CONVERGENCE 2011 Conference

Greetings friends,

It has been a long time since my last post. Sometimes there is so much to get done around here. But we do what we do, because WE WANT TO. We truly love the ceramic industry and everything it's about. Except for people who can't understand, that positives always go further than negatives. But some people live their lives this way, and we still love them. Anyway enough about that.

We want to let people know about how much you will miss out on if you can't make it to CONVERGENCE this summer. This IS NOT an attempt to make you feel bad if you can't come, we understand there are many things that come up, from family, to funds, to whatever. We will also be trying to bring some of the classes to you online via live webcasts and webinars for those who can not travel. Of course a webinar is never like being there in person.

If you want to understand more about what the conference is all about just go to www.2011convergence.info/eventplanner.html or http://issuu.com/agora-dedakalos/docs/convergence-withclasses and you can see the schedule, classes, facilities and the multitude of activities taking place. Right now until the start of March you can save $100 on your delegates fee, that's half price.

Speaking of delegates (registrants fees) a couple of people have been confused. If you have ever been to any kind of major show or conference, like CHA, ART EXPO, SDP, IADCCT, etc, there is a base cost to each participant. This fee helps to cover all the costs of the events. The artists fees for classes go to them minus the actual cost of the room rentals and setup. (Remember we're artists and tend to get messy with our supplies sometimes.) There are several free classes that come with the registration including two wonderful nights of fantastic learning in a make n take environment.

CONVERGENCE will be an extraordinary experience, guaranteed to be unlike anything you have ever done before. We hope to meet you there.

Like geese, we have returned!

Hi friends,


It has been terribly too long since I last posted here. However like geese we flew out this spring, and now returning this fall. We weren't gone, just busy!


To catch everyone up. This spring we announced that we would be traveling around the US bringing the new CAG Master Judging Certification classes to a city near you. And we did just that. We started in Boise Idaho in May. What a fun group we had there. They were the first group to experience the "field trip", and didn't know quite what to expect. But after we were done, they loved it! A funny thing happened on the way to Boise, (heard that opener before I bet). The road that goes from Burns Oregon to the Idaho border, is long, desolate, and no cell service in most places. As we came across this little bridge over a creek a fully loaded semi with beautiful oak hardwood 1x4's lost control, spun on its slide and slid between the bridge abutments. Totally blocking traffic. (So that you know the driver was miraculously unhurt) To go around it you would have travel nearly 200 miles out of the way. Local ranchers and farmers began stopping on either side of the wreck. Suddenly they organized. The new leader in the group said he wasn't willing to wait 6 - 8 hours to get the mess cleared.
About 20 people approached the wreck and started tossing the lumber off the sides into the creek and the ground. In less than 30 minutes they had the truck completely unloaded. Then they hooked about 3 or 4 big old V10 Dodges and Ford Pickups on either side and started winching this huge semi out of the way. It was wild. Finally a large fertilizer truck had an even bigger winch and soon a narrow path was cleared for one way traffic to pass on the bridge and we were on our way. Later we heard it was over 12 hours before the tow truck came and got the truck out of there.


So why am I sharing this incredibly long story that has nothing to do with ceramics? For one, this is a blog, I get to ramble on. But seriously the quickly organized efforts, got a seemingly impossible task done, and there were results. In our industry we can sit around and wait for the tow truck that will make it like it used to be, (which is not the direction it should go) or we can respond and take action and create a way of sustainability in our industry and businesses. The industry is getting stronger, every day. Are you a part of the team that clears the way of the old rubbish? Or are you someone who will just sit on the side and wait for gold coins to come falling from the sky?


Six beautiful, intelligent and challenging ladies took the very first CAG Master Judging seminar that weekend. They are now well on their way to completing their homework and getting ready for their PHASE II class.


From there we would come back home, and get ready for almost 6 weeks on the road. We rented a 30' motor home from Cruise America. You will never realize how many Cruise America motor homes are out there until you visit Yellowstone National park on one of it's most busiest days and you count them into the 100's as you drive through the park. That one extra glass of red wine at dinner when you walk back to the parking lot could be challenging. "Now which one of these is ours?"


