Get a cup of coffee.

First - thanks to those of you who have sat up and had coffee with me while I've been dealing with this move. It's fun to come and see new things being made, but readers are friends when they know you are going through a stressful period of time - and they stay, and talk to you. Good friends have stuck by me, and helped in various ways. I sincerely appreciate help, which I can't repay. Thank You.

This forum though; has had a place in my heart, since it began 9/08. I have wanted it to succeed, and shared that desire endlessly. I count on the forum for social contact with like minded folk. Even so; most readers simply do not care to post. That's fine – it's their preference. But that doesn't mean I can't especially appreciate the guys that share my desire to see the forum succeed. I appreciate it - and those names are easy to find when you look at the threads. Thanks guys.

A recent thread included some banter - as good threads always do. And, it probably included one of the subjects which has always generated discussion between maker and buyers: The relationship between customer desire and artistic interest. From the customer's side of the wallet - it's his money and the maker better see what will open that wallet. The customer is always right. From the Artist's side - he's the one creating the body of work. He's the one who has put in decades learning skills. He's the one putting his name on the product.

Now - let me give you a couple of easy examples; and then we'll get deeper. If the customer is the only factor in choosing a performance - then Donny Osmond is going to spend the rest of his life singing "Puppy Love" for middle aged groupies. Don't care for Donny? Then Willy Nelson is gonna sing "On the Road Again" until he dies. Charlie Daniels will play only "Devil Went Down to Georgia". Tanya Tucker sings only "Blue". Adam Levin sings only "Move like Jager". And so on. It's what we want - they should do it. And yet - how many interviews have you heard where a particular artist claims that if they have to sing (insert song) once more - they will … … ... not enjoy it.

Now: in the craftsman world. Consider please; who decides the focus of a career? Please allow me to share a few things I've heard over the past 39 years. Number one would be, "If I could make THAT (insert particular favorite item), I wouldn't make anything else!" There are versions of this; intended to convey different messages. One is that the speaker admires the skill a particular item must have taken to build, and if he could do that, he would be so satisfied that he'd make it over and over. A second meaning is that the speaker considers most of my OTHER items to be mistakes, and that I should concentrate on the chosen object. A third meaning conveys that said item is "hot", and therefore the only sensible object to make in the current market.

Farther; please consider the following questions: Is the craftsman primarily paying tribute to a particular previous craftsman? Is the craftsman primarily paying tribute to a particular object? Is the craftsman primarily building a body of work? OK - you caught the magic Gary phrase. You know what I'm doing. But - please consider; Some craftsmen will set off upon a career to copy the work of a particular previous artist. I knew knifemakers who did this. They became so dedicated to making exact copies of “Master X's” work that they had to be careful not to surpass the work of Master X. (You also see this within the field of Automobile Restoration. Care has to be taken NOT to make the restoration superior to the original.) They boiled out every secret technique Master X ever used - and they 'became" those techniques. They could tell you what type of screws Master X used between June of 1945 and Feb. of 1957. OK - you get that example. That is not me. I have ideas of my own. And I don't care to memorize the infinite trivia associated with another craftsman - who probably just used what was available to him at the time.

Now; how about the craftsman who sets out to build a career in tribute to a particular object. I knew Master Craftsmen who only made the Bowie knife. Everybody loves the Bowie knife. But these guys ONLY made the Bowie knife. And - it was going to be P-E-R-F-E-C-T. By golly - it was clean as a whistle. BUT - so was the last one. And the next. Next. Next. Next. Now; each one went to a different person. And they'd wait forever for them and pay a lot. But; they were all the same. Or really, really close to the same. We already used “Master X”, so for the next point, we need to name this Bowie maker “Master Z”.

