How and why

To learn more about our new web site, check out the post on Sheryl's Personal Blog.

Tapir t-shirts and things . . .

Anita (a long-time tapir fan with interesting stories) sent e-mail on September 5:

Thank you so much. My tapirs & T-Shirts just arrived & they are
mighty cute---Anita

Just a note on our tapir t-shirts and totes. We had considered having our shirt and tote bag designs transferred over to our CafePress tapir store because it would be easier to manage the inventory. However, as of now, we've opted to keep the old designs on the original system, which is to have them screen printed and keep them in stock at our shop. Our printer does beautiful work, and the quality of the shirt material is very good. We're very happy with them. It sometimes means we're out of an item you order and we have to backorder it, and it means we bear the cost of carrying inventory that hasn't sold yet (think lots of sizes for each design). It seems worthwhile to us at this point. With CafePress, we can deliver more designs, which are printed as-needed and delivered from CP directly to you. Cafe-Press can also offer a much wider selection of products because they don't need to store printed inventory. We get a percentage of the profit, which helps support tapir conservation and research. CafePress uses an optical printing method, which is quite good, but it's different than screen printing with ink. We'll continue to grow the CafePress option as well. So, with multiple sources there are more and more choices for tapir gear! And we believe this is a good thing :)

Small hand-carved pirarucu fish from the Colombian Amazon

I'v just put this very cool pirarucu fish online - it's carved of palo de sangre wood in the region of Leticia, Colombia - in the Amazon. This carved wood fish is easier on the pocketbook than some of our larger items. I still have two more pirarucu to put on the site. They'll be bigger and will come with pricier tags. Each fish is unique. This one has an especially nice face, I think.

If you want to see what an interesting fish they really are, check out the two stuffed real pirarucus that were in the lobby of our hotel in Manaus (Brazil). The big one is probably 3 to 3 1/2 feet long - I don't actually remember the size. I know they seemed large. You can read more about the fish themselves via the link to the carved fish above.

Two plastic piranhas back in the store!

We loved our plastic piranhas, and so did our customers. Awhile back they were discontinued by the manufacturer, and NOW THEY ARE BACK! Come take a look. We have these interesting lifelike piranhas in two color choices - and they are stretchable! What's more, the plastic is soft and . . . uh . . . fishlike. They almost feel real!

Two cuties

Trisha sent us this picture of her totally adorable granddaughter. The photo was taken last Christmas with a stuffed emperor penguin chick that came from Tapir and Friends. If this were a cuteness contest, I'd have to vote for the little girl, but the penguin isn't bad! :)

Carved wood animals from Colombia

Hi All,

I've been posting some carved wood animals on our new web site. They arrived from Colombia a couple of weeks ago. The animals are carved of the native palo de sangre wood (meaning bloodwood), and come in varying shades of gorgeous red. The wood is so hard that when it's polished it looks like it has a varnish or finish on it, but actually, the shine is simply the natural wood surface finished and polished to a sheen by the artisans. They are just beautiful, and their purchase not only helps tapir conservation, but it helps the artisans who make the carvings.

The two critters shown here are jaguars. The top photo is a fairly typical carving, although each one is a little different. The one on the bottom is totally unique and actually a little freaky. Sergio thought it looked like a jaguar-mouse. I was thinking more like a were-jaguar or a were-rat. Let us know what you think. In any case, it is striking, primitive-looking, visceral, and the only one we've seen that looks like this. It has "content," as my art teacher would have said. You can read about the palo de sangre wood on the site and see the jaguars and other carved wood animals. I still have some fish and armadillos to put online.

New butterfly pins - hand-painted animal jewelry!

I've just put five new butterfly pin designs up in our new online gift shop. Here are two of them - aren't they gorgeous? Here's a link to the insect jewelry, which includes the butterflies. Have fun exploring!

As if in celebration, we got our first order today from the new site. As many orders as we get from our original site (still going strong), its exciting to see the new one working :) It's much faster to upload items on the new site, so all of our painted jewelry should be up in a short time, although there may literally be a few hundred more designs to scan and upload. And the site is good for items where we don't have many of a particular item (since it's less labor-intensive). We've started a couple of new sections for art and craft objects made in Colombia and other Latin American countries (to help with tapir conservation and because we love the art!), and our plan is to grow that area of the site in the next few months as well. Come on over and take a look!

Animal drinking cups for children

Animal drinking cups for kids continue to be very popular this summer. We have ocean animal and land animals. The tails or, in the case of the giraffe, the neck is cleverly turned into a handle. Come see the lot of them! They come in a variety of colors, too.

Carved wood animal pens now in our new gift shop

Here's another series I've put online in the new gift shop. Check out our variety of animal-shaped ballpoint pens - hand carved and hand-painted in China.

Baskets from Colombia on our new site!

Our new gift shop is evolving and taking shape. One of the new categories is Werregue baskets from the coastal area of Colombia. We imported a small number of these high-quality and much-sought baskets as a trial run. We expect to have more within the next few months. As of this moment, I've put one of them on our site and I have three more sitting on my desk to put online as soon as I've finished this blog. The baskets are tightly woven of palm fibers, and a lining between the outer and inner woven surfaces allows the baskets to hold water! Come take a look!

Beautiful carved wood tapir for auction

Hi all, this whimsical and totally unique carved wood tapir is available for auction this week on our TPF blog. Check it out!

