I am super proud of my guys! On Friday they gathered up every bit of scrap pewter that they could find in the shop. Although there are SO many things to love about working with pewter, there is also the side benefit that any imperfect piece, reject, over-run or broken fragment can be melted down and re-used!

The cost of pewter ingots is the main factor in setting the price of a finished piece. So anything we can do to keep those costs down helps everyone out.

It tooks 6 hours on Saturday for me to melt down all of the scrap. Into the melting pot it went and then I recast it into oval blocks. I just couldn’t drop in this sweet little anchor, however…

Saving the pewter anchor

Last year, we had cast a few anchors – just for fun – for Rosella – our youngest daughter (who is a DG sorority girl). This was extra but somehow I just couldn’t drop it in.

This is how the ingots come from our supplier:

raw ingots

I never get tired of the thrill of opening a new barrel of fresh ingots!

And here are my recycled ones:

recycled pewter

I don’t know why they have kind of a gold sheen to them. When we put these back into the pot to cast our products they look just like our other pieces. Kind of a mystery… (I’m obviously not a chemist.)

Anyway, I do believe that we rescued nearly 800 pounds of pewter. That is a lot! A very exciting Saturday!

Fleur de Lys Measuring cup

We always love contests in the shop so how could we resist playing the Super Bowl Square?

But wouldn’t you know it? The person who won both the 1st quarter and the overall game was Ashley – who doesn’t even follow football and was certainly not to be found in front of the game on Sunday!

I spent the hours, leading up to the game, in the kitchen whipping up the prizes. That, I must say, was probably as much fun as watching the game – and the ads!

Here were the prizes…I think the theme is obvious!

1st quarter winner – Chocolate Brownies with Guinness

2nd quarter winner – Beer Cheese Soup

3rd quarter winner – German-style Fried Potatoes with Lager

Overall winner – Drunken Sausages and Peppers in Pale Ale

Our house is for sale so we aren’t allowed anything out on our kitchen counters (except for our canisters) so I was glad for an excuse to pull out our Pewter Measuring Cups and Spoons. It just doesn’t seem right keeping them hidden but, once we get a buyer, I will have them right back out.

I have the Fleur de Lys Measuring Cups and Spoons and – since we make them – an extra set of Measuring Spoons in the Bird pattern. As you can see here…

Bird Teaspoon - rescued from the disposal

our Bird teaspoon took a tumble into the disposal a bit ago. I need to get it replaced. If this happens to you, we can either hammer out the dents and sand the edges a bit….or we can give you a recycling credit on it towards the purchase of a new one. But, I hope you are more careful than we are!

Next posting….the recipes, of course!

I hope everyone enjoyed the Super Bowl or, if not, a quiet Sunday afternoon while everyone else was watching!

Here at the shop, we mostly occupy ourselves with designing new products, making them, and getting them out the door. But, sometimes, we mix it up a bit. One of our local hotels placed an order for some of our new Oregon Spirit products – Go Ducks! – and needed some materials to put together a little display in their lobby. I wanted to offer up some pewter ingots – since that is how every product gets its start. But that would be a lot of money to just sit around in a display. So…I got the idea of making some miniature ingots. We brainstormed and decided that a Kit Kat bar was the closest thing we could think of to a miniature ingot.

So off I went to buy a LARGE Kit Kat bar (to allow for some munching throughout the project – of course!) and then gave the project to Dan to enjoy….

Kit Kat Bar - soon to become a miniature Pewter Ingot!

The first thing Dan did was to press one of the little bars into our sand mold…

Pressing the Kit Kat bar into the sand mold

He then removed the little bar and filled in the trench (that it had created) with molten pewter. I do not know why I didn’t photograph this step since pouring the molten pewter is the coolest part! But, to give you the idea, here is a ladle pouring pewter….(which melts at 450 degrees – yes! we wear thick leather gloves)…

Ladle of Molten Pewter

After casting the little ingot, Dan finished it with some shaping and sanding and VOILA!…the cutest little bar of Pewter!

Big and Little Ingots of Pewter

Nice job, Dan!

