WHAT'S WRONG WITH CLAY CHIMNEAS?
Clay chimeneas have been around for many years. It wasn't until about 1999, 2000 that the popularity really took off. Then the mass merchants got there hands on the chimeneas. WOW, and they difinetely got there hands on them. The chimenea was everywhere. Even the local grocery stores sold them, army navy stores, chimeneas were just everywhere.
WHERE DID CHIMINEAS COME FROM?
MEXICO! Chimeneas are a product of the Mexican cottage industry. That's
right, the chimenea is made in cottages. Mexican families will construct
large, huge kilns that will hold 200 or so chimeneas at one firing. At first
these Mexican families manufactured pots and various other clay products.
Then along came the chimenea. Chimeneas you burn a fire in them and flower
pots you put dirt and flowers.
In the manufacturing process of creating anything made of clay you
will get imperfections, cracks and at times pots will come out of the kiln
in several pieces. Does the flower pot become trash? No it's patched back
together, painted on the outside and sealed (sometimes) on the outside.
No problem, the Mexicans are great artist of clay products. it's amazing
what I have seen made of clay. Its possible to take a pot that's in piece
and put it together and you would never know it. You can do this with chimeneas
as well. the problem here is you put a fire in chimenea not dirt and flowers.
CLAY CHIMINEAS FALLING APART???
YES! I have heard many stories. Many, Many Many stories about chimenea
falling apart but it's not the issues today as it was a couple of years
ago. The mass merchants have left the building! The Artist in Mexico that
make chimeneas, pot and other clay products are quality oriented but they
are also business people as well. Many of these families were doing fine
making the pots but then came this tidal wave, BAM it hit. The demand was
so great that quality took a hit
because the issues now was demand. It takes an hour to patch a chimenea
(in pieces) and make it look good as compared to 10 to 21 days to make a
chimenea. Ship it! It looks good! No matter what it takes. and yes some
bad chimeneas were shipped, there's no denying it. The compounded problem
here was not necessarily the quality as it was with quality control.
PEOPLE WERE IGNORANT!
Importers and direct buyers just didn't know what to look for in the chimenea.
Quality control was a matter of it looking good. Looks good? Gotta be good.
But when you put a fire in a cracked clay pot it will fall apart. If the
clay was rushed thru the manufacturing process the chimenea will dissolve.
Chimeneas need different care then clay pots, sort of. All clay pots need
certain care and maintence it's just more important with a chimenea because
you are putting a fire in the chimenea.
THE MASS MERCHANT HAVE LEFT THE BUILDING!
The chimenea business has settled down and the mass merchants have started to move on. Some still carry them every once in a while but for the most part its slowed down. The demand on chimeneas has decreased dramatically and this means the quality is great. Enough time has passed that every one KNOWS WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A GOOD QUALITY CLAY CHIMINEA from the Mexican Artist to the importer to the end retailer. The bad chimeneas that were once shipped north to the U.S. of A. are now destroyed at the plant. The demand is not there so the artist can take more time to insure a good quality product.
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS CALL BEFORE USING.
CHIMINEA DANCING FIRE Inc. 817.613.0029
CHIMINEA
