Archive for November 2017
I am at the Hillside Farms Holiday Boutique. This is my first product post from an event.
Therefore, this is a dramatic device called foreshadowing. This is not The Board Chronicles for this event. But, I do have time – at an event I am working solo – to do this post. Unfortunately.
I made 9 Lazy Susans this week … and the good news is I sold 3 of them before I could take pictures at the event. Sorry that I missed the photo op, but whachagonnado?
Meanwhile, here are the 6 new Susans that are still in inventory.
These will next appear at Santa’s Art Shop in Ridgecrest next weekend. See you there, hopefully!
Lazy Susan 17 – 17. Black Walnut, Caribbean Rosewood & Sapele. 18″ diameter.
Lazy Susan 17 – 21. Hard Maple, Black Walnut & Bloodwood. 18″ diameter.
Lazy Susan 17 – 19. Sapele & Caribbean Rosewood. 18″ diameter.
Lazy Susan 17 – 18. Purpleheart, Canarywood & Bloodwood. 18″ diameter.
Lazy Susan 17 – 20. Bubinga, Birds Eye Maple & Purpleheart. 18″ diameter.
Lazy Susan 17 – 22. Black Walnut. 18″ diameter.
Like this:
Like Loading...
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.
The Fine Craft Show – now in its 26th year! – is Santa Clarita’s largest city-sponsored vendor event. This is one of only 3 events that we have done each of the 4 years that we’ve gone a-vendoring.
It was our # 1 Santa Clarita event in 2015, but fell to # 4 in 2016. We love local … but how much will we love this event in 2017?
This show used to be a bigger deal, with perhaps 100 vendors spread across a park and adjacent baseball field visible from one of the major streets in Newhall/Valencia: Lyons Avenue. Before we were vendors, though, the event began to lose vendors, and had shrunk to about 40 vendors in the park. This year, the city proudly grew the event to 60 vendors, and used those vendor fees to add more marketing. They did social media, some local print, and also had flags on Lyons, making sure that everyone driving by would know why there were so many shade canopies set up in the park.
But would it be enough? Would we see the event return to the glory we found in 2015?
New Ideas
- I made a new vertical display that had its first showing at this event. Read about that process here. You can also get a sense of my booth display evolution (which has been extreme) by reading this.
- We were in our 4th location at this event in 4 years. After pleading my case with the promoter, there was no joy: they will not let me get my trailer close to my booth. The postage stamp of a parking lot only has about a dozen parking spaces, so trailer parking is just not something they are prepared to accommodate. That means that I’ll probably have a 150 yard trek to the trailer for load out, the worst of the year.
Observations
- Event # 8 of 15 in our 4th quarter. Over the hump. Finally.
- Knowing the load-in problem – and being local – I showed up early. I arrived at the park at 10am to load in, and only had the regular park patrons there with a nearly empty parking lot. My load in was fine and only about a 40 yard push. My trailer was out of the parking lot before the rest of the vendors arrived. I love local.
- Love meeting vendor fans of this blog at events. There were 3 at this event. Love it!
- Lovely weather for events. Saturday was blue skies and the slightest of breezes. It was enough, though. One vendor was set up with all 3 walls up on her canopy. She was facing into the wind … with no weights on the canopy. Her giant sail of nylon caught the breeze that was barely a breeze and tumbled. I ran to secure her canopy – upside down! – while she began recovery. Luckily, no one was hurt. It was 10:43am.
- Oh so many friends come by to say hello.
- Oh so many customers love my work and already have my boards at home.
- I love local.
- The cutest little girl had parents buy her 3 animals from the Zoo that is ZooSoapia. I love carefully accepting ducks & dogs & such from little hands after they’ve made their selection.
- We use Paypal, and have a card reader that connects to my smartphone via bluetooth to do the transactions. It will do any kind of transaction: chip, swipe, or wireless. I did my first wireless transaction by accident. The lady gave me her card, I waved it over the reader while I was getting situated … and it charged the card. It all worked correctly, but it did surprise me that it happened with a wave of a card. RFID (Radio-frequency identification) is a thing!
- I was alone in the booth; a lady was looking at Mrs M’s display.
- She said, “Are you cruelty free?”
- I said, “Uhhhh.”
- I said, “Oh. YES! Of course! We are cruelty free.”
