Sunday, February 27, 2011

Devious Scam 1

With all the hacking and phishing and downright evil scams on the net, I'm going to start posting them when I find out about them. Maybe save someone from being victimized.

Here's a particularly devious theft scheme. This happened to a friend of mine but she didn't, in the end fall for it. Thank heaven for that.

You're contacted about art lessons for some very wealthy person's child (usually foreign). They've seen your work and you are the only artist (in the whole world) for their precious Nigel. They want you so badly, they will send you a cashier's check or money order to cover your services in advance. They send you the bogus whatever it is and tell you please, deposit it - they trust you - this is just the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

It takes the bank time to figure this is a bad check so they almost immediately contact you and tell you Nigel broke all his fingers playing cricket and so, they are so very sorry, in addition to his broken fingers, now it's breaking his little heart, but he cannot possibly attend your classes so would you mind returning their funds? The bank hasn't told you the check is bad yet and you think you should return this nice man's money, so you write him a check and send it back. Only, his check was never good and you just gave him your good money.

People prey on many things, appreciation of our talents. Trust - they trust you so why not trust them? Relationships, by now you feel like you know the broken Nigel and his dad. The only things you can really trust are your family and friends. If you get this one, give it a pass, fast!

Saturday, February 26, 2011

"Okay, Pard, load up the six shooters. There's a new clay in town."

Maybe that's what John Wayne would say, but that's John Wayne. And even he wouldn't say it as he's gone on to the big round up in the sky.

New products that directly compete with our products can be cause for alarm and worry. I find this rather pointless and counter-productive. This kind of thinking just stops my forward progress and takes my focus away from what is most important to me, my own product! I believe in my clay, so why worry. We do the best we can, there is always room for improvement and frequently a new player initiates innovation. So, I don't go there.

So, let's talk about Pardo clay. When I was in Germany teaching, a team of 5 artists - Bettina Welker, Martina Weller, Ulricke Schaffrath, Kersten Rupprecht and Anke Humpert were busy at work testing formulas and working with the company on this new formulation. These ladies asked for nothing from the company, they just wanted a clay like Kato Polyclay, that they could actually lay their hands on, in Germany. BTW, our distribution channels are much improved and you can now get our clay in Germany!

I know how hard the work they were doing is. Testing and more testing, discussing what they'd discovered, giving their input back to the company and getting another batch to test again. I'd done it when we formulated Kato.

The result of the countless hours of their labor is now available. It should, by rights, be called something including all their names or maybe their first initials but naming a product is a corporate decision and some companies won't put a name, other than their own, on any product.

Even though I have my own clay, I believe that not any one clay can possibly be perfect for everyone so, if you can, you should give them all a try. And, if you ever meet up with my hard working friends, give them a good pat on the back, they deserve it.