BFM: Resources & Websites

You know how those original BF buttons seem to break or disappear?

Well, this company makes terrific handmade ceramic buttons that would be perfect replacements on your favorite button-less BF piece. There are tons of designs in many different collections so I am sure they would have something for just about everybody

The company is Creative Impressions In Clay and the website address is www.claybuttons.com

1. Shirley Kunishi at New Planet Fish: redyeing, alterations
email: skunishi@sc.rr.com

2. Elaine Terdal: redyeing - email for information and availability
email: firefly57@earthlink.net
For those who might want a piece freshened or re-dyed, or overdyed, no alterations

3. Barb Smith: BF supplies, redyeing, repainting (contacts to Brian)
email address: BarbySmith@fast.net

Has dyer that does large (30+ item) batches of one color - check to see what color is next :-)

(Also has a fluctuating supply of buttons (on hand: corozonut, large coat buttons, metal, scribe & odds & ends of other ones), large supply of rippies, BF paraphernalia and memorabilia (newer catalogs, patches, annual reports), large cones of thread purchased from Blue Fish just before the factory closed.Has dyer that does large (30+ item) batches of one color - check to see what color is next :-) Biggest asset: "Brian the eagle only lives 30 minutes from us & always does a terrific job")

"So, you missed him on his world tour of Wildflower's and YOU WERE BUMMED! Well do not fret, here is your chance to make up for lost time . Do you have any unprinted Blue Fish you have always wanted printed? Anything else you ever wanted printed? Something with spots that needs a touch up? Perhaps some fabulous patches? Be the first on your block to get some ALL NEW, ALL ORIGINAL art work by Brian!

2. Hubbub Designs : blockprinted patches, custom clothing, custom printing, a line of Flax clothing
Glenn Meyer (Nicki's husband...Nicki formerly the Frenchtown store manager) has Hubbub Designs which is blockprinting patches, clothing either a selection of printed layouts to choose from or make a layout of your own , and a line of Flax clothing, custom printing.

3. Kelly (BF signature: frog): email for information and availability
email address: kelliquest@hotmail.com

" This first volume covers the years 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995 and totals 355 pages, spiral bound each year separately for manageability, so you basically get five 'books' in this first volume. The 1991 and 1992 books are slim - about 20 pages apiece. The other years are much thicker but include some duplication where basic lines and promo items were offered in more than one season. The copies are all black and white, the majority comes from the wholesale line sheets, and these are the same as the line sheets provided inside the catalogs - but are much clearer and larger.

EXTRAS: extras, some copies of a couple early catalogs, a 1990 Taos Magazine article about Jen and Blue Fish. There are also printing instructions for the artists, and inspiration explanations of the line themes, pretty cover sheets, etc. There are some instances where I didn't have the wholesale line sheets and had to copy the catalog line sheets, but these are very few. 1991 is as complete as I know it to be, the same for 1992. I'm quite confident that 1993, 1994 and 1995 are complete. What are likely missing are any retail product development lines. I've ordered them by season and included a cover sheet for each year that talks a little about what was going on at BF and also helps to understand the stylenumbers. Although each year is separately spiral bound; I'm only selling it as a set of all five years, the set is $45, which includes shipping.

Here's a couple page scans of the 1991 book: albums.photopoint.com/j/V...0&res=high

These total over 400 pages. There are 7 separate spiral bound books - one for each year and one for the 1995/1996 Prospectus. The two annual reports are included - 1997 and 1998. I can't stress enough how much information you can glean about the company by carefully reading the annual reports! Especially the 1998 report that clearly shows Jeff Haims' rise to power! For almost all the seasons included you get a complete set of line drawings, as provided for the wholesale accounts. You can therefore expect that the retail product development lines will not be represented.

From the line drawings and purchase orders you get the style name, style number, sizes and colors and usually the wholesale price as well! Seasonal theme and print direction information is included, but is less detailed than the first volume. There are some seasons for which I had to copy the line drawings from catalogs. There are seasons missing: Fall and Winter 1998 and Fall 2000 are missing completely.

In addition to the line drawings and financial reports I've included some photocopies of catalog pages - pictures of head designer Leslie Holzman, Jen Barclay, Public Relations Director Ta Kimble. There are also some signature block charts. And as with the first volume, each season includes a page that tries to outline what was going on at the factory that year and also how to read the style numbers. Everything is black and white photocopy.

This is a copy of her 1998 Holiday, Winter and Resort catalog. This line was missing from the Volume II set of line sheets - Years 1996 through 2001.

It's 34 pages long - a straight up copy of the catalog. I can offer it for $2.50 which INCLUDES shipping, but ONLY if I accept ONLY checks or money orders. The $2.50 is my absolute cost to make and ship, the base paypal fees would cost me.

I've punched the bindery holes in each copy - if you take your 1998 book to any office supply or copy shop they should be happy to open the spine up and add these pages. I would expect the cost to be very nominal - perhaps even free. I don't recommend you attempt to open the spine without the proper equipment.

Wonderful 30 page coloring book produced by Blue Fish in 1994. "Come One + All to the One Magic You Show + Tell". Full of Blue Fish block designs and wonderfully inspiring activity pages - like the design your own turtle shell page or the "Let's Have a Tea Party, Here's My Hat" (design your own tea party hat) page. I'm reproducing with a full color cover printed on glossy photographic paper, coloring book pages printed on 24lb premium paper for durability. Spiral Bound. Available singly or in quantities as below. Any quantity available, but choose one below for small savings on shipping cost.