- Once I recovered, I remembered that this means we don’t do animal testing with our products. You have to know the lingo. And, as Mrs M says, the only animals we test on are our family.
- Load out was as I feared. We were packed up after 90 minutes or so, and then I had to find a way to get the trailer nearby for loading. The tiny parking lot was a no go, of course; there were still many vendors loading out and complaining that they couldn’t get closer in. That left the only trailer parking to be on Lyons Avenue, a major thoroughfare. Options were:
- Wait until the parking lot clears, which will probably be another hour or so. At least.
- Park down by the batting cages. Hop the curb with the rolling carts to get to the trailer. Every load will have to roll about 150 yards on the sidewalk.
- Park closer in on Lyons Avenue, and take the merchandise on the rolling cart overland (no sidewalks). The big, wooden roll-off carts, meanwhile will have to become unlicensed vehicles on Lyons to go into the traffic lane, rolling around the parked vehicles, and then roll up the ramp of the parked trailer.
- I chose option # 3. We didn’t die, and I didn’t get a ticket. We did get loaded 2 hours and 55 minutes after the event closed. Thank goodness the drive home is only 15 minutes.
- Like the cross town Summit Holiday Boutique, this event disappointed this year. We were down about 20% from last year, which was in turn down 25% from the year before. No clue why, of course. Phase of the moon? The weekend before Thanksgiving? You might argue that the cutting board market is saturated … but that doesn’t explain why Mrs M’s sales were down, too. Sales trends are so often a mystery. Unfortunately.
- But, we have declining revenues and an impossible load out. And this is a hometown event. Hmmmmmmmm.
The Food
Saturday Breakfast: Hello, old friend.
Saturday Lunch: A burger from the Patty Wagon food truck, on site. Yum.
Saturday Snack: Chocolate pudding, from The Pudding Truck. Who knew?
Saturday Dinner: Leftovers. All we could manage after a disappointing day.
Sunday Breakfast: Bagels & cream cheese, at home. It’s my current go to.
Sunday Lunch: Back to the Patty Wagon. It was the only choice.
Sunday Snack: A donut from whatever food truck was doing donuts. Best $2 donut I’ve ever had. And, yes, it’s the only one.
Sunday Dinner: Dinner at a favorite local restaurant … and I found foreign objects in my food. These were identified as metal pieces from a scrub pad. The restaurant was very responsive; the manager comped my meal and the chicken sandwich they made for me to take home. Didn’t matter: I lost my appetite.
The Facts
- Total miles driven: 22
- Booth cost: $350
- Food cost: $185
- Travel cost: $12
- Total sales: $1,536
- Net Revenue (does not include product cost): $989
- # of people we met during the event from the producer: 2
- Visits in our booth by a promoter’s representative: several
- Saturday alarm: nope
- Sunday alarm: nope
- # transactions: 63
- # soap & lotion vendors: There were 4 soap vendors (too many for this size of an event). At least 2 of the others were local vendors with limited experience, it seemed. Welcome!
- # woodworking vendors: There were 5 other woodworkers, 3 of which had cutting boards. None matched my variety & depth for cutting boards, of course, but there were definitely other people offering their wooden objects for sale. Two of them are fans of this blog (!).
- Edge grain vs. end grain: 10:1
- Returning next year? Hmmmmmmmmmmm.
Boards sold: 11
Magic Bottle Openers: 3
Cheese Boards: 3
Large Sous Chef Board: 1
Word Block: 1
Small Board: 1
Cutting Board: 1
Large Cutting Board: 1
Magic Bottle Opener 17 – 662. Black Walnut, Hard Maple, Padauk, Jatoba, Yellowheart, Purpleheart & Bloodwood. Double Magic.
Sous Chef 17 – 916. Birdseye Maple & Jatoba. Large size, with the work space approximately 10″ x 15″, with the handle extending for an additional 6″.
Cheese Board 17 -342. Purpleheart, Bubinga, Cherry & Bloodwood. 8″ x 11″ x 5/8″.
Cheese Board 17 – 332. Padauk, Yellowheart & Cherry. 8″ x 11″ x 5/8″.
Carving Board – the poultry side. The graduated ribs of the oval are perfect to hold the fowl in place as you carve.
Small Board 17 – 235. Purpleheart, Cherry, Black Walnut & Pau Ferro. 6″ x 11″ x 1-1/4″.
Magic Bottle Opener 17 – 920. Black Walnut, Hard Maple & Cherry. Single Magic.
