The End Of Ceramic Christmas Trees

I have some not-so-good important news for you today...but also some hope if you still want a ceramic Christmas Tree handmade by Dark Horse Arts and Gifts. We were so overwhelmed this past year (2011) with orders for our trees, that as of today we are still fulfilling orders from December!

11 Inch Ceramic Christmas Tree

A BIG THANK YOU to all of our patient and loyal customers who have been waiting for their own special tree to be completed so long after purchasing. We are doing our best, but as you may know there have been some significant obstacles...

As you may or may not know, Mom had a heart attack and had open-heart surgery, only to have that grafting fail in the month following the original surgery. She now has several stents and is doing much better. Glenn has his own disabilities due to a former back surgery a few years ago for a thankfully benign, but large tumor in his lower lumbar area. Then there is me...

After taking care of everyone else while running our little business and working full time, I broke my back in January 2011 (lifting of course a bucket of clay to pour into a Christmas Tree mold), however I did not know that it was actually broken until two vertebrae completely collapsed and the pain forced me to the Emergency Room. Long story short...believe me you don't want to hear all the details and I prefer not to re-hash them... I had back surgery and it was found that I had cancer. Apparently what appeared to be a breast cyst was actually breast cancer that had metastasized to my bones; specifically my spine, ribs and pelvic areas.

19" Ceramic White Christmas

That was back in May of 2011, and since then it has been an experience of a lifetime. So many friends and even strangers stepped forward to help me get the alternative treatment I was seeking, because there was no way that I was going to have chemo or radiation. Glenn was so wonderful in caring for me and he even started a Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Please-Help-Jeanie-2-Cancer-Cure/176257085764887
so that people could donate whatever amount they could to help me get to a clinic in Mexico to undergo alternative cancer treatment. If you want to know more, you can visit my True Story here where I contributed to a natural health website in hopes of helping others and getting the word out that there are alternatives that work.

I am still undergoing treatment, but making good progress, finally.  I was down to 89lbs when I came back from Mexico, and as it turned out, the treatment protocol they had me doing was helping, but was not as aggressive as my cancer. That is why I now take Protocel for my cancer and again, you can read more details here.

Now that all three of our team have our fair share of obstacles and challenges, we have with great regret decided that we can no longer continue our ceramics business.

We have our business up for sale, and we have a couple of interested buyers.  This process will take some time though.

Because we had so many heart-warming stories for our wonderful customers about their family traditions including a Ceramic Christmas Tree (started by Mom or Grandma, etc.) and that they wanted to carry on this tradition and purchased our vintage-style, handmade new Ceramic Christmas Trees made to order just for them, we have decided to complete the orders we still have outstanding which we anticipate being done no later than June 2012, and we have opened up our dedicated website http://www.CeramicChristmasTrees.info to accept "pre-orders" of trees for this, our final year.

7" Miniature Collection

You have the opportunity for a limited time to pre-order any of our Ceramic Christmas Trees on the website and we will make your tree starting in July and you will receive your order no later than Thanksgiving.

As you can imagine, we cannot produce many more trees given our health situations - it has definitely slowed us down and I am only able to supervise and do very small things to help. So, to be frank, if you want a tree from us, or a collection of trees, order now.

As I mentioned, it is with deep regret that  we have to stop making the ceramics that we so love and enjoy making for others to treasure, but I am sure that you can understand given the circumstances.

Whether we are able to sell our Dark Horse Arts and Gifts ceramic business or not, this pre-order season starting now until we reach maximum orders we can fulfill before Thanksgiving will be the last that we make.

We are also selling the last of our other in-stock items at our Etsy store here:  http://DarkHorseStore.etsy.com

Once the items you see there are gone, we will not be producing anymore.

Once again, we wish to truly thank all of the wonderful people who have stepped forward to help us in out times of need, and our continuing need for support, including the great folks at TACA (Tucson Arts and Crafts Association). We are very fortunate and grateful to everyone.

We hope to hear from you and if we can make that Special Ceramic Christmas Tree or other item for you before we close our 'virtual doors' then we will be very happy to do so!

All my best wishes for your great health and happiness in all things,
Jeanie

Silver Bells Collection

Old Fashioned Deluxe Collection

Liquid Clay to Shining Lights - Ceramic Christmas Trees, Part 2

Got a little delayed in making this Part 2 - sorry 'bout that! Things can get a little crazy with the holidays coming up --- I am sure you understand ;)  Last time we left off with our ceramic Christmas Tree almost ready to be fired.  We poured the tree, put holes in it for lights and now it's dry and ready for cleaning!

When we poured our Christmas Tree mold, there were 3 parts to the mold, so when we removed it, there are 3 seams on the tree. And who wants to have a tree with seams?Using a small cleaning tool, much like an exact knife but with one straight end and one flat end, I carefully scrape off the clay seams being careful not to chip the tree since it is in a very fragile dry unfired clay state - called "greenware".

Oh, and did I mention the holes yet? Each hole needs to be carefully cleaned and checked for fit.  While the clay was drying, shrinkage does occur so we need to go over each hole again to make sure there is nothing blocking (dry clay remnants in the hole) and that the hole is still big enough for the twist light that we will be placing on each branch later.

After cleaning the tree and base, each one is wiped down with a wet soft sponge to remove any remaining mold seam marks so that it is ready to be fired in the kiln.



Once completely cleaned, we can "fire" our tree in the kiln which will take it from the greenware state into the ceramic bisque stage, ready for glazing! It will take about 4 hours in the kiln, at a temperature of 1800 degrees Fahrenheit and the kiln will take about 8 hours to cool down before we can remove the tree.

Here is the tree just about to be removed from the kiln - it is bisque now and ready to paint!

OK, we are in the final stretch.  Part 3 coming up... we will glaze our tree and get it ready for one more firing and then we can decorate our tree and get it ready for one lucky winner of our giveaway!

I hope that seeing how we make our ceramic Christmas Trees is interesting so far :) 

Wishing you great health and happiness until next time,
Jeanie