Archive for the ‘Los Angeles’ Tag
It’s February, so it’s time to get serious. It’s been a nice couple of months without any events … but those days are gone.
Our first event is this weekend, so these boards were finished this evening in anticipation of a great weekend in Bakersfield.
Which is not something you hear said too often, by the way.
These end grain boards include some very large cutting boards (including a rather spectacular Jarrah & Bloodwood board that my photography simply does not capture) as well as some large chaos boards. These are full size cutting boards of many designs and sizes, so there’s something here for everyone … well, something for 10 homes. Let’s just leave it at that!
Cutting Board 16 – End 002. Chaos board. Cherry, Hard Maple, Purpleheart, Jatoba, Black Walnut, Yellowheart, Padauk, Burmese Teak, Hickory & Bloodwood. End grain. 10″ x 14″ x 1″.
Cutting Board 16 – End 001. Cherry, Black Walnut & Hard Maple. End Grain. 9-1/2″ x 12-1/2″ x 1″.
Cutting Board 16 – End 004. A spectacular board in daylight when the wood flouresces. Jarrah & Bloodwood. End grain. 16″ x 21″ x 1-1/2″.
Cutting Board 16 – End 010. Chaos board. Jatoba, Cherry, Padauk, Black Walnut, Honey Locust, Purpleheart, Yellowheart, Canarywood & Burmese Teak. End grain. 15″ x 20″ x 1-3/8″.
Cutting Board 16 – End 009. Cherry, Hard Maple, Jatoba, Padauk, Purpleheart, Honey Locust & Bloodwood. End grain. 11″ x 15″ x 1-3/8″.
Cutting Board 16 – End 007. Jatoba, Yellowheart & Hard Maple. End grain. 15″ x 19″ x 1-1/2″.
Cutting Board 16 – End 008. Chaos board. Canarywood, Hard Maple, Cherry, Padauk, Bloodwood, Black Walnut, Yellowheart, Honey Locust, Burmese Teak, Jatoba. 10″ x 14″ x 1-3/8″.
Cutting Board 16 – End 006. Hard Maple & Padauk. End grain. 15″ x 21″ x 1-1/2″.
Cutting Board 16 – End 003, AKA The Zipper. A numerologist’s favorite. Hard Maple, Yellowheart & Padauk. End Grain. 13″ x 14″ x 15/16″.
Cutting Board 16 – End 011. Chaos board. Black Walnut, Padauk, Yellowheart, Cherry, Jatoba, Hard Maple, Bloodwood, Canarywood. End grain. 15″ x 17″ x 1-3/8″.
I’ve had an incredible year in the shop. In fact, I’ve had too much of a year in the shop, so I have taken a couple of days off before I re-engage, finish the few projects remaining from 2015, and fully focus my attention on making 2016 bigger and better.
During my time off, I’ve had a chance to think about what I do, and what I’ve learned as I’ve made my hobby self-sustaining. (It’s not profitable yet, but I am at least paying my expenses!)
From every perspective, 2015 was a very, very good year. Here are 13 things I’ve learned:
1. Spreading glue is something I do a lot of … and I thought I was getting smart when I switched from traditional brushes to a silicon brush. After wearing out my forearms brushing for a couple of years, I switched to a rubber roller to spread glue … and it is SO much better. More even. Quicker. Easier. I’ve still got the silicon brush for unusual projects, but my 2″ roller is now my “go to” for glue spreading.
2. There are 3 ways to increase profits: increase volume, increase prices, and decrease expenses. Eventually, you have to do all 3 to be successful. This is simple … but not so easy when it’s just you selling stuff and it’s comfortable to change nothing. Not so easy when you’re selling to strangers, family and friends, from a different location every week. After a lifetime of selling everything from accordion lessons to signs on roller coasters to advertising to custom software, who knew I could sell retail?
3. Buying wood is essential to what I do, and I continue to develop new sources for good wood. In 2015, I used 18 different species of wood. I mainly buy from 4 lumber yards spread around LA, but I’ve bought from 3 others. I’ve ordered over the ‘net from one supplier, and called another directly, to order 3 specific species I can’t source locally. I have also bought wood from guys advertising stuff out of their garage. I have worked with local sawyers with portable mills. When you need a volume of wood at a reasonable price, you’ve got to work at it. Oh, and then you need to understand the cost of the wood you have on hand, so that when you use it, you charge a reasonable price for the end result of all of this shopping for wood. New species used in 2015:
- Bloodwood
- Caribbean Rosewood
- Mahogany
4. There’s nothing like a good tool to make the work go faster and the end result better. I had resisted buying expensive sanders for years … even as I read the reviews telling me that Festool random orbital sanders (ROSs), and the companion “dust extractor” shop vacs were the best. With the constant, uh, observations from Mrs M that I was leaving dust everywhere when I went in the house, I finally decided that getting rid of my old ROSs and replacing them with the Festool sanders that everyone said were the best was the only way to solve the problem. The tools are not cheap, and the HEPA filter shop vac Dust Extractor was also not cheap … but when used in combination, oh my. What took me so long to fix the problem? If you use an ROS a lot, and you are creating too much uncontained dust, you need to buy Festool. Just do it quicker than I did.
