Carol's Carousel Creations

In the Studio

Open Classes Monday December 14th and 21st, Wednesday the 16th and 23rd. Any other afternoon or evening by appointment. Let’s get those Christmas gifts finished!

THIS MONDAY (tomorrow, 12/14) we are painting clear glass Christmas tree ornaments. If you are caught up on everything else, come and join us. $2.00 each. We also have lots of ceramic ornaments in the craft drawers that you can take home and paint. Why not make a special hand-painted ornament for everyone on your Christmas list!

Mail Orders

We are making progress here with almost all of the orders mailed out. We took packages to USPS on Friday and to FedEx on Saturday. All of those people have received tracking information on their shipments. We still have to finish two extra-large horses, a jazz band, several pair of naughty turtles, a bench for sitters, two more trees, and some angels. Promised to get these all out for Christmas!

Christmas Gifts

Personal gifts are all done and wrapped, including some purchased on Amazon for Jeremy.

Jeremy is making something for the family, too. Got those poured and half of them fired and ready to paint. Don’t want to give away the surprise but I think they will be liked.

Christmas cards went out to family a couple weeks ago and over a hundred more cards are ready to mail to students, ceramic friends, and customers. We included a special coupon to be used in January or February 2021.

Celebrating

Baking still needs to be done — Christmas breads and cookies.

Decorating still needs to be done — trees and everything else is in the shed and needs to be brought in. We probably won’t use everything this year — can always find some neat lit up ceramic trees in the Studio like we did last year!

It’s not too late…

…to come paint some ornaments

…to put together a to-go basket with bisque, brushes, and paints

…to purchase gift certificates for lessons, bisque, or finished pieces

Carol’s Carousel Creations
Where having Fun is why we come!

Old World Santas are for sale today. These painted samples are between 10″ and 12″ tall and sell for $20.00. [Click on arrows to see all ten pictures in slide show.]

We have about forty in our collection that we can pour for you (for next year). A few of them are 8″ and sell finished for $11.25 but we don’t have any of them painted right now. Check out Old World Santas to see them all and for sizes, descriptions, and prices.

Please send PM to CarolsCarouselCreations on Facebook or send an email to CarolsCarouselCreations@gmail.com to order. If you leave a message on this page I may not see it.

Finished Christmas trees are also available and are on sale for the bisque kit price. See our Facebook page for two posts showing what we still have available.

News from the Studio

Open classes Monday and Wednesday @ 6:00 and other times by appointment (any afternoon or evening) until Christmas.

Bisque and paint kits available if you prefer to work at home.

Still working to get all the Etsy and catalog orders finished and shipped in time for Christmas.

Carol’s Carousel Creations
Where having Fun is why we come!

The studio will be closed between Christmas and New Year’s.

Wow! This Tuesday is the 1st of December already! And we revisit the year with no holidays. February we went to the IADCCT Convention in Las Vegas. Came home and shared some of what we learned with other members and friends. Classes went on as usual and we prepared a special Easter Workshop with a basket, a chocolate bunny, and Easter eggs to be painted with Mud. Then COVID hit and the bisque is still sitting on my shelf.

No Easter, no Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, birthdays, family picnic in June, Card club picnic in July, Star Trek Club picnic in August, Halloween party, nor Thanksgiving. Ceramic shows and Open houses were cancelled.

So how do we find the POSITIVE in all of this self-isolation?
We learn to use technology.
March 22 was our first Facebook live workshop and we had Kids Krafts project on Wednesdays and an adult project on Fridays. Then we went to just Fridays and integrated the kids version into the regular adult class. The to-go kits were a flop so we still have lots of materials on hand for paint kits, gift bags and baskets, brushes, etc.

We had a ZOOM class with ceramic professional David Hoff, and are going through a five-week brush stroke workshop with him now. After we finish we can offer these projects in our studio. We are even doing the 2021 IADCCT Convention via Zoom.

Etsy stores and our online catalog have brought in a lot of orders. We are struggling to keep up and have gone “on vacation” for the month of December so we can get everyone’s orders shipped out.

So Where is our Countdown to Christmas?, you ask.
1. Open Classes for our studio painters means pouring, cleaning, and firing
2. Mail orders means pouring, cleaning, firing, painting, packing, and shipping.
3. Writing and mailing Christmas cards to friends, family, and customers. This will include a special coupon to be used in January or February.
4. Wrapping and mailing Christmas gifts to out-of-state family.
5. Baking and making gifts for local family and friends.
6. Shopping was all done online and most of it has already arrived.
7. Decorating needs done before mask-wearing family stops by

So let’s get this all done and have a happy, safe holiday.

Carol’s Carousel Creations
Where having Fun is why we come!

Note: we did two Sample Sale videos on Facebook Live.
Check them out and if you see something you want
you can still pick it up at the studio or have it mailed.
All samples are going for the bisque price.

Twenty-twenty will go down in history as the year with no holidays! At least for some of us. The professionals are telling us that the easiest way to get Covid-19 is at a family gathering. Indeed, that is true for the family of one of our students as her family had a Halloween party. Thank goodness she was out of town and did not go. Since adults with Down syndrome are high risk, as is Jim with his PPS, and both of us in our 70s, we are being extra cautious.

We typically hold a Family dinner on the Sunday before Thanksgiving so that our kids can visit with their in-laws on Thursday. However, that is not happening today–it is just another work day. The African-American Kids and Friends Etsy store is keeping me very busy this year with so many people shopping from home. Since the students who usually help me clean are not coming and Jim has not been feeling well, most of this is left to me. There are 22 orders + 4 from the Carol’s Carousel Shoppe store + others from call-ins or texts. I hate being behind but will somehow get these all shipped in time for Christmas.

