Linda's Lid - End of an Era?
July 6, 2022
It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that we will no longer be able to manufacture and supply this tool.
During the last 9 months I have received notice from one supplier or another that their parts which we use in the manufacture of Linda’s Lid will no longer be available to me in the small quantities I use and/or at a reasonable cost. Some parts have more than doubled in a surprisingly short time which would mean we would need to also double the wholesale and retail price of the tool. We have been working off a back stock of materials some of which we acquired almost two years ago. They are now gone and I can no longer find oe keep that supply on hand.
Linda’s Lid Metal Clay Syringe Holder launched us into the tool business in 2006. We designed and make each tool in our tiny home shop (sometimes bursting with cases of parts) since the beginning. During that time, others have tried to copy or alter it, but our design has withstood the years. We have absorbed much of the increasing costs and altered some of the ‘fancy’ features of packaging just to keep the price the same for our customers. We listened to our customers and added a piece or two - at our cost - to make it more useable for them. We have striven to source all of the parts from the USA (though not always possible) spending a lot of time researching suppliers and their products to put this tool together. It has been a labor of love that we gladly did for the community.
Although I have been struggling trying to come up with an alternative to keep this original and useable tool available to the metal clay artist, I just cannot see a way to do so myself. There is just no different or better way to make this tool and keep the same high quality and usefulness that we built into the first one and each one after.
Even though I retain the copyright and the initial patent pending on this product and possess the design specs and templates for making Linda’s Lid, I’m sure I haven’t thought of everything that could be done to keep it alive and not compromise on materials. But it is beyond our means. When the current stock is depleted, that will be the end.
We want to assure you that we haven’t given up our tool business, we are just setting this product aside. We still have other original tools which we hand make ourselves and sell directly to the customer. Please visit our website at NatureScapesStudio.com to discover the other original designs that began here in our shop shortly after Linda’s Lid. It has been a great 16 years!
Sincerely, Linda Stiles Smith, owner NatureScapes Studio - and lead tool shop guy - Dale W. Smith