Yesterday I received an email from my etching company saying that they were following Scottish government advice and suspending manufacturing due to the Coronavirus pandemic. This obviously means that I now cannot get any more etches done until they restart production and get through any backlog they might have accrued whilst shut. My current stock of etches is ok, though not great after a busy month of mail order.

In addition to this, earlier in the week we received a letter saying that one of my immediate family were considered high risk and should self isolate for the next 12 weeks. With absolutely zero chance of them self isolating we are ‘family isolating’ for the suggested length of time, maybe longer who knows? A very kind friend has offered to do our shopping once a week and I have had to use the village post box to get orders out for the past few days.

The combination of the above has led me to come to the decision to temporarily suspend trading until such time as the situation improves.

Whilst I could continue with what stock I have I feel uncomfortable about having to use the post box to get orders out as nothing is insured against going missing, and this seems an increasingly likely event as the postal system comes under strain due to illness. Such losses would come out of my own pocket and I also may also not be able to replace items lost due to lack of stock. This starts to get too complicated for my liking. I also have to consider when things start up again. If I continue with what I have I can envisage a situation where I’ll have to shut for a period anyway later in the year as I have little stock to sell and I’m waiting for more to arrive or having to cancel autumn exhibitions (should they go ahead) for the same reason.

I have got in touch with those who have outstanding items and any orders that are currently in the post will be fulfilled, subject to the etches being available of course. I will continue with commission and development work whilst closed and perhaps get a bit more time to play with the new 3D printer.

As soon as one or both of the above change I’ll review the situation and look at starting mail order again. I suspect that both will change around the same sort of time.

Happy modelling all and stay away from any nasty viruses.

Justin