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The Board Chronicles: Emblem Charity Holiday Boutique Leave a comment

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 women’s group associated with the Elks Club is called Emblem, and Emblem/Elks Club of Canyon Country hosts a holiday boutique in their lodge. I did this event last year, and it was one of our first small, table-top events. I was home before 4pm, and thought I’d found a great idea. Of course we planned on returning when it fit into our calendar perfectly.

Speaking of the calendar, we have 3 events scheduled for this weekend. I was to help Mrs M set up this event, and then she would run it while I went to event # 2 on Saturday. Sunday, we had our third event. Our goal was to have sales over $1,000 between the 3 events.

The Emblem Charity Holiday Boutique is a low impact, low expectations event. Last year we had sales of $360, and it was great doing a local event that I could do and still be home by 4pm.

This year, we’ll be returning to the Elks Lodge for the third time. We did the Holiday Boutique in 2014, of course, and we also did their Car Show in June of this year. Sales there were $501, so I was confident we could surpass our goal of $350 at this event.

New Ideas

Last year, we did boards only at this event. We added a 2nd table for Mrs M’s lotions this year.
Last year, Mrs M stayed home and I did this event solo. This year, I helped her set up and then left for my event.
Mrs M stacked the boards on the table for the boards, and thought that led to more customer involvement with the boards as the customers played Jenga with them.
Vendors got free coffee, much to Mrs M’s delight. Good thing she did this event: I would not have cared.

Observations

One customer told Mrs M that I was not getting enough credit, since every board tag shows the company name first: Mrs M’s Handmade. Mr M’s Woodshop is also identified on the tag, but that gets 2nd billing. This customer thought Mrs M was taking advantage.
Hmmmmmmm.
For the record, he didn’t feel he should show support by buying something.
Since the summer season of outdoor events is over, we now get to do indoor events … with indoor plumbing. Life is good.
We were set up right by the main door, with the boards on the path from the main door, and the lotions perpendicular to that, on the path to the bar. (The tables were in an “L” shape.) Mrs M observes that most women were there to shop, and didn’t walk by her table. Most men were there to drink, and they didn’t buy lotion on the way to the bar.
Most of our sales were to the volunteers running the event. With total sales less than half of last year … we were disappointed. We certainly did not make our goal here.

The Food

Saturday Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs & part of a cinnamon roll

Saturday Lunch: from the snack bar – chicken salad on a croissant

Saturday Snack: $2 cookie from a vendor

The Facts

Total miles driven: 24
Booth cost: $70
# of people we met during the event from the producer: 1
Total sales: $166
# containers of product taken: 9
# boards available: 39
Saturday alarm: 6a
# transactions: 8
# soap & lotion vendors: just us
# woodworking vendors: just us
Edge grain vs. end grain: 1:1

Boards sold: 2

Small board: 1

Cheese board: 1

Small Board # 15 – 041. Black Walnut, Cherry, Purpleheart & Hard Maple end grain. 7″ x 12″ x 1-1/4″.

Cheese Board # 15 – 029. Black Walnut, Red Oak, Padauk, Hard Maple and Yellowheart. Edge Grain. 8″ x 11″ x 3/4″.

Posted October 26, 2015 by henrymowry in Craft Fairs

Tagged with Canyon Country, Cheese Board, craft fair, Cutting board, Elks, Los Angeles, Mr M's Woodshop, San Fernando, Santa Clarita

The Board Chronicles: Thousand Oaks Street Fair 2 comments

This annual event is one of the largest fall festivals in the LA area. It’s a fundraiser for the Thousand Oaks Rotary Club, who have turned this monster of an event into a well-oiled machine.

370 vendors for a one day event. It’s no wonder that the Rotary actually enforce their rules about how and when you set up and tear down. However, they also supply volunteer labor to help you get everything done quickly. Importantly, the help is actually helpful. This is a well-run event.

Last year, we had lackluster results. Our products felt crowded in our single booth; our neighbors put up walls on their booths (as is their right), so there was limited visibility of our products for the thronging masses. I wasn’t happy with our booth location, nor our crowded presentation. Sales were $675. I thought we could do better.

Also, the elder Mrs M had to work last year (you know, at her “job”), but she still showed up late in the day to supervise what was only our 10th event ever. The result was that all three of us drove separately to be at an event 52 miles from home … and this was when gas was at about its highest price. Profits were rare that day, to say the least.

Coincidentally, Mrs M again had to work at her “job” this weekend, so I again had the pleasure of the company of the pregnancy-impaired younger Mrs M. And that was a wonderful thing … but could we sell more stuff?

New Ideas

A double booth, with a “corner” (which they define as an open second side). We moved from the D section (sort of center) up to booths B 13 & 14. I hoped that would be a better location; it’s nearer to an end, and since many people want to come back to get their heavy boards, I hoped that would be more convenient.