5. I talk about dirty jobs like I’m a Mike Rowe wanna-be (which I am, but I digress). Dust collection is essential in a woodshop, and I definitely reached a point of no return last year: fix the problem, or fill our house & my lungs with dust. I’m happy to report that after using one underpowered dust collection system for many years, I did retire it (well, it quit). I then bought a cheap, used but comparable system as a temporary solution. Finally, I bought a very good system in December that was installed in January. I have now fixed my dust collection problem. It took a lot of research, some expert help, and several nickels, but I got there.
6. You have to see it to work it. Shops are dark until they are properly lit. With the change in the dust collection system, I moved one flourescent strip that will improve light on my tool line, and I’ve added a magnetic-based flex light as well. I need to install one more focused light over the table saw, and then I’ll be able to see everything everywhere while I work, whether the garage woodshop door is open or not, whether it’s daylight or not. And that will be a vast improvement over the way it’s been.
7. In SoCal, most people use garages for things other than storing cars. Our garage hasn’t seen a car for a long time … but it has seen Webelos meetings. Backpack storage. It’s been a way station for the kids’ stuff when they moved. To optimize the space for the woodshop, I’ve had to (shudder) move stuff out of the way, and put long term storage items, or things used once a year, on the top shelf in order to clear space for the stuff I’m using regularly. Sounds simple … but if you keep not using things in the middle of the wall, or right under the workbench, then it’s time to move stuff. Which is now done.
8. Get small. Use cut offs. Part of my great stride in efficiency in 2015 was to standardize many of my approaches: I made most cutting boards using 24″ lengths, for example. That works great, but it does generate a significant amount of odd and ends that are cut off from the longer boards. Further, some 24″ lengths are found to have defects in the middle or the ends resulting in 18″ boards. Or 16″ boards. All of those shorter lengths must be used, or that crash you hear will be another wood cascade getting the better of me. In 2016, I’m going to use up all of my cut offs. Well, maybe not all. But I will use enough that small wooden end pieces under 24″ in length are no longer stored in every nook and cranny I can create or imagine.
9. It’s a big world out there. Think differently. If you only make designs that you like, or would want in your home, then you’ll miss a whole lot of people that want different things (People want different things. Who knew?). In 2014, I learned that people wanted cutting boards for their RVs, so I started making smaller cutting boards. This year, I learned that there’s a world of sizes, shapes & colors out there, and I need to explore them in order to help the most people. The reason I display 80 boards in my booth is that no matter what I do, people are always looking for something different! So … on a good day, I have 20 more boards under the table that may be what they’re looking for.
10. Study your craft. There’s a world of information available if you just look for it. People that only do what they know limit their potential. Do new things. As Morpheus taught us in The Matrix, you need to expand your mind.
11. I’m making several different things now, but people are always asking for different things (cribbage boards I have talked about, but I’ve also been asked to do bar stools, kitchen tables, picnic tables, chair refinishing, bar tops, a “Go” game board, backgammon boards, and more). I’m capable of doing what I’ll call oddball or one-off projects … but I shouldn’t do them. They are a giant time suck for me, and when I do take on a one-off, I seem to never charge enough. Sometimes, I need to be less helpful.
12. When you sell gifts, you’re going to be asked to do custom orders and then ship them. You need to know what shipping costs are up front, and make sure you charge them to people when they order their gifts. Sounds simple, I know, but until you’ve done it, you haven’t done it. Make sure that your sales forms are designed with shipping costs and deadlines prominently displayed, so that you won’t skip over those pesky little details when you’re accepting a custom order.
13. Throw things away. Woodworkers are by their nature packrats … I’ve saved some pieces of wood for years until I find “just the right thing” to make with it. That’s fine … but if the board has a knot, or a crack, or some other defect that means that it can’t be used for food-ready pieces, then get rid of the board now. You don’t have room to store things you can’t use.
