INSIDE THIS ISSUE

2009 Convention Information
2009 Christmas Pieces
Stars of Hope

2009 Convention Information
By
Woody Baston

             The photos on the above of the newsletter are three of the unique pieces that will be offered in the Fourth Sebastian Convention Auction to be held in the Masonic Lodge, North Reading, Massachusetts.  The pieces on the front page are a sampling of the outstanding items that will be in the auction.  These pieces are: LC 28 Colonial Girl (value-Rare), SML 185 Chiquia Banana (value-$400.00), and SML 260 Texcel Tape (value-Rare). 

The Convention will be held on Friday and Saturday June 19 & 20, 2009 and will offer new and old pieces for the collector.  To tell you more about the Convention here is what John Scannell, the host of the Convention, has to say: 

For several years, I have created an AOL journal that illustrated my trips to the Midwest Fair.  I also used a journal to provide the information for the first three Conventions.  After all of this hard work, AOL decided to eliminate its journal function.  All of the work that went into that development was lost.  The trips to the Midwest Fair were usually visits to antique shops along the way, and there were pictures of the hotels and descriptions of our meals.  The loss of this information wasn’t devastating, but I no longer had the ability to create a new journal for the 4^th Sebastian Miniature Collector’s Convention.  Fortunately, I received some pictures from my sister from her trip to the Philadelphia Flower Show.  She used a company called Shutterfly, which provides unlimited picture storage.  The timing was impeccable.  I was now able to photograph all of the auction pieces and load them to Shutterfly so that everyone could view them in advance of the Convention.  Then I discovered a way of developing a Shutterfly “site”.  There was a lot of experiments with the software, but it looked pretty good.  It isn’t perfect, but neither were the AOL journals.  If you haven’t seen it, the address is: http://4thconvention.shutterfly.com/ (Editors note: we didn’t put a period at the end of this sentence as we didn’t want to have it confused with the website address.)

The website contains a “Schedule of Events”, and a link to a dinner reservation form, “Paint-Your-Own-Sebastian” form, and an auction listing.  There are also pictures of all of the items in the auction.  I you click on a picture, it will give you a larger view along with a brief description. 

There were a lot more Sebastian Miniature consignments than would fit into the auction.  Therefore, there was a need for other websites to offer these items for sale.  The addresses for these other websites are:

http:sebastiansforsale.shutterfly.com/

http:coylesalemme.shutterfly.com/

http:/hospitalitems.shutterfly.com/

All of the items in the auction, as well as the items on the “Sutterfly” sites are from the Bob Johnson collection.  When I visited his niece, I was surprised at how meticulous he was with his record keeping.  There were over 50 cases of Sebastian Miniatures and a listing of where he purchased each and every one of them.  Bob lived in a two bedroom apartment in Buffalo New York and had over 1,200 Sebastians on display.  If that sounds incredible, then also consider the fact that he collected many other things.  He would constantly talk about his collection of Kentucky Derby glasses and his Buffalo China collection.  Everything he owned, except the Sebastian miniatures, was sold at an estate auction by a major auction house in Buffalo.  I traveled there to witness the event and I was shocked at the volume of items for sale.  A lot of the items had been on consignment in antique shops throughout the area.  I simply cannot imagine where he kept all of these “things”.  Since his retirement from teaching, he traveled all over the country in search of his “Buffalo Bee”.  He was finally able to purchase one just a few years before he died.  That is one item his niece would never sell.  I am sure that Bob is pleased that his prized possessions, his Sebastian Miniatures, are going to Sebastian collectors. 

