Blog Update: Comments

 

7 comments were posted on the Veterans Day posts this past weekend that were in a foreign language. They have been deleted and now post will have to be approved for the time being.

We delete all rude post. 

New Format

Google has decided to change the format for creating a post. They will no longer allow me to revert back to the old system.

Now I have to learn this new format before I am able to post again.

Thank you for your patience.

No Post for a Week or So

There will be no post for a week or more. I have a sprained ankle and have to keep it elevated. Any time on the computer this coming week will be work related. Jan

Anniversary: End of an Era

The blog previewed on February 8, 2008 and we started posting daily on February 29, 2008. It has been 8 years since we began posting everyday. We have missed posting 3 days in those 8 years and all of those days were in 2015. We now have over 2+ million viewers since we began counting. Sitemeter has listed over 2,200,000 visitors. This is the counter at the bottom of the page. The invisible counter is Stat Counter who logs list 3,086,243 visitors with 6,875,000 page views. There have been over 46,000 photos posted. We have showcased over 800 makers. 

We have decided to stop posting daily. The blog has become more of a task rather than the joy it once was. The posting daily is just too time consuming. In addition to the time spent it cost us money to produce and will continue to cost us money to keep on-line. We will keep it active so you can continue to look in the archives. We will attempt to post once a week and will continue to take photos  of the people and the displays at the shows. We still welcome the photos and articles you send us to post. 

We thank our viewers. We thank the people that sent us items to post. We thank those who stop by the shows and express their appreciation for the blog. We are grateful for all the people we have met and the friends we have made.

So do not think the blog is going away, it isn't. The blog is going into a different phase.

Blog Update

It is amazing to me how many page views are into the archives of the Contemporary Makers Blog. Comments are made on post that are years old.

According to Stat Counter there have been more than 3,00,000 visitors to the blog and more than 6,775,000 page views. These numbers do not reflect the first months of the blog when we had no counters. Site Meter is the counter that shows at the bottom of the page.

This post on the composite gun with plug bayonet by Ian Pratt has over 12,000 page views. 

This was the most popular post of 2014 and continues to grow in number of page views.

More photos and a description can be seen here.

The James Blake article has the second most page views with over 8,500.

Most of this can be seen here.

Copy and photo credits on the linked pages.

Over 1 Million Viewers!

Every hour of every day there is someone around the world looking at the Contemporary Makers Blog. 

We now have over 1 Million visitors since we have been keeping count. Sitemeter has listed over 1,000,000 visitors with 3,687,920 page views. This is the counter at the bottom of the page. The invisible counter is Stat Counter whose logs has list 1,460,477 visitors with 3,698,341 page views. There have been over 20,275 photos posted in 3,964 post. We have showcased over 575 makers. The blog previewed on February 8, 2008 and started posting daily on February 29, 2008.

Below are some of the countries that are frequent visitors.

Argentina

Austria

Bangladesh

Brazil

Bulgaria

Canada

Chili

China

Croatia

Denmark

Egypt

Finland

France

French Polynesia

Georgia

Germany

Greece

Hong Kong

Hungary

India

Indonesia

Ireland

Israel

Italy

Japan

Jordan

Kenya

Korea

Kuwait

Lebanon

Lithuania

Loa People's Democratic Republic

Macao

Mexico

Netherlands

New Zeeland

Norway

Pakistan

Philippines

Poland

Portugal

Prague, Cheh Republic

Qatar

Republic of Korea

Romania

Russian Federation

Sarajevo, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Saudi Arabia

Singapore

Slovakia

South Africa

Spain

St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Sweden

Switzerland

Taiwan

Thailand

Turkey

Ukraine

United Arab Emirates

United Kingdom

United States

Uruguay

Vietnam

When the blog was first started on February 8, 2008 we had no idea where it all would lead. Art and Robert had long talked about using an electronic media to showcase all the different makers. Then I discovered blogs and it wasn’t long before Art and Robert decided that was what was needed. The name Contemporary Makers come from the title of Roberts’ book.

In the beginning the post were random. Sometimes there would be several posts throughout a day with no logic or thought. Then Art posted on the American Longrifle Forum about the blog and that there were new post every day. The die was cast. Originally I had to be up before 7:00 daily to post. Then Goggle introduced a way to set the time when the post would go live.

There are a couple of things about the blog statistics that stand out to me. There are people every hour of every day looking at the blog. At 2 or 3 in the morning there are people in America looking, not just those getting up in Europe. People go into the depths of the archives looking at old post. Some people have logged onto the blog more than 1,500 different times. The number of different countries that are repeat viewers is amazing.