Observations

Being rushed to set up + it’s still dark + black cash box + black truck interior = having to walk back to the truck to get the cash box when you realize it’s not there to be set up. It’s more work when you start before the sun rises, clearly.
50 miles from home isn’t necessarily local in LA. We were often asked “are you local?” and my answer was yes, and told them where we are from. Santa Clarita wasn’t always local enough; I definitely felt some push back from a couple of customers that advocated for closer-to-home vendors.
Great weather … cloudy most of the day. So cloudy, I had trouble finding sunshine sometimes to show how the bloodwood and yellowheart can fluoresce. Oh, the challenges we must overcome.
Uncle Chris’ Italian Ice was directly across from us, and they often had a kid in front of their booth offering free samples. In the afternoon, they often had two samplers working the crowd. That frustrated me: stay in your booth. Like I do.
Met a direct competitor at this event! Woodworkers are a relatively rare breed, and I’ve only met one other serious cutting board maker in the 20 months we’ve been doing these events. This guy makes some very similar pieces to mine (and some not so similar) … and uses a totally different finish to get very different results. He’s a professional finish carpenter – that has chosen to not make end grain boards because they aren’t attractive enough. Au contraire, mon ami!
Met a student that’s taking her first woodshop class in junior high, and was excited to see my booth. Loved talking to her! Her family even brought her back to the booth so she could ask me a question (!) about “cannery wood.” It took me a moment to understand she meant canarywood, and I proceeded to talk to her about that exotic that I seldom get to use. Thanks to the online expertise of Mrs M, I even got to show the young woodworker how beautiful canarywood can be.
We were actually overwhelmed a couple of times with customers stacked up. Mrs M was wrapping board sales (6 boards sold to 4 people at almost exactly the same time) during one rush, and I’m pretty sure I missed helping her with lotion sales at that point of the chaos. A year ago, the three of us were working a single booth (and we barely fit!). Now, we only take two to an event, and it’s the right solution about 99% of the time. We do occasionally get overwhelmed by a rush of customers; at that time we can only ask for patience, which sometimes is in short supply.
It’s a relief to be past the last 2 weekends, which both featured two different one day events. Since I have the pleasure of doing the heavy lifting, that’s a real challenge. Maybe I should stop playing with my hobby and start working weekends at my “job” like the elder Mrs M. As we all know, work is easy. Having fun is hard.

The Food

Sunday Breakfast: Bagels & cream cheese

Sunday Lunch: Jack in the Box # 9. While I was wrapping a board, the wind blew over my crispy curly fries, though, so they were a loss. The dog visiting the booth a few minutes later did enjoy the crumbs, though.

Sunday Snack: Blue Raspberry Italian Ice, but it was not nearly as good as yesterday’s.

Sunday Dinner: Leftover meatloaf. And bourbon.

The Facts

Total miles driven: 108 miles
Booth cost: $370
# of people we met during the event from the producer: 0 (though I did have some nice conversations with a couple of the Rotary volunteers)
Total sales: $1,072
# containers of product taken: 24
# boards available: 110
Sunday alarm: 4:40am
# transactions: 24
# soap & lotion vendors: no clue … at least one other
# woodworking vendors: no clue … at least three others
Edge grain vs. end grain: 13:1

Boards sold: 14

Cheese Boards: 6

Small Boards: 2

Cutting Board: 1

Large Cutting Board: 1

Lazy Susan: 1

Large Surfboard: 1

Large Sous Chef Board: 1

Small Sous Chef Board: 1

Small Board # 15 – 039. Hard Maple, Cherry & Yellowheart. 10″ x 14″ x 1-1/4″.

Lazy Susan # 15 – 017. Red Oak, Walnut, Hard Maple & Cherry. 21″ diameter x 3/4″.

Cheese Board # 15 – 027. Black Walnut, Canarywood and Purpleheart. Edge Grain. 8″ x 11″ x 3/4″.

Cheese Board # 15 – 031. Black Walnut, Hard Maple, Bloodwood, Red Oak, Yellowheart, Cherry, Purpleheart & Padauk. Edge grain. 9″ x 10″ x 3/4″.

Large Surfboard # 15 – 23. Hard Maple.

Cutting Board # 15 – 065. Hard Maple, Cherry & Black Walnut. End Grain. 16″ x 21″ x 1-1/2″.

Sous Chef # 15 – 30. Black Walnut, Hard Maple & Purpleheart.

Cheese Board # 15 – 005. Black Walnut, Cherry, Hard Maple & Jarrah. 7″ x 10″ x 1″.

Cheese Board # 14 – 040. Hard Maple, Cherry, Black Walnut & Padauk. Edge grain chaos board. 11″ x 8-1/2″ x 3/4″.

Sous Chef # 15 – 37. Black Walnut, African Teak and Birdseye Maple. This board has a wider work surface … I got carried away and couldn’t bear to cut anything off.

Small Board # 15 – 044. Hard Maple, Padauk & Yellowheart. Edge Grain. 7-3/4″ x 12″ x 1-1/4″.

Cutting Board # 15 – 069. Hard Maple, Padauk & Yellowheart. Edge grain. 12″ x 16″ x 1-1/4″.

Cheese Board # 15 – 035. Black Walnut, Yellowheart, Bloodwood, Padauk, Hard Maple, Purpleheart, Canarywood & Honey Locust. Edge grain. 9-1/2″ x 9-1/2″ x 3/4″.

Cheese Board # 15 – 037. Black Walnut, Cherry, Yellowheart & Hard Maple. Edge grain. 10-3/4″ x 9-3/4″ x 3/4″.

Posted October 20, 2015 by henrymowry in Craft Fairs

Tagged with Cheese Board, craft fair, Cutting board, Los Angeles, Mr M's Woodshop, San Fernando, Santa Clarita, Street Fair, Thousand Oaks, vendor

The Board Chronicles: Fun In The Sun Chili Cook Off 2 comments

This event is an annual fundraiser sponsored by the LA Sheriff’s Department to benefit the Special Olympics. Various departments (teams? groups? commands? no clue.) make their best chili and compete against each other for awards in categories such as “best spirit,” “people’s choice,” and “best team.”

The public buys tickets for $10 each, and get a taste of 30+ chilis made by the various departments for their consideration.

This event is local, supports a good cause, and is a place that cooks congregate … and cooks use cutting boards. We’re in.

We did this event last year, in the heat, and had frustrating sales of $380 in our single booth. This year, we’re in a double booth, and …

New Ideas

Much better location this year: we’re on flat ground. Last year, we had to scavenge landscaping rocks to level out our tables.
The weather was good this year: the high was 84*, I believe. The threats of rain didn’t happen (welcome to Southern California). The crowd was definitely bigger this year. More classic cars showed up. It was a bigger event, from every perspective.
Lots of new products available this year, from goat milk lotion to beard oil, from lazy Susans to pig cutting boards.