I am surprised at how many ideas I have developed for sale in the last year. Here’s a sampling of the new ideas first seen from Mr M’s Woodshop in 2015:
- Engraved Boards
- Bread Boards
- Sous Chef Boards
- Juice Grooves
- Pig Cutting Boards
- Surfboards
- Chess Boards
- Bear Cheese Boards
- Building Blocks
- Magic Bottle Opener
- Clipboards
- Pizza Server
- Recipe Boards
Bread Board 15 – 07. Hard Maple and Purpleheart. 5″ x 15″ x 3/4″.
Sous Chef # 15 – 56. Black Walnut, Yellowheart, Jatoba & Hard Maple. 9″ x 16″ x 3/4″.
Sous Chef # 15 – 47. Purpleheart, Cherry & Jarrah. 10″ x 22″ x 3/4″.
Pig # 15 – 11. Yellowheart, Hard Maple and Black Walnut. 19″ x 12″ x 1-1/8″.
Cutting Board # 15 – 049. Jatoba, Honey Locust & Hard Maple. End Grain, Juice Groove. 16″ x 20″ x 1-1/2″. Pre-sold from the shop.
Medium Surfboard 15 – 05. Hard Maple, Cherry & Black Walnut.
37 Building Blocks. Hard Maple. 1-3/4″ x 1-3/4″ x 1-3/4″.
Pizza Server # 15 – 05. Cherry, Hard Maple & Black Walnut. 17″ x 3/4″ with 7″ handle.
Bear # 15 – 03. Black Walnut. Edge Grain. 10″ x 20″ x 3/4″.
Recipe Board 15 – 01. Hard Maple. 8″ x 12″ x 3/4″.
Bottle Opener 15 – 02. Black Walnut, Padauk, Cherry, Jarrah & Jatoba. 5″ x 10″ x 3/4″. Magic Bottle Opener.
I try and post a picture of every board I make … and I almost forgot these, which were finished at the very end of 2015. All were commissioned pieces, but I did make some extras of the magic bottle openers.
The bottle openers magically catch the cap from the bottle after it’s opened. Several caps will be held by the opener. And it’s magic. That’s all I’m saying. Each opener comes with mounting screws for either drywall or solid wooden surface mounting.
Cutting Board 15 – 094. Jatoba, Black Walnut, Yellowheart, Jarrah, & Jatoba. 13″ x 19″ x 1-1/2″. Commissioned piece; replacement board fitted in a counter top.
Cutting Board 15 – 093. Hard Maple. 15″ x 18″ x 3/4″. Commissioned piece. Replacement pull-out in-counter board with bread board ends.
Bottle Opener 15 – 02. Black Walnut, Padauk, Cherry, Jarrah & Jatoba. 5″ x 10″ x 3/4″. Magic Bottle Opener.
Bottle Opener 15 – 03. Black Walnut, Yellowheart & Hard Maple. 5″ x 10″ x 3/4″. Magic Bottle Opener.
Cutting Board 15 – 098. Purpleheart, Hard Maple & Jarrah. End Grain with Juice Groove. Monster board at 17″ x 28″ x 1-1/2″. Commissioned piece.
I’m yet to cut a board in my shop with the newly installed dust collector; don’t be misled. I’m on vacation from the shop. Well, sort of.
These boards were constructed & sanded in 2015, but they were oiled & waxed in 2016.
Six of these boards were commissioned pieces which will be shipped to their new homes in the next few days. The rest will have to wait to find their new home!
Random thoughts:
- I’ve lost my source for Honey Locust, so you won’t be seeing much of that wood in my new creations. I hope to find another source; I really like Honey Locust’s orange tint.
- This Goncalo Alves will darken with age, and I really love that wood. I should use it more, but I stopped because I couldn’t find an affordable source … but that species, I have got a better source now. The cutting boards I made for the 2 Mrs M’s are both primarily Goncalo. Hmmmm.
- These boards were made in winter … is that why they’re all dark?
- Bloodwood is my new favorite. Fantastic, colorful figure in this wood, and it pairs very nicely the other woods here with a distinctly reddish color: Purpleheart and Jarrah. Cherry and Jatoba are very complementary as well.
One other note about the Woodshop: at the end of 2014, I only had 19 boards in inventory. With these boards (minus the commissioned pieces), my inventory is now 108 boards! I’m still sold out of a few items (no clipboards, no surfboards, and no pigs!), but I’ve got a pretty broad inventory to start the new year … and several weeks to prepare for our first event in February.
