The Pocono Record from Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania • Page 29

The Pocono Record, The Stroudsburgs, Pa. AAar. 15, 1974 5-A Casual 'yes' brought lifelong carving career By JEFF WIDMER Pocono Record Reporter STROUDSBURG "Do you want to make tombstones?" asked George, a gravestone maker. Truman Rurnetl said yes. George Burnett, no relation to Truman, said he was going to Florida in two weeks.

Truman had worked on George's farm near Philadelphia for years. "I don't know how to make tombstones," Truman said. "You'll learn." "I learned," says Truman 30 years later in his shop where Main Street and Dreher Avenue meet. "I learned to sell. And price.

don't know why I said yes." Inside his shop a 2,900 pound slab of granite rests inside a small room used for sandblasting letters into the rock. How many? "We'll cut 0,000 characters in this memorial ledger," Burnett- said. He unfurled a gravestone rubbing rolled like a scroll. The letters showed indistinctly. "This was taken from marble.

See liow worn it is? Marble is made of sand and goes back to sand in 200 to 300 years. "Granite, especially northern granite, will jus! about last forever. It won't discolor. Southern granite is terrible. It turns yellow or black." Granite comes from Canada, Vermont, Germany and Africa, he said.

It conies in pink, black, groy, blue, red, green and brown. Quarries chip it into blocks, saw the blocks diagonally and polish the face with aluminum oxide and a sieel wheel, he said. Burnett tapes a sheet of rubber to the face, hand cuts the letters and blasls the characters out with sand. For some customers, he hand-chisels I he letters into the granite. He and his son also clean gravestones set in cemeteries with a portable sandblaster and an acicf scrub.

"All my sales are from recommendations," he said. "I don't read the paper and send people circulars. Some (tombstone makers) knock on their doors or call them. 1 don't believe in it." Oil cleanup SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (UPi I A system using 30,000 pounds of high density polyethylene for bouyancy units to contain or recover an oil spill has teen perfected by Clean Seas, a non-profit organization.

Sam and Lee Rosen reflect individuality in conglomerate world Design Technics refreshing anomaly of individualism ByLORASHARPE Pocono Record Reporter STIiOUDSnURG In a nation obsessed with conglomerate organization and sleek mass production. and Lee Rosen's ceramics work at Design Technics in Slromlsburg is a refreshing anomaly of individualism. Design Technics, housed iti an almost bavnlike structure off Business Hte. 200. is one of the few ceramics houses in the country which specializes in limited production of custom made quality ceramic pieces.

The company's products vary in size and ambition nil I he way from ashtrays to an entire wall of ceramic tile. The Design Technic showcase is its gallery al llifl K. 56th New York. Mrs. Hoscn supervises the design end of the businesses -which she concedes consists chiefly of her creations.

He- sides a master ceramist, the other 2f or 30 employes are trained in molding, glazing, firing and packing skills. GCowing creation The latest creation from Design Technics is an iridescent glaze which brings a surprising glow to aclicles in any variety of colors. The glaze, produced at the workshop, requires three firings in the ceramic kiln as well as three In four operations. Twenty-four carat gold markings complete the effect. "When I experiments." said Mrs.

Rosen, in her hurried, assured manner. "I can do almost anything. I'm not bound by pnxluclion limits or the concern that someone will have to be trained to duplicate the process. 1 can do whatever I wanl." Sometimes, Mrs. Rosen's experiments, with their multiple variations in technique.

ie- come I ho one-of-a-kind articles in the New York gallery. New products On the other hand, sometimes the experiments foster a new line of products. The iridescent glaze, for example, is incoiporated in a lustrous line of bowls and lamps. Entire walls indeed entire buildings of ceramic tiles are perhaps Design Technics 1 most ambitious product. The designs used for the walls are hold, frequently starkly geo- metic.

base relief patterns. Examples of the walls can be seen throughout the country -from a building of solar screen panels which enclose a glass hank building in Amarillo. Texas to mural walls in the Sheepshead Bay High School. New York. When Mrs.

Rosen sets out to construct a wall design, the architects of the building in question specify their needs and designs ideals to Mrs. Rosen. The ceramist then sketches each wall in detail; architects approve and guide the design. A finished wall is composed of a quantity of liles each numbered and placed in a sketched plan. All a tile seller need to do is follow the plan and set the tiles in order carefully.

