More time inside the bell shop

So, here is a little more insight into bell making.

                                                                   Grinding!

                                                               Close up.

                                                    The finished product.

Here are sails after being cut and now ready for the "patina" treatment to start.

 

So, today 10 boxes went out on the UPS truck and Philip met a customer in Boerne to deliver one more. We are rolling for Christmas, taking orders by phone and through the website. We have printed and mailed out the last of the holiday postcards. We are keeping up with your orders and STILL getting to keep up with those all important addictive TV dramas - Homeland, Dexter, Boardwalk Empire and yes, Glee.

 

And, one final note.... while Philip has mastered the creation of your bells, this Thanksgiving holiday he spent one evening putting together a dollhouse for our only granddaughter's Christmas (thanks to Aunt Jenny and Uncle Michael). This was not as easy as one might think!

 

 

 

More inside time inthe shop

An Inside Look

Ok, so in honor of Cyber-Monday, I thought I would give you an inside look at the Windsongs "operation". It might be be interesting to know that all bells since 1976 have been constructed within the walls of this same metal shop. Now, the shop was first located near Marion, Texas, actually on the Zuehl Airport grounds. Then when we moved to Boerne, the shop was moved also. And, it's been there ever since. There's been a succession of shop dogs who have been underfoot and there to great customers. This is the current resident, Toast.

She's in her golden years, like the rest of us. If you come visit and want her to like you, bring her a dog cookie. She doesn't hear all that well any more, but her appetite is good.

Now, this is a long, narrow building and the "heart" of the operation is where the welding occurs, of course. And that is way at the back in an area Philip has reworked many times to provide a survivable climate in either winter or summer.

He can close those wooden doors, turn on the air conditioner, turn up the radio and survive the heat in the summer. In the winter, the doors stay open and the larger heater is cranked up in the middle of the shop so we both can work "comfortably".

                         This is what the piece of steel look like before the welding begins.

Some action shots. "Close your eyes - don't look directly at the weld!"

I'll post more later - gotta go cut sails out in the shop for now!!

Young Entrepeneur Update

Just an update on our purchase from young entrepeneur, Chris. Our bracelets arrived this week. Just thought I would post a picture for you.

                                                    And here is a closeup of one of them.

                                                                               

                                        Notice the cute pink one for our only grandaughter!!!!
                                            They are going to be stocking stuffers, I think.

Now, dear art and craft readers, should you also want to purchase a hand crafted knotted bracelet for the child or grandchild in your family (like for a stocking stuffer), let me know. I could certainly contact young Mr. Chris for you. I do not have his permission or that of his dad, to post his email, so I would certainly be willing to contact him on your behalf. Each bracelet was $5.00.

As for us, we are diligently working in the bell shop these days. Your Christmas notification from us should be in the mail to you all very soon!!

After Huffines

Well the Huffines show has come and gone. It was a good show. A little cold .... okay, it was really cold. In fact, it was in the thirties in the mornings!!  Customers were treated to a sight they almost never see.

   Philip in long pants.

 

 

You gotta give these Richardson and surrounding area folks credit, they came out to shop even in the cold. It warmed up a little in the afternoons each day, but basically we stayed dressed in layers of clothing the entire show.

 

This is a small show, held in the park surrounded by soccer and baseball fields, a fire station and a middle school. But it is very well organized, very pretty and lots of people come to shop.

 

 We met this young entrepeneur. This is Chris who is still in middle school. He makes these really cool bracelets from nylon cord (sorry, I did not take a picture on them). He and his dad came by the booth and each of them were wearing one of Chris' creations. We admired them and eventually ordered some from him for our grandkids and ourselves. We are eagerly awaiting our purchases. it is always cool to see a young person doing something creative. He is currently exploring the best way to market his product.

I will post a picture of the bracelets when we receive them.

 

On the way home on Monday, we visited with the wonderful person who created and monitors our website. We had a great "business" breakfast with he and his wife, Eme. They are two folks involved in lots of things, one of which is a business called E Z Vinyl Expressions. They can create a label, sign, embellishment for anything. He is a link to their website;

http://www.ezvinylexpressions.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More Bonaire

Here are a few more quick photos related to this trip. These are all above the water. If you want to see the fantastic life "under the sea", please go check out Bill Goodwin's website (see last posting).

It rained several days just on one end of the island, briefly, and then the sun shone the rest of the day.... except for one day close to the end of the trip when it POURED.

The mosquitos were more abundant this year!!Hmmm,so now this fall I have been stung by Texas mosquitos threatening me with West Nile Virus, then African mosquitos for whom we took the typhoid vaccine and then the Caribbean mosquitos who carry dengue fever. Such adventure!!

                      One of the outdoor restaurants we ate at several times!

More animals.

 

 Yes, I am posting pictures of grocery carts, but only because these were so interesting. There is a swanky new Dutch grocery store that opened since our trip last year. You had to put a quarter into a slot at the front of the handle (our friend Jay is demonstrating). That then allows you to pull out the key from the other side of the handle and take your cart into the rest of the store. When you are through shopping, you simple pushed your car back into the line of carts, reinstalled the key hanging from the first basket in line and out popped your quarter.

 

 

There were no baskets littering their parking lot. However, you had to carry your own groceries out to you car in big bags or you had to bring the cart all the way back into the store to be able to retrieve your basket.

 

And then, there were the sunsets.

Every night, this was the view from our porch.

After the sun set you could see the lights from the big dock where the tankers pulled up to load up with oil. We saw more tankers this year coming and going than we ever saw in previous visits. For a couple of days a big supertanker even docked there to fill up.

 

All in all - another great trip!