Extinct plastic animal toys continue to be favorites

Click any image for a bigger view.

Megatherium (giant ground sloth), deinosuchus (extinct alligator) and dunkelosteus (extinct aquatic eating machine) remain some of our more popular rubber or plastic animals. All of the above are made by Safari and manifest extremely realistic shapes, details and painting. These are quality educational toys, and are also great collector's items for animal lovers or students of our earth's long-distant past. See our online animal toy store for sizes, prices, and more extinct toy animals!

New dog jewelry online - boxers and more

If you like dogs and you like unique items, jewelry for special occasions, or you simply appreciate artistic creations, come check out our new Painted Animal Pins web site! We have some new dog pins online as well as a large number of other new animals.

Plastic cobras

Cobra snakes have always been one of the top search words used by people who come to our online animal store! We have plastic cobras in a variety of styles and sizes. We have 2-inch plastic cobras for dioramas, party favors, collectibles, etc., and we even have a 3-foot-long plastic cobra that you can pose. Come on over to our online store and check them out!

High visibility for tapirs: A stuffed tapir is his new best friend!

Pamela wrote to us on August 5, 2008:

Thanks for offering and shipping the wonderful new stuffed tapir. My son used his birthday money (which arrived right at the time you began taking pre-orders) to buy it and he is entirely satisfied -- thrilled would be more accurate. Even though he is 15, he has been taking it around the house with him and letting it perch on his shoulder; he really likes the wired legs which make the tapir posable. Here he is "modeling" Yanisa, while wearing the tapir shirt he got LAST year for his birthday. August loves doing his part to make tapirs more visible!

Blue whale jewelry - it's so blue!

This lovely realistic blue whale pin or oversized tie tack is now online on our new animal jewelry web site. Take a look. There is so much to see with over 170 pins now online and more coming soon. In fact, I'm going to work on another five to ten as soon as I post this blog entry. A lot of the whale's friends are also newly online. Check 'em out, OK?

"Top 10 Animal Horrors" - or, who's afraid of . . .

This is kind of fun. The Discovery Network has a number of "Animal Countdowns." This week they're giving us the top 10 animals that humans are afraid of. You know, it's often about our perception from childhood (such as fairy tales) or from movies rather than the facts about the animal that have made us fear them. As Discovery said, "There's never been a documented case of a wild wolf killing a person — in fact, they tend to be more scared of us than we are of them." The wolf is the 10th most feared animal. We have a number of these "Animal Horrors" in our gift shop, so let's see which ones on the top 10 are available in our store!


10. We have beautiful wolf jewelry.

9. And we have mouse jewelry and plastic mice.

8. Piranha jewelry. We also have lifelike plastic piranhas, but please call us toll free (888) 325-3179, because they aren't back online yet. Our new ones just came in!

7. Our grizzly bears tend to be cute rather than fearsome.

6. We have lots of great white sharks - plastic, jewelry, drinking cups for kids. . . .

5. Our bat pin is quite realistic. Click on the "englarge" option.

4. SPIDERS? We have lots of them! We even have spider jewelry, but it's not online yet, so give us a call!

3. Bees! We have them!

2. Second most feared? Snakes, of course. We have lots of those, too. We have many nice (or creepy, depending on your point of view) toy snakes to choose from!

1. And the finalist is. . . . ? The number one most feared animal is something we don't actually have: the parsitic worm. I won't even go there, but we have some nice, friendly earthworms. And we have stuffed toy maggots - now they ARE creepy. Again, you'll have to call or send e-mail as of this post date, because they aren't online yet.

Enjoy!

Return customer and stuffed toy squirrel both happy

Oops! Running out for coffee. Text to come soon!

~ Sheryl

OK, back again :)

Rachel wrote to us from Canada:

Re: Red Squirrel Order

Good Day! This is just to let you know I've received the squirrel today, safe and sound. He's gorgeous, thank you for chosing exactly the right squirrel for me.
:)

We believe the squirrel is also happy and we're sure he/she has a good home. By the way, this squirrel is one of my favorite stuffed animals in our collection!

New stuffed aardvark in our store!

Our new stuffed aardvark is a charmer! Made by Hansa, this critter is 12 1/2 inches long and looks every inch like a real aardvark! The fabric-covered pink tongue is posable - move it into a new position and it stays there. Soft and lovable, this stuffed aardvark is hand-crafted in the Philippines and exhibits the quality and design features you've come to expect from Hansa, maker of some of the world's best collectible stuffed animals! Come see our new aardvark!

New stuffed tapir now in stock!

Our new stuffed tapir, Yanisa, has now been delivered and is ready for shipping. We've had a "pre-order" option online for some time, and those who ordered in advance have now received their tapirs. Here is the reply from one happy customer:

Plush Tapir ...safe arrival...

Hi: Just writing to say the TAPIR arrived and it looks very nice. Good in detail, and color too. I'm very pleased with it. Thank you so much, and I hope to do business with you again very soon.

Donna.

Thanks, Donna! We love to hear good news . . . and we're glad the tapir has a good home :) Yanisa's name was given to her by a tapir fan in Russia. Yanisa is the name of his daughter - half Russian and half Thai. We thought it was a beautiful name, and appropriate since real tapirs live in Thailand.

Sheryl and Sue