My New Friend

I forgot to tell you about my new friend. His name is Jet and is a year-old lab. I adopted him at the Animal Shelter in May and at first I had a few problems with him. He would not get in my car, I had to lift him and put him in. He seemed afraid and shy.

But things have changed since then. I can't get ready to leave without him wanting to go with me. He jumps in and enjoys going to the post office with me. He is rather spoiled...he will only get out of my car at the door he is closest to. Sometimes I have to go around the car and open the other door and then he will get out.

He follows me every where I go in my house...just like a shadow. Here's Jet:

BB's Birthday

I have been extremely busy lately revising/updating my eBay store and have neglected my blog. My little Great Granddaughter had a birthday in August and I just have to show you what I made her - a little buckskin dress and moccasins made like the big girls wear:

More About the Holabi Rosettes

I have a kinda funny story to tell regarding my new idea - the Holabi rosettes. I had a Buyer purchase some of them and he sent me an email stating that he thought his wife would like them to sew on to her jeans. Of course it pleased me that he bought them....then it occurred to me:

Normally jeans are washed and dried in the dryer. I suddenly was concerned so I stopped what I was doing; got a pair of my jeans and sewed a Holabi rosette on the leg. I just laid it over the front of the leg, sewing it to the front and back of the leg. It was too hard to do it on just the front.

I put it in the washing machine, with soap, on "regular wash" and washed it. I was holding my breath when I took them out after the full cycle had run. I was pleasantly surprised that it looked o.k. after the wash.

Then I put it in the dryer and dried it on the regular cycle...and again to my surprise, it looked o.k. I was afraid the leather would shrink and the glitter would come off. But neither happened. I am sending pictures of the washed and dried Holabi rosette.

Now, I may suggest that they can be used to decorate jeans. The next thing I have to do is take it off of the leg that I sewed together so that I can wear my jeans.






This was taken while it was still wet.

My Dear Blog

Dear Blog:

Have you been missing me? I have been so very busy that I have neglected you. I decided that I must visit you today. I just recently received the status of "Power Seller" in eBay and it has taken all of my spare time this past two weeks to maintain that status.

Here are some things I have been working on:

Medicine bags; Deerskin clothing, purses and moccasins.










To me the most exciting item is the Holabi Rosettes that I have created and am getting ready to list. Holabi, in the Choctaw language, means "false" or "lie". The reason I chose this name for my rosettes is that they are just printed designs that I originally created for beading, but I have not beaded them. I didn't want to use the word "faux", a French word, to label a Native American item. I printed them and painted a fine layer of glitter paint over them that makes them sparkle and look like they are beaded. Here's a sample and how I used them:






To me, this is helpful for Mothers and Grandmothers, like myself, who want their children to have beautiful Native American regalia, but cannot afford the time or money to create them. Also, they are great for just about anyone to embellish their Native American clothing.

Well, I have spent about as much time as I can spare for today. I will try to post more often.

Please visit my eBay store for other Native American items.
Click for Store

MY PATENT

In an earlier post, I told you that I had a small manufacturing business that sold items through the various gift markets. In making the gift items, I found that as the women used the patterns I made, they gradually lost shape as the women traced and cut around them for applique pieces. I was very frustrated and finally decided that maybe I could print the designs directly on the fabric for the women to cut, rather than have to trace the design first.

I tried many times running fabric through my copier - I might add here that I spent quite a bit on copier repairs and technical support; however, I finally found a way to successfully run fabric through my copier. This was wonderful, all I had to do is print the design onto the fabric and it was ready for my ladies to trim and applique the various pieces in place.

To make a long story shorter, one of the ladies suggested that I should get a patent on this idea. I really didn’t think it was patentable, but I called my attorney (the same attorney who had advised me regarding my business name change) and asked. He said, "Yes, there are three different kinds of patents utility, plant, and design." He suggested that I could get a utility patent. He asked me to send him some samples, which I did and wrote a description of my "method of transferring designs onto fabric with a copier". He did a search to see that no one else had already patented the same process. It took two years from the time of application to the time of issuance. He filed the application in 1986 and it was issued in 1988.

Here is more information on kinds of patents:

Utility and plant patents are granted for a term which begins on the date of the grant and ends twenty years from the date the patent application was first filed, subject to the payment of maintenance fees.

Design patents are granted for a term of fourteen years from the date of the grant. Patents may be extended only by special act of Congress, except for some pharmaceutical patents whose terms may be extended to make up for time lost due to Government-required testing.

If you plan to file an application, you or your representative should make a search of patents previously granted to make sure that your idea has not already been patented.

