Folk Art Journal

WOW!!! Thank you HOOT! It was a great show. We could not believe how you filled our booth at the show and bought all of our new merchandise. The magazine ads, our web site, and our newsletter kept you updated on our new products and you were eager to see all the new pieces. Many, many thanks to our Folk Art Friends, we love you!!!

We arrived home last week and finally have the trailer unloaded and the warehouse in order. Bill and Jennie (our daughter in law) are trying to catch up on all the orders that came while we were away. By the time you receive this they will have it all caught up and you will have received your order or it is on its way.

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN OUR BUSSINESS?
Thank goodness the long awaited container has finally arrived. It was held up in customs for over three weeks and unloaded in the California warehouse last Thursday. So the items you were waiting for are all here.

What was “hot” at the HOOT Show? It seemed like everything. It depended on the customer and the style of painting they enjoy most.

Maxine Thomas has a four seasons design on our lantern lamp. You will find information on the pattern later in the newsletter.

The Tin Lizzies and our Folk Art Train were both very good sellers. We sold out of several styles of the Tin Lizzies and the Folk Art Train by the end of the show.

One lady came through the first day loaded down with everything I had in the display for Shara Reiner. I remarked that I could tell she was definitely a Shara Reiner fan. She said: “No, (pause), I wasn’t, but I am now!” Shara’s display area was a show stopper. View all of Shara's Patterns Packets.

The display of Trudy Beard’s Halloween and Easter items thrilled our customers as well. We sold out of the large Witches Hat and a couple of other pieces of hers. We will have large hats in again in mid October. We still have the smaller hat in stock, but not many. Photos do not do justice to her new patterns.

I had an email today from Trudy and she is working on our new Witches Hat ornaments (they are in the shopping cart now), some haunted house, Easter house ornaments (painted on our new Village Ornaments) and some other designs. We will have them on the web as soon as we receive her patterns. Trudy Beard, CDA Pattern Packets.

Rosemary West had three new ornaments on display that are in the new Quick & Easy Ornament magazine. We sold out of nearly all our tin for those ornaments that we took to the show, but have them in the warehouse.

Lynne Andrews’ display of ornaments and the wonderful little pins that she had painted on our tin tray pins were really hot items. We sold hundreds of the pins. No one bought just one! We sold out of some of her patterns and many of the tin ornaments they were painted on.

If you have not seen her new ornament patterns and pin patterns click on the link and it will take you to her section of patterns. Lynne Andrews' patterns.

NEW SAMPLES
The lamp mentioned earlier painted by Maxine Thomas is the October issue of PaintWorks was the one item that was the single most popular piece of tin. We sold out of the lamps at the show, but do have a few left in our warehouse. It is a really nice piece with the four seasons painted on the base of the lamp in her wonderful style.

The same October issue of PaintWorks features four projects on our tin one each painted by Maxine Thomas, Debbie Cotton, Kim Christmas and Shara Reiner.

In the annual Quick & Easy Ornament issue six artists; Rosemary West CDA, Shara Reiner CDA Jane Allen, Jill DiMaria, Debby Forshey-Choma and Kim Christmas used our tin ornaments. They designed and painted on fifteen of our ornaments.

We sold out of many pieces of our tin used by these talented artists. All of the tin used by the artists are in stock now. Home page.

NEW TIN
You have been tempted with the samples for some time of four new pieces and they are now in our warehouse. The Antique Lunch Pail, a “Pie Keep”, an Antique Railroad Lantern Oil Can and our wonderful Antique Hooded Doll Cradle. They have our beautiful gunmetal finish and are ready to paint. See them on our home page.

The missing ornaments from Shara’s first ornament series are now in. They came in the “delinquent container” that arrived last week. The Angel Ornament that everyone has been waiting for is finally in! Her Cherry Ornament, Holly Ornament and the small Pineapple are also in stock. Shara has designed a great welcome sign that the small pineapple and some other pieces of tin will be used on. More about that when the pattern is available.

The PaintWorks Christmas issue will be mailed the last week in September and will feature the wonderful Antique Hooded Cradle painted by Rosemary West, Antique Scale Pan painted by Jill DiMaria, and a cookie jar painted by Debby Forshey-Choma.

We received a partial shipment of the hooded cradle and the remainder of the shipment is due in soon. If you are among the scores of painters that have inquired about the cradle you should order them now. It will be equally as popular as her Gingerbread Train, “Going to Grand Mother’s House” car and Vintage Truck that was recently in PaintWorks. We sold out of all of these as soon as they appeared in the magazine. The cradle will do the same. What we have in now will be all we have until 2010.