Cutting Board 17 – 430. End grain. Bubinga, Hard Maple and Pau Ferro. 16-1/2″ x 21-1/2″ x 1-1/2″.
Cheese Board 17 – 319. Jatoba, Honey Locust, Bloodwood, Jatoba, Hard Maple, Teak & Padauk. Chaos Board. 11″ x 9-1/2″ x 5/8″.
Magic Bottle Opener 17 – 927. Padauk, Hard Maple & Canarywood. Single Magic.
Like this:
Like Loading...
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.
The Summit is one of the older, prestigious neighborhoods in the planned community that is Valencia. Valencia is one of the 4 communities that make up the city of Santa Clarita (along with Newhall, Saugus and Canyon Country).
A vendor friend of ours hosts a holiday boutique at the homeowner’s clubhouse each year. This is micro neighborhood event, though it does attract some shoppers from across Santa Clarita. Small event, small number of vendors … and Santa comes by every year.
There are generally several friendly vendors that we know well. There’s a pot luck lunch for the vendors. And, our results here traditionally have been way beyond our expectations. Read about prior years here: 2015 part 1, 2015 part 2 and 2016.
New Ideas
- We double booked this weekend (we broke a rule). The 2 Mrs M’s handled this show, while Little Girl & I handled the Fine Craft Show a couple of miles away.
- It’s been a while since we did a table top boutique like this one simultaneously with a double booth outdoor boutique. Both Mrs M and I had to get new display pieces. She bought a suitcase for hers; I built mine.
Observations
- Event # 7 of 15 in our 4th quarter. Yes, I added another event. Shoot me now.
- We look forward to this event, which is why we broke a rule to double book it.
- Velda met a vendor fan of this blog, who actually gave her a gift of appreciation! I must be doing something right.
- Unfortunately, this event just didn’t work this year. Traffic was way down, as were vendor bookings. Is it because it’s the weekend before Thanksgiving? Is it just another in a long list of “down” events in 2017? Is it just the phase of the moon?
- No way to know, but business at this event was way, way down from prior year.
The Food
Mrs M is not as forthcoming with her food choices and I was not there … so you’ll miss the culinary updates for the event days. Sorry!
Saturday Dinner: Leftovers. We’re a sad, sad couple of vendors.
Sunday Dinner: Dinner at one of our favorite local restaurants … with drama. Read the Fine Craft Show post for that story.
The Facts
- Total miles driven: 36
- Booth cost: $ 160 + raffle prizes
- Food cost: $0
- Travel cost: $19
- Total sales: $389
- Net Revenue (does not include product cost): $210
- # of people we met during the event from the producer: 1
- Visits in our booth by a promoter’s representative: many
- Saturday alarm: nope
- Sunday alarm: nope
- # transactions: 20
- # soap & lotion vendors: just us
- # woodworking vendors: just us
- Edge grain vs. end grain: 3:0
Boards sold: 3
Small Board: 1
Word Block: 1
Cheese Board: 1
Small Board 17 – 222. Black Walnut, Cherry, Hard Maple, Jatoba, Yellowheart, Canarywood, Bloodwood & Padauk. Chaos Board. 7″ x 12″ x 1-1/8″.
Cheese Board 17 – 325. Black Walnut, Cherry, Jatoba, Goncalo Alves & Purpleheart. 8″ x 11″ x 5/8″.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Necessity is the mother of invention.
I was on a clock. Why is it that making display pieces for our booth requires me to be on a clock? But … I was on a clock.
We were double booked last weekend, and some of my small display pieces had to go to the 2nd venue. These simple oak & dowel pieces hold a cutting board and a cheese board or 2 vertical on the table. These are the only verticals I have, really … and I only have enough for one booth.
So, I either needed to make more of those little holders, or I needed to finally build the piece I’ve been designing in my head for 2 years. It’s a big piece.
And you know me: go big or go home. So, I went big. I wanted to make a vertical unit to take over my side table, giving people easy, vertical viewing from either my corner aisle (which we always get), or from inside my booth. After thinking about building a freestanding unit and eliminating a 6′ table – and the storage underneath – I had sanity return, and I built a table top unit. A big table top unit.
After 2 years of cogitation, this is my design, in all of its glory:
I know.
