Aleene: A Tacky Lady by Aleene Jackson
distribution to manufacturing. Her Craftmaker's Caravan, which toured several major cities throughout the U.S. was important for widely promoting crafts to consumers. There had been no craft industry before -- crafts were thought to be part of the hobby industry. The Caravan promoted her and other crafters' products; she and craft industry leaders also demonstrated craft-making.
In 1969, model company Aurora, Inc. bought Aleene's, Inc. At the time of the buy-out her company had too much overhead. Aleene soon regretted the decision. Aurora didn't live up to their part of the agreement: they didn't employ her as a consultant and they changed the Tacky Glue formula. She fought to buy back Aleene's and won a year later, but during that agonizing time she tried new crafts which she later sold in the revitalized business. She created another hit product, Shrink-It, originally known as Shrink-Art, plastic art that shrank when baked in an oven. Her TV show Aleene's Creative Living debuted on Lifetime in 1981, and later switched to TNN. She also began a monthly magazine of the same name.
Aleene cites different reasons for writing her biography: to empower women to start their own businesses, to inspire people, to answer fans' questions about how she started, to have something for her grandchildren to remember her, and as a journal for herself.
She lends the stage to her five children, allowing them to describe their work in the business. In the mid-'90s, Artis/Aleene's, Inc. filed for bankruptcy. She left her son Tony to manage the company. She blames his lack of budgeting skills for the dilemma and blames herself for keeping the show to promote her products. They spent a lot of money on manufacturing new products without figuring the cost of the materials versus the projected profit or loss from the finished products. Aleene also blames the bankruptcy on their branching out too much and growing too fast; they didn't time the sales of the products well enough. They recovered through the help of loyal customers who agreed to pay their orders in advance and they licensed the "Aleene" brand name to other companies.
Aleene also includes a chapter about her personal philosophies. She describes herself as a quick learner, someone who never let a lack of experience stop her from tackling something. She believes she's learned from her problems and viewed the bankruptcy as an opportunity to learn another lesson. She dispenses many of these philosophies in earlier sections, including business ideas such as how to get free publicity. She solicits readers' suggestions for a proposed "Empowering Women" course. The book also contains several photos of herself and her family, her marketing materials, her craft booklets and
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