It’s winter, ya know!

Hello from the Tornado Tavern Gallery – I hope you all had a great time for giving thanks. Mary and I have been busy with our last big show in Sister Bay.

Thank you all for your support and congratulations for being the Southern Door Business Association, Featured Business for November and the wonderful article in the news letter. I was honored by all the attention that it received.

The typical business season is winding down and the gallery hours are being cut back. This is sometimes referred to as Door County time. We will be open most Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10:00ish to dusk. We strongly encourage all to “call ahead” as it is winter, “you know”. There are still some hardy folks coming up for the Christmas and New Years holidays but after that it’s mostly snowmobilers and ice fishing. They would rather that we were the Tornado Tavern and not a Gallery, ah well. There are some opportunities to network with business that are also open “off and on” during the winter and I have had the pleasure to get to know some of them.

Mary is still working in Neenah and I will probably spending more time “back and forth” during the week. I am still active on the DC Renaissance board and have been “anointed” as a member “at large” of the Southern Door Business Association.  The SDBA are serious business people and I’m learning from them. I have also been elected to the Door County Historical Society which is exciting for me. They run the Crossroads historical site outside of Sturgeon Bay. So with that and making things for the gallery I’m keeping myself busy.

We are still the “Door County Designated Lost Marbles Reclamation Center” and are accumulating marbles. We also have a selection of “safety marbles” which don’t roll so much so are harder to loose.

We also have our “Christmas Coal” in stock and have some smaller pieces wire wrapped for use as ornaments or pendants. Those are great for naughty people who are actually nice people most of the time or for nice people who you might want to be naughty (just as a suggestion). Mary says that I am getting pretty good at wire wrapping so I added a picture of some of the glass pieces. They really look nice hanging in the window as sun catchers.

The black one is coal and the others are glass. My next project will be wrapping some agate slabs.

I will be leaving now to help Mary close the show in Sister Bay, keep in touch.

THE HOLIDAYS ARE UPON US!! CHANGE IS AFOOT AT THE GALLERY!

Thanksgiving / Christmas? --- Thanksgiving / Christmas? --- Turkey Day / Xmas? --- Sukkot / Rosh Hashanah? --- Samhain / Mehregan? Oh, I’m so confused and that doesn’t include the other holidays all packed in the end of the year. Well whatever ones you claim I wish you all memorable ones.

It seems that these holidays are combinations of celebrating our year and bringing in a new year. With that in mind we thank all those who have contributed to our success. We also have some updates and some new announcements.

First; we are happy to say that FAN MAILLE has joined our contributing artists. Casi makes colorful jewelry in the chain maille fashion and they are great. She focuses on combining tram colors in necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. So the name FAN MAILLE jewelry. The jewelry comes in several sizes for the more petite to the more massive and can be made in many colors. Of coursewWe stock green & gold and red & white but can special order through FAN MAILLE. The great news is that you don’t have to have “team colors”, you can order any colors that suit you (we won’t tell).

Second; We have made arrangements with the “Merry Christmas Ho Ho Ho” people and have received a shipment of official Christmas COAL. The coal is available in four sizes at different prices. The smallest is suitable for making into a wire wrapped pendent by special order (the coal is cleaned of coal dust).

We will be expanding the gallery this off season to make space for items that customers said they wanted.  So if you have suggestions please let us know, even if you have already told us. We are particularly interested in items that “feed the spirit”.

INTRODUCING NEW ARTISTS

Good Day friends, as always I wish you all the best for the higher good. I just spent time with a marvelous artist couple, Casi and Ron Berry. They have agreed to place some of their products in the Tornado Tavern Gallery and I am pleased to say the least.

Casi will be offering her woven wire necklaces, bracelets and earrings. They come in many colors and in addition to those in the galley she takes orders for other colors. Presently she focuses on jewelry she calls “Fan Maille” where she uses team colors to make her jewelry. She will have Packer colors or Badger colors or local High School teams and for those “mavericks” she will make jewelry with color from those other teams.

Ron is offering cast figurines from models that he has made. At the moment he is making frogs in several poses. The figurines are cast from non-lead metal and are usually painted to bring out the detail and personality of the frog. The figurines are available alone or mounted on a base of your choice.

We plan on having their work in place very soon; their work can also be seen on Etsy.

Please stop by we are normally open from Thursday through Sunday 10 to 5, watch for the OPEN flags to be sure. See us on FaceBook, search “tornado tavern gallery” for more information.

Greeting from the Tornado Tavern Gallery

The “warm” season is nearly over and the “colors” season is ramping up. We have started to cut back in our hours. We will be open Thursday through Sunday, 10 to 5 and a number of off-site events. We do apologize if you visit us and it is one of the times that we are away during our business hours. We encourage people to call, Tom at 920 915-3767 to confirm that the gallery will be open for your visit or to make an appointment outside of our business hours.

Looking forward to your visit and please drive safely.

DEMONSTRATION COMING UP

Mary Silver will be demonstrating her antique circular knitting machine on Saturday, August 23^rd. Mary has investigated the history of these machine, starting with Queen Elizabeth I. Mary will be answering questions about her demonstration.

Other demonstrations, dealing with fiber art and working with stone are being planned. Let us know what programs you would like to see, post on our FaceBook page. Search “Tornado Tavern Gallery” for our page OR

our blog, http://tornadotaverngallery.blogspot.com and post your request.