Anyone who has never attended the Sebastian Miniature Collector’s Convention should seriously consider this year’s event.  You should come early and spend the whole day.  There will be coffee and donuts available in the morning, and lunch is available at a very reasonable cost.  This year’s Convention will have a few new sellers.  This is so we can provide as much of a selection of Sebastian Miniatures to the collectors as possible.  Now is the time to buy because even some of the “rare” pieces are available.  Let me know if you cannot find the item you want because I do have access to other collections.  It never hurts to ask!  The doors will open around 8 A.M. on Saturday.  There will be several tables of Sebastian miniatures for sale.  You will be able to meet Woody Baston and his wife Margery.  I am sure that Woody would be more than willing to sign any of his creations for you.  Again there will be a table for Jim Garrabrandt (official Sebastian Miniature appraiser), and Linda Garrabrandt (official Sebastian Miniature restorer).  If you have a special Sebastian Miniature that is not in the best of condition, bring it (or a picture) with you to the Convention.  Linda can give you an estimate on what it would cost to return it to like new condition.  After viewing all the items for sale, you can take your time and inspect the auction items.  Don’t forget to register to bid at the auction.  Many of last year’s auction items sold for a very reasonable price.  There are some bargains to be had, but you can’t win unless you register and bid.  If you can’t attend the Convention, you can still register and bid via the “mail bid”.  There is a link to the “mail bid” form on the website.  The link is:

http://mailorderbids.shutterfly.com/

On Friday night, we have a special dinner prepared by the Eastern Star.  This is used as a fund raiser for their Masonic organization.  The evening schedule includes a social hour with cheese and crackers, fruit tray, and two kinds of punch.  Following the social hour there will be a family style dinner including turkey, backed potato, vegetables, salad, (light) desert, coffee, and tea.  The evening is always a treat because dinner is followed by a presentation by Woody Baston where he has the opportunity to talk about the new pieces he has created over the past year.  The cost for the event is $28.00 per person and there is a reservation form at:

http:dinnerreservationform.shutterfly.com/

One of the more popular events on Saturday is the “Paint-Your-Own” contest.  This is our fund raiser for charity.  Each contestant, for a $25.00 per person registration fee, gets to paint their own Sebastian Miniature.  Everyone wins because you will receive a pewter Convention medallion just for entering.  The painted pieces will be judged by Woody Baston and Jim Garrabrandt for completeness, quality of work, and accuracy.  The winner will receive a gold painted pewter Convention medallion.  All of the proceeds of the “Paint-Your-Own” contest will be donated to the Susan G. Koman foundation.  Again, there is a link to the registration form at:

http://paintyourown figureforms.shutterfly.com/

The keepsake for this year’s Convention is the spade and this will complete the set of four suits in a deck of cards.  If you don’t purchase the other three year’s keepsakes (diamond, club, & heart), there are just a few remaining.  Also, there are about 6 remaining bases for the Convention medallions.  If you are interested, see me at the Convention or email me at JHSAntiques@aol.com

I think the “gamble has been a success and now it is time to move on to the 5^th year milestone (2010).  I have been thinking about a theme for 2010, but I guess I am not that imaginative.  I am certainly open to suggestions.  The item should be approximately the size of the previous medallions (Festival or Midwest Fair) and not too complicated.  Now is the time to use your creativity. 

In conclusion, I hope to meet each and every one of you at the Convention this year.  We only get together once a year, so let’s make it a good one.  Now is the time to add to your collections and brag to your Sebastian friends about the one you just missed on eBay.  The true value of Sebastian Miniatures is the years of enjoyment they have provided,; for that alone, I am grateful. 

Go to Top of Newsletter

                        Since the winter edition of the newsletter was a bit later this year, for reasons we explained on page 7 of the winter edition, the spring newsletter has come due sooner than usual.  Furthermore, because of the wealth of information we have to share with you about the June Convention the spring newsletter must stay on schedule and cannot slip a bit.  However, this timing has offered some unexpected benefits.  With the normal sequence of events I do my sculpting and then work on the newsletter.  This year, because of the compression of time, I am working on the 2009 Christmas pieces while writing the newsletter at the same time.  I find that I write better in the morning so my workday for the past few weeks has started out with my spending a few hours on the computer and then after lunch I work on my sculpting.  I suppose one could make the argument that neither project is finished quickly, but both are being worked on simultaneously. 

Working on more than one project at a time is good for the creative process.  I find that if I spend too much time on a project at one sitting I don’t have the opportunity to look at the work, especially the sculpting, with a fresh eye.  Therefore, if I am not careful I can work myself into some problems; whereas if I put the work down and do something else I come back to the work with a fresh eye and solutions or areas that need to be addressed jump out.  Frequently I will sculpt two pieces at a time and this works well as I am looking at two different creative tasks.  This time I am working on the Christmas pieces and the newsletter.  The system of splitting the work still works fine with the added benefit that as I am sculpting the piece I am also thinking about how I will write about the new design. 