Play along. We're at a major knife show. Two collectors run into each other, in the East Corner of the Hall, and began a conversation. “Have you seen ???'s table?” “You bet! Great Stuff.” “How about “Master Z's table?” “No – Where is he?” “Far side of the room – West Corner”. “Bowies – correct?” “You bet – the best.” “Anything new?” “His usual – perfect.” “You want to go see his table?” “Nah – I only have two hours – better see more new stuff”. “Where's Barnes?” “Don't know … haven't seen him.” “What's he got this time?” “GOD KNOWS …. wanna see?”

Now – from one perspective (mine), Master Z is making a perfect product. Everybody loves a Bowie. And his are Perfect. But – if you have one – you are done. If you have two hours at a major show – you don't need to go see one again. When the chapter is written on his career – it's only gonna have one picture in it. One perfect Bowie knife. Now – if you wanna put in 2,000 pictures that all look alike – I guess you can write a book on the guy's entire career. Then; everybody that has one – can try to figure out which picture is their particular knife!

OK – that's just mean. But – I don't need to make tribute copies to another craftsman, his style, or a particular object. I have plenty of ideas, and I've learned the techniques to do many different styles. Just saying the name of the maker, when it comes to me – should only tell you that the craftsmanship is worthy. The “What is it?” becomes the next part of the conversation. That's just the way I do it. Clearly; others can, and conduct business otherwise.

The lost, to me though … is this: For each and every Bowie that Master Z makes … the blade grind has to be perfect. The heat treat has to be perfect. The guard needs to fit the tang air tight. The silver solder must be perfect. The handle pins have to be placed and riveted perfectly. The escutcheon plate must be inlaid perfectly. Finish must be perfect. It's an individual … but it's also a perfect copy of the last. And, therefore; everybody feels they have seen it before. Now – if you love it, and want one – then YOURS will be the best. And the familiar nature of the piece means that everybody will know just what you have. That can be either a status or make it more commonplace. For his work, Master Z could have had 2,000 individual pictures in his book. We would have seen the depth of his creative skill, instead of being finished after a few captions. His choice, and emphasis was otherwise.

And so; we get back to the topic recently discussed – where I was teasing Lon about his comment regarding “traditional buyers” and of enjoying walnut and stag. Those are beautiful. And, everybody wants one of each. And, a craftsman could make a career of copies of those; for hundreds, or a couple of thousand different buyers. When I chose my business model – I was more interested in developing a long term friendship with my buyers. Since I made a nearly endless variety, no buyer was going to get saturated with Barnes' work. There would be no – you buy one and you are done – because they are all alike. You know – I could have spent the rest of my career, building Bisons. They are wonderful airguns. Quite unique. They have a distinctive presence to them. And, many, many more people wanted one. However; I did not want to spend the rest of my career making that model. I have dozens of designs that I have not yet made. And – that's just … to date. While this mind set frustrates the pine cones off a Georgia forest; it allows me to continue to develop my craft. Someone, someday; may wish to copy one of my designs. God Bless 'em. I hope it brings them joy and wealth. But I don't yet wish to copy anything – even myself.

An artist can get trapped copying his own work. Or – copying traditional pieces. A certain amount of that is going to be unavoidable. However; my job as an artist, is to keep the flow of new work fresh enough to distract everyone from wanting copies. Hahah.

Thanks for reading. I hope it brings some discussion. Later today ... good grief - it's 3:14 am .... I get the results of all the MRIs I've had recently.

Gary

So...how many more Bison requests DID you just get?

Talk about a big topic, we could spend from now to eternity giving examples back and forth. By way of example, my son just wrote a report for school on the Dutch artist Rembrandt, a famous and prolific painter from about 300 years ago. With just a cursory amount of research on him and his work you could undoubtedly cite examples for every single issue you discussed...on both sides. If an artist sticks with their field long enough, they'll probably end up on both sides of every issue just due to the growth and change in their talent and circumstances over the years. Work that would be appropriate and constructive during their early career would seem tedious and stifling later on as their skill sets matured. Conversely, work that lies well within an artists range of talents during the peak of their career could easily have overwhelmed their earlier self had they attempted it too early on. Trying to pin an artist down to just one school of thought is like hitting a moving target, it's always evolving.