Observations

Local, Local, Local. Can we do more local events, please?
We had a family dinner Friday night, and loaded the lotion products into the younger Mrs M’s truck (she doesn’t let Christopher drive it anymore, I think) so she could drive straight from her house to the event Saturday morning. I drove my typical Jeep load, and had the canopies up before my partner arrived. Perfect timing.
The elder Mrs M had to work at her “job” today, so the younger Mrs M joined me in the booth. The elder Mrs M reminded me that the younger Mrs M should not be lifting things in her delicate condition. Apparently I need a reminder to take care of the younger Mrs M, who’s breathing for two now.
The elder Mrs M needs a vacation.
Large events don’t always equal large sales, nor do small events always equal small sales. This was a very good event for us … though I wish we could figure out how to do one day event set-ups with less sweat. We travel heavy to events, whether they are one day or two days long. It’s a choice.
A frustrating choice, at times, but a choice.
The event location is the Jack Bones Equestrian Center, off Parker Road in Castaic. It’s adjacent to a jail, and the Sheriffs have inmates form crews to clean up after the crowd is gone. Most events don’t have clean up crews that are all dressed alike.
We loaded everything into the truck for Sunday’s event, so I had to employ new packing strategies. It worked OK, except I forgot to pack the chairs left leaning against the fence. I remembered not packing them when I was almost home, so I had to turn around and go fetch them.
I love local events.

The Food

Saturday Breakfast: Jack in the Box drive through.

Saturday Lunch: Chili, of course.

Saturday Snack: A fabulous Blue Raspberry Italian Ice. Do I lose cutting board credibility with blue lips?

Saturday Dinner: We went to our favorite ~~Thai~~ Vietnamese restaurant. I had my standard, S5, hold the squid. I have a delicate palate, you see.

The Facts

Total miles driven: 129
Booth cost: $50
# of people we met during the event from the producer: 1
Total sales: $915
# containers of product taken: 22
# boards available: 85
Saturday alarm: 5:30a
# transactions: 14
# soap & lotion vendors: just us
# woodworking vendors: just us
Edge grain vs. end grain: 14:0

Boards sold: 14

Cheese Boards: 4

Lazy Susans: 3

Cutting Boards: 2

Pig: 1

Small Board: 1

Small Sous Chef Board: 1

Large Surfboard: 1

Pizza Server: 1

Cheese Board # 15 – 029. Black Walnut, Red Oak, Padauk, Hard Maple and Yellowheart. Edge Grain. 8″ x 11″ x 3/4″.

Cheese Board # 15 – 030. Purpleheart & Hard Maple. Edge Grain. 8″ x 11″ x 3/4″.

Pizza Server 15 – 01. Black Walnut, Cherry & Hard Maple.

Edge grain cutting board. Jatoba, Hard Maple and Yellowheart. 12″ x 16″ x 1-1/8″.

Large Surfboard # 15 – 17. Cherry, Hard Maple & Black Walnut.

Pig # 15 – 07. Walnut, Maple, Yellowheart, Padauk & Honey Locust.

Cheese Board # 15 – 032. Balck Walnut, Hard Maple, Yellowheart, Cherry & Padauk. Edge grain chaos board. 9-1/2″ x 9-1/8″ x 5/8″.

Cutting Board # 15 – 069. Hard Maple, Padauk & Yellowheart. Edge grain. 12″ x 16″ x 1-1/4″.

Small Board # 15 – 052. Black Walnut, Hard Maple & Padauk. Edge grain. 8″ x 12″ x 1″.

Lazy Susan # 15 – 022. Black Walnut, Hard Maple, Cherry & Yellowheart. 17″ diameter x 3/4″.

Lazy Susan # 15 – 020. Black Walnut & Hard Maple. 17″ diameter x 3/4″.

Lazy Susan # 15 – 016. Red Oak,x Teak, Black Walnut & Hard Maple. 19″ diameter x 3/4″.

Sous Chef # 15 – 27. Black Walnut & Honey Locust.

Posted October 19, 2015 by henrymowry in Craft Fairs

Tagged with 999 For Kids, Castaic, Cheese Board, Chili Cook Off, craft fair, Cutting board, Los Angeles, Mr M's Woodshop, San Fernando, Santa Clarita, vendor

The Board Chronicles: Taste Of Encino Leave a comment

Encino is a nice community in the southern part of the San Fernando Valley. It’s a little outside of our normal circle in the Los Angeles sprawl, but we were excited to return to what was the rather unfortunately named 28th Annual Taste of Encino.

Why unfortunate? When they say “Taste,” you shouldn’t expect to find good food, or the restaurants of Encino. Expect to sample the varied experiences & concerns of Encino. And eat fair food, at your peril.

Last year, we had a marginal event, with sales of $506 against a booth fee of $150. It fit on our calendar, though, so we scheduled our return with high hopes and a bigger plan.

New Ideas

As with almost all of our events this year, we changed to a double booth for 2015.
By signing up early for our booths, we saved 10% off the application fee.
We were invited to use their app to make a promotional offer to anyone visiting our booth. They gave us “signage” to promote that offer. What they gave us was a piece of paper with a color picture printed on it, and a hand written copy of our offer scrawled on it. Not the way to impress in an upscale community. Or with a discerning vendor selling a premium product like Mrs M.