In 1994 Blue Fish was a booming business, seeped in its environmental and socially conscious message. The community spirit among them employees was AWESOME and we were all inspired by Jen, thrilled to be working for such a GREAT company! It was in this environment that the Communications Coordinator was given the task of creating an Employee Yearbook. Each employee was given a blank page with a fun Blue Fish border and asked to provide a picture of themselves, and well, then just go with whatever creativity directed them. Some suggestions to include on your page were: what you do at BF, pet peeves, pet likes, what you love about your job . . . 95 pages are included, plus the pretty cover page.

Given the environmental focus of the company at the time, management decided NOT to print a copy for everyone, instead a photocopy was made for each department, to share. However, I was leaving the company at the time to pursue a job in advertising sales (which worked out horribly, I was back at BF in 3 months). So my wonderful manager, Mary Ellen, arranged for me to get a private copy of my own to take with me. She asked me to keep it quiet, because so many employees were unhappy that they were not allowed to make copies for themselves. Well, it's been 7 years, I suppose it is okay to let the cat out of the bag.

So I'm thinking that I might have the only remaining copy - or at least one of very few. I'm making the copies on a high end copy machine, they are very close to my original (which is a photocopy), on 24lb, premium paper.

The cover is card stock. I'm binding it the same as my copy - three punched holes with a nice piece of BF trim woven through. Unfortunately the book includes only production employees (no retail store employees). It is arranged by department and includes pages for names you will surely recognize: Jen Barclay, Marc Wallace, Leslie Holzman (head designer during the best years), Ta Kimble, and artists: Abbie, Jimbo, Kimba, FEW (Fred), Lisa O ~ everyone who worked there in 1994! You are also going to meet all the wonderful people you didn't know about who worked in sewing, accounting and sales. The pages I scanned show two different borders, but almost all the pages have the fish border than Jen used on her page (as seen in the scan).

I will not limit the supply of this wonderful piece of bf to inflate the price! I think everyone who cherishes the memory of the fish deserves to have a copy of this. I'm going to make as many copies of this as you guys want to buy! I'm setting the price at $7.95 - that covers my copying cost and gives me about $3 compensation for the work of copying and assembling, shipping etc. Shipping is $3.95 for one copy, $5.15 for two."

Here's a link to pics of some pages: albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=328570&a=2437833&p=49458494&Sequence=0&res=high

PRICING - but please double check with her!!
Volume I Line Sheets - years 1991 - 1995: $45 includes shipping
Volume II Line Sheets - years 1996 - 2001 (and now including Holiday/winter/resort 199

: $45 includes shipping
Employee Yearbook from 1994: $11.90 includes shipping
Blue Fish Coloring Book: $6 includes shipping

1 Book, including shipping: $6
3 Books, including shipping: $17
6 Books, including shipping: $33.50

Three payment options:
Paypal: lauer-terp@fast.net
Billpoint: send me an e-mail and request an invoice
Snail Mail: Check or Money Order - email for address

PLEASE EMAIL FOR AVAILABILITY AND PRICING FIRST!! I CAN'T STRESS THAT ENOUGH!!

GUIDE FOR THE BLUE FISH TALES CATALOGS ALPHABETIZED INDEX :

In order to assist those who know the name of a piece, but not the year, or perhaps know the color but not the piece, this alphabeticized guide will be of assistance in searching the online catalogs.

The pieces are grouped and alphabeticized by year. Seasons are indicated by the letter after each design, i.e. Spring SP, Summer S, Transition T, Fall F, Resort R, Holiday H, Winter W. When a piece was made in more than one season, there will be more than one code listed.

Some detail is mentioned (most of the time), such as fleece, lycra, velvet, etc. If this is not mentioned, it is probably (but not absolutely) cotton jersey.

Colors were grouped by season, but not separated within the season, i.e. Spring I and Spring II.

For now, pieces that were in-store only are not on the list. If someone out there knows about these, perhaps they could add a topic for that year.

How to download pages from catalogs:
An alternative for those of you who view the site (or certain pages) a lot, is to download the images to your hard drive - so that you can view them offline!
it is very easy to do this:
1. go to the catalog page you want to download.
2. right click your mouse on the catalog/line sheet photo.
3. a menu will pop up and one of the options is: "save photo as"
4. left click on this option and a dialog box should pop up - and you should be able to access directories on your hard drive
5. go to the location you want to store the file and save it.
6. oh, you do need to have some photo imaging software to be able to view the photo - but hopefully most of you have that........

1. Barb Smith: BF supplies, redyeing, repainting (contacts to Brian)
email address: BarbySmith@fast.net

Fluctuating supply of buttons (on hand: corozonut, large coat buttons, metal, scribe & odds & ends of other ones), large supply of rippies, BF paraphernalia and memorabilia (newer catalogs, patches, annual reports), large cones of thread purchased from Blue Fish just before the factory closed. Also has dyer that does large (30+ item) batches of one color - check to see what color is next :-) Biggest asset: "Brian the eagle only lives 30 minutes from us & always does a terrific job"