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It was a challenging Christmas shopping season. Managed to get through it in a reasonable fashion.
The past two years, in particular, were tough for me........because of health issues. Hopefully this new year will be much better.
I have met some very challenging requests for shells. I had a HUGE order for a convention........all of it was display boxes with lots of US flags and Maryland flags. Somehow I managed to get it all done in time......I had very short notice. There has been some requests for very challenging artwork on the shells. I was able to meet those challenges and then some.
So here we are at the end of the year........reflecting.
I have plans for the new year. Different designs on the shells........new ideas......and I intend to make some even more unique than what has already been done. For those that have started a collection, this should be good news for you. For any of my competitors out there, you might want to step up your game......hehehe.
To be fair and honest about it, I have seen some pretty darn good painted shells on the internet.......nice. Then again, I have seen some downright sad attempts at painting crab shells..........hey, I am positive that I have painted some shells that, after looking back on them, I am not very proud of. As time goes on, one gets better at what they do........hopefully.
I haven't been posting much here on the blog. I will try to be better about that. These days the majority of communication is via Facebook. Be sure to look for me on Facebook. Search for "hand painted crab shells" and you will find me.
I hope everyone had a great Christmas and here's to wishing and hoping we all have a freat and prosperous New Year!
The thought occurred to me to think outside of the box.
In other words, utilize the crab shell as the head of a character.
This doesn't work with many characters..........however.......there are a few that work rather well.
How about a cartoon raven?
Angry crab?
Why not Garfield?
I've never understood the fascination some folks have regarding flip-flops. People want flip-flop earrings, necklaces........t-shirts......hats........piercings.........you name it. I decided to put flip-flops on a crab shell.
One customer requested a shell with the logo of a fire department somewhere in South Carolina.
Another request for Anne Arundel County Police Dept.
The same flip-flop shell as shown before.........except this photo shows the finished product.
Hippies and Deadheads love crabs too.
One customer asked if I had a shell with the GMC logo on it. He said you never see anything with the GMC logo.........its always Ford, Chevy, or Dodge. Ask......and ye shall receive.
And last, but surely not least...........ELMO!
For more photos of my work, check the archives for posts about crab shells.
To see a wide assortment of painted crab shells..........uh......the largest selection of painted crab shells anywhere.......come on down to the Northpoint Plaza Flea Market in Dundalk, MD. Saturdays from 7am until 3pm. Sundays from 7am until 4pm.
You can watch me work on some shells, ask me all sorts of questions, and maybe start shopping for Christmas.
Stay Tuned!
It has been a rough several months. The problem is health issues. I took a hiatus from painting shells back in January after a successful holiday season. I was not feeling well and was getting progressively worse. The problem this time was essentially a repeat of June of last year..........clogged arteries. After several testing procedures I went in for another catheterization/angioplasty. This time I had not reached the point of a heart attack but I knew it was coming. The end result is that I have two new stents...........which brings my total to seven. I am doing okay at this point............I resist.
I have a whole lot of catching up to do. Slowly but surely I get it all done. This stuff takes a lot of time and the only physical aspect is the scrubbing and disinfecting of the crab shells........and the packing and unpacking of the large number of finished shells to be put on display at the flea market. I do occasionally have some help with that. These days I take my time.........I'm in no hurry. My life does not depend on painting and selling crab shells.........but my life does depend on me trying to keep the arteries functioning.
After years and years of sitting there at the flea market painting the crab shells I still get asked if I really paint them. Yes........indeed I do. It's not like there is a machine that can spit this stuff out.........if there were I would use it.
I get requests for all sorts of things put on a crab shell. Some are very challenging and some are very simple. It amazes me sometimes because I cannot see the correlation of some of the art and the crab shell. That's okay though..........if that's what the customer wants then that's what the customer will get.
Business owners love getting their logos put on a crab shell. This one was a challenge but it worked out well.
Dogs on a crab shell are requested often. Favorite breeds, living pets and memorial images of long lost companions.
Favorite cartoon and movie characters.
This one has a school mascot with the student's name and graduation year.
Here's another business logo on a shell. I imagine it now hangs in someone's office.