Meanwhile, here are the first boards of the new year!
Cutting Board 16 – Edge 003. Goncalo Alves, Jatoba, Black Walnut, Cherry. Edge Grain. 17″ x 21″ x 1-1/2″. Commissioned piece.
Cutting Board 16 – Edge 002. Goncalo Alves, Black Walnut, Honey Locust, Cherry & Jarrah. Edge Grain. 17″ x 21″ x 1-1/2″.
Small Board 16 – 001. Purpleheart & Hard Maple. Edge Grain. 5″ – 7″ x 12″ x 1-1/4″.
Cutting Board 16 – Edge 005. Purpleheart & Hard Maple. Edge Grain. 12″ x 16″ x 1-1/4″.
Small Board 16 – 003. Black Walnut, Cherry, Jatoba, Hard Maple. 7″ x 13″ x 1-1/4″.
Cheese Board 16 – 004. Purpleheart & Birds Eye Maple. 9″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cheese Board 16 – 001. Black Walnut, Purpleheart, Jarrah, Jatoba, Cherry & Hard Maple. 9″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Small Board 16 – 002. Black Walnut, Cherry, Jatoba, Hard Maple, Bloodwood & Jarrah. 7″ x 12″ x 1-1/4″.
Cutting Board 16 – Edge 004. Purpleheart & Hard Maple. Edge Grain. 12″ x 16″ x 1-1/4″.
Cheese Board 16 – 002. Jatoba, Black Walnut, Jarrah, Cherry, Purpleheart & Hard Maple. 9″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Small Board 16 – 004. Purpleheart, Jatoba, Padauk, Black Walnut, Cherry, Hard Maple & Jarrah. 7″ x 12″ x 1-1/4″.
Cheese Board 16 – 003. Purpleheart & Hard Maple. 9″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cutting Board 16 – Edge 007. Purpleheart, Jatoba, Black Walnut, Bloodwood, Cherry & Hard Maple. Edge Grain. 12″ x 16″ x 1-1/4″.
Cutting Board 16 – Edge 006. Black Walnut, Cherry, Jatoba. Edge Grain. 13″ x 16″ x 1-1/4″.
Cutting Board 16 – Edge 001. Black Walnut, Cherry, Hard Maple, Jatoba, Bloodwood. Edge Grain. 12″ x 16″ x 1-1/4″.
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.
We’re back for part 2.
This boutique ended up being split onto 2 different days in November and December. The November event was good (read that Chronicle here), but I had lower expectations for this event just 6 days before Christmas.
New Ideas
- The promoter, Stella, played into my superstition and moved our tables away from the door. My working theory is that being next to the door is a negative on sales.
- Of course, Stella put her tables right by the door … so she’s either being far too accommodating of me, or she rejects the superstition outright.
Observations
The Food
Saturday Breakfast: Velda’s egg burrito. Yum.
Saturday Lunch: Tater tots & grilled cheese with bacon from The Grilled Cheese food truck. Yum.
Saturday Snack: Holiday treats brought by the vendors to share. Yum.
Saturday Dinner: Salmon at Fishtail. Yum.
The Facts
- Total miles driven: 44
- Booth cost: $80
- # of people we met during the event from the producer: both of them
- Total sales: $870
- # containers of product taken: 18
- # boards available: 72
- Saturday alarm: nope
- # transactions: 20
- # soap & lotion vendors: one soap vendor & Mrs M
- # woodworking vendors: just me
- Edge grain vs. end grain: 5: 1
Boards sold: 6
Cheese Boards: 2x
Large Cutting Board: 1x
Pig: 1x
Bear: 1x
Small Sous Chef: 1x
Pig # 15 – 13. Black Walnut, Hard Maple, Yellowheart and Jatoba. 19″ x 12″ x 1-1/8″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 055. Black Walnut & Bloodwood. 8″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 065. Black Walnut, Cherry, Hard Maple & Yellowheart. 8″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cutting Board # 15 – 086. Cherry, Hard Maple, Purpleheart & Jatoba. End Grain with Juice Groove. 15″ x 20″ x 1-1/2″.
Sous Chef # 15 – 54. Hard Maple, Yellowheart & Jatoba. 9″ x 16″ x 3/4″.
Bear # 15 – 03. Black Walnut. Edge Grain. 10″ x 20″ x 3/4″.
It’s been quite a year.
And how did I get here? A casual comment to Velda, and a mutual need to exercise a different part of our brains. And, oh my, we had no idea what we were getting into!
But here we are.
