UNDERSTANDING THE IMPORTANCE OF GLAZES

Glaze Categories
Is this important to your business? You bet! It’s critical that you understand all aspects of the “glaze families”. There are numerous categories of glaze categories Such as, Courtyards, Satins, Elements, Exotics, and Garden Glazes. There are also three major colour lines Duncan, Gare and Mayco who each have at least 12 to 15 of these glaze categories.

Glaze Companies
It is important to understand that Duncan, Mayco & Gare do bring out similar categories. The difference is the name and the colour choice. For instance Duncan Courtyard Glazes are similar to Gare, Garden Glazes. Beautiful Colour Brochures are available from each company that shows each category and colour. They also explain sizes available such as 4 oz, 8 oz, Pints, Gallons.

WOW FACTOR!
Are you looking for a “WOW” factor? Are you interested in fantastic results for your customers on their first visit? These glaze categories are stunning! Samples sell! Displays Sell! By increasing your customer’s interest in ceramics you increase your sales and profit.

For more information on Glaze Companies colour brochure, click here.

What Is A Glaze?

Colour line manufactures such as Duncan, Mayco and Gare have huge colour lines. These colour lines have various categories of fired and non-fired products. We have been receiving numerous calls daily wanting more information on other categories of glazes versus the Concepts, Stroke & Coats and Fun Strokes. We will start by explaining “glazes”.

Glazes are the protective coating that makes ceramics safe and useful. Without the fired surfaces, the ware would not be able to hold water or be safe for food. Glazes are bottled in 4 oz., pints and some in gallons and 5-gallon containers. There are various types of glaze categories and how to apply the glaze.

Choosing A Glaze
There are some terms that the consumer needs to know when choosing a glaze. These terms let the user know the characteristics of the glaze whether it is shiny or dull, transparent or opaque, safe to use on utility items or for decorative items only.

Reading The Label
Reading the label is the best way to insure that you have selected the correct product for your technique and piece. The jar label should be read each time that you use the product. The label has the most up-to-date information concerning your safety and that of the piece you produce.

How to determine the glaze look
The following terms will help you understand the labels more clearly and will allow you to make the best choice of products for great looking results:

Gloss – Shiny and smooth, bright high gloss and highly reflective surface
Satin – Not really shiny, but not dull either. Think of an eggshell of a satiny sheen.
Matte – the opposite of gloss. This surface is duller and satin reflecting little shine.
Dead Matte – even duller than a matte. This surface reflects no light.
Opacity – Refers to the transparency of the glaze. Some glazes are so transparent that it’s like placing a clear piece of glass on top of the ware. These clear glazes can act like a magnifying glass on top of the ceramic surface or on top of underglaze. Some glaze colours are nearly opaque and others totally so.

Codes and definitions for the opacity of glazes
C: Clear – the glaze is completely clear adding only a shiny web look
T: Transparent – the colour underneath is slightly tinted by the overlying glaze changing the appearance only a little.
ST: Semi-transparent – the underglaze beneath these are identifiable, but are changed by the tone of the glaze over them
SO: Semi-opaque – light underglaze colors will not show through and dark colors will be muted
O: Opaque – most colours will not show through

All of the colour lines, Mayco, Gare and Duncan have numerous categories of paint (unfired), glazes, underglazes and specialty glazes. They also sell these products in various sizes. Did you realize all these numerous colours are available in Paper Colour Brochures? When you view these brochures, you really understand the scope of our business and where it can lead.

For more online information on the above glaze lines, please click here!

MAKE THEM LAST LONGER
Doesn't it seem like everywhere you turn today you are working harder. For instance, going to the bank, for the past few years the banks are making us do all the work to take out or deposit money. On top of it all, they are charging us even more. Everytime you go on the internet you need to read, read, and read more to learn all about products. It's just the way of life today and into the future.

The Sili Coil Brush Cleaner is a tool that is fantastic for your studio. Every table in your studio should have a Sili Coil Brush Cleaner. If you want your brushes to stay clean and go back to their original shape. Just fill with water and let your customer's do the cleaning. You might as well let your customer's do the work in this area and in the long run they will benefit with quality brushes for their projects.

Don't forget the Paint Palettes - we stock 3 sizes - they are used for allowing dime size Colours poured into the well and can be cost saving.
D-36 has 1 space for colour
D-37 has 6 spaces for colour - most popular
D-38 has 12 spaces for colour - good for parties

We also have Brush Cleaner AS952-8. This product perserves and conditions brushes and it great for giving your brushes a good cleaning.

Check these products our on our website - www.ceramicarts.com

TRY SOMETHING NEW...and inexpensive!

Here's a very inexpensive way to try something new for your parties and camps. Duncan Ceramics has a Craft Division. They have numerous crafting projects that are explained step-by-step on their site. We thought we would introduce the Tulip Fashion Paint line. Duncan has 9 Value Paks of paint that has multiple colours, such as glitter, glo, matte, crystal, neon and puffy.

All you need to do to get the "How To" instructions is go to the Duncanceramics.com site and click on Duncan Crafts, then products. Scan down and you will see the Duncan Tulip Line and "how to tips".

Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day and Summer Camps are just around the corner. Why not order a few kits now and experiment.

Give it a try and let us know how it works for you!

What's the difference, isn't a Plate a Plate?

As you notice we have 3 companies hottest moving plates on special. What's the difference?
Some say size, some say price, some say quality? What does your customer think? Is it really size, price or quality? Duncan has a different quality, Gare has the largest size and Mayco has the best prices although smallest plates!

Share with us why you choose?

HERE'S WHY WITNESS CONES ARE IMPORTANT

We thought it imperative that we share a recent article from Orton Ceramics the maker of "Witness Cones".

Education is an important part of the ceramic industry. In this age of digital readouts, customers sometimes need to be reminded that their electronic controllers control the temperature inside their kiln usually based on a single thermocouple.

Regular use of witness cones will indicate temperature uniformity inside their kiln and assure users that their ceramic ware has been fired according to the manufacturer's specifications.

Pyrometric cones verify they are getting the optimal results from their firings. Cones also help to spot aging thermocouples, aging heating elements and determine the accuracy of automatic controller programs. For more information on witness cone imporatance, click here.

PEOPLE WANT TO “PERSONALIZE EVERYTHING THEY DO”

We thought this article in USA today was a great tie-in for our Creative Images Program. Here’s recap of what they had to say about “personalization”.

People want to be creative and personalize everything they do. Banal is out. Dramatic, dynamic, kooky, artsy and inventive is in. People want “concepts”. There are props and costumes readily available for personalization.

Families dream up themes and photographers stage settings. They want to pose outdoors, shoot in black and white and have everybody wearing red shows. And the dog…do not forget the dog: some photos are all about the dog, even when there are children in the family. Others try to make their photos sensational.

We’re all marinating in a media soup of fabulous photo-graphic images that influence our view of the world and ourselves even if unconsciously. “Customers today know that with digital we can do things we couldn’t before.” Because they know this they have more ideas. They’re inspired by things in stores, magazines, movies, TV. Everybody wants to see themselves – or their animals – as a star.

Life is very fragile. How incredibly valuable those pictures are to that family. We have a fantastic opportunity to offer “personalized photo’s” in our industry using the Creative Image Line, photographs and bisque. We would love to hear from anyone who has put the Creative Image program into their, studio. How’s it working for you!

Become a SunPower Kidz®

We have all heard these words! Isn’t it amazing generation after generation kids just seem to dislike fruits and vegetables? With the “organic craze” and “healthy lifestyle” advertising read daily in newspapers we see that fruits and vegetables are getting headlines.

A company called SunPower Kidz® approached Mayco to develop molds for their line of SunPower Kidz® fruits and vegetables. This company has a website (http://www.sunpowerkidz.com/) you may visit and download delightful “ fruit and vegetable education” write-ups that tie in directly with these SunPower Kidz® Bisque. Wouldn’t these be great for spring break and summer camps? How else would you use these SunPower Kidz® to increase your business? Please blog us back with your comments.

28 Brand New Bisque items just released from Mayco. Pirates of the Caribbean, still a huge hit with the “tween” market and will continue as another movie is coming out. Mayco has released quite a few dynamite new “pirate” pieces. Check out the other items like the Masks, Totem Poles and Crystal Ball pieces. They have also introduced 12 tiles with different designs all in 1 box… interesting!

As you can see we are getting a fantastic abundance of “bisque”. The SPO program allows you to continually “theme” your studio, now that we have enough bisque pieces from all lines. We will continue our efforts to improve upon our shopping on line to assist you with your ordering. Briing on your thoughts, comments, suggestions and ideas... we are listening!

USA TODAY – SMELL THAT?

This article was in USA Today newspaper and relates directly to the importance of smell in your studios… here are some excepts from the article.

Someone’s trying to sell you something – Scents, which now can linger longer, drift into ad campaigns. Take a deep breath and get ready for an olfactory onslaught: Nostrils are becoming a target for marketers. As more jaded consumers turn up their noses at traditional ads and marketers scramble for alternatives, scent-based promotions are growing. Trade journal “Advertising Age” named scents as an expected top ad trend in 2007.

The use of scents is one more way to break through clutter says Yankee Candle marketing head, Yankee’s December catalog offered more than a dozen candle fragrance samples such as cinnamon and “Christmas Cookie”

Other recent aromatic advertising:
Kraft Foods. One million People magazine subscribers last month got a special Kraft-sponsored holiday issue featuring “rub-and-smell” ads for products such as cherry Jell-O and white fudge Chips Ahoy. PepsiCo. Diet Pepsi Jazz promotions have included print ads, coupons and store signs infused with the new soft drink’s fruit and French vanilla fragrances. Verizon Wireless. Stores in the northeast used Chocolate “scent strips” to hype LG Electronics. New mobile phone and music player named Chocolate.

Companies spend $50 million to 80 million on scent-related marketing in 2006. Boosting the trend is improved technology for more creative, cheaper and longer-lasting fragrance-based ads.

Scent is integral to the customer experience – it creates the atmosphere.

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, we even have a “heart shaped” bisque wrap. We are hearing great comments re our soy-based candle line. Coming soon our spring collection.