Archive for November 2016
The Board Chronicles is an ongoing series of articles about the adventures of Mrs M’s Handmade as a vendor at community festivals & craft fairs. Mrs M’s subsidiary, Mr M’s Woodshop, has been approved to create this chronicle for the good of vendorkind.
I want to love the Boutique Fantastique, put on by the Saugus High PTSO. It’s the high school my kids graduated from, and this event raises about $10,000 each year to help fund scholarships for students from my neighborhood. This is an event I want to support.
However, last year, the results were down from our first year, and our first event with a double booth. 2014 sales were just over $1,400, and 2015 sales were only $1,311. This event has the reputation of being the best holiday boutique in the valley … but is this the best we can do on this prime time first weekend in November?
New Ideas
- ZooSoapia premieres for Mrs M: soap for kids. The soaps are in molded animal shapes and are really quite spectacular. When we first posted a picture of the hedgehog on Facebook, we got immediate, positive feedback. We got orders for a product Mrs M had barely begun to make.
- Also new at this event are Mrs M’s Bags of Coal Soap. If someone you know has been naughty….
Observations
- Event # 5 of the 11 events we’re doing in the 4th quarter. Still not half way. Still not close to done.
- I love local.
- Event load-in was scheduled to begin at 6:30am, and some vendors began showing up in the parking lot at 5:30am. I got there at 6:03am … and they started letting people in a few minutes later, well ahead of schedule. When I got to the gate with my Jeep + trailer, the only comment from the guard was “You’re large.” Thank you very much. I was directed to the far side of the loading zone, where there was room for me. I was unloaded and students were carrying our stuff in by 6:30am. Amazing help from student volunteers.
- I had gotten away from saying that we were from THIS TOWN … because we haven’t been for several events. However, at this event, I made a point of saying that the boards on display were made in my
garage workshop … 2 miles that way. Local, local local.
- After a run of events that were not in Santa Clarita, this event felt like we were enjoying the fruits of building a brand. People talked about seeing us at this event for 3 years. People talked about buying local. People talked about seeing us at another event 2 years ago, and buying from us several times.
- I love local.
- I got a large custom order on Saturday from a guy that stalked me … right to this event. After emailing me on Thursday (which I returned at midnight that day, explaining I was in the middle of 4 event days, and couldn’t talk to him until next week), he followed my advice and found me at this local event on Saturday. And ordered 8 boards for corporate Christmas presents. He first saw my work a couple of years ago at a local event at the Elks Lodge … and now, he’s talking about what we could do next Christmas. Sometimes, you just have to be available. Oh, and be willing to do the work.
- Which I am. And I do.
- Dinner proved to be an adventure Saturday evening. After we completed our salads, the manager approached the table and apologized. And apologized. Our waitress, we were told, had lost our order and could not find it. The manager apologized, and assured us that she would buy us dinner, dessert, and whatever we wanted. We placed our order (and Velda didn’t get her chicken pot pie, as they were now out), and the waitress apologized when she came to refill our drinks. The guy delivering our dinners – eventually – apologized. The manager apologized again. We got it: everyone was sorry, and a mistake happened. We got a free dinner, and free muffins to go. Why get angry? No big thing.
- Mrs M had her single biggest event sale ever on Sunday. The lady decided Mrs M products would make great Christmas presents for a lot of people, and she bought a large shopping bag full of soaps, lotions, scrubs, lotion bars, lip scrubs, lip balms….
- I love Christmas.
- Several people talked to me about special orders … and I honestly believe they will come through. This event had value beyond the sales we gained Saturday & Sunday. I hope.
- (Note to self: expectations can kill you.)
- Load-out had rules that you must follow: take down your booth, carry it all to the loading area curb, and THEN ask for a pass to bring in your car to load. I went to the lady in charge when we were packed up, and asked where I should carry our stuff to, since I was driving a Jeep + trailer. She told me to get help, organize my student volunteers, and drive my trailer in immediately. Suddenly, we had a bevy of volunteers, and we were home 2 hours after tear down started.