From that oh-so-humble beginning, this is what got built in the shop over most of a day:
This piece gives me 24 linear feet of display space, all of which is unencumbered by smaller boards standing in front. Previously, I had no such space.
This piece will display serving trays and large cheese & cracker servers without having to stack them. Previously, I had no such space.
It doesn’t have a name yet, but the new display is 70″ long. It folds down to 35″ x 8″ x 70″ for transport. It fits perfectly into the trailer, right behind the rolling shelf unit, up against the rear gate.
After living with it for one weekend, I’m 100% happy with the new verticality in the booth. My only quibble is that I’ve built a wall … so that when people are looking at boards from the aisle, I can’t make eye contact with them. I can walk outside of the booth to stalk engage them, but I am seldom that aggressive with shoppers.
So, I may try and be a bit more aggressive when people are talking & touching the boards outside of the booth. And, by aggressive, I mean that I’ll approach them and say, “Good morning. Let me know if you have any questions.”
Well, do you?
More
Mr M’s New Booth: # 4 (Part 1)
Like this:
Like Loading...
I’m calling this a win.
I started out making 3 serving trays, as a reaction to my failure as a teen-aged woodworker. You can read that story, here.
Those 3 serving trays sold at 2 events. That’s a fairly good result for a serving piece … especially a serving piece made by someone with a checkered past making a serving tray, like yours truly.
So, there was nothing to do but go back to the shop and make some more and see if I could replicate the success. These 10 serving trays were the result. Now, I have 2 different styles of handles and a wide, wide range of woods featured in these 10 boards. There are woods from 5 continents being used!
I’m enjoying making these serving trays, and I’m hopeful that the teen-aged me didn’t make an appearance when I was making these in the shop. If that happened, the result could be less than ideal.
Somehow, I’m not worried.
If any of these catch your fancy, you’ll find all of them this weekend at Santa Clarita’s Fine Craft Show in Old Orchard Park. Hours are 10a – 5p on Saturday, and 10a – 3p on Sunday. Hope to see you there!
Serving Tray 17 – 06. Purpleheart, Canarywood, Goncalo Alves, Hard Maple, Padauk, Yellowheart, Honey Locust & Jatoba. Chaos Board. 12″ x 18″ x 3/4″.
Serving Tray 17 – 05. Black Walnut, Canarywood, Merbau & Sapele. 12″ x 18″ x 3/4″.
Serving Tray 17 – 07. Black Walnut, Yellowheart, Teak & Hard Maple. 12″ x 18″ x 3/4″.
Serving Tray 17 – 04. Honey Locust, Yellowheart & Purpleheart. 12″ x 18″ x 3/4″.
Serving Tray 17 – 08. Teak, Goncalo Alves, Hard Maple & Merbau. 12″ x 18″ x 3/4″.
Serving Tray 17 – 13. Paduak & Honey Locust. 13″ x 18″ x 3/4″.
Serving Tray 17 – 09. Honey Locust, Merbau & Hard Maple. 12″ x 18″ x 3/4″.
Serving Tray 17 – 11. Purpleheart, Canrywood & Hard Maple. 12″ x 18″ x 3/4″.
Serving Tray 17 – 10. Merbau, Yellowheart & Padauk. 12″ x 18″ x 3/4″.
Serving Tray 17 – 14. Merbau, Goncalo Alves & Black Walnut. 12″ x 18″ x 3/4″.
Like this:
Like Loading...
It’s go time.
The holiday season is UPON us, and the shop has been humming to try and keep up.
I’m failing, mind you, but I’m doing my best.
This week, I’m focused on cleaning up loose ends, and moving things to the finish line as QUICKLY as I can. And, again, I feel like I’m failing, but I’m doing my best.
I’m staring at 5 weekends of events. Every weekend through 12/17 is booked … 8 events in 5 weeks.
I think I’ve earned my crazy, how about you?
And, that doesn’t include the corporate gifts and movie industry general purpose boxes (“apple boxes”) that I’ve agreed to make, either.
So, I’m a bit wacky these days. I’m counting down to 12/24 … and praying I don’t miss any deliveries too badly. Just about everything has to be delivered by Christmas, and I’m focused on making that happen!
Cutting Board 17 – 132. Hard Maple, Black Walnut & Purpleheart. Juice Groove. Edge Grain. 12″ x 16″ x 1-1/8″.
Cheese & Cracker Server 17 – 01. Hard Maple. 12″ x 15″ x 1-1/8″. Prototype.