The shells in display boxes are very popular and they make great gifts. Any combination of shells.
Now that I am back at it again, come on down to the Northpoint Plaza Flea Market in Dundalk, MD. I am here on Saturdays from 7am until 3 pm and Sundays from 7am until 4 pm. Even if you have no intention of making a purchase or ordering a crab shell, come visit us and have a look.........there is no other purveyor of painted crab shells that offers such a wide selection. We are the largest and best anywhere. It costs nothing to look and say hello.
Also, If you have nothing to do on a Monday, come and see me in Cecil County at Hunter's Sale Barn & Flea Market on Jacob Tome Hwy. from 3 pm until 8 pm.
Stay tuned..........
Ouch!
That word pretty much sums everything up for the past few months. For those people that have been waiting
for their custom crab shell orders to be completed, rest assured that I haven't fallen off the edge of the earth.
Your orders will be completed very soon. "Fallen" may well be the second word that best describes the predicament that I have found myself in. What is that old saying?.........."the road to hell is paved with good intentions". Yep......that's it.
Actually, there has been a series of events this past summer.............beginning with the passing of my little buddy Chico. Chico, our chihuahua gave us eleven loving years of companionship. Always knowing that day would eventually come, it still hurt the family so very bad. Bad enough that I cannot write more about it at this time.
I had been gradually feeling bad for a few months and found myself struggling to keep going, I knew that something was coming upon me and yet I fought it off and kept on plugging away.....determined to get through two major events in June........my grandson's graduation from high school and my wife Supernurse completing her Doctorate for which we were to celebrate with a large party for her. I was in bad shape and I hung in there.......barely.........I refused to mess up and spoil the festivities. It was a very big deal for our family. Well, I managed to get through it and the night of the party, I went home and proceeded to begin having another heart attack. Went to the hospital and had yet another stent implanted. As far as the heart is concerned I am okay.......so far so good.........time will tell.
So I wasted no time getting back in the groove and painted away on crab shells. I was back on track.
Another curve was thrown my way when my uncle, who is 87 yrs old, called and informed me that he could not walk. We got him to the hospital and was found to be dehydrated and depeleted of potassium, After two days in the hospital, he was back at home feeling better but in need of more of my attention and assistance.
Well enough. No problem. Family takes care of family, right? A week later, I took him to his follow up appointment with his doctor........and to the bank, and to get a haircut. So far, so good.
When we returned to his house we could not get the front door to unlock......the key would not work.
Instead of busting the door open we decided to go around to the back of the house and try the back door.
As luck would have it, we could not get the gate to his yard to open........it was rusted. I decided to get myself over the cement block wall that surrounds the yard........so I entered the neighbor's yard.....went up onto the porch........and got onto the top of the 5 1/2 foot wall. What began as a good idea.......a solution to thr problem.......turned out to be a HUGE mistake.
I jumped down from the top of the wall and landed hard.............."CRACK!!!!!!"
I could not get up from the ground. To make a long story short........went to the hospital.............diagnosis: shattered right heel, broken coccyx and broken sacrum. In other words, a world of hurt.
The result of my good intentions is that for the past two months I have been unable to walk......cannot put any weight on my foot.........and I have been unable to be in a sitting position. All of this has made it impossible to paint crab shells not to mention a whole host of normal activities. The pain has been excruciating, At this point, I am recovering well.......I suppose. This week I have been able to sit on my butt for short periods with only discomfort. I still cannot stand up without assistance.
I see the orthopedist again next week.......more x-rays.
This week I have every intention of beginning to paint shells again...........albeit a little at a time. Christmas is coming and I do not want to disappoint anyone.
Bear with me folks.
P.S one of my sons has been tending to my tables at the Northpoint Plaza flea market. Stop by and see what shells are left.........hehehe........but there's always more.......soon.
For many years now, there has been the repetitive mantra "that's not the real Baltimore" in regards to any reviews or discussions about the very popular HBO television series "The Wire" and "Homicide" and even "The Corner". The reality is..........it's worse than is portrayed on those shows. The powers that be.....well.....they have a way of offering up obfuscation and misdirection to keep any focus away from the reality.