Last week, I sold my 500th piece of the year. It was a large end grain cutting board, going soon to a lucky lady for Christmas.
Cutting Board # 15 – 075, and the 500th piece sold in 2015. Jatoba & Hard Maple. End Grain, Juice Groove. 16″ x 20″ x 1-1/2″.
How did this all happen? I blame Velda.
Of course.
She started playing around, making sugar scrubs. She got Alley to join in. They both made them for presents one Christmas … and the die was cast.
In the next year, Velda received a lotion bar as a present – but the giver thought it was soap. ’twasn’t. Velda began doing research, and with encouragement from her friends, she discovered she could make lotion bars. She did, and, again, she gave them away.
“You should sell these,” people said.
“Good idea,” she said.
The younger Mrs M stepped up and wanted to play as well, hoping to create better, more natural skin care products for herself and her daughter, our # 1 Granddaughter.
With that, Mrs M’s Handmade was created. The ladies had one problem: someone had to lift the heavy stuff. So, Velda decided to volunteer me. It happened that I had just made routed bowls and cutting boards for Christmas presents, and she suggested that I make cheese boards & cutting boards to sell alongside her skin care products.
Mrs. M and Mrs. M, before they opened on their first day. We were so young then – on March 23, 2014.
She was getting a great deal: free labor from me, plus she could banish me to the garage woodshop whenever she wanted some peace and quiet in the kitchen laboratory.
I got my revenge, though. Sawdust now covers just about everything. Velda tolerates it, thank goodness. Not that she has much choice. I’ve blown out one dust collection system, and my second system now seems to be leaking as much dust as it captures. But I’m a woodworker: I make sawdust. Velda has to learn tolerance.
Because that sounds like Velda.
21 months ago we began this journey as vendors selling our handmade wares at pop-up craft fairs in Southern California. We do it because we are scratching an itch we can’t reach with our real jobs. Velda enjoys making skin care products for the satisfaction of researching and creating solutions that people actually love to use … and tell her they love to use them. Not the same thing as caring for patients, as she does in her real job. The younger Mrs M hopes to craft a good alternative for better skin care products for her kids. For my part, making sawdust is not the same thing as sitting at a desk selling computer systems to radio stations on the telephone. Love my job … but I also need to clear my head, which I can do by not being on the phone while making things in the garage woodshop.
This year, Velda and I decided to, uh, accelerate, so we put my foot on the gas and we began making product and doing events at a furious pace.
The result: We’ve done 64 days of events this year. We’ve done as many as 3 different events on a weekend. Both Mrs Ms have been there, as well as Miss M on a few occasions. Velda and I have both done solo events as well. With that amount of effort, we’ve found sales success for the Mrs M’s … not to mention for their subsidiary, Mr M’s Woodshop. I’ve now sold well over 500 pieces this year. Cheese boards, cutting boards, Lazy Susans, building blocks, serving pieces … and I can’t wait to show you what’s coming in 2016!
After I install the new dust collection system, that is.
Juanita Boring Mowry, 1984.
Growing up, there were two certainties when there was a Sunday dinner at Grandma Mowry’s: homemade Lemon Meringue Pie, and Chocolate Pie.
Chocolate Pie for the win, of course.
The problem was that Grandma didn’t have the recipe written down, and didn’t use measuring cups. She simply put the ingredients in the bowl until they “looked right,” or into her hands until they “felt right.” That’s how she cooked the World’s Best Pie.
So how do you bring that legacy forward?
Enter Velda, the big city girl who married Grandma’s only Grandson and moved with him to California. Fortunately, Velda was also fearless. She asked her Grandmother-in-law to demonstrate the recipe, and actually guesstimated the ingredient quantities and created a recipe card by watching her make a pie.
It was 1980.
Velda does not consider herself a pastry chef, but she does agree to make the World’s Best Pie twice each year. All was going well, until a kitchen accident nearly became a kitchen CATASTROPHE. The recipe card Velda wrote in 1980 – the only written copy of THE recipe – got caught in a Christmas cookie crossfire, and ended up stuck to the bottom of a cookie sheet.
And then she baked it at 350* for 12 minutes.
The recipe card was severely damaged. Discolored. Corners flaked away. We almost lost this Most Important Family Recipe due to a moment of kitchen chaos.
Enter the next generation, and the younger soon-to-be Mrs M asked Velda for a copy of all of her recipes. The result: the printed Mowry Family Cookbook, which was published in 2008. That saved Velda’s recipes from future cookie dough disasters, plus a host of classic friend & family recipes were added, to boot.