Our traveling team consisted of myself (Tommy Lee), my wife Kathy, her mother Eileen (age 80), our grandosn Roland (age 8), his best friend Zack (age 10) and our traveling cat Magic (age ?). All in all, we survived. Many things learned on the trip. Never take a six week week where 5 people and 1 cat have to live in a 200 sq foot space. It gets a little complicated after about 10 days. The intermittent hotel breaks when we would be teaching a seminar, were life savers for the travelers.


Our next stop was Los Angeles, CA (Riverside). When the hotel you end up at is in the "red light" district. It adds a flavor to the location quite its own. But the Riverside story will be in the next blog.

See YOU ALL at CONVERGENCE next summer. (July 17-23, 2011 - CORBAN University)

The "return" of the community/regional ceramic clubs or groups.

One of the many roles of the CAG in helping to "INVITE" and "EXCITE" people into the ceramic realm is to develop symmetry and relationships among fellow ceramicists. So how do we do this?

1. Creating the CAG as a world wide hub for all things ceramic related. To be a useful communication tool for ceramicists.

2. Publish and distribute journals (magazines) that help inspire creativity through techniques and to help organize your business so that it can attain a sustainable business level.

3. Develop an Ambassador network to bring real people closer to the ceramicists and to let them know about the abundance of opportunities to help them in their art/craft/business.

4. To engage a universal standard of quality and interpretation in judging of ceramic entries by training and certifying ceramic judges.

5. To help local and distinct regional groups of individuals to form clubs or associations and to create annual events (shows/competitions) to help stimulate the industry.

6. To be a conduit between business and organizations creating a "bridging" in the industry while allowing independent thought and leadership to be predominate.

All of these areas have taken on a life of their own in the last 10 months. Only #5 has not really started to gain ground yet, but it is beginning too. Our Fireside Chats and other avenues are encouraging groups of ceramicists to come together and form a totally independent geographically based ceramic club or association. Doing this does not interfere with your association/membership in any other ceramic group. This is different. This is grassroots, its local, its personal and face to face. The mud hens of the 1950's began organizing into first clubs or clatches, then later formalizing that organization into an association. Some of these have lasted over 50 years, but the majority faded away for lack of "vision".

So sign your organization/association/club up with the CAG as an affiliate. It's FREE and we provide an abundance of resources. Or if you don't have one, contact us at let us know so we can help you get started.

Losing face in "Social Media Networks" . . . could it be you?

Yesterday I was sadly disturbed by an e-mail from an industry friend/colleague David Vernon owner of Pampered Palette http://www.pamperedpalette.com/ and CAG Ambassador to the Decorative Painters Groups. www.iamthecag.com/cagambassadors.html

David awoke to the startling discovery that his facebook accounts had . . . disappeared. With close to 2,000 friends they were there when he went to bed, and gone when he woke up.

So what happened? Facebook has a set of protocols, of which most people who get their account terminated would never dream of violating on purpose. These were found on a site about getting disabled, but not an official facebook site. They indicated that perceived "spamming" is the number one reason. Spamming takes on a lot of odd characteristics. For example inviting too many people to join. Is there a set number? No, one group may invite 10,000 a day and have over a million members, while another may invite 25 people a day have maybe 200 friends, and they get shut down for over inviting (spamming). So bottom line . . . spam can be construed as about anything.

It doesn't appear that there is anything you can do to safeguard yourself, short of not connecting to facebook at all. . . and that would defeat the whole purpose of social media networking.

What to do . . . If you get shut down immediately contact facebook (by e-mail of course) and be persistent in follow up. This does not mean every five minutes like the little kid in the back seat saying, "Are we there yet?" But a daily e-mail requesting reason and verification would be logical.

In the mean time here is a simple way to monitor who you have as friends, and keep a database in case you have to reopen your group page.

Open your page: click on edit friends, click on friends (this creates an alphabetical list where you can delete or edit friends), start at top left corner of list, hold down (l) mouse button and drag to last person on list (all icons and names should now be highlighted), right click and hit copy on pop up menu, paste list into a word document, and save on your computer.

Depending on your computer savvy you can build a database or other resource tool of your friends. You will need to visit each friend to get an e-mail address if they provide one. But you can at least go back into facebook in the case of a lost site and re invite from their name.

