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The Tip is 'Before You Buy' Made in America Secrets tries to send you to internet stores that sell the Made In USA products you searched for. We try to link you directly to only Made In USA products, however sometimes this does not happen. When you click our banner / link ads the store we link you to may show you products that are imported alongside those that are Made In USA. We all know most retailers sell products that are made and come from all over the world including the USA. Therefore, our tip is look at the details before you buy the product. This is true for both brick and mortar stores and internet retailers. Any Made in America store that represents selling only Made in USA products can be believed but check them anyway. They will appreciate your help. Here is a great example of a very reputable Made in America Store. Our site is similar to a few others that I call "Indexers". These sites offer lists like an index. These indexes relate companies to the products they sell. There are a few, like this site, that provide an index of Made in America companies and their products. You can use the indexes (like I have done at times) to find a particular product and the companies that make it. Our site has many features like our buy tips that are unique and valuable. We add buying tips regularly so don't forget to check them out, as they will help you find and buy great Made In America products. Some of these sites are a good resource if you are looking for the manufacturer of a specific product. However you should first check their accuracy because some are not maintained as well as others. Some allow inaccurate and inappropriate ads, others like Made In America Secrets maintain the accuracy of their indexes and do not allow inappropriate advertisements. We continually try to improve our links and we solicit your help and ideas to make our site even better. You can contact us by email, mail, or phone and we will try our very best to respond promptly. Buying Tip Continued - Read more on Made in America Products by Grainger McKoy Wood has been an integral part of my evolution from childhood into adulthood and from craftsman into sculptor. As a young child, I marveled at my father notching cypress logs as the cabin in which I grew up in the early 1950's took shape. Growing up with those interior logs, combined with the mystery of an old decoy my grandmother had given me from her attic, pressed something deep in me. I remember well my mother holding me up by my belt and her encouraging words as she allowed me to saw an extended exterior log from that cabin for my first bird. That is when I first peered over the edge of the nest into the world of sculpture. Carving a few birds and decoys as a teenager and working as a carpenter's helper not only strengthened my allegiance to wood, but also revealed a love of working with my hands. This love has only deepened with time. Leaving home to study architecture at Clemson University turned eventually into a BS degree in biology, which was, as I look back on it, a continuation of what was quickened in me as I grew up next to those cypress logs and a decoy. For the quarter century since then, the pursuit of the flight of birds in wood has been a passion of mine. The sculptor in me began to emerge as I worked under the wing of Gilbert Maggioni of Beaufort, South Carolina, for two years in the early 1970's. He challenged me like no one before or since. Gilbert inoculated me against mediocrity while at the same time encouraging innovation and preaching there is no substitute for hard work. Although I had long since left the nest, I was still precariously perched on an outer limb, not knowing where to fly. Gilbert kicked me from that position to soar toward a vision on the horizon his eyes had seen, but mine were not accustomed to. The first flight was the point in my life when inertia was overcome, and I began that slow, arduous process which continues to this day of becoming a sculptor. First Bird, 1960 Cypress With my path lit with the torch of Maggioni's enthusiasm, encouragement and work ethic, I continued to push wood and my subject matter to their limit. I believe that over the years I have been able to make wood fly, yet all along I knew there was more to be discovered and tested. Recently, the possibilities and boundaries of wood have been extended again as if a whole new territory has been opened for discovery and development. A peephole was given me into this new territory when I had a mold made from a wooden feather into which bronze and later sterling was poured. That feather triggered more feathers, then eventually a whole bird in bronze. This is not an abandonment of wood, rather using it directly to bring these birds out from behind their glass cases while retaining the detail and lightness wood has allowed me over the years. Having flown from Gilbert's vortex early in my creative experience, and then spending the next 25 years pressed to the grindstone of making a living with my hands, I'm prepared to continue to rise to the challenges that wood and metal offer. My vision is to make these materials fly as they have never flown before. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see vision. ? Joel 2:28 |
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