So You want To Be an Artist (Part 3)

One of the few things I had made, almost from the beginning, that were regular sellers, were hand made belt buckles. Most were made using a decorative technique called “repoussee” which creates a relief design on the surface of the silver using punches and small chisels called “tracers”. One sees this kind of decoration on old tea pots and bowls. I used it to create one of kind buckles featuring whales, sailing ships and other somewhat more whimsical designs.

Customers could have a one of a kind buckle made using a design which I drew for them and featured any animal or theme they wanted. These buckles could take as long as 3-4 days to complete and I usually sold them for around $100. Ha! At that price one can see why they were good sellers.

It wasn't long before I learned about rubber molding and lost wax casting. This was a process where I could make inexpensive copies of some of my most popular buckle designs and offer them for a lot less money than the "one off" versions. I started with half a dozen buckles and with the rubber modls could make copies which I offered in brass and sterling silver. At the time I was working out of a shop on the waterfront in Newport and the season for tourists was pretty short. I had to figure out a way to sell more buckles all the year around

Enter Joe Kadison, an independant sales represetative who carried a line of clothing, nautical gear and accessories and sold them to stores all over the eastern seaborad. He loved my buckles and he convinced me that he could sell them to some of his accounts. I agreed to give it a try and before long I found myself selling to stores from Maryland to Maine.>