Here is a site for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office:

http://www.uspto.gov/

My patent has expired and now belongs to the domain, which means that it is free for anyone to use my method of transferring to fabric using a copier and/or printer. I would like to say that two major copier companies paid me for the use of my patent.

Here is a copy of my patent, showing only the first two pages:







There is a great difference is copyright and trademark, which I will talk about later on. Thanks for visiting my blog. I’ll make one more comment - that is that I married an attorney, who shares an office with a patent attorney.

SHOPPING AT HOME

I'm posting something I got from my daughter today. The picture is of her and her husband and she refers to the gray tape holding it together (it is a paint by number picture to do that she sent off for her to paint). I remember when she got mad at him one day and cut it in half.




Here is her email:

The economic climate looms over us all. I think for the most part, our country has enjoyed a plentiful season over the past years and the thought of an uncertain future is scary.

When I get a little blue and think I don’t have enough, there is a thing I do called “shopping at my house.” It goes something like this. Find your beginning point and work your way around the room you have selected and pretend you could have anything in the room you want as if you don’t.

Example: My purple living room.

I begin at the front door where Brian with his own two hands removed the partitions so that our friends could linger with their good-byes more comfortably. On to the antique china cabinet that I bought about 25 years ago for next to nothing in Guymon, Oklahoma--inside it are six lidded pumpkin bowls that I like to serve the first soup of the fall—my purple 100 year old rocker--next three large picture windows where I can see my great big pine tree sway in the wind--that now have quite a few little baby handprints where someone is waiting for someone to drive into the driveway-- one very large carved wooden angel Brian bought me for my birthday—my blue Herend rabbits with the droopy ears..one big one, two middle ones and one baby one--the chair that I bought from Coretta Ralston and had recovered in cheetah linen--an oil on canvas called “The Director’s Chair” that was given to me by my friend Debbie Hagerman because I told her I liked it—a large pedestal that we bought at an auction for a dollar that has a vase of flowers in front of a mirror--my large, cushy, ruby red lipstick couch!!!!--the small spot on my border that was left by what I thought was a very large miller that turned out to be a bat that Trent took to show and tell--the grandfather clock that will someday belong to Charles--the glass curio cabinet my mother bought Grace when she was born and currently filled with our collection of sextants, compasses, and kaleidoscopes--the large wooden giraffe Brian traded for soap while he was in Africa—a picture of leaves from our trip to New England to celebrate our five years of marriage--the water color painted by Koko the Gorilla that looks like a pink heart that was my gift to Brian one Valentine Day--my cello resting on his piano. And probably my favorite thing of all…the paint by number picture of Brian and me that I cut in half one sad day. If you look closely, you can barely see the gray tape on the backside holding it together. We all know how strong that gray tape is.

So you get the idea…don’t spend your time sitting and wishing and hoping for things and stuff. Go on a journey around your own house and take a moment to remember how much you wanted all the stuff you already have before you got it. It’s a big fat lie that you can have it all, but it’s a big fat truth that you can have a lot!

LEGEND OF THE BUTTERFLY (Native American)

March 1 was the deadline for entering the ACEO Theme Week contest. The theme for March is Caterpillars, Butterfles and Lady Bugs. ACEOs must be 2.5"x3.5" to qualify as an ACEO. ACEO is an acronym for Art Cards Editions and Originals.

I decided to make a medicine bag with a butterfly on it. Here is my entry, and description.





ACEO is an acronym for Art Cards Editions and Originals and must always be 2.5" x 3.5". The theme for March is “Caterpillars, Butterflies and Ladybugs”.

This little ACEO is a medicine bag 2.5" wide and 3.5" high. It is made on brain-tanned deerskin and beaded around the top with orange and blue size 11 seed bead. I have made a leather neck thong so that it can be worn or the leather thong can be tucked inside the medicine bag for displaying in a sleeve (scanned both ways). Inside the bag, I have placed a small rock, the symbol of Mother Earth, a gift the Creator gives to His children, solid, everlasting and ingrained with colors of the earth.

This ACEO card will be enclosed in an acid-free sleeve. Shipping is $1.50 by U.S. First Class Mail. International shipping is at cost. If you want to combine other of my auctions, please request an invoice so I can adjust charges.

For your information, here is the Legend of the Butterfly. I will include it separately with the ACEO Medicine Bag.

Legend of the Butterfly

One day the Creator was resting and watching some children play in a village. As He watched them, His heart grew sad - “these children will grow old, their skin will become wrinkled, their hair will turn gray, their teeth will fall out, the young hunter’s arm will fail, the lovely young girls will grow ugly and fat, the playful puppies will become blind, mangy dogs, and those wonderful flowers - yellow and blue, red and purple - will fade. The leaves from the trees will fall and dry up. Thus, the Creator grew sadder and sadder.