Started small Things weren't always this grandiose for the Rosens. They began their crafts venture in 1941 in a workshop in Greenwich Village with a number of skilled craftsmen, including silversmith, weaver and ceramist. The Rosens, appalled by American design as they set about furnishing their first apartment in the village, wanted to influence American design by selling Hie creations of themselves and their friends to large manufacturing outlets. "We weren't the only ones. We sensed the change that was starting in the design field." said Mrs.

Rosen. Major New York arl museums began sponsoring design showings and competitions and these gave Design Technics its name. It was World War II that forced Design Technics to specialize in ceramics. There was a shortage of almost everything except clay. After (he war.

with their name established as ceramics specialists. Designs Technics became an exclusively ceramics outlet. Country compatible The Rosens moved to the Slroudsburg area in 19-16 to complement their work. "We like the country." said Sain Rosen. "We felt it was more compatible with the work we're doing." A close look at designs and colors in the cermics workshop shows an emphasis on natural, eyrthen color and rugged, earthy design.

And all is still not rosy for the Rosen operation. Shortages such as a uranium squeeze which affected the workshop's production of yellow glaze -still plague the production. But. especially in. a crafts field, necessity is the mother of invention.

Local people can feast their eyes and treat their pocketbooks on Design Technics products in the cut rale outlet store the Rosens open next to their workshop in the summer months. I COMMERCIAL I RESIDENTIAL New and Older Homes Wired Blowing Fuses? 100 200 Amp Circuit Breaker Services Installed REPRODUCTION OF CHANDELIERS LAMPS, ETC. PHONE MffTlMt 424-1624 Mr. Businessman: Mix Business With Pleasure At The Carriage House a i to a i over lunch? Enjoy it in our congenial surroundings. We offer a varied menu of complete meals, entrees.

BUSINESSMEN'S LUNCHEONS FROM 11:30 PM. DINNERS 5 TO 9:30 P.M. OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK CARRIAGE HOUSE Eagle Valley Mall 421-4460 East Strouisburg, Fa. The Pocono's Voice of Business MOUNTAIN INDUSTRIES Working Together for Our Community and for ifs Improvement Development In Business In Industry In The Professions OVER 300 INDIVIDUALS BUSINESSES are active members of YOUR Pocono Mountains Chamber of Commerce YOUR CHAMBER provides over 5,000 Man-Hours of work effort each year to make our area a better place to Live, Work and Play. Efforts are directed to such fields as: INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT RETAIL TRADE EDUCATION URBAN DEVELOPMENT TRANSPORTATION BUSINESS ETHICS AREA PUBLICITY ENERGY LEGISLATIVE ACTION PUBLIC AFFAIRS.

THE GENERAL PURPOSE OF THE POCONO MOUNTAINS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE is to promote the advancement of the Industrial, Commercial, Civic and general interest of the entire community. The Chamber is continually working to increase our industrial base. Efforts are geared to bringing in to Monroe County small, clean, new industries plus working with established industries to promote expansion. POCONO MOUNTAIN INDUSTRIES IS THE INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE and has been successful in locating national manufacturing companies such as: General Electric, Union Metal and Wyandotte Chemical in our Industrial Park. And they are continuing to contact and work with prospective companies in order to give our area an even better industrial complex.

THE FOLLOWING FREE SERVICES ARE AVAILABLE AT YOUR CHAMBER OFFICE Manpower Survey Industrial Manpower Survey Resorts Local Weighted Wage Rates Better Business Bureau Listings Monroe County Industrial Development Authority (Financing) Available Industrial Land Sites Statistical Information On Monroe County, i.e., Economic Profile, Population By Areas, Transportation, Employment, Financial Statistics For Manufacturing, Statistics On Commercial Classification. Profile Of People, Ages, Sex And Race Social Service Listings Information On Bureau Of Consumers Protection industrial Directory (County) County And Street Maps Mileages To Areas Surrounding Stroudsburg Tax Rate Schedules For County Brief History Of The Area. YOUR MEMBERSHIP WILL HELP YOUR CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ACCOMPLISH ITS GOALS POCONO MOUNTAINS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE and POCONO MOUNTAIN INDUSTRIES 17 South 7th St. Phone 421-4433 Stroudsburg, Pa..