- Did we tip the volunteers? You bet.
- I love local.
- Requests were for a Mickey Mouse cutting board (I don’t emulate licensed products without a license) and a coffee table.
- I think we’re in a lousy location at this event, which fills the Saugus High gymnasium with vendor spaces. We’re in the back of the gym on the right side … and it sure seems like most vendors in the front of the gym have better sales than we do. After trending down in year 2, we were way up in year 3, thanks to the big custom order that I got. The custom order wasn’t really driven by the event, but it did happen at the event, and that’s how we look at the business. We had a great event in year 3.
The Food
Saturday Breakfast: Velda made egg sandwiches & brought them to the high school; we ate before completing set up
Saturday Lunch: Jersey Mike’s 4″ sub. Mike’s way.
Saturday Snack: the chips from lunch
Saturday Dinner: Mimi’s Cafe … for meatloaf with all of the other old people
Sunday Breakfast: bagels & cream cheese. And a banana.
Sunday Lunch: Jersey Mike’s 4″ sub. Mike’s way.
Sunday Snack: the chips from lunch (see a pattern here?)
Sunday Dinner: Bella Cucina for Chicken Marsala. Best Italian restaurant in Santa Clarita. Fabulous.
The Facts
- Total miles driven: 16
- Booth cost: $265
- # of people we met during the event from the producer: none
- Visits in our booth by a promoter’s representative: none
- Total sales: $2,269
- # boards available: all of them
- Saturday alarm: 5am
- Sunday alarm: none
- # transactions: 63
- # soap & lotion vendors: one other
- # woodworking vendors: two others, both had turned objects. One had a few cutting boards & such.
- Edge grain vs. end grain: 22:0 … NO end grain!
- Returning next year? Definitely
Boards sold: 22
Custom Orders: 8
Magic Bottle Openers: 7
Small Surfboards: 1
Medium Surfboards: 1
Cheese & Cracker Server: 1
Domed Cheese & Cracker Server: 1
Cutting Board: 1
Small Board: 1
Cheese Board: 1
Small Surfboard 16 – 14. Hard Maple, Purpleheart & Bloodwood. 6″ x 16″ x 3/4″.
Domed Cheese & Cracker Server 16 – 03. Hard Maple, Jatoba & Cherry. Footed.
Magic Bottle Opener 16 – 064. Double Magic. Purpleheart & Canarywood.
Magic Bottle Opener 16 – 143. Cherry, Hard Maple & Bloodwood. Double Magic.
Magic Bottle Opener 16 – 149. Jatoba & Birdseye Maple. Double Magic.
Magic Bottle Opener 16 – 127. Cherry, Padauk, Black Walnut & Hard Maple. Single Magic.
Cheese Board 16 – 041. Black Walnut, Jatoba & Hard Maple. 9″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Magic Bottle Opener 16 – 045. Quilted Black Walnut.
Magic Bottle Opener 16 – 016. Wall mount. Cherry, Black Walnut, Bloodwood & Hard Maple. Approximately 5″ x 10″ x 3/4″.
Medium Surfboard 16 – 12. Hard Maple, Black Walnut & Yellowheart.
Magic Bottle Opener 16 – 143. Birdseye Maple, Bloodwood & Cherry. Double Magic.
Small Surfboard 16 – 15. Hard Maple & Padauk. 6″ x 16″ x 3/4″.
Cutting Board 16 – Edge 026. Hard Maple, Bubinga, Cherry, Bloodwood & Purpleheart. Edge Grain. 12″ x 16″ x 1-1/4″.
Small Board 16 – 022. Hard Maple, Black Walnut & Bubinga. 10″ x 10″ x 7/8″.
The Board Chronicles is an ongoing series of articles about the adventures of Mrs M’s Handmade as a vendor at community festivals & craft fairs. Mrs M’s subsidiary, Mr M’s Woodshop, has been approved to create this chronicle for the good of vendorkind.
I met the vendor coordinator for this event at the Westlake Village Street Fair; Michelle was my neighbor and told me I should be a part of her November event.