Christmas is only a few days away and I thought it would be nice to take some time today to express our sincere gratitude for the support we have received these past 25 years.

As a company, we have worked hard, but we would not be here today without all of the wonderful shops, galleries, and catalogues that have carried our products throughout the years. To them, we give a big round of THANKS!

We also send a big THANK YOU to all of the individuals who have shopped at those businesses.

Finally, we must THANK all of the individuals who have contacted us directly to make a purchase. We are always touched by those of you who then take the time to tell us how pleased you are with your order.

A Happy Customer!

This week, we celebrate the 1st birthday of Nancy’s little girl, Evelyn. Here we are last year – just before Evelyn entered this world. Nancy worked day after day until the big moment came!

Nancy is one dedicated employee!

Nancy - one year and a few days ago

I blog a lot about Nancy but the reality is that I spend more hours with Nancy, my Operations Manager, than my own daughters. After all, we are together 6 – 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. When you get your order on time and you are pleased with everything on it, you probably have Nancy to thank. She keeps everything humming around here.

Here she is on Halloween this year with Evelyn, her husband, Matt, and her son, Oliver (who she brought to work with her until he was nearly 3! I still miss seeing his sweet face everyday).

Nancy on Halloween

Sometimes we make best friends with our co-workers. And sometimes our best friends become our co-workers. Here is a wonderful story of my dear friend, Cynthia, who has worked on and off with us, here at Crosby & Taylor for the past 5 years. She is my neighbor, my dear friend, but most importantly, my “sister from another mother”.

Here we are sporting our Pewter Pendants - ever the face of Crosby & Taylor. (I’m surprised we aren’t wearing Measuring Spoons around our necks!)  Do we not look like we are related?

Cynthia and me

This month Cynthia is our Mrs. October. Each month last year we honored one employee but Cynthia somehow got passed over because she is seasonal and part-time. Not fair – you exclaim! And I completely agree.

Here is our wall of FAME – each employee has a poster celebrating his or her greatness!

Our Crosby & Taylor wall of fame!

Of course, Cynthia is so camera shy that she wouldn’t even pose with her poster.

Cynthia's Mrs. October poster

She was busy assembling Christmas ornaments and just couldn’t even look up for a minute.

Life is short, as they say. I really try to cherish each and every day. Having people like Cynthia in my life – and with us at Crosby & Taylor  – is something to appreciate. I hope you will call in to place an order one of these days and get Cynthia on the phone. You will love talking to her. She’s just that kind of person!

Adam and Dan

Behind every product we create and ship, there is a team of individuals who works with us in our Crosby & Taylor studio in Eugene, Oregon.  These folks work hard to assure that the high quality standards of each product are met.   We simply would not be where we are without our team – so we like to brag about them from time to time.

We are so fortunate to have  the Trent brothers (TWINS actually), Adam and Dan, working with us. These guys are masters in the art of getting what we need and helping us get it out the door and on its way to you!

If you have a set of our Measuring Spoons or Cups on a Pewter Display Post, chances are that Adam assembled that for you and Dan cleaned it up and hammered it straight!

They get the job done!  Their old brother, Matt, also used to work with us but he moved on to the world of Credit Unions. Go Northwest Community Credit Union!

Adam and Dan grew up in Oswego, New York. I grew up in Canton, which is only about 2 1/2 hours away. It still seems kind of crazy to me that we all ended up working together some 3000 miles away.

Some people work for me for years and still can’t figure out which one is Dan and which one is Adam.

A few years ago, their brother, Pete, came out from Atlanta. We already had an old photo of the 4 brothers up on our shop fridge:

The Trent Babies

I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get an updated picture of the 4 of them. It was a pretty entertaining photo shoot! I can’t remember now how many beers it took to get them to suit up for the photo – but I believe it was more than a few! Adam and Dan are happy that I cropped this photo. They really didn’t like being photographed in the little shorts that I got to match these #12 shirts!

The Trent boys - "all growed up"

Last, but not least, here is a picture of Adam taken during an incredibly productive work day last Christmas season:

A big day for Adam!