Facebook is an awesome way for groups of ceramicists and artists to stay connected, share ideas, and make new friendships.

This blog is not to scare you away from facebook, but rather to educate you on being prepared. Facebook is a free resource, and we should be thankful for it. We would probably have less than 10% of the activity that facebook generated if people had to pay for it, because they wouldn't. It's sad when friends like David Vernon lose their site, but let it be an eye opener for the rest of us to be prepared. Yesterday the CAG completely backed up its info on facebook. It took a while, but now we are prepared.

OK, enough business talk, now get out your brushes, paints, and bisque and try some decorative painting techniques. Want some ideas, visit David Vernon at his blog at http://www.pamperedpaletteonline.blogspot.com/ . Besure to join his blog while you're there.

Money - Naughty or Nice?

Sorry it has been 2 weeks since we last posted to the BLOG. We got really busy on some other projects here, and it got neglected, no excuses, just matter of fact.

So if this is a ceramic BLOG why is it about money? Because it is money that drives a part of the industry, but it is also money that dives a part of the industry into blind numbness.

The ceramic industry is what is known as a "Cottage Industry" made up mostly of small business people, most of them not even registered or licensed to do business, because at their level they don't need to be. Some people desire to draw a living out of their ceramic pursuits (I guess they never heard of the league of starving artists). Some want to grow and expand a business with employees and inventory and such. Most simply hope to make enough to cover the cost of their own addiction (that addiction being ceramics). And a few simply do it because it is their passion, and really don't care to make money out of it.

For the CAG it is all about passion of the art of ceramics. We are NOT a charity or a not-for-profit corporation. We are not a bunch of people thinking they should do something, but never acting on their thoughts. WE ARE a group or a league of people who share a passion for art. Everyone is a volunteer here. We want the most people to get the most out of ceramics, and so we are determined to do what we do for FREE. No gimmicks, no hidden agendas, no tricks, just a simple love for ceramics.

We are not saying that you should not endeavor to make a profit. Or if you do you are not showing your passion. this is our path, and it is different than yours. i had the fortunate opportunity when i was a young man as a manager in a major retail firm (FRED MEYER) to work directly with at times the owner and founder of the company, Mr Fred G Meyer himself. I will never forget one day sitting in the corporate office with a group of other managers and execs with Mr. Meyer. he reminded us all that profit was not a dirty word. in fact any intelligent consumer would not expect you to run your business without making a profit, it would be nonsense. But he also said "Do not take advantage of your customers, they allow you to stay in business."

One of the many purposes of the CAG is to help give you insight to building a sustainable business in ceramics that will last for years to come. We are sustainable through your support of what we do. We wish you well. And if someone says to you the CAG can't offer their services for FREE. Say "Oh, really? OK I'll take my chances and you wait and see." They wont listen to you anyway, and in the meantime your business and desire will surely grow!

FINAL NOTE: Did you see what the man did with his business in Portland, Oregon . . . he gave it away. Love those kind of stories.

Football and Lladro - PASS IT ON!

So today is SUPERBOWL SUNDAY! No other TV event captures the American audience on a grander scale than this battle of the turf. I've always thought it was funny how some stores will run special ads for "Super Bowl Widows", when surveys tell us an equal to higher percentage of women watch the game as do men. So have a great time today experiencing the game and the party that goes with it. Be safe and use good judgement in driving!

On a ceramic note, isn't this a delightful Lladro piece? The design seems so gentle, yet as it expands towards you it seems to say I'm grown up now and ready for the game. Lladro choice of somewhat muted colors has always lended itself to their sculpture. Unfortunately being able to paint this ceramic would mean you had found an illegal piece of bisque as it is copyrighted, and there are no ceramic hobbyist molds available. But there is a lot to be learned when we study artistic style, and then apply that style to pieces we get get. Wouldn't it be fun for Lladro to come teach a seminar for ceramicists.

Join us for coffee . . . and clay?

Probably a few too many of us start, continue and finish our day with some type of coffee. From the purists who proclaim "Give me Folgers or give me death!" to the double skinny, vanilla, very blond, steamed, shaken not stirred with mint whipped cream on top, we all love our java.