I listened, but I was sceptical. After all, the GingerBread Boutique was happening on a Thursday evening and a Friday … successful weekday events aren’t just unusual. They don’t exist.
In my experience.
But, Michelle kept after me, patiently answered my questions, and assured me that Mrs M’s Handmade could be successful at this event.
She wore me down. We’re in for the 35th Annual GingerBread Boutique, which is staged at St Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church in Westlake Village as a fundraiser for the Westlake Village Junior Women’s Club. The event proceeds are 100% donated to local charities.
New Ideas
- Who needs Mrs M? I solo’d at the event with our double booth. I drove the trailer to the event with all of our product, but only used some of our display pieces due to the limited space.
- This is an indoor booth, and booth spaces are about 8’x7′, the instructions say. I got there, and my space was by the back door, and wrapped around a stairway to the stage … and my job was to make it work. OK. This was going to be an unusual layout. Can do.
Observations
- Event # 4 in our parade of 11 events in the 4th quarter. I can only see more from here.
- Who needs Mrs M?
- I finally filled out & sent in my application for this event in September … 7 weeks ago. Every time I had a question about how the event worked, I found the answer in the application. With my required initials beside the passage. Excellent application; excellent information in it. My retention of that information: not so good.
- This is a central cashier event. Good news: I don’t handle any money at the event. Bad news: I have to hand write a receipt in triplicate for every transaction, and then keep the purchased items until a receipt stamped “paid” is returned to me by the customer. Not my favorite way to handle cash at an event, but it did give Mrs M an accurate representation of how many lotion bars I sold. But what scents, she asks?
- I do have my limits.
- The Thursday night event was a cocktail party. Wine. Women. Me. What’s not to like?
- I was a bit under dressed, though, as many of the ladies were at a cocktail party and wore their heels & little black dresses. I was at a vendor event, in shorts. They tolerated my presence, but I should have thought through the whole Wine, Women & Me thing.
- … when I initialed the passage on the application, no doubt.
- One of the legendary moments at the Mowry table was when I instructed our growing family to no longer discuss underwear during our family dinners. The boys had brought their girlfriends to our table, and eventually those young ladies were fiancés, and now wives … but somewhere early in the process, I was uncomfortable with the discussion of under garments. I figured boys’ minds were focused enough on such things without added discussion. In my presence.
- The girls decided that discussing U-wear was perfectly fine, since they couldn’t discuss underwear. I took exception to that opinion, and a family legend was born. Now, many years later, both the boss of me (the younger Mrs M) and MrsMowry were delighted, however, with my story from this event: one of my vendor neighbors sold, uh, ladies underwear. During her sales pitch, she shared her cup size with her customers. And with me, a very few feet away. All of the time.
- Sometimes I just can’t catch a break.
- No free lunch, apparently. Vendors were supposed to get a coupon for a free hot dog from the cart, but somehow the person handing out the coupons missed me in my double booth. I should have gotten 2 lunches. Free. And I got nada.
- Part of the Mrs M tradition is the packaging that every purchase gets, complete with a bow around a pretty cellophane bag. Mrs M gets lots of props for her post-sale presentation, but she wasn’t at this event. My packaging got big props. One lady told me that I have a very feminine side. Well, OK, then.
- Own the demo. When Mrs M is not available, I excel at demo-ing lotion bars. I explain the advantages of Mrs M’s lotion bars, and the relative disadvantages of regular lotions. I own the demo. I effectively sell lotion bars.
- Must be my feminine side.
- Nope. It’s my speech degree from Mizzou. In my humble opinion.
- I’m a communicator. That’s me.
- The application told me that I had 90 minutes to strike the booth … and I included on the app my note that 90 minutes would be tough. It was. I was packed in 90 minutes, but it took me another 30 to cart the stuff out to the trailer and begin loading. The organizers were patient with me … and good communication was key. They knew what I was doing, and I asked for their guidance. As you should.
