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Fishiron.com
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1/12/05 Now that Christmas is past I can relax a little from the last several months. For all those that suggested I do craft and art shows well, THANX! They turned out very well for us. US, meaning Sandi and my daughter Cara. Without them I don't think I would have enjoyed it too much. I designed and built a display for my fish and horseshoe art and gave it a real workout for 4 craft shows. I will definitely go back next season. I've also expanded my industrial hand tool section. I make three hickey bars now and have been shipping them all over. If you need to bend rebar by hand for not much money then this is the way to do it. I have started making painted dorado, flounder, whahoo, and gulf coast speckled trout. Wait I am forgetting my redfish. Also I'm making plain sheet metal fish that are enhanced with grinders. Doesn't sound that good does it. They look good though. Till later, dc. 6/20/06 Man, does time fly? As was expected changes keep coming. Last year was a turning point in my online and local sales. Now they have moved past the point where I can call it a hobby. I work pretty hard just keeping up with everything. The artwork is fun and enjoyable and I will most likely always do it. But now I've found other sales items that I'm interested in and have proven them to be worth the effort. Plus the sales of those other items keep me going in the iron art arena. I am adding them to my site and making my site a little eccentric. As funny as it may sound I'm selling can crushers now. I actually sell five kinds of aluminum can crushers. I have picked the best of the best and become a distributor for several companies. Be sure and check out that portion of my site. Also, I carry a couple of outdoor ashtrays that are yard friendly. No more butts on the ground! I have price and availability down and can ship quickly. I am also selling old western cast iron items that I'm buying by the load now. Still selling a few books too. On top of all that I've started buying and selling some imported items that go with my general outlook on life. Items that just tickled me. A good friend of mine called and said that he saw a sign that reminded him of me that said "SORRY!, we're open!" Hey another thing that happened in the winter was my television taping for Home and Garden TV. I recorded the steps in building the Fishing Hole Series and a horseshoe crab. It comes out July 31, 2006 and I will have to get a copy of it for posterity. I was very nervous but still a genius. HA! It was some of the hardest work I've ever done. It took eight hours to record about 5 min of airtime. Thanx everybody for hanging in there with me and coming back to read this blurb. Life is good and I am determined that it stay that way! Watch for many new photos and pages as I am right now revamping this site.
8/01/06 Finally got to watch my HGTV show. Checkout their website, www.hgtv.com. I was nervous right up to the airing. But it was fine. I have even taken inquiries on art from the show. What more can I ask for? Still adding content and photos to my website. All the while my monthly sales are increasing. And craft shows are coming soon so I need to get ready for that.
12/22/2006 As the Christmas Season finally slows down, for me anyway, I can take a moment and look at this last year's achievements, mistakes, efforts, wins, and losses. What a great year this has been. I have learned so much on this new level. For instance....... My several attempts at advertising have been painful and dreadful absolute losses. Money out and zero money back. Won't do that again. My charitable contributions have had just about the same effect. Which is nothing. It's beginning to look like if I give an artwork away it appears to have NO value. The charities treat it as such too. I'm not saying I won't contribute to charities but I will be extremely selective from now on. Maybe I can discount some pieces to them but I won't give them away for free anymore. I will slow down on entering craft shows and hunt an art show somewhere. Maybe I don't need to do any shows but only one a year that I put on myself. Not sure about that. I've been contacted by a couple of galleries and will explore that end in 2007. My "word of mouth" advertising has been working great. I mean, how many working artists do you know? Probably not very many. I try real hard to keep myself available and out there. I love my work and I try to capture my buyers with passion. Don't make me get artsy fartsy on you! I am going to expand my internet presence this next year and probably have to get some help to do it. I'm to the point that I just can't do it all. I've got to work on learning to duplicate some of my work. Painters have prints, and some sculptors have molds made. My line sculpture is handmade so far and probably always will be but there has to be a faster better method without losing my quality. While there is more that has happened this last year these past thoughts are the ones I need to focus on. Thanx for all the input and purchases. I appreciate your confidence and friendship and I'm sure we will hear from each other in the future. "Nothing happens unless I make it happen.....(repeat)" dcc 3/20/07 Spring is upon us southerners! Man I got tired of those long sleeve t-shirts. Sorry, had to torture my northern brethren a bit. I just finished a set of full color redfish and speckled trout for the Coastal Conservation Association (CCA). I'm very excited about the chance to do some work for them in the future if it works out that way. I've also built some beautiful hand wrought wine racks that I need to list on my site. Have had great reception here locally. My normal horseshoe art keeps on plugging away and is an ongoing stock item now. I joined the IMA (Internet Merchants Association) and went to Las Vegas for a convention. I about worked myself to death there. REALLY! Lots to see and learn to add to what I'm doing now. I brought back lots of merchandise for my internet sales that I don't generally show on this site. For instance I'm adding live traps, birdhouses, gas masks, some gorgeous imported fishes, leather tool bags, lazer levels, and some more stuff I can't remember right now. I also hired some help in the shipping and packing department so maybe my life will be a little less hectic. I'm supposed to be a flighty, pie in the sky artist you know! Further, I enrolled myself in an elementary drawing class and it has been the most relaxing thing I've done for myself in a long while. Great to sharpen up a bit too. That's all for now. Oh, I did come up with a motto, "Where there's fish the world is a safer place." till later, dc 2/7/08 Major changes this last year culminated in a great Christmas giving season. I've only just now finished the holiday rush. I instituted a few of the many things I learned at the convention last year and my business evolved slowly from being a hobby to becoming a living. I shipped 450 packages in December! By myself too. I learned to streamline some of the process and it is moving faster than ever. I further added some great new items to my sales line. Check out the CIT fishes. Beautiful hand painted imports that liven up any room. I also added a couple of niche websites that specialize in very particular areas, for instance, www.hickybar.com is the webpage devoted exclusively to bending rebar by hand. Then I added www.cancrusherworld.com and it shows products that are the best of the best in aluminum can recycling. I will add another site soon titled www.cigbutt.com and it will handle large outdoor ashtrays for businesses and homes. I've tried my best to spread out my lines so as to be insulated from business and economic downturns. I will go to the IMA convention again in March of this year so hopefully I will find more merchandise to add. I've only just now set sales goals for the year and I will have to move more and different product to meet them. Still doing a little art but am also streamlining that. I have helpers now and can spend more time designing and selling than in actual manufacturing. Life is good here at DC Mach. It is the business I wanted it to be. dc
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