Surprisingly as most believe that the caffeine in coffee causes the jitters , headaches and spastic interruptions, it really has a vastly different effect for most. In fact oddly enough (I have tried this and it works) giving your children a small cup of coffee helps them relax and get through the day. In fact some people have been able to totally avoid giving their children medication to deal with mild ADHD and ADD with a morning coffee.

For me it's like comfort food. Coffee time is a special time for me and my wife to just sit back and discuss life and what's going on. Sort of a "life managers meeting" component every morning before the day kicks off.

Our April issue of CERAKANVAS focuses on home life, entertaining, and the importance of that cup of coffee every day (or 2, or 3 or . . .) If you have some favorite entertaining pieces you would like to see in this issue let us know, we would be glad to consider them.

Also our guest host (these are those fun faux celebrities who help bring you each issue) is a wonderful sassy young woman named Betty Barrista, that's her on the cover of the magazine. Is she real . . . that's up to you to decide. We hope you enjoy this issue as much as you have the past ones! Now where's my keys so I can head off to Starbucks!

GENERATION LINK - Computers are a way of life

The year is 2010, and it's safe to say computers are a focal point in everything we do. Yet still there are far too many people who are not "linked" via the Internet yet. Fortunately there are great programs out there working to help make computers truly user friendly. You should visit a site called http://www.seniornet.org . There are two types of computer training-tutoring programs that are being generated. One is where other seniors act as coaches to help grasp the computer and many of the fantastic applications it can have. The next is where high school age students will work one on one with a senior to learn more about the operation of computers.

The CAG is looking at ways to help stimulate projects like Generation Link and get more computers connected with more people. From online magazines (soon to be basically the only way to get magazines) like CERAKANVAS, INTO Ceramics, and BLUEPRINT people can pull up techniques, locate products, learn great business tips and so forth. On-line seminars, that you can access through on-demand programming when you want to. Often these are called webinars, but the future holds lots to see and explore.

We are committed to INVITE and EXCITE people about ceramics. We hope you will join us in that commitment.

Today is MLK day, how have you connected?

Today is MLK (Martin Luther King) day in the US. He was a powerful influence in human freedoms in America, and so has been honored by this country. the piece pictured here is a beautiful ceramic bust of King.

There are a few other MLK ceramics also available, and there is a wonderful variety of African-American Heritage pieces. Did you know that February is also African-American Heritage month? Issac Hathaway is the most prominent African-American ceramicist. We have put together a wonderful section in the upcoming CERAKANVAS about African-American Heritage from a ceramicists point of view.

Have you let your community know what you have to offer in honor of these events in your shop?

"EMPOWER" The catch-word in 2010 for YOU

"EMPOWER"

YOU are the true solution to the total success of your ceramic business. YOU are the only one who can absorb the information and make it work in your ceramic business

YOU are the key to your ceramic business success.

All that the CAG, and other valuable resources can do is EMPOWER YOU, give YOU the ability, to make it happen. We can provide the tools, YOU must make use of them. We can show YOU ways to make money in the ceramic business, but YOU must engage these ways. We can talk about stepping out of the box to be successful, but it is YOU who must make the first real step out of the box. All ideas require action, that is where YOU come in. YOU see, when YOU take the action and try some of the concepts we provide to improve your ceramic business, it works for YOU. The ideas we provide, when YOU put them into action, can EMPOWER YOU to be successful.

The first thing YOU should do for 2010 is develop a business plan with clearly defined goals and objectives to reach those goals. This should be laid out in a day by day, week by week, and month by month format. Even going an additional step and have a 1, 5 and 10 year goal for your business is also beneficial.

Do not expect your business to be any more active, than YOU are active in stepping out and building it. Learn to do things that are sustainable in your business. Our economy has never been tighter or in worse shape, but the outlook for a solid business may have never been better.

If YOU say by the end of 2010 I want to have a well defined and sustainable ceramic business underway that will last easily through the decade, YOU are beginning to understand what empowerment means. If YOU still just want to whine about how bad the industry is . . . go buy yourself some cheese and keep right on not listening. We are sure someone will be watching as YOU sell your 5,000 molds in a warehouse for $50 and say, "Nobody wants to do ceramics anymore." Guess what? WE have 50,000+ people who will tell you different. Go ahead create something in ceramics today! Then get back to your business plan.