- This charity event takes 20% of your sales in addition to a $400 booth fee for a 12 hour event. Our sales were really very strong for a Thursday night/Friday event, but with that 20% take by the house, the fee for our strong sales ended up being $895 (according to my calculations. I won’t get the actual check for 3 weeks. Sigh.). That’s a huge fee – our 2nd largest booth fee EVER. However, we did end up doing sales of three times that booth fee … and it was a Thursday/Friday event. I could have been sitting at home, with no revenue. Or, I could have been with the women & wine.
- You know what I chose.
The Food
Thursday Dinner: Subway
Friday Breakfast: Hello, old friend.
Friday Lunch: A Polish Dog from a cart. And chips.
Friday Snack: Nope
Friday Dinner: With leftovers like Velda’s Chicken Piccata, I am always OK. Oh, and bourbon.
The Facts
- Total miles driven: 192
- Booth cost: $400 booth fee + 20% of sales = $895. Oh, and a $30 raffle prize.
- # of people we met during the event from the producer: several
- Visits in our booth by a promoter’s representative: several
- Total sales: $2,661
- # boards available: almost all of them
- Thursday alarm: nope
- Friday alarm: nope
- # transactions: 56
- # soap & lotion vendors: just us
- # woodworking vendors: just us
- Edge grain vs. end grain: 19:2
- Returning next year? Probably
Boards sold: 21
Magic Bottle Openers: 10
Medium Surfboard: 4
Custom Order: 2
Notepad Clipboard: 1
Bear: 1
Large Cutting Board: 1
Domed Cheese & Cracker Server: 1
Cheese & Cracker Server: 1
Magic Bottle Opener 16 – 152. Padauk, Yellowheart, Goncalo Alves & Hard Maple. Double Magic.
Magic Bottle Opener 16 – 149. Jatoba & Birdseye Maple. Double Magic.
Magic Bottle Opener 16 – 143. Birdseye Maple, Bloodwood & Cherry. Double Magic.
Magic Bottle Opener 16 – 139. Black Walnut, Hard Maple, Canarywood & Yellowheart. Double Magic.
Bear 16 – 01. Black Walnut. 12″ x 20″ x 3/4″.
Medium Surfboard 16 – 13. Birdseye Maple, Jatoba & Yellowheart.
Medium Surfboard 16 – 09. Hard Maple, Jatoba, Yellowheart & Black Walnut.
Magic Bottle Opener 16 – 140. Red Oak, Hard Maple, Black Walnut, Cherry & Jatoba. Double Magic.
Small Surfboard 16 – 10. Hard Maple, Padauk & Yellowheart. 6″ x 16″ x 3/4″.
Magic Bottle Opener 16 – 145. Hard Maple, Cherry, Canarywood, Yellowheart & Purpleheart. Double Magic.
Cheese & Cracker Server 16 – 08. White Oak, Hard Maple, Black Walnut & African Teak. 12″ x 19″ x 1-1/4″.
Cutting Board 16 – End 026. End grain, Juice Groove. Cherry, Black Walnut, Hard Maple, Yellowheart, Jarrah, Jatoba, Red Oak. 13-1/2″ x 17-1/2″ x 1-1/2″.
Domed Cheese & Cracker Server 16 – 01. Hard Maple, Bubinga & Bloodwood. Footed.
Magic Bottle Opener 16 – 131. Bubinga, Bloodwood & Cherry. Single Magic.
Magic Bottle Opener 16 – 125. Padauk, Yellowheart, Goncalo Alves & Hard Maple. Single Magic.
Magic Bottle Opener 16 – 11. Double Magic. Black Walnut, Purpleheart, Canarywood & Yellowheart. 5″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Medium Surfboard 16 – 02. Jatoba & Hard Maple. Sold in its first showing.
Clipboard 16 – 032. Hard Maple, Purpleheart & Bloodwood. Notepad size, 1/2″ clip.
Magic Bottle Opener 16 – 137. Birdseye Maple, Bloodwood & Cherry.. Double Magic.
It’s nearly over.
