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Stone House Blogs A little background about the stone house & Mineral Point... I live in southwestern Wisconsin on a little farm established around 1840. The stone house is a two story Federalist....and as many old homes here, was built by those talented Cornish stone masons who came here from the old country in the early 1800's. You can catch a glimpse of historical Mineral Point and learn what's happening at www.mineralpoint.com . 'Point', as the locals call it, is a great place to visit, shop, eat, sight-see and over the years many have choosen to live here, our pace is just a bit slower than city living. That's just what my husband and I did a little over 12 years ago.....came to visit and stayed! The renovations on this old stone house and out buildings have been ongoing and just when you think, 'when this is finished it will be done' there is another project we decide to jump into.... It's a labor of love and so satifying. We feel as though we are the keepers of history, preserving the past and someday passing it on to the next lucky caretaker. My husband Jim and I enjoy our country life we share with our two furry kids...Old English Sheepdogs named Mr. Higgins and Katie-Scarlett. Our human kids are all grown and have family's of their own, blessing us with seven grandchildren...two boys and five girls. I should say this is the count so far, three of the five boys have not started families yet! Our holiday table just keeps growing.....
Chalkware and antique metal chocolate moulds (molds).... My chalkware and antique metal mould collection is ever growing, I'm always on the hunt for the next beautiful and interesting piece. I love pouring into the old metal moulds and seeing how the true detail of the metal mould is brought out...sometimes after pouring, I see details that would have been missed just by looking at the mould itself. Then, my favorite part is deciding on the colors and design. I usually don't have much of a design in mind until I sit down with a piece...then somehow, it all seems to come together. My chalkware collection consist of old and new Christmas and Easter pieces from many different artist from all over the world. Each Christmas season I bring all the pieces together, then when the time comes to put away the Christmas decorations...I choose which ones I will leave out for the entire year. I used to think I was nuts, leaving a large collection of Santas out for the year until I found I was not alone in this world of Santa loving...a lot of you out there do the same! If you are wondering 'what the heck is chalkware', here's a little information I send with every order shipped....
Chalkware is a highly collectible 3 dimensional folk art ever present in the market place for over 200 years. Each piece is individually hand poured using a special plaster compound, taking up to three weeks to complete one piece. Antique chocolate moulds collected from all over the world are used to form these wonderful figures, each a member of my personal and ever growing collection. Many of the antique moulds date back to the mid 1800’s. Each work of art is signed, dated and numbered. Some are Limited Editions meaning when the limited number is sold, the design will never be reproduced again. The 1840 Stone House chalkware is very detailed all the way around, much like a fine folk art painting hanging on the wall, it tells a story…the more you look at it, the more you see. These chalkware figures are sought after by collectors, appreciated for their fine painted detail as well as the mould design. The original mould makers are now history, but their artistic endeavors live on in each and every finished piece of chalkwarefolk art . This blog area is something I've wanted to set up on my site for a while, finally, sitting here watching a lovely snowfall I thought I'd sit down and begin. Please come and join me and let me know what your interests are...leave comments and questions you might have...just add your two cents..or three. I'd love to hear from you! Happy days....waiting on Spring!
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