Observations

For an event trying to use social media, their lack of a graphic to share promoting their event is hard to fathom. The single graphic they produced, the above “poster,” was not readable. Bad plan. Oh, but they got all of their sponsor logos on it. And it was STILL a bad plan.
We arrived at 7am (the street was officially available at 6am). Unfortunately, our booth location was not yet marked. I watched the guy scrawl our booth numbers on the asphalt, and when I asked him a question, he looked at me like I was from Mars. He never did answer me. Perhaps he was only capable of chalking asphalt. As Beckett’s Hamm says, “Each to his own speciality.” Clearly, as accurate here as it was with Clov in my favorite Beckett play: Endgame.
Booth arrangements were terrible. No concept of flow. They put all of the vendors at one end of the street – the farthest position from the food and stage. And the bathrooms. Not good. Not good at all.
It was hot. Not quite as hot as yesterday in Granada Hills, thankfully, but it was still hot.
None of the 12 vendors (!) had a good day. As the “nothing over $5” necklace vendor next to us said, “I can’t give this stuff away today.”
Sitting beside Mrs M, we both opened the apps on our phones for Accuweather. We both looked at Encino weather. Her side of the booth was 2* hotter than mine. No clue how Accuweather makes weather reporting so accurate as to tell how the heat emanating from Mrs M impacts our environment.
On the other side of our booth was a tanning salon business promoting their brick & mortar store immediately behind their booth. Very nice young ladies were doing a fundraiser for their local fire station (truck 83 even made an appearance for photos!). Good neighbors.
A surprise guest appearance by Soozy (and family!) of Soozy’s Achy Muscle Rub was a highlight of the day. Before she was gone, I had her quoting Timothy Leary. That’ll teach her to bring up her history paper on the 60s.
Met some nice vendors, and perhaps some of the conversations I had with “customers” about future special orders will materialize. Good things may still come from appearing at this event. Unfortunately …
As with yesterday, it was too hot for a fair comparison to last year’s results. HOWEVER, this was a bad event following last year’s marginal event. We will not return in 2016.
So concludes the story of The Lost Weekend: Part II.

The Food

Sunday Breakfast: Bagels & cream cheese

Sunday Lunch: Pizza by the slice from Mulberry Pizzeria, conveniently located across the street from our booth. Undersauced; not great pizza. Unfortunately. Oh, and the store was rude, telling people they couldn’t sit at a table more than 20 minutes.

Sunday Snack: Water.

Sunday Dinner: Leftover chicken piccata. Mmmmmmmm.

The Facts

Total miles driven: 102
Booth cost: $202.50
# of people we met during the event from the producer: 0
Total sales: $330
# containers of product taken: 24
# boards available: 110
Sunday alarm: 5:15a
# transactions: 10
# soap & lotion vendors: just us
# woodworking vendors: just us
Edge grain vs. end grain: 6:0

Boards sold: 6

Cheese Board # 15 – 026. Black Walnut, Hard Maple & Padauk. Edge Grain. 8″ x 10″ x 3/4″.

Cheese Board # 15 – 040. Jatoba, Hard Maple, Canarywood, Purpleheart & Yellowheart. Edge grain. 11-1/2″ x 9-1/4″ x 3/4″.

Hard Maple, Black Walnut and African Teak.

Cheese Board # 15 – 007. Black Walnut, Hard Maple and Padauk. 9″ x 10″ x 1-1/4″.

Medium Surfboard 15 – 03. Hard Maple, Padauk & Yellowheart.

Small Board # 15 – 052. Black Walnut, Hard Maple & Padauk. 7″ x 12″ x 1″.

Where, oh where, are the customers?

Posted October 13, 2015 by henrymowry in Craft Fairs

Tagged with Cheese Board, craft fair, Cutting board, Encino, Los Angeles, Mr M's Woodshop, San Fernando, Santa Clarita, Taste of, vendor

The Board Chronicles: Granada Hills Street Faire 2 comments

Granada Hills is in the northern San Fernando Valley, and is a good demographic match for us. Seems like a nice town; a commuter suburban community. Mrs M is in the community (and on the street the event is on) every week as a part of her “real” “job.”

This was our 8th event of 2014 (so, our 8th event ever). It was our 22nd event of 2015. It would appear we’ve picked up the pace a bit.

We were very happy with our sales last year of $577 (we were so young then!). That was not our goal for 2015. Not nearly. Also, this was only the 3rd event that we have repeated for 2 years running. More of those to come in the 4th quarter, of course, but this presented only our third opportunity to directly compare results year to year.

This was the 11th annual Street Faire, sponsored by the Granada Hills Chamber of Commerce. It had a bunch of vendors (150?) spread over 3 city blocks. There was a car show, stage entertainment, pony rides … it was a Street Fair. Or, Faire. Those Granada Hills folks do put on airs. I mean aires.

New Ideas

Last year, we had a single booth (we were so young then!). This year, it’s a double booth.
Mrs M took delivery of her new custom aprons (her boothwear) from the delightful Theresa of Heart Strings Creations. She was ready to rock it today!

Observations

I hate being lied to. Vendor instructions were very clear we could not get on the street before 8am. We were in line at 7:50a … and a host of vendors were already set up when we got on the street at 8am. Apparently, people were getting on as early as 6am. We didn’t need to be there at 6, but we would have certainly been there earlier if it had been a known option.
Hot. It was hot. 102*, Velda said. Hot.
We were next to a Chinese merchandise vendor (defined here as a booth selling very cheap kid-oriented merchandise almost certainly made in China). Lowered the property value of our booth.
Our neighbors on the other side and in back were local concerns, such as the booth for a state senator (they left early) and an air conditioning vendor (who didn’t have working models: bad plan).
It was hot.
When you’re hot and business is slow so you have nothing to think about but the heat, it’s really hot.
Conclusion: I don’t like 1 day events. We travel so heavy … it’s a 2 hour set-up and a 90 minute tear down. Easier if that work gets spread over 2 or 3 days.
I expected weather to impact some 4th quarter events, but I was expecting Godzilla El Nino. I never expected heat. But, it was hot, and the buyers stayed away in droves. Traffic was significantly down from last year, regardless of what our booths were offering.
Some of our vendor friends had better days than us (there were some buyers in the small crowd, just not enough of our buyers). Comparisons to last year aren’t fair … but we had a bad event.
Foreshadowing, it’s called. This day shall forever be known as The Lost Weekend: Part I. Tune in tomorrow for ….