In the afternoons as I was sculpting I found that ideas would come to me that I thought should be included in the newsletter.  Therefore, because I have learned over time that I need to write down a good idea when it comes to me because when I need to recall the idea later on it sometimes isn’t there.  I will remember I had a great idea, but the idea itself could be lost.  Being aware of this shortcoming, I kept a pad of paper by my work bench and every time an idea came to me I would write it down.  I like this concept of note taking so much I plan to continue it even when there is not the need to write in the morning and sculpt in the afternoon. 

Well, since it is the morning, let’s see what the note pad suggests I write about.  Top of the list is the subject for this year’s Christmas piece.  I felt that I wanted to do a third gingerbread piece to complete the group.  I feel that a single piece gets lonely and two pieces give the appearance of being a bit sparse, but three pieces make a nice set.  With that decision out of the way all that was needed was a subject for the third gingerbread piece.  For some time I had been toying with the idea that it would be fitting to have the third piece a bakery.  There was a certain logic to have a bakery as part of a group of pieces that dealt with baked goods such as gingerbread.  The next decision that needed to be made was the form of the final piece.  For quite a while I was envisioning a bakery made to resemble a western store.  This would have been a piece with a flat roof and an extended front façade onto which a sign could be attached.  Although I bought into this concept, there was something that was suggesting to me that it was not the perfect building to house Santa’s bakery.  I was bothered that a western themed bakery might look a bit out of place with the gingerbread house and the church.  The first two pieces had a northeastern feel to them.   With this in mind, I started to research different types of buildings.  After a while I settled on a saltbox.  At first I wondered whether a saltbox would be appropriate for a store.  Most of the saltbox structures one sees in this part of the country are homes not small businesses.  Then I recalled that the portion of our barn that houses my workshop was a saltbox that was built ca 1750 and was used as a two room schoolhouse and a store before a few large animals dragged it from the train station to its present location after the Civil War. 

It was now time to visit Google Images and study different types of saltbox structures.  Again I found that most of the images were of homes and not of stores, but I had crossed that bridge and had moved on.  With the inspiration of the pictures I had been reviewing I thought it was time to sketch out my own version of a saltbox or to be more precise a gingerbread saltbox.  In the past I have commented that I have tried to sculpt the gingerbread pieces so that they look as if they could have been made out of real gingerbread.  This means that there is less detail than in many of my other structures. 

Because of the shape of a saltbox I found that the building needed to be taller than the gingerbread house although the width is the same.  This means the overall mass of the piece makes it the largest piece in the series.  However, this larger size allowed me to add more elements to the piece.  For example when I first laid out the piece I had only one window per side.  The single window didn’t work and I moved the single window to the front and added a second window, ever since the 186 Tremont Street piece I have lost my fear of painting windows.  Speaking of windows, I decided that since the piece was to be a bakery, it needed a larger front window to allow Santa to display his latest creations.  If one is not careful, there is always a tendency to follow a pattern that one has used before.  Therefore, when I first laid out the front door and the display window on the front of the bakery, I put the door on the same side of the piece as I had done with the house.  The more I pondered the layout the more it bothered me.  The new piece looked too similar to the first piece.  When I switched the positions of the door and the display window the bakery looked better.  Now when the three pieces are displayed together the house and the bakery act as bookends for the church with the windows on the two end pieces facing toward the center. 