And then Mr M’s Woodshop got going at a furious pace … and I had another idea.
Here’s the latest from the shop: the laser engraved recipe board. It’s meant for display on the recipe side, and can be used on the flip side. Finished size is 8″ x 12″ x 3/4″.
Get me a copy of your recipe written on a plain, unfolded sheet of paper using a extra fine point black Sharpie, and I can do the rest. After all, if you are fortunate enough to be from a family that does Christmas baking, you should never have to chance losing your Most Important Family Recipe in the process!
Recipe Board 15 – 01. Hard Maple. 8″ x 12″ x 3/4″.
The written recipe you supply will be digitally scanned and converted to a graphic for the laser engraver. If the writing is pretty, that’s great … but if it’s illegible, there’s nothing I can do about that!
More
Grandma Mowry’s Chocolate Pie
Your Family’s Stuff
Treasuring Family Photos
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 Church on the Way hosts an annual community event that includes snow, a live nativity, Santa … and vendors. Their flyer is my absolute favorite for this holiday season, too.
New Ideas
- In the “we’re still crazy” department, we are doing this event on a Sunday in December. It’s a 3 hour event … so I’ll spend as much time setting up and taking down as I will, uh, eventing.
- The cost for the event is a voluntary contribution. Happy to tithe from our sales, as is suggested.
- Given the forecast and the short window for the event, we downsized to a 10 x 10.
Observations
- After last week’s Best. Event. Ever., this week promised to be a comedown. Zero expectations for this event, actually. It will be what it will be.
- Rain was forecast throughout the event. It never rains in Southern California, but girl, let me warn you….
- Last year’s event was a success, I was told. But this year’s forecast….
- It started misting at 4:30, and it rained more every hour. There was no saving this event. No one’s fault … but it was raining. No shoppers.
Worst. Event. Ever.
- No one’s fault, really. But, it was raining. We were done before we started. Setting up was a mistake, in the end.
- Broke down in record time with Velda’s help, and then we came home with wet containers, a wet shade structure, and wet table cloths. We don’t think that any product was damaged, but it may have been. Only time will tell.
The Food
Sunday Dinner: A ham & cheese from The Grilled Cheese Truck. And tater tots. Mmmmm.
The Facts
- Total miles driven: 16
- Booth cost: $1
- # of people we met during the event from the producer: 1
- Total sales: $11
- # containers of product taken: 15
- # boards available: too many
- Sunday alarm: No problem. Load in was at 3:30p
- # transactions: 2
- # soap & lotion vendors: just us
- # woodworking vendors: just me
- Edge grain vs. end grain: 0
Boards sold: 0
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.
Here’s the intro to this event from their website:
Located in Ridgecrest, California, Santa’s Art Shop is now in it’s 35th year. Over 5,000 holiday shoppers come together with more than 200 art and craft vendors for this two day event. The Desert Empire Fairgrounds provides over 33,000 square feet of indoor exhibit space for this show.
Ridgecrest is about 120 miles north and east, located on the edge of the Mojave. Naval Air Weapons Station (NAWS, or China Lake) is nearby, and this community of 27,000 is a military town. As the residents will tell you, there aren’t many opportunities for shopping nearby, so the community saves for this annual event and really turn out to support it and complete some unique holiday shopping.
We did this event in 2014, and we had our best event of the year. Loved it. Handmade goods, nice people, nice community, holiday spirit … what’s not to love?
But, we agreed, we did it wrong. We did not take advantage of the opportunity that this event provided us. We were in a crowded, single booth with all 3 of us working it. The lighting in this government-owned fairgrounds building was horrible (and I am SO focused on lighting!). We had the best holiday decorations money could buy from Walmart the night before with no planning, no electricity, and no way to hang anything.
We had a lot of work to do.
So, we spent all year talking about how we could bring our “A” game to Ridgecrest. We wanted to make sure that our presentation was perfect, and our product offering was as good and complete as we could make it.
We went all in. My secret goal was to have our best event ever, of course, and have sales over $3,000. We had only barely gone over $2,500 once, mind you, so I had a lofty, secret goal, indeed.
New Ideas
- Double booth, of course, with holiday lights, garland, and Christmas tree tablecloth runners.
- We had spent weeks preparing for this event. Velda, Alley and I had all made an incredible amount of product. We needed to buy new containers just to hold it. We had a LOT of new product. The ladies weren’t making batches of lotion … they were making quadruple batches. I finished 70 new boards (42 cheese boards, 13 Lazy Susans, 6 large cutting boards, 4 pizza servers, 1 cutting board, 1 small board & 3 bears) just in time for this event, in addition to my current inventory.