You've worn a lot of different hats over the years; furniture maker, master knifesmith, airgun innovator, general home handiman, unpaid slave laborer. All of these (save perhaps the last) have served to get you to the point where you are now, which is...probably one of the more frustrating stages you'll go through. You have the painstakingly acquired knowledge base to develop all kinds of new ideas, the skills and tools to execute those new ideas, and a financial and marketing model that's strongly biased towards ensuring that you'll do no such thing. After all, it's your PAST innovations and your EXISTING body of work that have gotten you to this point, so why mess with success?

It's readily apparent that you could have just "frozen" your catalog and quit introducing new ideas at least a decade ago. After all, you could still sell all the Bisons you care to make, right? Of course, that would mean that everything since then would never have been built, or at least never made it out of the shop. I'm sure that it would have worked out fine from a financial standpoint, and it would undoubtedly have simplified your shop space and your work flow quite a bit.

Making the first copy of something is a lot more work per-piece than making the next dozen, and the next hundred behind those get even easier as you streamline the process. It's the basic rationale behind mass production, and of course it's also the next best thing to an eternity of torture for some artists. Some learn to live with it, whether for basic financial reasons or because their fans just can't live without it. How many times do you think the Grateful Dead performed "Truckin" or "Sugar Magnolia" in thirty years of touring and concerts, for example? I'm sure they got very, very good at them, but it's got to take a toll over the years.

One thing for sure though, if there ever is a "craftsman primarily paying tribute to a particular previous craftsman" who intends to memorize and duplicate every aspect of YOUR body of work, he had better have a prodigious memory in addition to his wide-ranging set of skills, since you've hardly ever built the same thing twice, let alone dozens of times.

Did you know that when Michelangelo was told to paint the sistene chapel ,he was upset about having to do it !! After al he was a sculptor not a mere painter . But.... The talent he displayed was incredible. when I am at one .end of the chapel and look up all othe paintings appear to be the same size on the ceiling . The people closer to you are smaller and the farther away peo ple are painted larger giving it a scale appearance .also they seem tofollow you as you walk throu gh there . From what people tell me he also had a few jabs at the Romans for making him PAINT.Does that detract from his talent I don't think so .sometimes people tell you what you have to do and some people have to do things to pay the bills . But either way I don't think it made him less of a person .quite the contrary .I would be amaze if everybody got to follow what their heart tell them to do the world would be a much better place.That is what happens when you turn a hobby into a business ! then you have to find a new hobby and sometimes you can share it with the world or at least can't sell it to the world but only let them enjoy it from afar .

Thanks
Kurt

Sean and Kurt,
Thanks for your posts.
Hey, I hope I haven't come off as too confrontational. If so, I guess I didn't write PC enough. .
I got to thinking more along this line, at Lon's mention of "traditional buyers". The main thought I had was that, since it takes so long to make any one piece, a craftsman can easily become booked up with only traditional examples. Traditional is another term for "broad appeal". Or "conservative" appeal. It also means, as I think the guys mentioned; that it is already existing and has become a standard. And while I attempt to make examples of such, I think about all of those ideas which "might become" traditional examples - but they have to first see the light of day. If I never made a Bison, it wouldn't have become a "traditional" Barnes design.
I realize that I am a "prototype" artist. That's where the primary "chase" is for me. I suppose in the course of writing a post for discussion, I give the suggestion that I do not "like" those things which have become traditional - or those who make them. That's way too strong. I just don't want to shut down the fresh idea factory in the back of my head. It would greatly diminish the "seasoning" that permeates the rest of my work. You will have noted that I mix in a bit of new, with every example of traditional that I do. A lot of that is internal tweaks and tunes. And the customer gets those free of charge. That's why I could never make museum copies of - say - a 1760's English Musket. That is the area for a meticulous crafts person. There is no room for creative design there. It must beige the original, and only like the original.
I hope I can discuss that without sounding offensive. I don't mean to be.
Both of you mention economics. You are correct. Repeating is easier and allows far easier marketing. But then, there is no Alpine. No Tundra. No Prairie. No Timberwolf. Etc. I do pay a price, and always have - for innovation.
So; hope it's a fun discussion. Not my intention to throw stones at someone else's model. Just wave my flag a bit.
Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/14/2013 03:49PM by barnespneumatic.

