Primm Turner ffrench

This is my Mom. She celebrated her 80th birthday on March 9,2009. Born in Richmond VA to Doris Bryant Turner and Albert Turner. She moved 16 times growing up, graduated high school at the age of 16 and began teaching art in public school at the age of 20.
Last May a delightful grandmotherly woman named Abby Cutter, showed up at the house in Stockbridge. I was there and answered the door. She asked if she could just come in and say hello to Primm. Mom had been her art teacher the first year she was teaching. Abby made the trip from Virginia, in part to tell Primm how much she had influenced her life. There ought to be more teachers like her out there!

She and my dad still share the house we all grew up in on Main Street in Stockbridge, MA. While they are both blessed with relative good health, there are things that mom needs help doing. For the last year we have been working on filing a claim and actually receiving financial help from TransAmerica Long Term Care Insurance Co. No luck yet. What a debacle! Just wanted to shout out to Mom and say thanks for being a strong female role model and for trying your best to leave your kids without the financial burden of aging parents. Too bad the insurance industry is such a farce!

Crispina and Friends Studio Sale

It was a huge success! I am talking about our recent studio sale.
23 of the Berkshire's finest - and funnest, gathered on the weekend of the 13 and 14 of December and sold lots of super cool stuff.
Enticing scents from the hot food and amazing baked goods from Judy Merrit and David Rizardi's Tutti Baking Co. filled the air. Music wafted through too from Steve Elling and his friend Christopher who played traditional Italian mandolin and acordian tunes as we opened on Saturday.
My new friend Shirley Edgerton and her AMAZING, eloquent, engaging, fine young group of steppers and drummers added their magic to festivities. They were raising money for competition uniforms and subsidizing a trip to the inauguration for a few of the group. In exchange for donations they were wrapping gifts in paper they had made and performing a few times each day.

This is certainly the tip of the iceberg but at the moment I have a little stenographer here helping me making this post one to be continued.

I hope I can get mention in here of my dear old friends Heather Cupo and Sean Kimball who came by with Louisa age 6. It was super fun to meet her for the first time and Heather had on a vest I had made prolly 10 years ago - and so did another customer I didn't know. They got to meet and I took their picture!

Sorry for the lack of well designed layout. I am a novice blogger and need help. Does anyone know how to move pictures around?

Cheers for now - check back soon!

December Studio Sale

After making several unsuccessful trouble shooting attempts to correct the problemo of VERY WEIRD color translation of the accompanying image, let me just say that:
On December 13 and 14 I will be hosting a brand new kind of studio sale! 23 of the Berkshires and surrounding area's finest makers will gather at my studio to sell their wares from 10-5 both days. Affordable gourmet lunch will be available on site as well as Holiday greenery, pottery, jewelry, mobiles, and more. Gift wrapping will be provided by donation by Melville Street's very own Youth Alive. There will be music and hooping and all manner of high jinx to be had as well as a lot of great gift ideas inclucing Dolphin Studio Calendars and John ffrench ceramics.

Calendar Time

The ffrench family business, called The Dolphin Studio started 38 years ago by John and Primm, (my Mom and Dad) is in the throes of another busy calendar shipping season. We produce a hand silkscreened calendar every year and have since the beginning. When I was a kid printing was one of the daily chores that each kid was required to carry out. It was our task to register the paper on the table and then carry the fresh, wet prints from the print table to a clothesline to hang to dry. Since then things have gotten a lot more organized and fluid.
Primm cuts all the stencils, John did do all the printing single handedly for many years. This year he had help from his friend and master screen printer John Ahlen.
Sofie, my sister, and I have been heading up the mailing and shipping departments. It has been really great to have time to add this to my day.
Just last year Primm hand wrote each mailing label and 'thank-you for your order' enclosure. She swore off it after literally doubling sales due to features in the NY Times Magazine and DailyCandy.com. Sofie and I hold onto her personal touch as much as we can while adding computer printed labels and UPS pick-up to the mix.

We normally sell out by mid December and they are going fast so if you want to get one, don't wait. They cost $50 and can be ordered right from here: The Dolphin Studio.