- I asked Velda what product we were taking. The answer, “All of it.”
- We rented a 5’x8′ trailer, hitched it to the Jeep, and prepared to head north. We filled the trailer with our pop-up shade structures, lights, product & decorations.
- Christopher & Alley drove separately with Payton, and the 5 of us set up the booth. It was great having Christopher there, using our new industrial strength rolling cart to empty the trailer while the rest of us got busy setting up.
- Remember those new containers needed to hold all of the new product? We had no room to store them in the booth, so they had to be returned to the empty trailer for the duration of the event so we could conveniently access our overstock (this year, we had overstock!) during the event.
- The trailer was dropped in a parking lot on the fairgrounds for the duration, and we had the Jeep to drive around town without the trailer. Thank goodness. I may get used to driving a trailer someday, but I’ll always remember pulling a hay trailer with a tractor while Dad loaded the hay. I was not good at pulling a trailer then, and I haven’t practiced much since.
Observations
- The pitcher may throw you a ball that is just begging to be smacked out of the park … but you still have to hit it. Could we?
- Here’s a hard rule: never, never, never talk to a woman about being pregnant until she actually says she’s pregnant.
A lady with a pronounced bump in her middle loved one of my large cutting boards. She couldn’t stop touching it. She was shopping with her Mom, and it became a joke about how she kept touching the board.
That’s when I did it.
I said it was OK: she was touching for 2 now.
She said, “Oh, I’m carrying twins.” My immediate and obvious reply, “Congratulations!”
Her response, “Oh, they’re not mine. I’m just the surrogate.”
OK, you’re so smart, what do you say now?
- She bought the board. And I’ll never violate the rule again.
- I only had 2 medium surfboards left, and I almost left them at home. I’m going to the desert: no surfers there. I sold both boards on Saturday. Lesson: stop thinking, and bring the product. All of it.
- Saturday night, my Facebook news feed had a meme with a picture of Sam Elliott saying that you’re not a man if you can’t back up a trailer. Now, how in the HELL did that arrive in my news feed just after I had driven a trailer over a hundred miles for the first time in years?
- And I had backed it up. Just sayin’.
- Board sales on day one totaled 31: an all-time record for any event … on day one! I checked my overstock Sunday morning, and with my 3 tables full of 80 boards, I still had an overstock of 31 for the second day. We. Were. Prepared.
- # 1 comment at this show: “Oh, these are too pretty to use!” Is that code for too expensive to buy? Perhaps that is sometimes the case, but with sales so good, I’m not going to worry about it.
- Remember how I sold the last chess board last week? Yup, I was asked the question. Again.
- # 1 request at this show was for cribbage boards. Nope, not going to do it. Still.
- Y’know, if I had a dollar for every time I’ve been asked to make a cribbage board, I still could not buy the template and drill bit I need. Just sayin’. And, I don’t wanna. The end.
- Saturday was a blur. We were so busy. That’s a fabulous thing, because….
Best. Day. Ever.
- I love it when the event organizers buy stuff from us. We generally sell some boards, and especially some lotion products, to the other vendors, but we don’t always sell to the event producers. Cool when it happens!
- Sunday was much slower. That was OK … because it was still 40% of the incredible day we had on Saturday.
Best. Event. Ever.
Best. Weekend. Ever.
- After the frenetic pace of the day before, I caught myself yawning a couple of times. Then, it happened. In the last hour, I sold a large cutting board … checked the total … and we were ever so close to reaching a very big number. Velda had 2 more lotion sales, and we made it on the final sale.
- I talked to several vendors that had their best year at this event, or simply, like us, their best event ever. This is a GREAT event for vendors of their own handmade goods.
- Coming back next year? You bet.
The Food
Saturday Breakfast: Just like last year. Free breakfast at the Clarion Inn. 2 eggs, over easy. Yum.
Saturday Lunch: Food vendors were overwhelmed. We had orange chicken over rice … luckily. They had run out of rice, it seems, and a few patrons ahead of Velda in line got their orange chicken served over french fries. Velda got the rice, and that’s about the only good thing I can say about the lunch.
Saturday Snack: Peanut butter toffee from another vendor. Yum.