The Food

Saturday Breakfast: Bagels & cream cheese.

Saturday Lunch: Velda found a new deli on this downtown street, and bought some salad and a couple of wraps. Better than fair food, but ultimately forgettable, IMHO.

Saturday Snack: Velda got an ice slush sugar thing. It was blue (which she gave me bites of) and red (that she ate exclusively). No clue what that means.

Saturday Dinner: Leftover meatloaf. Mmmmmm.

The Facts

Total miles driven: 86
Booth cost: $250
# of people we met during the event from the producer: 0
Total sales: $390
# containers of product taken: 25
# boards available: 115
Saturday alarm: 6am
# transactions:11
# soap & lotion vendors: no clue
# woodworking vendors: no clue
Edge grain vs. end grain: 4:1

Boards sold: 5

Small Board # 15 – 052. Black Walnut, Hard Maple & Padauk. Edge grain. 8″ x 12″ x 1″.

Sous Chef # 15 – 30. Hard Maple, Padauk & Black Walnut.

Medium Surfboard 15 – 06. Cherry, Hard Maple & Black Walnut.

Small Board # 15 – 037. Cherry, Black Walnut & Hard Maple end grain. 11″ x 12″ x 1-1/4″.

Large Surfboard # 15 – 25. Hard Maple.

Posted October 12, 2015 by henrymowry in Craft Fairs

Tagged with Cheese Board, craft fair, Cutting board, Granada Hills, Los Angeles, Mr M's Woodshop, San Fernando, Santa Clarita, Street Fair, vendor

The Board Chronicles: San Dimas Western Days Leave a comment

You may remember Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Bill and Ted were from San Dimas … and that’s where we headed last weekend.

It was not an excellent adventure for us, unfortunately.

This was the 48th Annual San Dimas Western Days. They have a Street Fair-styled event run by the Chamber of Commerce, and there’s a rodeo happening at the same time. There were about 80 vendors … perhaps 30 were handmade. The rest ranged from chiropractors to financial planners to the local water company.

This was actually our third choice event for this weekend. We weren’t accepted into our first choice (the horror!), and were then too late to apply to our second choice. We took the third option.

Unfortunately.

New Ideas

We added a second awning this week for shade in front of the booth. Given the weather, we were giving protection from the rain, too, in front of both booths.
We had rain overnight on Saturday, so we had to deal with waterproofing the booth for overnight, and rain protection needed throughout Sunday. We survived with no rain damage at all!

Observations

The Chamber of Commerce really angered our next door neighbor that thought they had the first booth in our line. In the new secret configuration, though, they had the third booth. Lots of anger in the 6am air.
Do the Western theme in your booth, we were told. Then why is the music from the stage all rock & roll?
Do not close your booth early, we were told. But on Saturday, the Chamber of Commerce closed their booth 30 minutes early. This was not a well run event from ANY perspective.
The neighbor across the way had a booth that looked like a homeless encampment, Velda thought. It was a sportscard/memorabilia dealer, and he had a pipe frame with tarps clipped to it for his booth. When the rain came Sunday, the booth just added more tarps/blankets/whatever for rain protection. Didn’t help the property values in our section of booths, and Mrs M was annoyed.
Lots of dog walkers at this event. The angry neighbor had his dog with him and prompted him to talk all day. “Rur-rur-rur,” the owner said. “Rur-rur-rur,” the malamute replied. All. Day. Long.
Many vendors did not return on Sunday; perhaps they were scared off by the rain forecast. This is Southern California, after all: rain scares us.
We spent all day Sunday waiting for the big rainstorm that never came, fortunately. We had sprinkles; it was definitely wet for an hour or so. But, in the end, Sunday’s rainy sales exceeded Saturday’s hot weather sales. Go figure.
Most Embarrassed Dog Award goes to the poor terrier that had to wear a yellow raincoat on Sunday. His mistress? No rain protection required.
I’ve said you can’t have a bad day if you sell the most expensive board on the table … but we did on Sunday. Nice sale, but the day really was long, wet and boring.
The Tandy leather retail booth next to us had total sales of $220 for the weekend. A jewelry retailer that had sales about like ours said this was their 4th year, and that sales had gone down every year. I’m not interested in seeing if there is a 5 year trend next year….

The Food

Saturday Breakfast: McDonald’s # 4 for me, # 1 for Mrs M. Sound familiar?

Saturday Lunch: Cheese & crackers. Sound familiar?

Saturday Snack: Too hot. Too bored. Not interested.

Saturday Dinner: Mediocre Chinese Food to share: Cashew Chicken for me & Shrimp & Snow Peas for Mrs M.

Sunday Breakfast: Holiday Inn Express biscuits & gravy. Mmmmmm.

Sunday Lunch: We shared a dry BBQ chicken sandwich & Mac & Cheese. Not exactly high living.

Sunday Snack: Peanut M&Ms. Thank goodness there was a grocery store nearby.

The Facts

Total miles driven: 255
Booth cost: $325 for a premium 10×20 crafters booth, open on 3 sides
# of people we met during the event from the producer: 0
Total sales: $991
# containers of product taken: 23
# boards available: 110
Saturday alarm: 4:30a
Sunday alarm: 6:30a
Home on Sunday: 7:10p
# transactions: 26
# soap & lotion vendors: just Mrs M!
# woodworking vendors: one turner, one carver and me
Edge grain vs. end grain: 7:1

Boards sold: 8

Lazy Susans: 2

Cheese boards: 2

Cutting boards: 2

Large cutting board: 1

Small surfboard: 1

Small Surfboard # 15 – 10. Hard Maple & Teak.

