"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.