The Creator took out his bag and started gatherings things: a spot of sunlight, a handful of blue from the sky, the shadow of paying children, the blackness of a beautiful girl’s hair, the yellow of the falling leaves, the green of the pine needles, the red, purple and orange of the flowers. All of these he put into his bag.

Then he walked over to the grassy spot where the children were playing. “Children, little children, this is for you.” And he gave them his bag. “Open it; there something nice inside.” The children opened the bag, and at once hundreds and hundreds of colored butterflies flew out, dancing around the children’s heads, settling on their hair, fluttering up again to sip from this or that flower. And the children, enchanted, said they had never seen anything so beautiful.

The butterflies began to sing and the children listened smiling. But then a songbird came flying, settling on the Creator’s shoulder, scolding him, saying, “It’s not right to give our songs to the new, pretty things. You told us when you made us that every bird would have his own song. And now, you’ve passed them all around. Isn’t it enough that you gave your new playthings the colors of the rainbow?” “You’re right,” said the Creator. “I made one song for each bird, and I shouldn’t have taken what belongs to you.”

So, the Creator took the songs away from the butterflies, and that’s why they are silent. “They’re beautiful even so!” he said.

BULLS' COUNTRY

Shortly after starting Saks 3rd Ave., I was on a buying trip at the Dallas Trade Mart. This was during the time that the "country look" was so popular. The market was unusually busy and every place I went to place orders for my store inventory, I had to wait in line. It occurred to me that I could easily make many of the items I was purchasing.

When I went home, my housekeeper asked me if I could hire her daughter. I decided to start a manufacturing business and attempt selling at the Dallas Trade Mart. I bought a vacant building that had been an oil/gas distributorship. Olivia and I physically cleaned up old barrels and trash and she was my first employee at Two’s Company, the name I had chosen for my new venture.

Olivia and I made 12 different items and I loaded them in my briefcase and went to Dallas to find a representative. The first company I called on was Casey Associates, a rep that I had purchased from for my gift shop. Suddenly, my heart was in my throat....I had bought a building and hired an employee without means of supporting my idea. I was very lucky, Casey Associates liked what we had created and agreed to represent me in their permanent showroom. I left my samples and to my great surprise, from the first market several months later, I received $9,000 in orders.

My youngest daughter lived in New Jersey and worked in New York. I decided to go to visit her and look for a representative in New York. I took my samples there and found a representative at the 225 Fifth Avenue Showroom, Silverman & Silverman. They took my samples and I signed a contract with them to represent me. Part of my agreement was that I would personally attend their special outside shows. I had a terrible shock at the first market when an attorney came to our display and informed me that the name "Two’s Company" was trademarked and I was infringing. I called my attorney and he informed me to immediately change the name of my company - using my personal name (which cannot be an infringement). It was then that my company became "Bulls’ Country".

I was surprised when my NY rep called me one day and informed me that Spiegel Catalog company had placed an order for four of my items. I was so excited and called my husband and said, "Spiegel has ordered from me. The first order is $1,100.00". My husband looked at the order and said, "This order is for $11,000.00." I never was very good at math! As it turned out, our four little items appeared in 4 consecutive catalogs mailed out and the total orders amounted to $87,000.00. This order prompted me to hire more ladies and two men at my little manufacturing company. Here is a scan of the four hoop wallhangings that appeared in four of their catalogs. The second scan is the front of one of the catalogs this ad appeared in.






Here are some scans of items we manufactured at Bulls Country. We advertised "Bulls’ Country ABCs" - A-Add a Drawer; B-Build a Quilt; C-Change a Screen; S-Switch a Picture. Everything we made was of pine frames with changeable fabric inserts. We stated that our product carried through from Nursery to Newlyweds - simply by changing the fabric inserts. Everything could be shipped by UPS (United Parcel Service). I furnished my daughter’s apartment in New Jersey by sending her furniture through UPS.












We had approximately 12 different theme designs. We also made little decorated crates that sold well.




Here is a picture of me in my office at Bulls’ Country:



It was at Bulls’ Country that the idea of printing directly onto fabric with a copier/printer came to mind and I acquired a patent on the process. That, is another story for later.

PLAINS INDIAN MOCCASINS (How to Make)

I have worked years on my design for making Plains Indian Moccasins. I have developed a pattern of 3 main pieces and a method of printing different beading designs on pre-printed kits of buckskin. Here is one example of a moccasin kit ready for beading and assembly:














If you plan to bead your moccasins, do it now.




































Click to see more moccasin kits