Like I said, this pair of twins knows how to get things done in a pewter shop!

I have heard that some people really get into decorating their cubicles at work. We don’t really have cubicles at Crosby & Taylor since much of our work is done around melting pots and casting machines and such.  But my guys still find ways to decorate. I always get a laugh when they add something new.

Here is one of our melting pots. Who would have guessed that you could cover a ventilation pipe with fascinating reading material?!

Melting Pot and Ventilaton Pipe

And then, here is Derrik’s shipping area. If you look really hard, you can find his lap-top and printer, admist all this decor…

Shipping Area

A few years back, we did some custom pieces for Conecuh Sausage. Before we got started, they generously sent us some product samples. We really enjoyed them – and we still enjoy their outrageous logo so Derrik also has this up on his wall:

Conecuh Sausage

And then there is my office, of course….I have a huge bulletin board covered with all kinds of inspirational pictures and words and ideas.  One of my son-in-laws was visiting the other day and I noticed him looking at my bulletin board. I’m sure he can’t imagine how anyone can work in such chaos. (I bet HIS cubicle is immaculate!)

My "cubicle"

Here is a close-up view of one of the treasures on my board o’ inspiration- - an autographed Pewter Measuring Cup! When I was at a book-signing a couple of years ago, I asked Paula to sign a Cup. That meant more to me than a signature in a cookbook! Her husband, Michael, commented that Paula LOVES her cups.

Paula-autographed Measuring Cup

So there is a quick tour of our world of Pewter! I hope you enjoy decorating your work spaces, as well!

One of the best things about running your own business is that you can choose your hours. Ask my children what that means and they will say that it basically means I work 60 hours a week/7 days a week. Oh, that may be true. But today, Sunday, it was peaceful and quiet at the shop and I actually wandered around a bit looking at all the wacky things that my guys weld and then put up. I know I know, it was probably on my dollar….but heck! you have to give them credit for thinking outside the box!

These are some of the silly things that I found here and there…

As you can see – if you are familiar with pegboard – this thing is tiny! It obviously started with a donkey from our Nativity Sets and then, who really knows where it went from there?!

Horseman with sword??

And then, what is this?! It appears to be a pewter ant – made from the bowls of our Celtic Spoons and our retired Raindrop spoons?! What will these guys think of next??

Pewter Ant??

I hadn’t noticed this silly guy until today! We make our molds from very malleable, squishy rubber. It appears that this creation was made from some random rubber left over from a mold-making event. This rubber guy was then attached to the wall in a spot where someone else had been previously testing out the rubber stamp (that we use on the bottom of our Stoneware.) I say – give our mold-maker an “A” for creativity. (Of course, I hope the mold came out as well – ha!)

Silly Mold Man

And then I came upon this…. This appears to be a Pewter stick figure. I guess someone was kind of tired and decided to express himself in pewter.

I stumbled upon more treasures but some of them were even more outrageous. I don’t think they really need to be shared. But, like I said…”A” for creativity – right?! And now I better make sure that they are back to welding what they are supposed to be welding  – like spoon and cup posts!

The last week-end of summer….one last picnic…a family barbecue…the last fashionable day to wear white…back-to-school sales at the mall..Labor Day is some or all of this.

But, mostly, I do believe it is a day to honor those who labor to keep the American economy going. It’s another one of those “proud to be an American company” days for Crosby & Taylor.

I have some of the best workers in the country. They are not just dedicated artisans but they are also guys who are willing to pitch in and get the job done.

In fact, earlier this summer, our neighbors asked us to get our tree limbs trimmed back – since they had started to creep onto their property. Derrik, usually known for his expertise in the shipping department….donned his All-American hard-hat and got to it.

I about had a heart attack as he jumped from branch to branch, like a monkey. But he survived the episode and it was one more day for me to be proud of my guys at Crosby & Taylor – always willing to do what it takes.

Derrik is on vacation this week and I swear it feels like it takes about 3 of us to get his job done.

He is at the Burning Man Festival in Calfornia – hot and dusty and a bit crazy. But that’s what he chooses to do with his time off. We hope he is having a great time!