Ron Lee creates 1 1/4 inch to 18 inch pewter sculptures of clowns as well as other animated characters such as Bugs Bunny, Superman, Taz (The Tasmanian Devil), Tweety Bird and other Disney and Looney Tune Characters.
This is a self-guided tour around the workrooms where these figurines are created. Among the work you get to see is the creation of the molds, the pouring and forming of the basic pewter figurine in the molds, the cleaning of the figurine, the coating of the figurine, painting of the figurine (and yes, they are all hand painted with a painter probably working on 2 to 3 dozen figurines at the same time), the quality control checking, the final spray lacquer coating and the packing for shipping.
There are TV monitors by each of these areas which explain what is going on in the area and these are especially nice when you get to an area where the people aren't working for some reason. We particularly enjoyed watching the models being poured into the molds, seeing them being removed from the molds, and watching the hand painting process.
There is a gift store where you can buy figurines while you are there if you want. Apparently these are collectors items and are all made and shipped from this plant.
While a first reaction is that the figurines are not cheap, after you've watched them being made, you begin to wonder why they aren't even more costly than they are.
A final note. The plant can be a little difficult to find. We had to stop and ask directions but once there it was definitely an enjoyable and educational experience.