Don't know where to start with a business plan? Check out BLUEPRINT next month for some good foundational ideas.

The alure and profit of "FARMVILLE" for ceramicists

Our next issue of CERAKANVAS is themed "Down on the Farm".

If you go to gamezebo.com and check out FARMVILLE you may be surprised at what you see. Then again, you may say "Really, I thought it would be more than that." Can you believe that as of Oct, 2009 there were over 56 million people playing FARMVILLE on facebook worldwide! And FARMVILLE is only one of almost a dozen apps. that are based from a farm theme. Some of the other more popular ones include titles like; MY FARM, FARM BUDDIES, FARM TOWN and FARM LIFE. While these are created as "free" games for social networking sites, there is an aspect that lures people into spending money. But this BLOG is about the extreme popularity of living "down on the farm" in a virtual and often surreal world.

The rural country life has been an attraction for a very long time in America. From farm scene toille fabric prints to roosters in the kitchen. Even TV shows like Green Acres where city life crosses into country life, have become cultural icons. We took the concept of this popularity, and gave some advice to people who asked us how they might improve sales this holiday season. We gave them ideas on how to set up a FARMVILLE booth, offering ceramic pieces that directly would be loved my FARMVILLE addicts, I mean players. Here's what we heard back:

" I dug out my old Duncan animal dolls in the small sizes. I haven't cast these in years. I found some cute farm dresses and overhauls at the local craft store to dress them in. The outfits only cost me $2.99 each. Altogether I had less than six dollars in each one. I made a hundred total. I called them "farmies" and said they were to help you prosper on your farms, and have great harvests. My whole booth took on a farm theme with bales of hay and I wore overhauls and pigtails. It was a 2 day craft bazaar. I sold out before the end of the first day. I was smart and kept 1 of every style., I ran the second day on prepaid orders. I sold another 118! At $19.95 each I made $4,300+ of which almost $3,000 was profit for me. When I went back to the craft store to order a gross (144) of the costumes they offered me a nice discount too. I will admit I would have never thought of this on my own, Thanks CAG!" Lynae H.

" A couple of years ago I acquired the mold inventory of another ceramic shop that had gone out of business. There was almost a complete set of Byron Village molds. When you suggested turning some of the farm buildings like the barn and silo, the grist mill, and the farm home into banks it paid off for me. I made little signs to go above the coin slot on each bank that said "Save Here to Expand Your Farm", "COINS & CASH Welcome!" I made the booth real inviting. Lot's of yellow gingham and a kids John Deere green tractor ride-on toy for a prop. Just about everybody who stopped by complimented me on my fun looking booth. But more importantly I still can't believe how many of these banks I sold. They were the most popular thing I think at the whole fair, except of course the cedar door swags. I made more profit from my booth than I ever have in the last 12 years of doing this country fair." Chalice & Roy

The good news, FARMVILLE won't be going away anytime soon. So you might want to start planning for upcoming fairs and shows in 2010. Be creative, be attention calling, be exciting and you will sell stuff you thought was no longer marketable. Think outside the box!

The "Down on the Farm" issue of CERAKANVAS premiers February 1, 2010 at a farm, or computer terminal, near you! Won't you join us?

The SHAPE of 2010 for ceramics . . .

I wish I could hear all my reader's thoughts. I am sure when they first see many of the graphics I post in this BLOG they say, "what is he up to now?" But I am actually glad I can't . . .I mean that would be just wrong. LOL

So how does a dress form have anything to do with slipcast ceramics? Well it's the thought process, not the product. Do you see all the white circles in the dress form? Well each of these circles allow you to dial up or dial down the various measurements of the form. What we do with various aspects of the ceramic art/craft will determine it's SHAPE in the ensuing year. This form will take you from a petite to a full figured form. However it is not done in ONE ADJUSTMENT. It will take many adjustments from the dozen or so dials.