Lazy Susan # 15 – 025. Black Walnut, Hard Maple, Cherry & Yellowheart. 17″ diameter x 3/4″.

Cheese Board # 15 – 035. Black Walnut, Yellowheart, Bloodwood, Padauk, Hard Maple, Purpleheart, Canarywood & Honey Locust. Edge grain. 9-1/2″ x 9-1/2″ x 3/4″.

Cutting Board # 15 – 103. Cherry, Black Walnut, Hard Maple, Padauk & Yellowheart. Edge Grain. 13″ x 16″ x 1-1/4″.

Lazy Susan # 15 – 024. Black Walnut & Yellowheart. 17″ x 3/4″.

Cutting Board 15 – 053. Black Walnut. Edge Grain, Juice Groove. 15″ x 18″ x 1-1/2″.

Cutting Board # 15 – 102. Purpleheart & Hard Maple. Edge Grain. 12″ x 16″ x 1-1/4″.

Cheese Board # 15 – 028. Black Walnut, Hard Maple, Jatoba & Canarywood. Edge Grain. 8″ x 11″ x 3/4″.

Posted October 5, 2015 by henrymowry in Craft Fairs

Tagged with Cheese Board, craft fair, Cutting board, Los Angeles, Mr M's Woodshop, San Dimas, San Fernando, Santa Clarita, vendor, Western Days

Left Brain vs. Right Brain 2 comments

The boards that I create are almost always symmetrical … because in my mind, they must be. I’m driven that way.

Velda, on the other hand, can see boards in an unbalanced, but pleasing way. That’s why she designs chaos boards.

Here’s some of both. Which do you prefer?

Cutting Board 15 – 080. Hard Maple, Padauk & Yellowheart. Edge Grain. 14″ x 11-1/4″ x 1″.

Cheese Board # 15 – 031. Black Walnut, Hard Maple, Bloodwood, Red Oak, Yellowheart, Cherry, Purpleheart & Padauk. Edge grain. 9″ x 10″ x 3/4″.

Cheese Board # 15 – 035. Black Walnut, Yellowheart, Bloodwood, Padauk, Hard Maple, Purpleheart, Canarywood & Honey Locust. Edge grain. 9-1/2″ x 9-1/2″ x 3/4″.

Cheese Board # 15 – 032. Balck Walnut, Hard Maple, Yellowheart, Cherry & Padauk. Edge grain chaos board. 9-1/2″ x 9-1/8″ x 5/8″.

Cheese Board # 15 – 037. Black Walnut, Cherry, Yellowheart & Hard Maple. Edge grain. 10-3/4″ x 9-3/4″ x 3/4″.

Cheese Board # 15 – 033. Hard Maple, Canarywood, Yellowheart & Black Walnut. Edge grain. 11-1/2″ x 9″ x 3/4″.

Cheese Board # 15 – 040. Jatoba, Hard Maple, Canarywood, Purpleheart & Yellowheart. Edge grain. 11-1/2″ x 9-1/4″ x 3/4″.

Cheese Board # 14 – 040. Hard Maple, Cherry, Black Walnut & Padauk. Edge grain chaos board. 11″ x 8-1/2″ x 3/4″.

Engraved board # 15 – 36. Black Walnut, Cherry & Hard Maple. Edge grain. 11″ x 8″ x 3/4″.

Small Board # 15 – 057. Purpleheart & Hard Maple. 12-1/2″ x 7″ x 1″.

Small board # 15 – 057. Hard Maple, Padauk & Yellowheart. Edge grain. 11-1/4″ x 8-1/4″ x 1″.

Posted October 4, 2015 by henrymowry in Woodworking

Tagged with Cheese Board, Cutting board, from Mr M's Woodshop, Los Angeles, Mr M's Woodshop, San Fernando, Santa Clarita, serving board, Valencia

From The Shop: Just Like New 1 comment

Velda’s cutting board is nearly 2 years old … and it still looks just like new when it’s treated well. This is the 2nd resurfacing I have done on this board that gets daily, heavy use.

I spent 5 minutes sanding (only 5 minutes!) and then re-applied a few coats of mineral oil over 24 hours. As with all of my boards, Velda’s cutting board was then finished with a topcoat of Velda’s own Mrs M’s Board Butter, which is locally-harvested beeswax mixed with mineral oil.

Velda’s Cutting Board. Goncalo Alves (Tigerwood), Black Walnut, Honey Locust, Jatoba & Cherry. Edge grain, and 2 years old as shown. 16″ x 21″ x 1-1/4″.

More

The Cutting Board (12/26/2013)

KNX’s Melinda Lee On Beeswax & Cutting Boards

Posted October 3, 2015 by henrymowry in Woodworking

Tagged with Cutting board, cutting board restoration, from Mr M's Woodshop, Los Angeles, San Fernando, Santa Clarita, Velda's cutting board, VMICA

The Board Chronicles: Goleta Lemon Festival 3 comments

We’ve done the Strawberry Festival. The Poppy Festival. The Almond Blossom Festival.

Time for some lemons.

Goleta is 77 miles due west of us. It’s part of the central California coast, north of Santa Barbara. We found local motel prices were, uh, pricey in Santa Barbara County, so we ended up driving another 33 miles to the motel in Buellton.

This was the 24th annual Goleta Lemon Festival, celebrating the area’s lemon orchards.

Didn’t see any.

Velda wanted lemons for her lotion display, so we went to the local grocery store to buy some.

The lemons for sale were products of Chile. Those warning bells just turned into sirens….