To the relief of everyone (right?), this Presidential campaign is nearly over. The Wall Street Journal ran a very interesting article a few days ago, illustrating the extreme views we are exposed to on Facebook that are specifically tailored to either conservatives or liberals. Want to see how the other half gets their “news?” Read this: Blue Feed, Red Feed.
Here’s a Facebook exchange I read from some partisans, under a picture of a defaced yard sign. In this exchange, they deplore a lie from one side only to applaud a lie from the other:
HUMAN # 1: This is getting out of hand. I have a friend from out of state who went to Bible study this morning only to be told if Hillary is elected she will force all of the churches to close. REALLY.
HUMAN # 2: That’s just awful.
HUMAN # 3: Think you might be amused so while trick or treating the boy saw a Trump sign in a neighbor’s yard and asked the presumed home owner why he wanted to own women’s ovaries. I think he (the stupid dude in the neighborhood) was made speechless when an 11 yr old read him the riot act over what he perceived from that sign. Never been prouder of the B!
HUMAN # 2:
I hope you vote tomorrow. And, I hope that no matter who wins, you will be supportive of our President.
More
My President (2012)
About once a year, I get to make these, uh, serving pieces. I designed them a couple of years ago, and they are unique. The sweeping curves underneath are called cove cuts, and are made on the table saw using an exposed blade and special jig.
Mrs M now trusts me enough that I’m allowed to make these without adult supervision.
Once these exited the shop and made it to the booth, they were immediately named surfboards by my customers.
It’s Southern California. Deal with it.
However, I then began to make actual surfboard-shaped cutting boards, and that confused people. Me, at least. I now had small & medium-sized surfboards. And the original wrongly named surfboards were … large surfboards? That didn’t work for me.
I call them elegant cheese & cracker servers. That is what I believe they *are*.
Customers, though, still call them surfboards. Customers aren’t always right, in my opinion. Just don’t tell them I said so.
Call them what you may, here’s a shot of one of these boards in use by a happy customer. I was there, and I was happy as well after sampling this fare.
Following that photo are pictures of the 18 new elegant cheese & cracker servers, coming soon to a holiday boutique near you. Hopefully!
Cheese & Cracker Server 16 – 01. Hard Maple, Cherry & Black Walnut. 12″ x 19″ x 1-1/4″.
Cheese & Cracker Server 16 – 02. Black Walnut, Purpleheart, Cherry & White Oak. 12″ x 19″ x 1-1/4″.
Cheese & Cracker Server 16 – 03. Black Walnut. 12″ x 19″ x 1-1/4″.
Cheese & Cracker Server 16 – 04. Hard Maple, Purpleheart, Yellowheart, Padauk, White Oak, Cherry & Jatoba. Chaos Board. 12″ x 19″ x 1-1/4″.
Cheese & Cracker Server 16 – 05. Cherry, Bubinga, Purpleheart & Bloodwood. 12″ x 19″ x 1-1/4″.
Cheese & Cracker Server 16 – 10. Cherry, Black Walnut & White Oak. 12″ x 19″ x 1-1/4″.
Cheese & Cracker Server 16 – 06. Padauk, Yellowheart, White Oak & Purpleheart. 12″ x 19″ x 1-1/4″.
Cheese & Cracker Server 16 – 11. Cherry, Hard Maple & Black Walnut.. 12″ x 19″ x 1-1/4″.
Cheese & Cracker Server 16 – 16. Padauk, Yellowheart, Hard Maple, Black Walnut, Bloodwood, Purpleheart & Bubinga. Chaos Board. 12″ x 19″ x 1-1/4″.
Cheese & Cracker Server 16 -07. Hard Maple, Purpleheart, Bloodwood & Bubinga. 12″ x 19″ x 1-1/4″.
Cheese & Cracker Server 16 – 09. Black Walnut, Cherry & White Oak. 12″ x 19″ x 1-1/4″.
Cheese & Cracker Server 16 – 08. White Oak, Hard Maple, Black Walnut & African Teak. 12″ x 19″ x 1-1/4″.
Cheese & Cracker Server 16 – 12. Hard Maple, Purpleheart & Canarywood. 12″ x 19″ x 1-1/4″.