Your business or relationship to the ceramic industry is handled the same way. There are many dials to adjust to get a balanced sustainable feeling to your craft. And one size does not fit all. Each person has their own "things" they would like to see happen. So instead of adjusting the hips, waist and chest dimensions as you would on this form, try thinking of the adjustments as; promotion, creativity, competition, visibility, sharing and so forth.

How will we bring this concept home to you in 2010? Well this thought has been in our plans since the beginning. If you look at our main logo shown to the right; It's not just designed to look pretty. The center "flower looking" design actually represents eight over eight over one business principles that will help you shape the "form" of your ceramic art/craft. We will begin sharing these concepts in the January issue of "BLUEPRINT".

So until then start thinking about how you would like the SHAPE of your ceramic art/craft to be.

Meet Red-Clay Akers, our guest host for V2 Issue 1

The creative TEAM at CAG would like to introduce you to Red-Clay Akers (aka Red) as the official guest host of the "Down on the Farm" edition of CERAKANVAS for February 2010.

When Red saw how awesome our magazine was (yes he is looking at a rare print copy - they do exist and not just in Kansas anymore Toto) he agreed to be our host.

We are not for sure just how much he knows about ceramics yet, but he says he knows about dirt. And well clay is dirt . . . and you get the idea, it works for the TEAM.

We will be spending the next month and a half or so visiting Akers acres as he calls his farm. He reminded us that while he is an excellent singer, please do not confuse him with the guy from American Idol Clay Aiken. He laughed and said "My farm would be called Aiken Acres, That's pretty funny!"

We are looking for lots of fun farm stuff for this issue. More square miles of the world are covered by farms than cities. Today one of the fastest growing ways of connecting in social media sites is through farm related apps in facebook. It was things like "MY FARM" , "FARM TOWN" , "FARMVILLE" , and "FARM BUDDIES" that inspired this FUN and FANTASTIC issue.

Only the way we make it happen has changed . . .

Anyone who visits my office will recognize the old Underwood typewriter to the left. Mine is a little more worn than this one but it sits on a bookcase as a reminder of a time gone by. The actual one in my office was my wife's grandfathers that he used to type up labels for prescriptions at the drug store where he was a pharmacist. I've used it a time or two, it still works (but the ribbon is dried up). Today I live off a laptop. I remember typing articles for Scott Publications on a Brother electric typewriter. I also remember when the editor finally said one day they needed it on a floppy, in ASCI format. That was a new era for me.

The latest issue of CERAKANVAS proved to be very consuming in time. It was not the editing of articles, it was not choosing the graphic designs. It was getting updated software to handle our requests. But in the end a beautiful 64 page magazine was created. We had always been locked into a 5o page max platform before. Now we can go to 500 max page platform. Wow! Now trust me I have no plans on CERAKANVAS becoming a 500 page issue (well not right now anyway, LOL).

What the future does hold for CERAKANVAS is a even more interactive platform. In other words we will now have visual clips explaining difficult technique steps and other cool techno stuff. I wonder how we would have ever done that on the old Underwood?

In 2010 we will have an issue out every other month, Feb, Apr, Jun. Aug, Oct and Dec, plus 2 additional special issues. Then in Jan, Mar, May, Jul, Sep, Nov we will have a online issue of BLUEPRINT our newsletter. Over the next 8 days I will BLOG about 1 of the upcoming issues to give you some ideas on what's coming. In fact I hope you will submit your projects you would like to see, so we can put them into consideration for the issues. We do receive many great projects, but we have to pick and choose the ones we use for a variety of reasons.

In an odd sort of way slipcast ceramics has moved along a similar progression from the Underwood typewriter to the laptop computer. The results, are the same. Just as in ceramics, a technique from 50 years ago, is just as beautiful today, we may just go about creating it in a different fashion.

Have a wondrous holiday season! And create something delightful this Christmas season.

CERAKANVAS - Green from the beginning . . .

What you are looking at are 2 different ways that information is sent to readers. The one on the left is the new Apple iReader (new) and the one on the right is the Amazon Kindle (In it's 2nd Gen). Essentially these are devices that you can get books and magazines on. Very shortly CERAKANVAS will be available on one of these 2 formats, and eventually both of them. Our e-publishing house is in the process of adding this as a new option.

