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The Tip is 'Keep eyes open' After reading an article about items made in America I thought about how many times I make purchases without thinking. I'm usually focused on budget and needs. Prior to reading this article on made in the USA products, I rarely thought about the importance of buying made in USA products. This helps create jobs in our country. Now I keep my eyes open and I am surprised how easy it is to find American products. It only takes a few seconds to look. Now I make a point when I am shopping to search for made in America brands. By doing so, I'm able to identify more and more what products are made in America. Even with my eyes open to made in USA I can get discouraged. Sometimes store clerks don't know the country of origin which can be frustrating. If this happens use your eyes to find the origin information yourself. Look at the labels and when you find a Made in USA product tell the clerk so the next time they are asked they will know. Also, when the label is not easily seen I use the other made in America buying tips to help me find made in USA. If the store doesn't carry what you are looking for, use Made in America Secrets to find it and tell the manager about your experience at their store. When enough people are asking for made in the USA products, more stores will begin to carry products that are made here. This technique does work. I also pick and choose the stores I visit. I do this because I have found that some stores are made in America friendly while others are not. Keep your eyes open for the made in USA label and pretty soon you will be able to identify which products are made in the USA. Buying Tip Continued - Read more on Made in America Products by 50 Little Birds Geoff Davis has done woodworking projects all of his life, but it was ukulele-making that sent him down a path in 2008 to carve Indiana birds. Building a ukulele requires expensive materials, exotic woods and hard-to-get hardware, he explained. During a time when I could not afford to begin a ukulele building project, I began to carve birds from found materials and scrap. As it turns out, bird carving was deeply satisfying to him. It opened the doors to a wide variety of the research and field work that I enjoyed. The work called upon my skills as a naturalist, a painter, a designer, a scrounger and a woodworker, Geoff said The public embraced his work. He donated his first 50 birds to another of his passions, the Blue Stone Folk School in Noblesville. Blue Stone teaches and raises awareness of traditional arts. Program funding has always been difficult to come by, but he was able to invest the proceeds of those original sales to host programs and a concert at Blue Stone. Geoff is a sort of explorer in wood projects. In addition to building ukuleles and carving birds, he has built boats and carved spoons. He may seem free-spirited but says he developed rules that would define and confine my approach and execution of the vision of his work. These guidelines allow my work to evolve, but maintain the elements that are most important approach and design, material choices, painting styles, color choices and presentation. Trends in bird carving strive to develop pieces that are as realistic as possible, often impossible to discern from the real animal, he continued. My approach is to capture and stylize only the simplest defining elements of a bird. My birds are far from realistic, but readily identifiable as a particular species and gender. My carvings not only visually represent birds but they also represent my stories and experiences with these birds. Indiana born and raised, Geoff says being a Hoosier is important to his work and identity as an artist and musician. Being a part of Indiana Artisan validates my Hoosierness,' he said. Since I ve become involved with Indiana Artisan, I ve become affiliated with a handful of artists producing work that complements my own. These relationships have led to gallery representation, better art show opportunities and interesting collaborations. |
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