insulate. In fact, the entire roof and ceiling had been replaced with a nice metal roof but no insulation up there. I guess part of that Home Depot gift certificate will go into insulation.

The upshot of that is….the kiln has been hooked up a ready to roll for the past two months but nothing is going into it because it’s too dang cold to work over there. So guess what my kitchen looks like.

I also want to announce I finally finished one more instruction ebook. This one is the first in a series, following [...]]]> For those who have ventured by recently, you probably noticed the site was broken. I have it up and running again and still working to set things right. I apologize for any inconvenience.

I also want to announce I finally finished one more instruction ebook. This one is the first in a series, following me through the creation of a silicone rubber mold for a human figure model. You’ll find links at the top of the page.

Here is the post in [...]]]>

Your email:

Here is the post in its entirety.
So you’re thinking about the subject of going green.

Going green, to me, means a lot of things. Anyone happen to notice how much more pollution there is in the world, just since the U.S. started depending on other countries and imports?

The more we buy from China and other countries, the more ships have to cross the ocean, the more trucks have to drive across the country to bring those products. All of this brings all the more pollution in our air.

China, until recently, had no regulations what so ever, over the bilging, polluting fumes from smoke stacks. What remains in their air eventually travels across the waters and into our air.

So does it still make sense to keep buying products made outside our country? We wound up shutting down our own factories, leaving us with little supply coming from within our own borders and eventually turned our economy on its ear.

So what does going green mean to me? It means ceramic and stoneware dishes instead of plastic. It means ‘paper instead of plastic’ bags. It means cutting down on worldwide traffic just to satisfy our whims. It means buying products from our own country.

Our own local artists should be on the rise, producing pottery and kitchen wares for a knowing public. This not only cuts down tremendously on pollution, we ourselves are causing, it also helps to bring dollars back to our own neighborhood and making room for more jobs.

The next time you’re thinking more bowls for the kitchen, why not visit the local pottery outlet and give them the business instead of China? Why buy that next vase imported from another country, instead of supporting your local artist?

I wonder if anyone realizes what they’ve done to the ceramics industry in the U.S., by replacing them with imports? I know it’s a small subject to most of you but countless, hundreds of ceramic shops have closed their doors in the last 20 years due to the competition with outside countries.

If you’re thinking ‘green’, think about your own neighbors and what they produce and support them. Even that helps.

This, of course, I’ve been saying for years but now the whole world is beginning to think along the same lines for different reasons.

I sure don’t believe in this global warming thing. It’s not only been disproved but it also makes no possible sense.

The fact is, however, it has people thinking and it’s just possible we could see a turn around in the U.S., reviving the ceramics and pottery industry and possibly a whole lot more, from the crafter’s.

This, I will continue to press on.

On this first one, you can see a list of pages I’ve [...]]]> I realize there’s no way for my readers to know how it is, I bring traffic to our sites. Here’s a list of most of the places where I blog, network the sites or write articles with links back to the sites.

On this first one, you can see a list of pages I’ve built at Squidoo
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/red46

http://ezinearticles.com/?expert_bio=Judy_Sims

http://www.articlesbase.com/authors/judy-sims/31717.htm

A whole list of blogs with links back My Blogger Profile

The Home and Family Site
My Trucking Blogs
The Christian Fellowship site

There’s my facebook profile where I talk about us all the time.

And my twitter account
My Stumbles
My bookmarks
My Diggs
MySpace
My technorati page

One of my networks on Ning
My profile on Merchant Circle

That, believe me is not all there is but I’m tired.

This is what it takes to get known in the search engines. Networking the internet. So either you do it or I do it. If your information is listed on the Crafter’s Corner you can take advantage of the traffic I work on. What comes to me, also comes to you.

All you have to do is submit an article with your website address included in it, or click on the link in the first paragraph for the Crafter’s Sites and pick out a box and click it. Submit your information and I’ll get it in there.

// [...]]]> Here’s another thought. Have you ever thought about going in the back door to find your buyers?
Check out this site. You have people looking for product as well as people offering product. You can search through your category and find all sorts of contacts. http://www.tradekey.com

from wikiHow – The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Just like any other business online, you have to build your own market.

from wikiHow – The How to Manual That You Can Edit

One of the best ways to get the word out about your own website or pages with your crafted products, is by publishing e-books.