While as CERAKANVAS will always remain FREE at www.cerakanvas.com those who want to access the magazine through this format may have to pay a usage fee directly to the publisher. It is a small fee, but we wanted to make sure you understood we are generating it, and the primary way to view will still be at the CERAKANVAS site.

One very exciting aspect to all of this is that this process as well as our e-zine site is very "GREEN" . No paper is used to generate the magazine.

1. Submissions are electronically transmitted as documents over the web.

2. Pieces are photographed by the artists and jpegs are sent via Internet, this also saves in gas consumption and the size of our carbon footprint as we do not have to transport pieces back and forth for photographing.

3. Our magazine does not end up in landfills (of course we doubt that it would anyway)

4. Our staff all work out of their homes thus eliminating millions of miles of automobile travel which creates a huge impact on the environment.

We hope you get the picture. CERAKANVAS is very green.

We have no control over the format first picked by our e-publisher, but if you have a preference please post it in a comment.

Martha does ceramics . . .

So first of all, let's get past whether or not we love Martha. The truth of the matter, friend or foe, if Martha endorses something it sells! In the last week on both her show and the Rachel Ray show Martha talked about making a Creche (Nativity). Not only did she talk about it, she showed it. Original air date of Nativity was 12-25-2007. Her story of digging through a room of hundreds of molds (for most shops it would be thousands of molds) and finding here there and everywhere all of the pieces to this great Duncan (she did not identify the mold company) large nativity. She did exaggerate the piece sizes, but it is still a large set. Martha poured her own set, cleaned her own greenware, glazed them and fired them. She didn't have it done for her, she did it herself. Many media outlets tried to to elude she sculpted them, but Martha did not make that statement.

So here's the crust of the matter. Martha Stewart got tickled by scrapbooking - now she has one of the most extensive scrapbooking lines in stores. Several gondolas in Micheal's are filled with all sorts of Martha scrapbooking tools and supplies. Imagine Martha Stewart bisque, Martha Stewart molds, Martha Stewart tools, Martha Stewart paints. . . I think you get the idea.
The fact is getting ceramics to be more visible in major market arenas.

A visit from Santa . . . more than tradition

When I was a kid growing up I remember going to the giant department store or the humongous toy store (everything seemed bigger as a kid) and having my annual visit with Santa. Today it is getting harder and harder to even find the places where Santa will be frequenting. Why not have Santa a Saturday or two at your shop? Ceramic people are very creative. . . you can make a Winter Wonderland for very little cost, Styrofoam, sprayed branches, lots of ceramic ornaments. Have an area for people to make ornaments or Santa plates while they wait. IF WE DON"T INVITE PEOPLE IN, they wont come. By the way the bisque you see in this picture is by Dept 56 and is porcelain. It works beautifully with fashenhues oil based paints.

EXTREME MAKOVER - Village Edition pt 1

OK, the village shop is dismantled, the window casing masked and the inner components gutted. Hmm, sounds kinda like a pumpkin. Now it's outside where I have plenty of ventilation to completely erase the painting scheme of someone in some little Chinese factory somewhere. I guess you could say I should feel like someone who is going to spray paint the Mona Lisa. . . actually i feel more like someone who is about to spray paint over a off margin printed Pokemon poster.
Now if I can only find where I put Ty Pennington's phone number, I know it's around here somewhere. I really want to borrow his megaphone. I think Kathy and the others will probably kill me. Oh here's the number . . . (to be continued)

Creating the first Holiday Issue of CERAKANVAS

The Holiday Season, Winter Solstice, and especially for me, Christmas is without question my favorite time of year. There was a time when my wife and I had 8 fully decorated - themed trees in our home. It was beautiful. At one point in my life I had nearly the entire Hallmark ornament collection and spoke to groups about collecting ornaments of all kinds. I guess you could say I was an "ornamentologist" LOL. This edition is stirring so much passion in me for the Holiday traditions we all have. We have articles from around the globe with techniques on Kwanzaa, St Lucia, Kings Cake and Mardi-Gras, Santa Claus, Christmas Villages with trains and home decorating tips from the best. We have loaded this issue with a few surprises, but then would you expect anything less from the guild? Well back to work, write, paint, discuss. . . It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!