Cutting Board 17 – 133. Jatoba, Hard Maple, Yellowheart & Purpleheart. Edge grain, Juice groove. 12″ x 16″ x 1-1/8″.
Cutting Board 17 – 134. Jatoba, Hard Maple, Honey Locust & Padauk. Edge grain, Juice groove. 14″ x 18″ x 1-1/8″.
Cutting Board 17 – 135. Purpleheart & Hard Maple. Edge grain. 12″ x 16″ x 1-1/8″.
Bear 17 – 01. Black Walnut. 10″ x 19″ x 3/4″.
Cutting Board 17 – 137. Jatoba, Honey Locust & Hard Maple. Edge grain, Juice groove. 14″ x 11″ x 1-1/8″.
Cutting Board 17 – 136. Hard Maple. 12″ x 16″ x 1-1/8″.
Cutting Board 17 – 138. Hard Maple, Jatoba, Padauk & Bloodwood. Edge grain, Juice groove. 12″ x 16″ x 1-1/8″.
Magic Bottle Opener 17 – 935. Oak, Jatoba, Canarywood, Purpleheart & Black Walnut. Double Magic.
Magic Bottle Opener 17 – 937. Purpleheart, Hard Maple & Yellowheart. Double Magic.
Small Board 17 – 239. Hard Maple & Jatoba. 7″ x 10″ x 1-1/8″. A pig had to die to make this small board.
Small Baord 17 – 238. Hard Maple, Jatoba, Padauk & Bloodwood. 7″ x 13″ x 1-1/8″.
Bear 17 – 02. Black Walnut. Edge grain. 10″ x 19″ x 3/4″.
Magic Bottle Opener 17 – 936. Purpleheart & Hard Maple. Double Magic.
Small Baord 17 – 237. Purpleheart & Hard Maple. Edge grain. 7″ x 13″ x 1-1/8″.
Small Board 17 – 240. Hard Maple, Black Walnut & Purpleheart. 7″ x 13″ x 1-1/8″.
Like this:
Like Loading...
When I decided to buy a CNC, this was one of the first ideas that I wanted to make.
After spending most of my career in journalism, I have an affinity for the written word. And I’ve always been struck by the complexity and beauty of the type setting machines first employed by newspapers. (See what I did there? Struck by typesetting? Humor, coming at you!)
Words are powerful.
These word blocks are 3-dimensional carvings. Each requires about 30 minutes on the CNC, which uses 2 different routing bits when I make them. All of these shown are all made from Cherry, AKA Black Cherry or American Cherry. There’s a 2nd batch now in production made from Redwood … but that’s a story for another day.
I’ve made over 30 words, which I have in stock. You can buy these, or you can order your words as well. I can still make special orders for holiday delivery.
I struggled with how to price these (by the letter? by the inch?), and finally settled for simplicity. Each block is $35, regardless of length. There is a volume deal: 2 words for $60, and 3 words for $75.
Like this:
Like Loading...
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.
This spring, we had a good outing at the Hillside Farm Arts & Crafts Show. We were pleasantly surprised, and their holiday craft fair would be even better, we were told.
We like even better.
Their bigger event is the Holiday Craft Fair, and this year they are hosting their 33rd Annual.
There’s a downside, though: the event takes place over Thanksgiving Weekend, Friday – Sunday. There’s a 2nd weekend as well, but we’ll miss that to do Santa’s Art Shop the following weekend. Week 1 is supposed to be the best of the 2 weekends, we’re told.
And I get to spend another weekend in Norco. What’s not to like?
New Ideas
- Mrs M had to work at her “job.” She said. So, I’m soloing with our normal double booth set-up. Me. Solo. At a big deal Holiday Craft Fair with lofty expectations. What could go wrong?
- Since I’m solo, I have to set up both sides of the booth. Luckily, Hillside Farm will open their gates at 6am on Black Friday for me to setup for their event which starts at 10am.
Observations
- Event # 9 of 15 in our 4th quarter.
- I’m a lonely, lonely man.
- I left shortly after 4am to arrive at the venue at about 5:40am. I backed the trailer into the best spot to unload from, and got to work.
- I was still setting up at 9:30am, and realized that the trailer had to be moved to remote parking. I must have had a crazed look on my face. When I passed the booth for Sweet Spot Home Decor, Dalinda flagged me down and offered me water. “What’s wrong,” she asked? I explained I was on the hustle to move the trailer, and she kindly volunteered her husband to do the deed. I gave him the keys, and all was well. Thank you, Danny!
