First Post
This is the first of posts, that we hope will help you find your way around Helzers Creations. We have been ornament designers, makers, and retailers for 35 years. If you live in California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada, you can find information and show dates on our web site, listed under shows on the left side. We presently have over 350 designs up on the web, and are adding new designs every month. Our goals are to keep you up to date with what we are making, what is new, where we will to traveling to, what the show is like, how it went, and comments about anything that caught our imagination. We also want to showcase our family which is a huge part of our lives, and lastly, if we can give any information to anyone about the artist life style. Our life has been, 11 years teaching art (adult & high school) and 35 years designing, making, and selling ornaments. Oh, and in between we had three wonderful kids, Stephanie, Stephan, and Valerie, who all are married and have given us 6 great grandchildren. ages 2 – 23. This November we will be married 47 years, and can’t think of much we we change.
Our exchange and refund policy
If we at Helzer’s Creations make an error with your ornament order we will gladly replace, exchange or refund your order. First, please call us to notify us of our error. Second, please enclose a note stating what the error is and return to us via 1st class or Priority Mail (if over 14 oz.) in the original package. We will refund the shipping fee to the customer when the ornament is received and the replacement/or refund is shipped.
If you the customer realize that you have made an error on your order we will gladly exchange, replace, or refund your order. If you would like to have your ornament/order replaced or corrected please send the ornament/s back to us. Return shipping charges of $6.50 will be paid by the customer. We will correct your error and send it back to you within 36 hours.
If you would like a refund because you change your mind or any other reason a 15% restocking fee will apply. Once products are received in like-new condition a refund will be given.
Shipping Information
All orders are shipped USPS Priority Mail. (2 to 3 Day delivery). You will get an email the day the order is shipped, and it will include a tracking number. Our shipping and Handling fee is $6.95 per Order. If there is a reason to return an order that is our fault, spelling, omission, or incorrect order item, we will reimburse you for the mailing charges. They must be returned 1st class mail, we will not pay for priority, UPS, FedEX, or any type of over night or expedited delivery. We will pay for shipping back to you. If the problem is your spelling, omission, and incorrect ordering, you will pay for the return of the piece, and we will charge $6.50 to ship it back to you, after it is corrected.
We have shipped orders 1st class mail, but you will NOT get an email from the post office regarding shipping date, and there is NO tracking number. If the item gets LOST, we really can’t do anything for a couple of weeks, to compensate for late delivery. A single piece generally cost $2.00 to $2.50 depending upon weight and packing materials. 2 ornaments is about $4.00 to $4.50, and 3 and up is generally always Priority. ( 14 ounces and over. ) If you want 1st class mail, send an email to that effect, and we will adjust the shipping price when we download the order. The automatic bounce back will always show $6.95 shipping.
How We Make Ornaments
First you have to believe in what you want to spend your life doing.
This reminder hangs in our shop and we see it every day to remind us of who and what we are.
This is part of the polymer clay we carry in inventory. We, for the most part, buy in case lots of 12, 1lb. pound blocks, rather than the 2 oz. packages you usually get at a crafts store.
This is my work space, and Sarah’s is directly across from me. The two stations to the left we use for finish and detail work like lettering and so forth.
Sarah is conditioning clay. It needs to rolled and folded about 10 times before it is ready to work. She is using an Italian Pasta Roller for this task, and is the thing we enjoy least, but is very important to prevent cracking.
These are a couple of the boxes that hold patterns for part of our ornaments. They are like cookie cutters. I make them up out of ½ wide brass sheet or stock. Each color has a separate cutter. I used to teach high school art in the 60’s and early 70’s so metal working welding, soldering and so forth are talents I still have. Most cookie cutters are tin plated steel, and we found out long ago, it doesn’t hold up as well as brass, and doesn’t rust.
Sarah is placing the back parts of the Family Sofa Kids ornaments on a tray. We usually do about 12 to a tray. The sofa at this point has a back piece, and front piece put together. Sofa is upside down in picture.
Here she is doing some detail work on the sofa arms, and is using a leather stamping tool to emboss the arm design.
Here she is hand setting the rhinestones in the princess castle. And all the pieces have been embossed to look like stone, and roofing tiles or slate.
The Princess Castles are done with the exception of the flag that flies from the wire pin on the right tower. Once the flags are attached the will be baked for about a half hour to harden the clay. They will then be sprayed with a water based finish, have sparkle (glitter) added to the design, and then allowed to dry. At that point we will add the hanging ribbon, our tag on the back, and a price tag if it is for a retail show.
A table rack being filled with family type ornaments for one of our retail show. When a customer selects one, they write on the packing bag, the name of the family, or greeting, Year, and the individual names of the family member. Sarah or I will letter the ornament, while the other is finishing up the sale. After they have checked the spelling, it is wrapped (with all of our handouts) and away they go.
Our daughter Valerie handles most of the computer work and shipping:
Those who order on the web, pretty much the same happens, except when the order is lettered, ( to the right of the boxes) one of us will check the spelling and design for any errors. Then is wrapped in bubble wrap, put in the priority box, filled up with those white peanut things, all papers go on top, taped shut, and the order number and weight is written on the box. After everything is packed, we go to the computer, type and print out the USPS Priority Shipping Labels, (Click-N-Ship) and then put them on the boxes. They then get a ride to the local post office, or if we get done early enough, get set out at the curb for our wonderful postal delivery lady.
Here is a picture of Valerie with her husband Jeff, and their 2 girls, Jemma 4 and Finley 2. That’s why she isn’t full time with us. They took the girls to see “Thomas the Tank Engine” in Filmore, CA in April 2010.