Well, that failed to generate discussion. Other then to make a few feel that I don't like customers, and don't want to make their guns. That's the beauty of the Internet.

Here's my point: I wanted to make SOME Tundras. AND some Nitro Express, AND some Bison, AND some Rangers, AND some Prairie, AND some Victory, AND some Grey Fox, etc. Rather then making ten years of Rangers ... THEN switching to another model for the next ten years. That's it. Oh, we'll then why didn't you just say that? Better yet - that's what you did, why say anything at all?

Guess I've been trying way too hard to stay in touch, entertain, and promote discussion.

Thanks for reading.

Gary

So does this mean that we're going to talk about smoked salmon recipes again?

JUST KIDDING...sorta. I wasn't really going to start that thread until fall when I'm putting up fish again...but if I have to...

"Why do you hate Salmon so much that you want to kill them and then torment their carcass!"

Just sort of what I read into your previous Sslmon posts Sean.



And - Jerry did sort of "leave the building" about the same time as the Salmon posts .... hummmmm

You wound me! And in any case, I think of it more of an assisted suicide than a straight-out killing, since none of them are going to survive anyway. All five species of pacific salmon have life cycles where the adults return to spawn in the same streams where they hatched, and then they die. Right there on the spot, pretty much. Fertilizes the streams, makes them a much better environment for their offspring and so forth.

As one of the local fish geeks says on his posters and T-shirts, Alaska salmon are "the fish that dies for love". He's a local artist by the name of Ray Troll, and although he's a bit odd even by local standards I think you'd like his work. He doesn't quite fall into any of the categories above, though if you look up his work you'll soon see that the vast majority falls into the fish-related category.

See? Brought it back to art in the end, we're not stuck on recipes after all!

A difficult question

Here is the thing, So I get on the list for a Randall Made knife, its what I want (minor type choices) but essentially a duplicate of a knife. But, its what I want as a good user. Gary's airguns are in two types, a "classical " some art /design high power accurate user gun and some truly fancy almost safe queens. I enjoy the metal engraving but tend to like good old boring Rose and Scroll on most of my guns, The wood carving is unique. Some doesn't appeal to me and others do, Same thing can be said for art, some appeals to me some does not. Gary's guns are "art". (BTW I have spent big bucks on a piece of walnut for a shotgun --traditional checkering, fluer de lee,etc)

It would be great if Gary's could "mass produce (ie 10-25 guns per year ) of a type by farming out some of the machining ( or getting a EDM Machine) to make the basics , then hand assemble and decorate/personalize to each persons choice. It would get cash flow and allow him to invent/create new works of art. I do like some of the color laminate stocks he has pictured so I am not "only a Purest". The Dragon skin finish is neat, but so is a Colt Royal Blue on a Colt Python.

Trying to balance Gary's creativity and artistic talents against time to produce (or repair a house) is the challenge for him. And to keep a cash flow that allows this.

BTW I do enjoy following the story line of the move and repair work. I have lived through a construction project that had new discoveries on almost a daily schedule. Sometime we worried that nothing was being done because there were no events/discoveries that needed attention.

But then i ramble to much as i await my Grey Fox

I'm a little worried that all the construction work will have Gary dreaming up guns that incorporate concrete, lathe and pine...

Yeah, who needs fancy walnut stocks when you can have one made of stucco? Hey, it's water resistant, has FANTASTIC grip, and you can get it in a variety of nice pastel colors.

It'd be an industry first!