- Vendors help each other, but this was above and beyond. Dalinda gets a gold star. One more thing I have to make….
- Set up was over 4 hours. I’m pretty sure me doing a solo setup of our complete display is not a good idea.
- I was very worried coming into this event about me handling all of the transactions solo. After all, we were expecting a holiday-crazed event. I strategized on how to do packaging quickly so I could keep up.
- The event started well: a cutting board was my first sale. That’s usually an auspicious beginning. Unfortunately, that one board was the only sale on Friday from my side of the booth. Total sales on Friday disappointed.
- As they did on Saturday.
- As they did on Sunday.
- A lady was talking to her friend in my booth. She said, “I just read an article about the 3 dirtiest things in your house. # 1 was your wooden cutting board. # 2 was a dog toy.” I never learned what # 3 was, as I interrupted her, told her that wooden cutting boards should be very clean if you washed them, and that wood was, in fact, naturally anti-bacterial.
- People in my booth must not insult my work, or I will be aggressive and interrupt them. Every time.
- Requests were for a tongue drum (another woodworker had them), a cribbage board with a holder for the pegs (sigh) and a large cutting board with a hole in it for hanging (nope).
- Load out was more difficult than load in, as many vendors that were returning for the event the following weekend just left that canopies in place. That meant my 50′ trip to the trailer became 150′. That’s not too big of an inconvenience, though … booth tear down took 2 hours 20 minutes, but loading only took 40 minutes. I was on the road at 7:10pm. Luckily, I had no holiday traffic getting home, which was the best part of the weekend.
- I know a couple of vendors left after Saturday due to poor sales. Not sure why this event didn’t work this year, but it did not live up to its reputation. Every vendor I talked to – and many vendors do this event every year – said their sales were significantly down this year. Maybe it’s no fun to do Christmas shopping at an outdoor holiday boutique in 90* temperatures. Ya think?
The Food: the worst
When I solo out of town, I seldom invest any effort in good food. To my detriment. The hotel in Corona was next to a restaurant called “Good Fellas,” and they had a great breakfast. Other than that … I didn’t have much good food. I even skipped a meal, which I never do.
When I returned home Sunday evening, I had Thanksgiving leftovers. And bourbon. All was well. Again.
The Facts
- Total miles driven: 236
- Booth cost: $330
- Food cost: $100
- Travel cost: $318
- Total sales: $1,222
- Net Revenue (does not include product cost): $474
- # of people we met during the event from the producer: 2
- Visits in our booth by a promoter’s representative: many
- Saturday alarm: nope
- Sunday alarm: nope
- # transactions: 38. Let’s me be very clear: I could keep up with that level of business, even solo. I was never close to being ‘whelmed. Unfortunately.
- # soap & lotion vendors: several. Though none offered the complete line that we have, there were easily 6 other vendors that offered part of what we did. That’s too many for an event of this size, IMHO.
- # woodworking vendors: several. There were 4 woodworkers that sold cutting boards at this event, though each had different offerings, of course. 3 different woodworkers had Lazy Susans. It was unusually crowded in my category.
- Edge grain vs. end grain: 8:1
- Returning next year? Nope.
Boards sold: 9
Lazy Susans: 3
Magic Bottle Openers: 3
Cutting Board: 1
Large Cutting Board: 1
Trivet: 1
Magic Bottle Opener 17 – 662. Black Walnut, Hard Maple, Padauk, Jatoba, Yellowheart, Purpleheart & Bloodwood. Double Magic.
Magic Bottle Opener 17 – 669. Padauk, Hard Maple & Honey Locust.Double Magic.
Magic Bottle Opener 17 – 664. Padauk, Hard Maple, Black Walnut & Red Oak. Double Magic.
Cutting Board 17 – 438. Purpleheart, Cherry, Hard Maple, Padauk, Jatoba, Honey Locust, Pau Ferro & Yellowheart. End Grain. 16-1/2″ x 21-1/2″ x 1-1/2″. Sold in its first showing.
Trivet 17 – 04. Cherry. 8.5″ x 8/5″ x 3/4″.
Like this:
Like Loading...
This is for the meat eaters. My people.