New Ideas

Best attempt to energize social media by the promoter, complete with sending out custom graphic with a timely admonition to invite all of your “clients, friends and followers” to the event. Predictably, the person running the event for the Chamber of Commerce was under 30. Here are the perfect graphics they sent out a few days before the event:
Mrs M premiered 2 products here: Goat Milk Lotion & Beard Oil. Both were successful introductions. Because she needed more products.
We were an island, really … our double booth was open on 3 sides. The back of the booth was open, but there was a kids activity business there on Saturday and a kids music activity business there on Sunday. They were open air, so we had great, great visibility on the corner of the vendor area, right next to the kids in plastic bubbles playing in the water. Everybody had to check that out, and we were right there. Perfect location.

Observations

Could not find the drive in entrance to the event area. I could see the set-up, in the city park, but I couldn’t find the road to get there. Silly me. I was supposed to jump the curb with the not-wide-enough wheel chair ramp, and drive in on the sidewalk. Well, OK, then. Here we go.
Set up had barely begun when a neighboring canopy blew over and began to tumble towards a bunch of clueless ladies setting up their booth next to their car. I caught the canopy, helped right it and collapse it so it would not harm any people or possessions. The canopy wasn’t weighted at all, of course. When I returned to our booth, Velda and I muttered it together: “Amateurs.”
Surprisingly small number of vendors. This was not a huge event, and certainly didn’t have 35,000 in attendance, as the information provided by the event on a vendor website promised. There were perhaps a dozen retail vendors (3 of them were jewelry) and perhaps 2 dozen commercial vendors or local companies there promoting their business. There were several food vendors, some of which were local fundraisers selling lemony goodness.
This Festival is promoted as a family friendly event, and there were LOTS of young families there for the wide range of kids activities. Pony rides to Johnny Jump Ups for tweens. There was a track to drive battery operated John Deere tractors for the 3 year olds. A climbing wall. 4 or 5 bounce houses. Happy kids were everywhere.
Lots of UCSB students were there as well. No idea why, really … but we had college students, many of which had ridden their bikes to get there. It’s the central coast, after all.
I got 3 requests for backgammon boards … which is now my most requested item. Hmmmmm. Also a request for salad tongs, which I’ll file under “no.”
Never expected Velda to say this to me: “Here’s a pretty picture of soap.”
Best line of the weekend came from a young father there with his wife and 2 carrot-topped children. He was wearing a Cardinals t-shirt, and I commented that I grew up a Cardinals fan, but then converted to the Dodgers when I moved to LA. I congratulated the parents on having 2 red-headed children. Part of the 1%. I observed that I used to have red hair … to which the Dad replied, “Did you lose the red hair when you stopped being a Cardinals fan?”
You know the event didn’t go well for some when one vendor neighbor told us she’d never do another pop-up event like this.
Velda was overwhelmed by the business on Saturday: it was Mrs M’s best single day ever. The event was the biggest event ever for Mrs M. Those central coast people must need their handmade lotion. Or, perhaps it was what several people suggested to Velda: we had the best products there. Apparently.
While Mrs M prospered, Mr M was bored. Last Saturday, I outsold Mrs M, 10:1. This Saturday, Mrs M outsold me, 2:1 … the first time that’s happened in more than a year. And it’s about time!

The Food

Friday Dinner: Firestone Walker Brewing Company, Buellton. To paraphrase MrsMowry, we were drinking better beer than you were.

Saturday Breakfast: McDonald’s # 4 for me & # 1 for Velda. We ate while driving to the event.

Saturday Lunch: Velda’s cheese & cracker presentation. It got kudos from the customers. Of course.

Saturday Snack: Too hot. Who’s hungry?

Saturday Dinner: We couldn’t get a reservation to the Hitching Post, so we were stuck seeking comfort food at Pea Soup Andersen’s. It’s a traditional tourist-driven restaurant on the California 101 highway. And … ’nuff said.

Sunday Breakfast: See Saturday. Still the best option.

Sunday Lunch: Cheese & crackers, part II. Still a good idea.

Sunday Snack: Velda had a lemon beer.

Sunday Dinner: Leftovers at home. 9:15pm.

The Facts

Total miles driven: 385 (we drive 2 cars to have enough cargo capacity at most events)
Booth cost: $450 for a handcrafter 10×20
# of people we met during the event from the producer: 2
Total sales: $1,784
# containers of product taken: 23
# boards available: 104
Saturday alarm: 5:30a
Sunday alarm: 5:30a (oops. Should have been 6:30a)
# transactions: No clue. Velda gave up & stopped counting. For Mrs. M, this was the Best. Event. Ever.
# soap & lotion vendors: one other, selling soap & lotion bars
# woodworking vendors: one other, selling kid’s wooden toys
Edge grain vs. end grain: 12:1

Boards sold: 13

Small Board: 4

Small Sous Chef: 2

Lazy Susan: 2

Small Surfboard: 2

Chess Board: 1

Large Surfboard: 1

Cheese Board: 1

Sous Chef # 15 – 21. Hard Maple & Jatoba.

Chess Board # 03. Mahogany & White Oak squares with a Walnut border.

Lazy Susan 15 – 011. Cherry & Black Walnut. That’s curly cherry sapwood in the center; when you spin this lazy susan, it goes psychedelic! 17″ diameter.

Small Board # 15 – 051. Black Walnut & Hard Maple. Edge Grain. 10″ x 11-1/2″ x 1-1/2″.

Lazy Susan # 15 – 023. Jarrah & Canarywood. 17″ diameter x 3/4″.

Small Board # 15 – 049. Hard Maple, Cherry, Padauk, Jatoba, Purpleheart, Yellowheart, Black Walnut & Canarywood. Edge Grain. 11″ x 11-1/4″ x 1″.

Small Board # 15 – 044. Hard Maple, Padauk & Yellowheart. Edge Grain. 7-3/4″ x 12″ x 1-1/4″.

Surfboard # 15 – 19. Black Walnut & Red Oak.

Small Board # 15 – 021. Padauk and Hard Maple. 8″ x 12″ x 1″.