I felt the need to write about this today after recent events here in Baltimore...........rioting......"protesting"......chaos......looting........and now the National Guard being deployed. I have watched the tv reports......mostly the national news stations.......and payed attention to the tv camera shots.....the background imagery when a reporter goes live on camera.........and you will not see images like the one shown in the above photo. The photo above shows some of the Fulton Avenue neighborhood which is the very same neighborhood considered ground zero this past week. There is no pride shown here. The picture above shows what it looks like on a "normal" day. I recommend that if you truly want to see what neighborhoods such as west Baltimore looks like, get on your Google Maps application and get the street view and virtually drive through these streets. See it for yourself.....with no editing or carefully selected camera angles. This is Baltimore.
Is all of Baltimore so terrible?...........of course not. But a huge chunk of it is. And this chunk has not been decreasing over the past 30 or 40 years.........in fact, it has been spreading from the west side to the east side. That's the reality. Likewise, aside from how things look, there's the crime and safety issues along for the ride. The solutions are not simple, the solutions require tough actions. Ever hear of the phrase "suffer for good"? The kind of suffering now in Baltimore is NOT good in any way shape or form. Misdirected anger, senseless destruction of businesses and home....cars.....etc.....makes me believe that a ridiculous proportion of the population have no good sense or focus.
I realize that most of the problems cannot be fixed by legislation or money. I am sure that both can contribute to the cause........but.......the biggest fix would be if people would stop making excuses and targeting their anger on things and people that have nothing to do with the problems in this city. So where is the blame? Who is responsible?
It makes no sense to me that this recent chaos all started simply because a man named Freddie Gray ends up dead while in the custody of the police. Nonsense. How is it that there is no outrage....no large scale protests.......no nothing about the daily murders in these neighborhoods throughout the city. Oh......its okay as long as it wasn't the police that shot someone.........yeah, right. So this is not about just that Freddie Gray died one day in Baltimore.........nobody has asked how many murders occurred that week.....no outrage.
Its hard to wrap your head around this bullcrap.
While watching the news reports, politician after politician came before the cameras.......some that represent that very district and born and raised in that neighborhood. As if all of a sudden, out of the blue, there is a problem............some even claiming to explain their presence there to get things back to "normal"........imagine that! "NORMAL"!!!!!!........just like the normal as shown in the photo above!
The politicians........hmmmmm........these career politicians.......elected and re-elected year after year........."representing the people from their districts" .......their communities...........seems to me that they need to own up to being part of the problem.......what good have they done? They are all players in the game.....as much as the gangs and drug dealers. The politicians need to be the enemies of the bad not the enemies of the good. Throw these bums out! What have they done for Baltimore? This?
Back to the "pride" thing. People that live is these neighborhoods would obviously have difficulty having any pride in anything. Look at the picture. There is an old saying......."I may have holes in my pants, but they are at least clean holes." That would be a good start...... a place to begin...........get these neighborhoods cleaned up. And for those that intend to dirty it up.......well........fine them heavily........make people accountable.
Shame on these politicians.....shame on the Mayor and the city council........shame on Elijah Cummings......shame on Carl Stokes........shame on the President and the senators of Maryland.
Shame on the pastors of the communities........shame on the media...........shame on the "protestors".
Can this be fixed?.........yes it can.
I could go on and on about this. I love Baltimore and I hate to see this.
Frozen?............Damn its cold! I just got back from a trip to Tennessee, which went very well, and returned home to an assortment of chaos, mayhem, and aggravation. All in all, things could be worse........let's hope not. Heating issues, minor health issues, ice, a dead refrigerator......of all things.......and an assortment of discombobulation..............let's put it this way..............I just need to step back, take a few breaths, and get my shit in order. I could use Spring right now.
Before I took the trip to Tennessee, getting some decent crab shells was a bit of a problem as it always has been in recent years during January and February. Couple that with a decent barrage of customers during the Christmas shopping season and I find myself with a depleted stock of painted crab shells. No.......its not like I don't have anything to sell.........it's just that I really need to get cranking and paint the more popular ones that people have come to expect that I will have. That....of course......takes time.........and crab shells.
