Another Story about Handmade Rustic Cast Stone House and Garden signs, markers and plaques

Background 

Or, how MiniARTS CAST STONE SIGNS and Plaques was born :-)

In 1997, my family and I were looking for a new home. We found one after an exhaustive review of 15 + homes. We were exhausted. Now came the job of making this gently used home ours. How, you say? Well, by personalizing (read, massive, potentially huge, home remodeling ) it to our taste .

The Challenge

The house is located in a neighborhood with poor street lighting, no street lights to speak of, and virtually no home signs, markers nor plaques of any kind. The houses on our street all look so similar (ah, the benefits of cookie-cutter homes :-)). We had an issue, a challenge to differentiate ourselves. In other words, it became clear that we had to do something. We, had a house. But we did not yet have a home. We had to do something. Something, that, in my mind, would make our home REMARKABLE. Different, unique, without disrupting the harmony of the neighborhood. Yes, something had to be done, but what? I emphasize Remarkable to show Seth Godin I am listening to his sage advice. (Thank you Seth!)

I told my wife, "honey, I will fix it".

The Inspirational FLASH


A few weeks went by and I had a flash of inspiration. While reading the SkyMall Catalog on a business flight, I saw these amazing metal address signs and plaques for the home and garden. I also saw the robust, very healthy, beefy prices. While still on the plane, I imaged the process of making one of these signs. This is what crossed my mind: a) the signs looked nice, very nice, yet thin, almost flimsy, b) pricey and c) environmentally unsustainable. I imagined someone hand casting metal in someone's basement... or near someone's neighborhood. Now, really, how can that be good for anyone... the fumes, the toxins, the molten metal, the damage to the air and water, the poor employees. I know everybody has to be make a living. Yet, I suspected I could do better. This was the start of the Miniature ARTS - "MiniARTS" (TM)and the creation of the RUSTIC CAST STONE House Signs

Over time, I have come to trust my intuition. This was one of those flashes of Intuition Malcolm Gladwell describes so well in best seller BLINK. Note: I don't   know Malcolm and derive no benefit from his book sales.