Here's a thought; if the customer allows the artist to freelance on the work, he will certainly end up with something other than that which he paid for. The customer has to make a risk assessment and decide just how much he trusts the artist before agreeing to creative discretion. For some people, ceding control is a tough thing or they are just so into what they saw, that they can't take the leap. Those folks are pretty much always going to have to order from the catalog. Other folks look at the decision and realize they trust the artist and will get more than they paid for and be delighted...

OMG ... Well said Jerry.

And looking at Gary's Gallery ... You see the evidence.

You also choose if you feel the intervening years of development are worth anything to you.

Now, I have been well blessed with clients, since 1974; which allowed me to make choices on their behalf. So; I don't complain. Much of my top drawer work - of the greatest value and customer satisfaction; has been purchased (sight unseen) by clients I've never met - or even spoken to. It's odd perhaps, but for several decades, its worked. If I'm able to make a good friend, I like that better.

Gary

I don't think I actually heard your voice on the phone until I called you about shipment details.

I think I developed "phone phobia" many years ago. People would call while I was working, and tell me not to worry about the duration of the call, because THEY had one of those five cents per minute long distance plans. Problem was that I couldn't listen for five cents per minute. . There is no such thing as a ten minute phone call, as promised. An hour long call would break my stride in the shop, which I may have been building up to all morning. I finally figured I'd be better to be seen as a hermit rather then go broke chatting on the phone all day. It's another "my side - your side" issue. For one person to call me and talk an hour - they choose when they call, and then go about their day. Once the second or third phone call comes in, I might as well just quit, as spending several hours on the phone during my productive hours of the day. To put it in perspective, who wants to wait while I chat with Sean? haha. Besides, most of the phone time was spent going over all the stuff id already taken the time to post, with pgotos and videos. So; I had to just make it known that I hate the phone. It's the erosion of time I hate. E-mail or PMs are both written and read when the parties have time. Works for me.

Gary

Quite right. Add in the fact that you've got customers scattered over multiple time zones and not only would you never get any shop time, you'd never get any sleep either!

AND!

I was counting on meeting everyone at the Standing Stone Rendezvous' twice a year (Spring and Fall). And seeing them at the Auctions too. I figured I better keep time clear for all the other events staged by the folks shooting the heck out of my guns. Can't hang on the phone when I need to pack my socks for the next big bore shoot! By Golly.

I thought I posted a response to this, but apparently it's lost in cyberspace. Jerry shared my thoughts fairly well SO I'll just try to sum up what I said before.

I buy Gary's guns because I love that they are beautiful AND functional. I shoot them periodically, but unfortunately, not enough. They're always a hit at the range because they're eye-catching and accurate. It's a great combination! They are expensive and rare because of all the time he puts into them. A great long term investment. I have told Gary before, and will tell him again: Please finish my guns any way you see fit. There is no way I can tell the master the best way to complete his artwork.

I bought a gun from another big-bore airgun maker because I wanted a gun to hunt with that I didn't care if it got banged up a bit. It shoots straight, but looks like most other rifles out there. It was much less expensive because he makes the same models repeatedly. I can get another one if I need it. I own it purely for function. It will probably still be around for my grandchildren, but is not likely to last nearly as long as my Barnes rifles.

Well!
I hope you don't expect a Christmas card Scott ... For telling people there are other makers! Haha.
Wish I could make more. Hope I will. Enjoy all your airguns with gusto!
Gary

That's the spirit ! Nothing like getting air time any way you can.

Thanks
Kurt

Although i did order a Yukon GS with all the upgrade's..... I hope that Gary will use his artistic creative thought process and alter it any way he can see fit. I also believe that a duplicate will not allow him to express what he want's to achieve.

You got it Don,
Thank you for your trust. It will be something that I am satisified with, and I hope that it will provide you and yours a lifetime of enjoyment.
Can't wait to continue. I'm making good progress now.
I have been feeling much improved. I'm a bit worn, but that is only human. This has been a long slog. But I've been in a better frame of mind without the horrible headaches. The work doesn't seem as bad.
God Bless,
Gary