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…get started? What was the first piece you ever sold and how did that come about? What was your first “big” order? Tell, tell! I want ALL the details! How did y’all start this now world wide business?
tdm. 🙂
tdm
…get started? What was the first piece you ever sold and how did that come about? What was your first “big” order? Tell, tell! I want ALL the details! How did y’all start this now world wide business?
tdm. 🙂
Story: John had been in the gift business since he was, like, 18 or something, making candles and stained glass. He had a gift business called “Alberti Design”.
John and I had been selling Alberti Design fantasy prints for a couple years,(this was around 1980). The prints were slowing down in sales, and at the same time our friend, Mark Hines, who also had a gift business, was looking for something new to sell. He was sick of firing his ceramic stuff. This was at the time when “Sandicast” dog figurines were really popular in the stores. Mark thought: “Hey! Maybe I could sell something like that, and I don’t gotta fire them! That would be so easy!” Ha ha.
I was the artist-in-residence when some sculptures were needed for the first line of Mark’s figurines, so that is how I got involved.John designed the equipment and manufacturing. Mark, John, Jeff ( a helper who eventually became the manager of Windstone) and I would spend every week night trying to cast things. It was pretty much a disaster at first, but a hell of a lot of fun. Mark provided the beer. We’d get a good casting once in a while, then go have Thai food.
The first line, as most of you know, were whimsical animals. We didn’t do dog breeds because several casting companies were flooding the market with those already. The very first sculpture I did was the fat little cat with the feather in its mouth.
We advertised these in trade magazines, and by going to the Gift show, a huge con for gift items.
None of these sculptures sold particularly well until I sculpted the little hatching dragon. That one sold well enough that we thought we were on to something… so I sculpted the mother dragon to go with it.
Next gift show, we got orders for, I think, 36 of the mother dragons, and I remember going “How on earth are we going to cast and paint 36 of those??” We hadn’t made any, except two dismal, bubbly castings that I had painted with watercolors! Took me forever.Anyway, after a LONG learning curve, the help of friends and some fantastic employees, the help of John’s parents, (and Susie, of course) the biz got going. Eventually John bought out Mark’s share, and we renamed it Windstone Editions.
Because we couldn’t think of anything clever.That’s an awesome story! I’ve never heard that before.
Don’t forget how you came up with the name Windstone Editions…I remember something about “Puddle Stone” and “Piddle Stone” as candidates for the company name 🙂
The moral of the story is: don’t give up! (I need to remember that today.)
Awesome story ! Its so amazing how you started out, and seeing how far it all went. A great achievement to say the least! Thanks for sharing 🙂
That’s so cool! Who would have known then what it would turn into? I wish I had the guts to try starting an artistic adventure like that but wouldn’t know where to start. I may try more drawing and painting myself to let more of my artistic side out. What a dream job it must be to be able to sculpt, draw and paint everyday! I didn’t hear the story behind the name but I think the name Windstone Editions is very cool!
Looking for rainbow or pink & teal grab bags!
hmm, interesting hearing how Windstone started….
4 things I'm looking for:
1. Mother Meerkat
2. production color Sitting Young Oriental dragons to be made in more colors besides VF, Brimstone would be awesome!
3. Female Griffin – Siamese with White
4. September Raffle Prize 2022 AHD Male GriffinThat’s so cool! Who would have known then what it would turn into? I wish I had the guts to try starting an artistic adventure like that but wouldn’t know where to start. I may try more drawing and painting myself to let more of my artistic side out. What a dream job it must be to be able to sculpt, draw and paint everyday! I didn’t hear the story behind the name but I think the name Windstone Editions is very cool!
Windstone succeeded as much as it did because John already knew how to start up and run a business and had a shop space, Susie knew how to run the office, John’s mom did the bookkeeping and taxes, John’s dad designed and built stuff… We had a crew.
THAT is the hard part!
Also, we did get really lucky, and started this biz right when stuff like this was selling really well. There were no products like ours in the gift shops. When we started Windstone, there were almost ZERO dragon figurines available, other than tiny pewter ones.That’s so cool! Who would have known then what it would turn into? I wish I had the guts to try starting an artistic adventure like that but wouldn’t know where to start. I may try more drawing and painting myself to let more of my artistic side out. What a dream job it must be to be able to sculpt, draw and paint everyday! I didn’t hear the story behind the name but I think the name Windstone Editions is very cool!
Windstone succeeded as much as it did because John already knew how to start up and run a business and had a shop space, Susie knew how to run the office, John’s mom did the bookkeeping and taxes, John’s dad designed and built stuff… We had a crew.
THAT is the hard part!
Also, we did get really lucky, and started this biz right when stuff like this was selling really well. There were no products like ours in the gift shops. When we started Windstone, there were almost ZERO dragon figurines available, other than tiny pewter ones.Don’t overlook the contributions of the Artist in Residence! None of the infrastructure would have mattered without you designing wonderful creatures for the team to make and sell.
Ahaha! Piddle Stone! That sounds so…..elegant XD
That name got voted down!
Not gonna lie… I’m quite glad I don’t have to try and explain to people that I collect “Piddle Stones” 😉
Ahaha! Piddle Stone! That sounds so…..elegant XD
That name got voted down!
Not gonna lie… I’m quite glad I don’t have to try and explain to people that I collect “Piddle Stones” 😉
That’s funny Kay 😀
Well,we are all very glad you did not give up Ms.Melody.Rock on!Every act matters.No matter how small💞
(Wanted......Brimstone Lap)
Male Hearth....one day🤞Dream on.
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