Wow, can't believe I've been missing out on this. Rarely get time to cruise the various sites as I am rather busy working on my business. Happened to be checking my site stats and saw that there were quite a few hits from this forum so I came to check it out. What I found was a customer defending my honor (thank you Faustus) and some bashing of my product. Bummer, not something I am used to walking into.
Since I have not had benefit of being here to defend myself previously, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself and see if I can undo some of the damage that appears to have occurred here.
First off, Fuastus thank you, Loyal customers are a treat and I thank you for your efforts, but my product stands on it's own, the thousands of customers I have will all attest to that - including the celebrities.
Next, "Franken key" is terrific. No two ways about that, as an artist myself I appreciate other art and am not afraid to recognize other work. The majority of my "competition" consists of people gluing keychains and JC Whitney license plate bolts to keys and calling them "Custom". It is refreshing to see another ARTIST doing just the opposite. Kudos guy, I am impressed.
"Yuk" - I have reread that post several times and I too have to admit it was easy for me to assume you were calling my work "Yuk". Which, you are more than free to do. Thank God this is America and the Internet where you should be free to say what you like regardless of who might be watching right? If you don't like my work, man you are certainly not obligated to and obviously you don't need my services so I have no desire or need to impress you.
Plastic - Yes, I use plastic. Plastic that is very expensive and will withstand 2300PSI direct kinetic energy and 600 degrees of heat. Using plastics allows me to reproduce artwork I have done in a variety of neat fashions including clear, crystal clear and glow in the dark. I know that antlers will not withstand those extremes, and since I have Racing teams that use my keys and have had keys survive wrecks, I'd say it's pretty nice material. Next comes insertion of key head to topper. If you are carving these from antlers and I have no reason to believe you are not, then you have to affix them to the key itself, I'd be willing to bet you are using epoxy to do that with. Guess where the weak point is...and guess what that epoxy is...my keys however yuk you might think them, are cast directly onto the key, not glued. They are not coming off. Still tho, antler makes a beautiful medium, I don't fault you for using it.
My art - Never claimed to be the world's greatest sculptor. Plenty of better artists out there and always will be. However, this is for the most part, my art (a few exceptions, I think I used a candy mold for a star key we have, and one of my large skulls was given to me by the artist to use) Apart from that, these are my sculptures sculpted from clay and then molded which by the way usually mangles my artwork so it's good that I do have a mold of it. each mold costs me about $350.00 to make, which I find - NOT CHEAP - especialy when each mold will only make so many pieces before it is no good anymore, which prevents MASS production.
I am the ONLY person in my business producing these pieces. No factory, no big machinery, no massive assembly line, each and every one is hand finished by me, I even polish the metal keys. I spend about 20 hours a day 7 days a week making my stuff, and I have made thousands without a breakdown in quality. I have European dealers that carry my keys regularly in their shops and I set up at rallys all over the place (see you at Trail of Tears '04! in Waterloo). I am not mass producing them, I am just motivated and find those that cannot or will not to be lazy in my entitled and free opinion.
In addition to making these key heads I am also a licensed bonded locksmith. I have thousands of dollars in key cutting equipment and decades of experience with ingitions. When I set up and sell my keys, I can duplicate them on the spot. I didn't hear you mention that, I trust you either glue them directly to someone's working key or you sell it as a kit, or just on a blank. Hey no sweat man, no criticism but you know...that extra little touch goes a long way.
Comparison - I do wish you had not started out comparing our products. That's Apples to Oranges really, and it naturally put me on the defensive as your general tone is rather negative towards me and my business. I generally prefer you get to know me before you assume I'm a jerk (which I am), but hey, you gotta do what you think you have to to protect your business interest, I'm sorry you have such a low opinion of my work, and am glad I've already made a name for myself in this business before customers spoke with you. Good luck to you with your keys, and it's a shame we had to meet like this, I would have enjoyed a friend in this industry. Am still impressed with your work though and wish you well, more than enough business to go around in this field. One word of advice: Eventually customers get tired of hearing companies bash their competition - how many times have you rolled your eyes when a commercial came on TV? Just keep that in mind before you slam me in anymore forums, in the mean time I have some customers that can benefit from your work I will let them know you exist.
Thank you all.
Ken