Cheese & Cracker Server 16 – 14. Purpleheart, Hard Maple, Black Walnut & African Teak. 12″ x 19″ x 1-1/4″.
Cheese & Cracker Server 16 – 15. Hard Maple, Yellowheart & Padauk. 12″ x 19″ x 1-1/4″.
Cheese & Cracker Server 16 – 17. Hickory, White Oak, Cherry & Black Walnut. 12″ x 19″ x 1-1/4″.
Cheese & Cracker Server 16 – 18. Black Walnut, Hickory & White Oak. 12″ x 19″ x 1-1/4″.
Cheese & Cracker Server 16 – 13. Cherry, Hard Maple & Black Walnut. 12″ x 19″ x 1-1/4″.
More
How To Fill Your Cheese Board
Cutting Sideways = Curves
Well, the real surfboard-shaped cutting boards, at least.
Surfers love these.
The families & friends of surfers love these, too.
I struggle to keep enough of them in stock, which must mean my priorities are off. After all, if you can’t manage your priorities properly, then you’ll not have time to hit the beach.
These 6, when added to my current inventory, will not get me to Christmas. Translated, that means I have no time to hit the beach. No time.
After all, I have surfers to help!
Small surfboards are 7″ wide, 16″ long, and 3/4″ thick. Medium surfboards are 8-1/2″ wide, 20″ long and 3/4″ thick.
Oh, and for the record, I don’t make full-size surfboards. I have not yet made a surfboard-shaped bottle opener, either, though that is an increasingly common request. They would need to be smaller, and I already make “small surfboards” … so those would be “really small surfboards?” This whole naming thing can get very confusing if you let it. Perhaps it’s better to leave some product categories alone, don’t you think?
Medium Surfboard 16 – 09. Hard Maple, Jatoba, Yellowheart & Black Walnut.
Medium Surfboard 16 – 10. Birdseye Maple, Black Walnut & Yellowheart.
Medium Surfboard 16 – 11. Canarywood, Hard Maple & Purpleheart.
Medium Surfboard 16 – 12. Hard Maple, Black Walnut & Yellowheart.
Medium Surfboard 16 – 13. Birdseye Maple, Jatoba & Yellowheart.
Medium Surfboard 16 – 14. Canarywood, Hard Maple & Black Walnut.
When I started making cheese boards and cutting boards, I learned that people really want boards in all shapes & sizes. It doesn’t matter what size I think they should be … everyone has a different kitchen layout, a different amount of counter space, and a different way of working in the kitchen.
So people want different things. Who knew?
Here are my definitions:
Cheese Boards are typically thin and relatively small. These boards are less than 3/4″ thick, with dimensions under 9″ x 11″.
Small Boards are a bit thicker, but not necessarily larger. Small boards are up to 1-1/2″ thick, with dimensions under 12″ x 14″. Small boards are sometimes square, but sometimes the width is as much as twice the depth (so, 6″ deep by 12″ wide).
Cutting Boards are at least 1″ thick, and at least 12″ x 14″. My standard sizes are 12″ x 16″ x 1-1/4″, 14″ x 18″ x 1-1/4″ and 16″ x 20″ x 1-1/2″.
I make all of these boards to be used as cutting boards: some people like really small, light weight boards for cutting a sandwich or slicing a tomato. So, one person’s cheese board may be another person’s cutting board, no matter what size the board is.
That’s fine, and I make all of these boards to be used as cutting boards, serving pieces, or, (to my continuing chagrin) display pieces. The buyer gets to choose.
Small Board 16 – 035. Hard Maple & Jatoba. Edge Grain. 7″ x 13″ x 1-1/4″.
Small Board 16 – 034. Hard Maple, Bubinga, Cherry, Bloodwood & Purpleheart. Edge Grain. 7″ x 13″ x 1-1/4″.
Cutting Board 16 – Edge 025. Purpleheart & Hard Maple. Edge Grain. 12″ x 16″ x 1-1/4″.
