SANDICAST BY SANDRA BRUE

Sandra studies and works with live models, using her unique style to capture not just the appearance but the personality, spirit and character of each animal. In her passion for perfection she often spends months working on a single piece painstakingly sculpting every detail. She sculpted 65,358 individual hairs, one at a time, on her original Jack Russell Terrier. Sandra uses an oil based clay that does not harden allowing her to spent the countless hours required to capture every exquisite detail.

A casting mold is made from the original and a special cast stone mixture is hand-poured into it. The sculpture is then hand-painted using both brush and air-brush in a process requiring several steps. Strict quality control measures are followed throughout.

People often ask her why she sculpts so many dogs. Doesn’t she like Cats? Sandra says, “I love cats and I'm aware that millions of homes include cats and other pets, but I get the greatest number of requests for dogs and I have become intrigued by the close bond that exists between man and dog. Now cat lovers, please don’t write hate letters, remember I love cats. Because dogs are able to do more jobs, can be trained and interact more with humans, I believe this creates the opportunity for a closer bond for most people.”

“Each time I go to sculpt a dog I study up on the breed’s origin and how they have evolved over the years. Many breeds did indeed have a job and were and still are an essential part of many cultures. They are also the most difficult for me to sculpt. No other animal has standards or expectations for what is considered ‘correct’ in a breed. When I sculpt a Rhino, no one is going to say that the distance between the two horns is not correct or the the giraffe’s neck doesn’t look like my piece."

“The wild animals are the most exciting to do for obvious reasons. I’ve been up close and personal with some pretty awesome beasts and they can sometimes be both thrilling and scary to do.”

Artist Sandra Brue’s Sandicast Sculptures adorn the homes of Presidents, the Queen of England and collectors worldwide. In 1994 she was commissioned to create the Lion King collection for Disney.

All of the furs come from animals raised on farms for their food value.  If their fur had not been used to make these beautiful animals or other products it would have been thrown away.

Founded in 1975, Joan Baker Designs is a major supplier of hand-painted art glass gifts and home accessories.
People ask, Is there really a Joan Baker?  Yes, there really is!   Joan's career began when she started creating unique gifts out of salvaged bits of broken glass and moved on to become the founder of the top-selling giftware line.
Joan grew up in Hong Kong and Taiwan, the daughter of missionary parents.  At age 17 she came to the United States - alone - and earned her way through college with a variety of jobs like picking beans and selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door.

In 1975 Joan started her business with a borrowed $50.00.  With help from her sister and neighbors, she hand painted glass at the kitchen table.  In 1980, Joan Baker Designs moved into its first leased building in San Clemente, California.  As sales boomed, Joan hired and trained Marine Corps wives from a nearby military base and provided badly needed jobs to Southeast Asian refugees arriving in Orange County.  By 1995, Joan had opened her 65,000 square foot factory in China and built a new facility in San Clemente.

Today Joan Baker Designs is one of the leading giftware companies in America.

All Joan Baker Designs are hand painted on glass.   No two are exactly alike.   You can be sure that your Joan Baker Design is truly one-of-a-kind.

LEAD WARNING - Some Joan Baker products may contain lead.  Which ones?  ONLY the ones with the traditional dull GRAY metal.  These are pimarily suncatchers and night lights.  The black, silver or colored lines on the glass do NOT contain lead.   Joan Baker products are not intended for internal use nor should you eat or drink from them.

RAKU ART POTTERY

Unique Shapes and Beautiful Colors!!  
William K. Turner has produced Raku fired ceramics for over 20 years. His work has sold throughout the United States and includes over 120 shapes and sculptural pieces, finished in several unique Copper Matte techniques. He is a Master at getting both light and dark colors in his Raku from his one specially formulated Copper Matte glaze.
William Turner is Raku Art. He decided a long time ago that doing Raku was more fun than throwing or hand-building clay pieces. By using molds and slip casting them he can produce a large variety of unique shapes.

Each piece is signed, dated, and comes with a card explaining the Raku process.

As William Turner says, "Each piece is unique, I will remove pieces ordered and add new work often."

Outstanding colors and patterns over the whole piece are the trademark of Raku Art Inc.

William K. Turner has formulated a Copper Matte Raku glaze that is one of the best you’ll ever see. The velvet shimmering colors range from copper reds, cobalt blue, and purples to the lighter pastels of teals, pinks, and gold’s. He uses this one glaze in combination with gloss glazes to get many metallic textures in his unique glazing techniques.

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