I’ve been meeting cutting board enthusiasts (and every cook is!) for some time now, and serious conversations generally include a discussion of juice grooves. It quickly becomes a philosophical discussion. Should a cutting board have a juice groove? How large? How deep?
Some cooks want separate cutting boards for meats. There’s really no scientific reason for such a distinction, but after enough conversations about juice grooves and meats … I figured out a solution.
I may not be quick, but I do have a good thought now and then. Thus was born the new carving boards.
They are a 2-sided cutting board for all of your meat carving. One side has a wider-than-normal juice groove surrounding a plain surface. It’s perfect for your beef and pork carving. Take the tri tip straight from the Bar-B-Que to the carving board, and then go right to the table, using the carving board as the serving piece.
Flip the board over, and you find an odd-shaped, graduated oval depression that’s perfect for carving turkey or chicken. The carcass fits into the center, with the ribs formed by the graduated oval holding it in place as you carve the bird. In addition, there is a massive juice groove around this side of the board that will hold a full 2 cups of juices.
Yes, I have carved a turkey. This board will solve a lot of problems!
Carving boards are now available for holiday gifting. They will be on display at our 2 Santa Clarita events this weekend. See both Mrs M’s at the Summit clubhouse for their holiday boutique in Valencia. Down the road, Lauren and I will be at Old Orchard Park for Santa Clarita’s Fine Craft Show. We hope to see you there!
Carving Board – the beef and pork side. Hard Maple. 14″ x 19″ x 1-1/4″.
Carving Board – the poultry side. The graduated ribs of the oval are perfect to hold the fowl in place as you carve.
The Carnivore Board, in action.
Like this:
Like Loading...
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 love local.
Say it with me. I love local. Local events are the best. You sleep in your own bed, you get to see long-time friends and neighbors, and … your expenses are probably lower. Truly, I love local.
This event is also good for our community. Our 3 kids went to school at Saugus High, and this event is a fundraiser for its PTSO. Over $10,000 is raised every year (principally from vendor fees!) to fund scholarships for the school.
Of course we want to do this event.
This is our 4th year at Boutique Fantastique, in our 4th year as Mrs M’s Handmade. In 2014 (we were so young then!), this is the first event that we got a double booth for.
We want this event to work.
However … it’s an under-performing event, by our standards. Sales are typically below average for us, and this heritage event – generally viewed as the best event in Santa Clarita – has not proven to be so for Mrs M’s Handmade. Here’s hoping for a better year in 2017!
New Ideas
- After staying in one location for 3 years, and being underwhelmed by our results, I asked for – and received – a new end-aisle space in the front of the room. We’re in the right corner, facing away from the door. It’s not a perfect location, but I believe it’s better than being in the back of the room. I have bowed to my superstition about a bad location, even though I know this is ludicrous. Don’t judge me.
Observations
- Event # 6 of 14 in our 4th quarter.
- Days 4 & 5 of my Week From Hell, which thankfully is now behind me.
- One quirk of this event is that it has to be a Saturday load-in. The event’s in the school gym, and the PTSO can’t do their setup until the students are done with the gym Friday evening … so setup begins at 6:30a on Saturday. Well, actually, it begins with a vendor line up outside of the locked gate at about 6a.
- The PTSO strictly controls access to the loading zone. Chaos is minimized. Love. That.
- While unloading, another woodworker with a trailer showed up … and blocked me in. No problem. We chatted as the students carried our stuff in. He primarily made freestanding birdhouses, and some other shabby chic decor items for the patio. He started making birdhouses, he said, while they lived near an elementary school. He made 3, put them on the fence, and they sold that day. From that, a business was born. Still more hobby than occupation for him, but he does enjoy his holiday rush every year.
- The best part of this event is that the student volunteers come out to load in your gear. I unloaded the trailer, and explained how to use the cart to a student. Mrs M, meanwhile, was in the gym at the booth space, getting everything positioned for setup once we were loaded in. This is an easy load in – and yes, we were generous at the tip jar that is given to the participating student organizations as a fund raiser.
- So many vendor friends are at this event! I love local!
- No clue if moving the booth will work or not, but I think our location is better. My superstitious self is satisfied, anyway.
- Saugus High has a woodworking program. The teacher (who’s also active in Scouts!), has 3 periods of woodworking and 2 periods of stagecraft every day … he joked that I should take the job when he retires.
- Riiiiiiiiiiiight.