Small Surfboard # 15 – 09. Hard Maple, Teak & Yellowheart.

Sous Chef # 15 – 26. Honey Locust, Hard Maple, Black Walnut & Birdseye Maple.

Cheese Board # 15 – 029. Black Walnut, Red Oak, Padauk, Hard Maple and Yellowheart. Edge Grain. 8″ x 11″ x 3/4″.

Small Surfboard # 15 – 10. Hard Maple & Teak.

Posted September 29, 2015 by henrymowry in Craft Fairs

Tagged with Cheese Board, craft fair, Cutting board, Goleta, Lemon Festival, Los Angeles, Mr M's Woodshop, San Fernando, Santa Barbara, Santa Clarita, vendor

The Board Chronicles: Agua Dulce Country Fair 1 comment

Agua Dulce is a rural town that’s 16 miles north and east of us. It’s horse country, and the site of Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park, where Christopher met the younger Mrs. M.

Of course we have to do their annual Country Fair.

The Fair starts with a parade in mid-afternoon, and then the whole town comes to the site of the Women’s Club, which sets up a big stage. Entertainment begins with cake walks, moves up to a performance by the high school choir, and then has a couple of bar bands play for the rest of the evening. It’s a fun time; you get to meet your neighbors & share a beer under the stars.

The event is a commitment, though. The parade started at 4pm (closer to 4:30), and then the event really got going as the crowd came into the event area. The band played until 12 midnight, and that’s when vehicles could first come into the area to load out. We got home at 1:30am, which is hardly normal for us. We must have had a good time, yes?

I do envy the vendors that can move their set up on a hand truck. We travel far, far too heavy to make that happen!

This event is sponsored by the Agua Dulce Women’s Club, which produces the event as a fundraiser. They use the proceeds to fund their local charities throughout the year. They charge $5 admission to the event. Vendors are spread across their parking lot. Some vendors are also placed in the building the Club meets in – which was a perfect way for us to do this event last year. We didn’t have lights; we didn’t own a shade structure.

The 2014 edition was actually the 6th event we ever did as Mrs M’s Handmade. Our set up was 3 tables and 2 chairs in the corner of the hot building (the fans were broken). This time, we returned with more products and more resources … like 2 shade structures for our 10×20 booth.

New Ideas

I drove up to set up the shade structures & tables late Friday afternoon. That certainly made the Saturday set up much easier.
Had to buy a 2nd set of our outdoor lights that we hang in the shade structures. Our lighting must be great: we had 4 vendors come to us asking how they could get similar lights!
While Velda and I went to buy dinner, Christopher and the younger Mrs M (and Payton!), stayed to run the booth. Christopher was in charge of Mr M’s Woodshop, of course. He must of had fun; by the time I got back to the booth he had sold 4 different boards. Clearly, I need to eat more.

Observations

On the way to the event, Velda and I drove through a bike race. Some of the riders weren’t anxious to share the road, which was hardly sporting of them.
50% of boards sold at this event were at their first showing. That always scares me.
Could have sold another Canarywood cheese board, but I’d left the 2nd one I made at home. You never know which inventory to bring….
Velda yelled at me when I made a face at the off key singing being performed on stage. “You never know who’s related to whom,” she said. That’s true. But, my goodness, there were some poor singers on stage. Over all, the entertainment was good … but I did take exception to a couple of numbers here and there. But, after I was corrected by Mrs M, my thoughts were not broadcast on my face. I think.
The vendors in the building didn’t seem to have good traffic this year. One of my favorite vendor neighbors was in the building, Carrie’s Creative Caps.
I really dislike vendors that drive their truck to their booth and then pack it up. They end up clogging the area for vendors that are ready to load out, but can’t fit their vehicle into the space because of the impatient vendor that didn’t follow the rules. Every event has the same rule: pack your booth, and THEN drive in to load it out.
The good part of traveling very heavy to these events is that when you follow the rules and get packed up first, then you can usually drive right in to your booth for load out. Bu the time we were ready, the rude, angry people were already gone. Thank goodness.

The Food

Saturday Lunch: After we unloaded, we moved the Jeep to vendor parking and then had a fabulous & leisurely lunch at the Sweetwater Bar & Grill. Highly recommended. We’ll go back to this restaurant without the event to lure us!

Saturday Snack: Velda bought caramel corn, but I barely ate any. Not my thing, generally.

Saturday Dinner: Chicken quesadilla … which Velda told me I never eat. She’s wrong, and she’s not the boss of me (Alley is). I enjoyed my quesadilla.

Saturday Dessert: Payton brought Velda a lemon cupcake & me a chocolate chocolate chocolate cupcake. Of course it was fabulous … but she took a bite out of Velda’s. Not sure what that means.

Sunday Breakfast: Velda’s homemade breakfast burritos with chili. Mmmmmm.

The Facts

Total miles driven: 96
Booth cost: $150
# of people we met during the event from the producer: 3
Total 2015 sales: $1,286
Total 2014 sales: $551
# containers of product taken: 19
# boards available: 96
Saturday alarm: none
Saturday arrival: 11:45a
Saturday departure: 1:05a
Sunday alarm: absolutely none
# transactions: 24
# soap & lotion vendors: just Mrs M!
# woodworking vendors: just Mr M!
Edge grain vs. end grain: 9:5

Boards sold: 14

Small boards: 3

Small Sous Chef Boards: 2

Cheese Boards: 2

Large Cutting Boards: 2

Cutting Boards: 2

Lazy Susans: 2

Small Surfboard: 1

Sous Chef # 15 – 20. Hard Maple & Purpleheart.

Small Board # 15 – 034. Some exquisite layered grain Black Walnut and Honey Locust End Grain. The larger board is 10″ x 12″ x 1-1/4″. The smaller one is 8″ x 10″ x 1-1/4″.