The good news is that I just got a good bunch of shells this week and have anticipation of getting more this weekend. Ahhhhhhh.......progress. But since things are a bit awry, as described above, a wrench is thrown into any possibillity of setting up at the flea market this weekend...........oh.........and to add insult to injury, another blast of snow on Saturday.
So, If you want to purchase or order a painted crab shell, come see me at the Northpoint Plaza Flea Market next Saturday February 28th or Sunday, March 1st.
For those who had requested some shells prior to my vacation, you can pick up your shells next weekend or thereafter. Thanks for your patience.
Holey Moley! Where has the time gone? It seems like time has been flying by at an unprecedented pace.......at least for me it has. I really need time to slow down a bit. Nonetheless, here we are with the Christmas shopping season upon us and never enough time to prepare for it. Needless to say, I have been pretty much spending every waking moment scrubbing shells and painting them. As I try my best to have the shells that most people want to buy, it is never enough........I simply cannot mass produce them. Some people will be disappointed, and some will be very happy. I cannot please everyone........although I try to do so. Often, it is difficult to anticipate what people will want to buy. As an example.........do I spend the time making six Steelers shells and then find out I should have spent the time making six Redskins shells? It's all about time........isn't it?
Some of my customers have played it smart and planned ahead by ordering their shells ahead of time........(there's that TIME thing again).........good for them. And I know there will be some who are waiting until the last minute and will expect me to knock out some custom shells for them in record time............aaarrggghh!
Lack of planning on their part does not constitute an emergency on my part. Once again it is all about TIME. And time is running out.........at least for Christmas orders.
If you are reading this blog for the first time.......welcome!
If you are local to the Baltimore area........come see us at the flea market!
If you have the need for something special to give as a gift..........I have what you need.
Single crab shells with rope.........only $10.
Diorama shells...........................only $15.
Crab shell in 5x7 display box.....only $25.
Two shells in 8x10 display box...only $45.
Larger display boxes with three shells or combo with mallets........prices vary.
Time is running out..........first come, first served.
Saturdays and Sundays at Northpoint Plaza Flea Market in Dundalk, MD.
7am until 4pm
Monday at Hunter's Sale Barn in Cecil County MD 3pm until 8pm.
Sorry......no online purchasing available at this time.
Feel free to contact me via email: signtopia@aol.com
I recently attended an Aberdeen Ironbirds game...........and yes......I sat there eating steamed crabs!
Me and Supernurse and a contingency of the Emergency Nurses Association.........and uh.......Mr Boh, of course. It was a great evening..........capped off with a fabulous display of fireworks. Cal Ripken built quite a complex and I recommend that you at least take one day and take in a game. You will not be disappointed.
All work and no play is never a good thing. As it happens though, I seem to get busier and busier with painting crab shells and it is a challenge to squeeze in some time away from that. The good news is that I have two trips coming up in October......one to Texas and one to the Riviera Maya.........and then back to Baltimore for the mayhem that is the Christmas shopping season.
Today, I figured I would post some photos of some of the custom orders that I made for people. Special requests sometimes are challenging........but I actually enjoy the challenge. As usual, the customers were very happy with the end results.
Many people like to have a shell personalized.
This one was to be a gift for the owners of a cafe in Bethany Beach, Delaware.
This one is self explanatory.
And there's more..............
This one was challenging. A drummer for the prog-rock band Sonus Umbra asked if I could somehow do the cover of their album on a crab shell...........arrrrggghhhh..........I had to really think this one out.........but after scratching my head for a few hours, I managed to git 'r done.
Sometimes the requests are for display cases with shells. This six shell and two mallet custom box was put together in honor of the career of Zach Clark, pitcher in the Baltimore Orioles farm system. Each shell had each farm team logo and the dates Clark was with them. The center shell included his photo and date that he played his first game in the Majors as a big league Oriole reliever.
Another request was for a woman who is crazy about the Orioles center fielder Adam Jones.
That's it for now..........I have shells to paint.
Until next time..............by the way, if you want to see more photos, simply search the archives, there's tons of pictures.