Facebook Live workshops have been pretty mush just demonstrations that we do for free. We have received lots of views and comments but this does nothing for the bottom line. So — in 2021 we are going to try online teaching for a fee and send out project kits for each class. We have also tried a Saturday sale (people’s comments were never seen) and a Tree sale last Friday. These have not really generated the results that we expected and they are a lot of work so we will probably discontinue both the sales and the live workshops until next year.

Sample Sale is still in place. If there is anything you want to purchase and we have a sample already on the shelf, the price is the same as it would cost for bisque plus shipping.

Feedback needed: I have asked in the past and not gotten much of a response so here it is. Do you read this blog and should we continue? I missed last week but typically write every Sunday and it goes out as an email to those who follow the blog. Please leave a message on this page or send a PM to me to let me know.

Carol’s Carousel Creations
Where having Fun is why we come!

No price change on trees.

We have photos of different ways to do the scene or logo tree. Tried to do a slide show but it didn’t work.

We also have photos of different ways to paint the Jolly Tree, That slideshow didn’t work either.

Carol’s Carousel Creations
Where having Fun is why we come!

MVCT is sponsoring this class on how to use the new True Matte glazes. Duncan Ambassador Larry Knight will be our teacher. Please join us on Sunday, November 1st at 11:00 for this all-day workshop. Cost including both pieces of bisque is $55.00. Bring a sack lunch. The business meeting will be prior to the workshop at 10:00. Friends and family are welcome to join us. Wear your mask or use one of ours. Make sure to register ahead of time — seating is limited.

Carol’s Carousel Creations
Where having Fun is why we come!

CONGRATULATIONS, GAIL McLAIN ESKER.

You are the winner of the Fashenhues scarecrow from Friday’s Facebook Live virtual workshop. Please let me know if you want the finished piece or if you want bisque to paint your own.

We started our Holiday series two weeks ago with Carol’s Carousel of Color, a review of the techniques taught since we started in May. Last Friday we painted a large scarecrow in Fashenhues. Those who commented or liked or otherwise made their presence known were entered into a drawing for the scarecrow.

Friday, October 16th we will learn about the Flip Kit watercolor paints made by Royal & Langnickel.

Carol’s Carousel Creations
Where having Fun is why we come!

So come on over — Mondays & Wednesdays @ 6:00.
Please call first so we have enough stations.

This past Friday, October 2nd, was the start of our Holiday Season Facebook Live series of workshops. We began with a review of over twenty workshops that were done in the Wednesday Kids Krafts at 3:00 or the Friday Facebook Live at 6:00. If you didn’t get to watch you can still do so. Just go to the “Carol Warneke” Facebook page OR I also shared it to the “Carol’s Carousel Creations” Facebook page. You should be able to watch any or all of the videos by scrolling down through the page to find them. If you can’t find something please send me a message (PM or text to 330-219-8001).

Our first official Holiday Season Project:
Byron 0241  LARGE SCARECROW W/PUMPKIN.

This whimsical scarecrow stands 12″ tall, is 9″ wide and is 6″ front to back. He sits on a smiling jack-o-lantern in his patched overalls with a crow sitting on his shoulder. bisque $15.00, finished $25.00. Although the scarecrow pictured was painted with acrylics, we will be using translucent stains called Fashenhues.
Please join us next Friday, October 9th on the Carol Warneke Facebook page at 3:00. (Note the time change.)

This is a give-away to celebrate our new season. To enter just watch the workshop on the Carol Warneke Facebook page and give us a thumbs up or leave a comment. If you cannot watch the live class you can still watch the recorded video and leave comments or approvals. We will choose the winner next Sunday. The winner will get their choice of finished piece or bisque. [I cannot give out Fashenhues kits but I can sell you full bottles or send you acrylics in a kit.] Winner pays only for the postage.

Carol’s Carousel Creations
Where having Fun is why we come!

We have decided to change the schedule of our online Facebook Live video classes:

• Wednesday Kids Krafts class is cancelled starting October 1st.
  
• Friday Facebook Live for Grownups will be at 3:00 instead of 6:00
  
• Kids Krafts classes or tips will be included with the Friday broadcast. Teens and tweens can do most of the projects demonstrated in the adult classes. Projects for Primary kids will need some refinement and those for Toddlers will need some assistance.
  
• We will try to follow the schedule previously published. However, it is sometimes necessary to revise the calendar, rescheduling or substituting another project.

Carol’s Carousel Creations
Where having Fun is why we come!

Facebook Live videos are keeping us busy. If you haven’t seen them yet, tune in to the “Carol Warneke” page at 3:00 on Wednesday for Kids Krafts Class and Fridays at 6:00 for adult classes. The schedules have been posted, just scroll down two weeks for Adults and three weeks for Kids. We had nearly 400 views on our Cookie Cutters and Clay this Wednesday!

Open Class was held Wednesday this week instead of Monday because of the Labor Day Holiday. We only had a few painters but those who were here got a lot of UFOs done (Un Finished Objects). We have masks and face shields available or you can bring your own.

Web sales are keeping us busy as well, and we are trying desperately to get caught up. Besides the AfAmKids&Friends Etsy store and the CarolsCarouselShoppe Etsy store, we are also getting orders through Messenger and email.

Holidays are coming soon, Halloween, then Thanksgiving, and Christmas. If you want something poured for you please order it as soon as you can. I am not planning to stock the shelves with holiday pieces.

Carol’s Carousel Creations
Where having Fun is why we come!