Sweeping changes with Mason Stains

Blended Material Inventory Change
What Mason Says (quoted from the Mason Color website):
Basically, we will be reducing the number of inventoried pigments from around 160 to about 100. Each color section will be impacted, some more severely than others. All of our existing pigments that are manufactured as single calcinations will continue to be offered as they have been for the last 100 plus years. The majority of blended pigments will no longer be held in our inventory after the current supply is gone. A full listing of all the blended pigments will be available to you, including up-to-date inventory levels and the formulas that will enable you to make your own blends from the large supply of pigments currently being manufactured. Since it is customary in ceramic businesses to blend colors to achieve a desired shade, we do not expect this to be a problem.


Mason Stain Changes
What Bracker's Says (how these changes will affect Bracker's and our customers):
Oh, my...you should have seen the look on Anne W.'s face when we heard this news. Shock and awe, people. It was complete and utter shock and awe. The new color chart (now available) looks pitifully small compared to the previous chart (no longer available). At this point, we have a decent supply of all the colors that we currently carry. We'll sell the blended colors we have in stock and will continue for as long as we can get them blended. But we'll also provide you with the chart of how to blend the single calcination colors together to get the other colors for which you are familiar. For example, if you love 6265 Leaf Green, you'll just need to blend 67% 6204 Victoria Green and 33% 6219 French Green to get the same Leaf Green color. We strongly recommend that before the existing supply of stains runs out, you try blending a few of them yourself to see the original and the version you have to blend yourself in a side-by-side test.

We expect that we will have to explain this issue a couple hundred times and do a lot of hand-holding throughout the change, but that's what we're here for. Check out the NEWS section of the Mason website (3 pages into the news section as of this posting) for even more details or give us a call. Our current website will NOT reflect these changes immediately, but please be patient with us.

Art from Iraland

That's Iraland, not Ireland. As in the artist, Ira Winarsky. I had a delightful conversation with him on the phone yesterday, which led to him mentioning his website. I was entranced enough that I thought I'd share it with you, too.

Ira went to Kansas University in the 60's to study architecture, but took a ceramics class from Sheldon Carey as an elective and fell in love with clay. Sheldon is the man who convinced my dad to apply for a teaching position in the Art & Design Department at KU, ultimately leading us to Lawrence, Kansas in 1975. He feels that architecture is art on a much larger scale and has continued in both sides of the same world. His degree in Architecture is from KU, his Masters degree in sculpture is from Temple University, Tyler School of Art.

Check out his amazing iridescent glaze palette, based on inspiration from his pet peacock, Gilgamesch

Groovy Tools

Groovy Tools are a great alternative for people who loved the high quality Dolan Tools. Groovy Tools are made by Susan & Dave Burge from Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. Aside from living in a city with a name very close to our city, they're also a very nice couple. Susan is a potter and Dave is an engineer (he confesses to having absolutely no artistic talents). Together, they have come up with a great new concept in trimming tools. Here's what the Groovy Tools website says about their tools:

Groovy Tools is a new concept in trim tools. We start with a blade of the highest quality steel. The 200 SERIES HEAVY GAUGE TOOLS are made from true tool steel. The blade is heat treated, tempered, and then re-treated cryogenically to produce a molecularly superior steel. In our NEW 300 SERIES MEDIUM GAUGE TOOLS we use a high carbon steel that is hardened and tempered to withstand the abrasion from clay but tough enough to be impacted and not break. From the type of steel, to the treating process, right down to the blade angle, this tool was designed to hold an edge.

The finished blade is then mated to an acetate handle that is impervious to moisture. No more worries about wooden handles swelling, blades loosening, or having to wipe your handles with oil. Our handles are light, strong, and will last a long, long time.

The final touch is an ergonomic grip. This gives the handle just a little softness for a better grip with less fatigue. And the bright colors are really groovy!

Kemper's version of Dolan Tools

We love Kemper Tools. We've sold them for 25 years, and we'll continue to sell them. Kemper recently came out with a new series of tools, based on the original Dolan Tools. However, we will NOT stock that particular line of tools, nor will you find them listed on our website. "Why?" you might ask. The reason we won't publicize or stock them is because they are a DIRECT copy of Dolan Tools, down to the rings at the bottom of the handle and the tool numbers.

Dolan Tools

There have been TONS of rumors floating around about Dolan Tools. Here's the actual scoop!
Bob Dolan did NOT pass away. He is definitely still alive and kickin'. However, things have been tough on the Dolan Family lately and they stopped making tools. Dolan Tools have been a really hot commodity and we only have a small handful of turning hooks left (CALL us if you want any of the remaining Dolans - our inventory dwindles on a daily/hourly basis). We could have easily doubled the price and people would have bought 'em, but we left our discounted prices where they were.

It's been awhile, but...

I am so sorry I have been ignoring you for so long. It has been really busy at Bracker's the past few months. Even though I didn't get the opportunity to attend NCECA, I did my fair share of the prep work. And I'm working on a sale flyer for ya'll - our sale will start May 1st and run through the end of June. The flyer should arrive in your snail-mail mailbox in a few weeks. And I've been hard at work on a new website, which should feature a LOT of really cool improvements. It's not ready yet, but I'm focusing almost all of my time on that right now. So today I'll create a couple of short posts on some important topics that all you potters have been talking about lately.
Cheers!
Anne