Small Board 16 – 032. Black Walnut, Jatoba, Hard Maple & Cherry. 8″ x 13″ x 7/8″.
Small Board 16 – 033. Bubinga, Hard Maple, Purpleheart, Jatoba & Bloodwood. Edge Grain. 7″ x 13″ x 1-1/4″.
Cutting Board 16 – Edge 024. Hard Maple, Goncalo Alves & Black Walnut. Edge Grain. 14″ x 18″ x 1-1/4″.
Cheese Board 16 – 050. Canarywood & Hard Maple. 8″ x 8″ x 3/4″.
Cutting Board 16 – Edge 028. Bubinga, Hard Maple, Purpleheart, Jatoba & Bloodwood. Edge Grain. 13″ x 16″ x 1-1/4″.
Cutting Board 16 – Edge 027. Jatoba & Hard Maple 12″ x 16″ x 1-1/4″.
Cutting Board 16 – Edge 026. Hard Maple, Bubinga, Cherry, Bloodwood & Purpleheart. Edge Grain. 12″ x 16″ x 1-1/4″.
One frequent request is for a “big enough” cutting board to be lighter. The only way to do that is for the board to be thinner … and as a board gets thinner, it is going to be more prone to warping.
I have a way to help prevent that. It’s called “bread board ends”, which are boards on the end of the laminated piece that are attached with tongue & groove joinery. These end pieces run perpendicular to the rest of the board. The cross-grain orientation help ensure the board will stay flat, even though the board is as thin as 3/4″.
This kind of board is often used as a pastry board (hence the name); a variation of the pastry board includes a “counter hook” that grabs the edge of the counter. This way, the board doesn’t creep away from you as you roll out the dough. But I digress.
Bread board ends are also a feature of well-made “in counter boards” which are a feature in many kitchens. These boards fit into a slot in a cabinet, and slide out when a cutting surface – or just more counter space – is required.
Due to a change in the building code, these boards are now difficult to find in LA County. Replacing older boards can be very difficult – and essential.
These are the latest 4 boards out of the shop with bread board ends. 3 are commissioned pieces, and the 4th is the first ever cutting board with bread board ends I’ve made to sell in the booth.
Cutting Board 16 – Edge 020. Black Walnut, Cherry, Hard Maple, Canarywood & Jatoba. Bread Board Ends, Edge Grain. 12″ x 16″ x 3/4″.
Cutting Board 16 – Edge 021. Jatoba & Quilted Hard Maple. Bread Board Ends, Edge Grain. Replacement in-sink board for a Kohler sink. Commissioned Piece. 16″ x 16″ x 3/4″.
Cutting Board 16 – Edge 022. Hard Maple. Bread Board Ends, Edge Grain. Replacement in-counter board. Commissioned Piece. 14″ x 22″ x 3/4″.
Detail of Cutting Board 16 – Edge 022.
Cutting Board 16 – Edge 023. Quilted Hard Maple. Bread Board Ends, Edge Grain. Commissioned Piece. 22″ x 24″ x 7/8″.
At Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve in Alaska, wild rivers meander through glacier-carved valleys, caribou migrate along age-old trails and endless summer light fades into aurora-lit night skies of winter. It remains virtually unchanged except by the forces of nature. With no roads or trails, getting here is a challenge, but the reward is a lifetime of amazing memories. Photo by Carl Johnson, National Park Service. Posted on Tumblr by the US Department of the Interior, 8/30/16.
Sunset over Montana’s Glacier National Park. Tweeted by the US Department of the Interior, 10/18/16.
Sunset over South Dakota’s Badlands National Park. Tweeted by the US Department of the Interior, 10/19/16.
The Milky Way over Death Valley National Park … with a glow on the horizon. Photo by Sriram Murali. Tweeted by the US Department of the Interior, 8/17/16.
I want to love the Boutique Fantastique, put on by the Saugus High PTSO. It’s the high school my kids graduated from, and this event raises about $10,000 each year to help fund scholarships for students from my neighborhood. This is an event I want to support.
