I saved that crayon, making sure that it was ready for the day that I would gently slide it out of the box and glide it across the page I was coloring, thereby creating the most magnificent drawing I had made up to that point in my burgeoning career as a first grade artist. Until the day a friend came over to play. She actually took my gold crayon, which until then still had not one hint of wear, and used it to color an entire house in gold.

Not only was the all-gold house a bit garish, she also managed to break my precious gold crayon in half! I was devastated, but this event changed my life forever. I realized that if I never used it, I would never have any joy from that gold crayon. It would just sit in the box, not used, and not coloring the world I saw in my head.

Hopefully from this story you can tell I don't really advocate hermetically sealing and locking away any piece of art, especially work that has texture and was made to be touched as part of its appeal. I do believe that there are safe ways to approach the care of anything you own with a thought as to keeping it as well-maintained as possible while still being able to squeeze a paw, or stroke the fur. Of course we should keep all of our one-of-a-kind collectibles out TOP, 1:12 scale Schnauzer by Kimberly Hunt
BOTTOM, Ann Fisher has created 1:12 bunny and bear of the reach of small children, animals and clumsy friends, but we must be able to enjoy them too.