Thank you to al those who view the site. Thank you to all those who send us photos to post. Thank you to all those who allow us to go to their web site and get photos of their work which may be the only way we are able to showcase some work. Thank you to all those who have allow me to photograph their work or their collections. Thank you to all those who leave comments and email us about our post. Thank you to all those who introduce themselves to us at shows and tell us how much they appreciate the blog. Thank you to all the friends that we have made because of the blog.

Thank you to Robert for his friendship. The only time we met was at the first CLA Show. Especially thank you to Art for his patience for all the hours that I am at the computer formatting, organizing and uploading images. Jan Riser

The "Contemporary Makers" book I published in 1980 took over 5 years to finish. Of course it was not a full time project, but most of the guns had to be photographed here on the west coast which meant convincing the owners or makers to trust the mail... and me! For all that effort, I was only able to finally record about 33 different gunsmiths. In the end we printed 3000 copies and it took nearly 15 years to sell them all. Most of the sales were in the U.S. but eventually many made it to Europe and a few went to Asia and Australia.

Through the untiring efforts of Jan and Art Riser, our blog with its thousands of images has now been viewed over a million times and all that in about 4 years! The world has become smaller but is more interesting than ever. Thanks to all the doers and the lookers. Robert Weil

When the original idea for the blog was first discussed we had no idea what we were about to get into.  Robert and I are quite good at coming up with ideas that someone else has to bring to life.  That unfortunate someone was and continues to be Jan.  Her tireless efforts have brought to light to the world at large some of the finest work being done today and occasionally some fine work from days past.  We are blessed to have builders sending us images for inclusion, but a great deal of the work photographed is done is by Jan herself. She is generally just a blur at shows starting her work early and not stopping until the show closes for the day.

The next time you look at the blog just remember one person is working seven days a week without time off to bring you images for your review.  Robert and I are most grateful to her and to our viewers.  Our visions would only be just smoke if it were not for you and for our one woman staff.  Thanks Jan and thank you. Art Riser

Thanks for Stopping By

On Jan 31, 2012 we had visitors to the blog from:

Bulgaria

Sarajevo

Italy

Turkey

Spain

Hungary

Australia

Canada

Slovakia

Norway

France

Germany

India

Chech Republic

New Zealand

Ireland

Ukraine

Poland

Finland

Thailand

Egypt

Philippines

Australia

Romania

United Kingdom

Mexico

Brazil

Argentina

Macao

as well as 49 states and the District of Columbia

Happy New Year

Little did we know when we first posted on February 9, 2008 the response that would be created by this blog. The next post was not until February 29, 2008 and we have posted every day since then. This would not be possible without the makers sending us photos of their work and telling us about other makers.

We have had over 2,675 post featuring over 15,500 photos. There have been over 2,000,000 page views.

Thank you for visiting, thank you for sending us photos, thanks for all the new friends that we have met through this blog. Best wishes for a Happy New Year from Robert Weil and Art and Jan Riser.

Merry Christmas from Robert Weil and Art and Jan Riser

Thanks for stopping by and making our blog a part of your day.

Blog Update

February 9, 2008 we started the blog. The next post was on February 29th and we have been posting everyday since then. Since then we have posted over 10,000 photos and over 1,050,000 photos have been viewed large. We have featured over 350 artist in 1,858 post.

We appreciate everyone who looks at this blog, everyone who leaves comments and send us emails. We particularly appreciate all those who send us examples of work and who point out to us those individuals the deserve to be showcased.

Thanks for viewing. Art, Jan and Robert.

Blog Update

Additional photos have been added to the Steve Davis gun for Wally Fuller.

Blog Update

Additional pictures have been added to the Ken Hamilton French Presentation Pipe Ax.

Blog Updates

Additional photos have been added to "A Fishy Thing" by Bill Reynolds. Additional photos have been added of the Winnabago bag by Tom Conde.

You can search for work by an artist by typing the name in the white box at the upper left corner in the blue bar. Also, you can touch on the photos to see them enlarged.

One Year of Posting Daily

The Contemporary Makers Blog began daily post on February 29, 2008. Since we began keeping track of viewers at the end of March 2008 we have had over 88,500 people visit the blog from around the world. Photos have been viewed over 354,000 times. We have showcased over 235 different artists.

What has been so interesting to us is the number of craftsmen out there that we were not aware of.

None of this would have been possible without the support of the makers who send us photos of their work and collectors who allow us to photograph their collections. THANKS for your support. R.W., A.R., J.R.

Blog Update

Additional pictures have been added to the Jack Brooks pistol.

Blog Updates

Links to web sites are now being added to post.

Emails have been added for Art and Robert.

You can touch on the photos of the books and be taken to the publisher's web site.

There is a place to add comments at the end of each post.