Mable The Monarch

While working on descriptions for our new critters, I discovered the story behind the monarch's inspiration.

Crow's story:

High school. P.E. class, it was out on the tennis courts.

While we were in the middle of practicing our serves, I saw this monarch butterfly float by. I had to stop the ball from being served to not hit the butterfly. About thirty seconds after, I saw two more float by. I heard a commotion to my left, and turned. There was a cloud of monarchs going through the tennis courts. A lot of the people were ducking and running so the butterflies wouldn’t hit them but I just stood there going ‘wow, there is a cloud of monarchs going by’. There were about a hundred in the courts. It took a few minutes for them to pass, so we could start up our tennis lesson again. They did this for five days in a row, so either they were flying in circles or there were five different groups.

I felt like I was standing in a black and orange fog bank. They were so dense I had trouble seeing the sunlight. Only a few of us were brave enough to stand there. I expected that many wings to make noise, but it was silent. Well, they were silent at least.

It was an oh-shiny moment. It was amazing and exciting.

Making Good on a Promise

As a concerned businessman, I want to ensure my customers are happy. As a nice guy (and a concerned businessman), I am willing to go that 'extra mile' for customer satisfaction. I decided to include a case study of a returned item from someone who used our return and repair policy to their benefit.

One of our featured Guest Artists, Russell Boone created two gorgeous glass sculptures for us. They sold rather quickly. When you see the pictures (below) you will probably understand why. They were also featured in a blog post introducing him a few months ago. Kat Phipps bought both of them for herself, and waited with excitement for them to arrive. Only to discover they "melted" in the shipping process. I directed her to our return / repair policy and reminded her she only needed to pay the shipping / handling for their return. We pay for the out-going mail.

We received the melted items in the mail a few days into December. Thankfully, Kat is patient. She graciously allowed us to wait until after the holiday madness to fix them. This is what we received in the mail.

In the foreground, you can see the melted glue well.

Holiday season over, I repaired the broken pieces. Here is one of the items that Kat received in the mail yesterday:

If it is broken, we will fix it! Or replace it, at our discretion. You pay the shipping here and we'll pay the shipping back.

Welcome to 2014!

A good friend of mine said "Let this new year be yours!" We should take that message to heart and embrace the freshness of 2014 with all the wonder and curiosity of a child. Onward to the fascinating! Allow the mundane to be just as interesting as the unusual. Consider the snowflake or the leaf, view the butterflies and robins with new respect. Imagine the life you wish to lead, and lead it.

Though spring is still a few months away, the mention of butterflies is an excellent way to introduce our two newest Clay Critters. Please welcome Mable the Monarch and Ophelia the Owl. Mable is based on a female monarch butterfly.

Ophelia is designed using models from our local burrowing owl residents. Though Crow considered Owlowiscious; however his name is likely copywritten by Hasbro.

Another butterfly - based on the Red Lace Wing - is coming soon! Anyone have suggestions for a name?

Other new items in our store include a card holder, two snats, Sylvan the sea turtle updated, two new painted pots to add more variety to your garden and several more caterpillars. We have so many varieties of caterpillars it is hard to show them all in the inventory. I think I might start a caterpillar database to show case the ones we currently have!