With the two dimensional work completed it was time to figure out how to turn the drawing into a three dimensional piece.  Here there were a number of options.  The first thought was to glue up some wood to the thickness desired and then cut out the general shape on a band saw.  After the rough shape of the house had been cut out of wood I could add a few details in wax.  With that work done I could then make a rubber mold on the modified wood piece.   From the rubber mold I would make a hydrocal cast and from that I would finish the piece.  Another approach would be to make the whole piece in wax from start to finish.  The third approach would be the old fashioned way and that would be to start the piece in clay.  This is the process that my father used with all of his pieces.  It may have been because I had not used this last method for quite a while, but it was the course I decided to take with the bakery.  When I began I thought I would craft a rough shape and then make a plaster waste mold on it and from that mold I would cast a hydrocal bakery.  Later I would refine the piece and add windows, a door, candy canes, etc.  As it turned out, the more I worked with the clay the more I decided to do.  I found that the clay was much softer than the other materials and as a result I was able to roll it more easily and this allowed me to add the windows, the candy canes, and the door quite easily.  I even went so far as to add the lettering, “Santa’s Bakery” to the sign on the roof.  As a result I did the whole piece in clay.  Now, because the clay is soft it is next to impossible to finish the piece in the clay.  Therefore, it was necessary to make a plaster waste mold and cast a positive in hydrocal on which I could do the final detailing.  Should you be interested in this process, the Johnson book does a good job following this procedure with pictures starting on page 33.  The astute reader will note that my father calls the process the “lost mold process”.  This is not the only time we have different names for the same thing.  However, both names signify that in order to get the casting out of the mold, the mold ends up as a pile of plaster/hydrocal scraps in the trashcan.  Therefore, there is some added pressure to get a good casting the first time around since there is not a second chance as there is with a rubber mold.  The reason that it is necessary to make a plaster mold instead of a rubber mold on the clay is that the clay has sulfur as one of its ingredients and rubber will not cure against a surface that has sulfur in it.  Recently I heard that there was a new rubber that would cure against anything, but I would not use enough of it to make it worth procuring.  As with most things that come in a can, one uses a small amount and then it hardens and you throw the rest away.  As an example, how many cans of window glazing have you thrown away with the can mostly full?  There is another attribute of the plaster mold and it is that the plaster mold does not shrink as a rubber mold would.  Once I had the hydrocal cast, I was able to refine the piece using files and dental tools. 

Now the bakery is done and it is time to turn my attention to the ornament that will accompany the bakery.  So far we have a traditional gingerbread man and an angel ornament.  With the bakery I thought there were two options.  The ornament could be one of Santa’s helpers at the bakery, it could be Mrs. Claus, or it could be the man himself.  After some thought, I opted for Santa.  If the building offers a challenge to sculpt it in a manner that could have been made out of gingerbread, the ornament presents an even more interesting challenge.  The ornament needs to look as if it could have been made with a metal cookie cutter.  This means that the design has to work on one plane.  There can be slight height differences but they must be the type of fluctuations that could be explained by the use of frosting.  Therefore, the first pose I contemplated would not fit that criteria.  I thought it would make sense to have Santa holding in front of him a tray full of some of his product.  However, the arms, hands, and tray which would be overlaid on the front of the torso could never be made with a simple metal cutter.  Therefore, I needed a different pose.  The next pose was Santa with one hand raised as if to wave.  This worked fine but it was the same pose as the first gingerbread man.  Then I thought I would have him raise the other hand.  This looked a bit better, but I thought I could combine the first concept with this one and have him holding a tray with a pie or a cake on it.  I was starting to get used to this when Margery came in to the studio and thought it looked as if Santa were about to throw the pie at someone.  I must admit the though had occurred to me and to hear it immediately from someone else told me this pose would not work.  The final solution was a traditional arms out straight pose with the addition of a chef’s, traditional red winter coat, and boots.  Having explained earlier the various materials I could use to sculpt the bakery, when it came to the ornament, I thought the best method to use was wax, a rubber mold and a hydrocal cast on which I could sharpen the piece with it’s final detailing.

Now that the gingerbread series is finished, I have been doing some thinking as to what theme I could use for next year’s Christmas pieces.  As you know I embrace Mark Twain’s thought when it comes to future projects and that is I reserve the right to be smarter tomorrow than I am today.  That being said, I am leaning towards a series depicting Santa and his favorite means of transportation.  Envision Santa in a sporty roadster, Santa in a pickup truck, or Santa driving a tractor pulling a wagon full of presents.  We will have to see what next year brings. 

Go to Top of Newsletter