- I know a couple things will happen every year: 1) the woodworking program will sell cheap, untreated, small cutting boards made from cheap mystery woods including pine, and 2) I will have several moon-eyed young woodworkers visiting the booth to stare at the pieces I make. Some students even enjoy chatting with this old woodworker at times.
- This event had a tag team thing going on for Mrs M. I was one constant, as was Judy. She, of course, is Employee of the Month (and Velda’s first cousin), and was helping us out for a couple of weeks. She completed her “full immersion experience” by helping us at this event. We were joined at first by Velda, but then she took off with Little Girl to attend a baby shower. That’s when The Intern – Judy’s granddaughter, UCLA Bruin & Blogger Extraordinare – showed up to tag in and help for a few hours.
- Life was good.
- I had it easy. Thank goodness, because I was tired enough I might not have been at my best at this event.
- Results were down from last year, when we had a special order perk up our normally below average sales. Ignoring that special order for a moment, we had our best event sales at this year’s Boutique Fantastique … but still below average for us. I’m almost OK with that. I love local.
- Load out was just as easy as load in, with student volunteers doing all of the heavy lifting between the booth and the trailer. We were home by 6p Sunday, which is a rare and wonderful thing. So ended my Week From Hell. I don’t think I’ll be doing 3 events in 3 cities in 5 days again anytime soon.
- In the end, I did 3 under-performing events in one week. Add them up, however, and the total sales were our 2nd best weekly sales ever. Worth it? Nope.
The Food
Saturday Breakfast: Bagels & cream cheese.
Saturday Lunch: Trail mix, on the go. Not a culinary delight.
Saturday Snack: Nope.
Saturday Dinner: Carry in from Sam’s Flaming Grill. Yum.
Sunday Breakfast: See Saturday. I love local.
Sunday Lunch: Jersey Mike’s has sandwiches for sale in the room. Done.
Sunday Snack: Chocolate bark from a vendor … handmade, but not the best.
Sunday Dinner: Dinner at the best Italian restaurant in Santa Clarita, Bella Cucina.
The Facts
- Total miles driven: 20
- Booth cost: $275
- Food cost: $176
- Travel cost: $10
- Total sales: $1,791
- Net Revenue (does not include product cost): $1,330
- # of people we met during the event from the producer: a few
- Visits in our booth by a promoter’s representative: none
- Saturday alarm: 5:15a
- Sunday alarm: none
- # transactions: no clue
- # soap & lotion vendors: there was the soap vendor right across the aisle from us (why do promoters do this?), and then another soapmaker that’s well known to us … she lies about her products (cures acne!). There was an essential oil vendor as well.
- # woodworking vendors: a few, including the Saugus High shop class that was selling untreated, mystery wood “chopping blocks” for $30 – $50. They sold out on Saturday morning.
- Edge grain vs. end grain: 11:1
- Returning next year? Yes
Boards sold: 12
Magic Bottle Opener: 5
Cheese Boards: 3
Large Cutting Board: 1
Cutting Board: 1
Word Block: 1
Trivet: 1
Trivet 17 – 06. Jatoba. 8.5″ x 8.5″ x .75″.
Cheese Board 17 – 337. Canarywood, Yellowheart, Hard Maple, Padauk & Black Walnut. 8″ x 11″ x 5/8″.
Cheese Board 17 – 340. Padauk, Hard Maple & Black Walnut. 10″ x 11″ x 5/8″.
Cutting Board 17 – 430. Purpleheart, Hard Maple & Pau Ferro. 14″ x 21″ x 1-1/2″.
Magic Bottle Opener 17 – 658. Black Walnut, Hard Maple & Cherry. Double Magic.
Magic Bottle Opener 17 – 926. Black Walnut, Jatoba & Cherry. Single Magic.
Magic Bottle Opener 17 – 918. Black Walnut, Hard Maple, Bubinga & Cherry. Single Magic = Wall mount only!
Cheese Board 17 – 334. Chaos Board. Padauk, Black Walnut, Yellowheart, Hard Maple, Canarywood, Honey Locust, Bubinga & Bloodwood. 8″ x 11″ x 5/8″.
Magic Bottle Opener 17 – 931. Padauk, Hard Maple & Canarywood. Single Magic.
Like this:
Like Loading...
I am at the Hillside Farms Holiday Boutique. This is my first product post from an event.