NEW ENGLAND TRADITONS
Is there a better place to be in the fall than New England? Anytime is a great time to be in New England, but what could be better than to be there in the fall and experience the New England Traditions Show? I can’t recall how many times we have exhibited at the NET Show, perhaps nine years, but I would not miss it and neither should you!

Mark your calendars for October 8 – 11, 2009 and join us for a fun, fun time. More information can be found on their website. New England Traditions.

HEADS UP for our FOLK ART FRIENDS in CANADA
We are thrilled to say that October 16. 17 and 18, 2009 we will be exhibiting in the Salon des Arts Decoratifs Show in Montreal, Canada. So come by and pick up the tin you love and you will not have to have it shipped.

We are told it is a wonderful show and we are excited about exhibiting there. Autumn will be the perfect time to travel to Montréal. Information about the show can be found at this link in both French and English. http://www.salonartsdecoratifs.com

A FOLK ARTIST YOU SHOULD KNOW…
Nancy Bateman is a beautiful painter from Ohio. She has the first two booths as you enter the HOOT Show each year. She paints on the most wonderful antiques and collectibles. Her style is unlike anyone else in the industry. It is reminiscent of Joan Johnson, a combination of Rosemaling with a hint of Penn Dutch. The strokes, flowers, and all of the design area is blended and shaded in beautiful muted tones. She does not teach, but she does have a number of pattern packets for sale.

PaintWorks will be featuring Nancy in several issues of their magazine in the coming months. I will have the distinct pleasure of telling about how she “lives with her art”. She is more knowledgeable about antique and collectable tinware than anyone in the industry. Her home is filled with the most remarkable treasures that I have never seen before. The articles will be of great interest to those of you that love tin.

Her pieces are wonderful as well as unique. I added two more of her pieces to my collection at the recent show in Columbus, Ohio. Both pieces will be reproduced and added to our product line in 2010. One is a small churn and the other is a pie keeper that will hold three pies, both of course are made of tin.

When I was a child I would churn with my grandmother. Hers was an old crock churn with a wooden dasher. The churn that I purchased from Nancy is smaller, about 7 inches in diameter at the base and slants to about 5 inches at the top. There is a decorative collar on the top that holds the original wooden dasher in place. I have never seen a tin like this one before, it is so lovely with her design painted on it.

It is a rare piece. Nancy has one in her own collection. She found mine recently and the owner thought it was to wash small clothing items. It is truly a treasure and I knew it would be traveling back to Texas with me as soon as I saw it.

The pie keeper is rather large. It is round with a wide door that swings open to allow you access to the three racks inside. It is also a rare piece, and of course, she has one in her own collection as well. Both pieces will be wonderful surfaces and great to teach as a seminar project.

The small hand cranked churn shown above is a piece added to my collection last year. I hope to have this one reproduced in 2010 as well.

In each of the PaintWorks articles Nancy will have a lesson on a piece that she has painted. The article will also include photos of many of the pieces in her collection. We will share as much information as we can about each piece. You will come to understand how “she lives with her art”. She is a unique talent and a lovely gracious lady. I am pleased to call her my friend. You will definitely not want to miss the issues that these articles are in. As soon as I know the publishing dates I will include those in the Journal.

ORNAMENTS ~ TIN LIZZIES ~ FREE PETER OMPIR POSTER

Here’s the scoop… I have chosen twenty two ornaments and discounted them and they will be “easy on your budget”! So now is the time to paint for yourself, your friends, for your children’s teachers, anyone else on your Christmas gift list or buy them to paint for resale. Some of the ornaments are limited in quantity. So order ASAP if you want to take advantage of the discounted prices. Order sale items in our shopping cart.

Also discounted are three of our Tin Lizzies! How often has that happened? Only once! Since a limited number of the Tin Lizzies will be offered at a great discounted price you should order yours ASAP.

And in closing…
In church Sunday morning our friends asked where we had been as we have missed so much church lately. We explained we had three shows in a short length of time. They always ask, do you really like to travel that much? And the answer is always, yes and "we love what we do"!

I leave the shows tired, but with a “full and grateful heart”. Bill and I both understand how blessed we are to earn a living doing something we love so much. The friendships and connections we make in this business with so many of you is the real blessing. We look forward to seeing old friends and making new ones at the NET Show and our new show in Canada in October.

Continue to "think with your heart" and "take care of you"!

Note: Share this newsletter with your painting friends they, too, might like to receive our Folk Art Journal.

August 27, 2009 "News For Those Who Think With Their Hearts" Volume V ~ Issue 6