Saturday Dinner: We went to dinner with our good friends, Barry & Wendy, our vendor neighbors. We tried to find dinner … and our first 3 Italian restaurant choices were all closed (note to self: Ridgecrest doesn’t support Italian restaurants. Apparently.). The 4th restaurant was a Mexican restaurant, and the line was out the door, so we passed. We ended up back at the Clarion Inn’s restaurant for dinner. I had beef medallions … and I should have had the pasta like everyone else. In this not-an-Italian-restaurant restaurant in Ridgecrest. Go figure.
Sunday Breakfast: Free breakfast at the Clarion Inn. Their omelet was a mistake. But it was free.
Sunday Lunch: Tortas. A mess, but good food.
Sunday Snack: nope.
Sunday Dinner: Cashews on the road, and then an egg sandwich when we got home. At 9:30p.
The Facts
- Total miles driven: 590 miles
- Booth cost: $407
- # of people we met during the event from the producer: 2
- Total sales: $4,012
- # containers of product taken: All of them
- # boards available: 142
- Saturday alarm: 6:15a
- Sunday alarm: 6:15a
- # transactions: 90
- # soap & lotion vendors: at least 3
- # woodworking vendors: at least 9. There was a scroll saw expert making wonderful nightlights. A spoon maker. A turner that made pens, and another that made bowls. A model maker. Toy maker. Jewelry box maker. Sort of a general woodworker with a few items including hat racks … and a few cutting boards. And me. I don’t count the buy & sell importer with wooden boxes & dust catchers that were NOT handmade. Or, at least not handmade by the vendor, as the rules require.
- Edge grain vs. end grain: 38:7
Boards sold: 45
Cheese Boards: 21
Lazy Susans: 7
Cutting Boards: 4
Large Cutting Boards: 2
Small Boards: 2
Large Surfboards: 2
Medium Surfboards: 2
Large Sous Chef Boards: 2
Clipboard: 1
Blocks: 1
Small Sous Chef Board: 1
Surfboard # 15 – 32. Black Walnut, Hard Maple & Cherry. 12″ x 19″ x 1-1/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 060. Padauk, Black Walnut, Hard Maple & Cherry. 8″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 048. Cherry, Hard Maple, Jatoba, Honey Locust, Jatoba, Purpleheart, Black Walnut & Yellowheart. 9″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cutting Board # 15 – 054. Hard Maple & Jatoba edge grain with juice groove. 12″ x 16″ x 1-1/4″.
Sous Chef # 15 – 50. Black Walnut, Hard Maple & Jarrah. 10″ x 22″ x 3/4″.
Lazy Susan # 15 – 047. Black Walnut, Cherry & Honey Locust. 17″ diameter x 3/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 065. Black Walnut & Teak. 8″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Surfboard # 15 – 40. Black Walnut, Jatoba, Cherry & Hard Maple. 12″ x 19″ x 1-1/4″.
Cutting Board # 15 – 051. Black Walnut, Jarrah, Purpleheart and Honey Locust end grain with juice groove. 12″ x 16″ x 1-1/2″.
Small Board # 15 – 050. Jatoba, Cherry, Honey Locust, Hard Maple, Black Walnut & Hickory. End Grain. 11″ x 12″ x 1-1/4″.
Medium Surfboard 15 – 01. Black Walnut, Hard Maple and Yellowheart.
Cheese Board # 15 – 051. Hard Maple, Purpleheart & Cherry. 8″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 067. Cherry, Hard Maple & Black Walnut. 9″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 063. Padauk, Hard Maple & Black Walnut. 8″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 066. Hard Maple, Jatoba, Black Walnut, Yellowheart & Cherry. 8″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 068. Black Walnut, Yellowheart & Cherry. 9″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cutting Board # 15 – 084. Jatoba, Cherry, Yellowheart, Jatoba, Hard Maple, Bloodwood & Canarywood. 16″ x 20″ x 1-1/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 054. Purpleheart & Hard Maple. 9″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 029. Black Walnut, Red Oak, Padauk, Hard Maple and Yellowheart. Edge Grain. 8″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Sous Chef # 15 – 43. Hard Maple, Black Walnut & Jatoba. 9″ x 16″ x 3/4″.
Cutting Board # 15 – 091. Hard Maple. End Grain. 13″ x 17″ x 1-1/4″.
Lazy Susan # 15 – 041. Black Walnut & Goncalo Alves. 17″ diameter x 3/4″.
Lazy Susan # 15 – 046. Black Walnut. 17″ diameter x 3/4″.
Lazy Susan # 15 – 040. Jatoba, Black Walnut, Jarrah & Caribbean Rosewood. 17″ diameter x 3/4″.
Lazy Susan # 15 – 044. Teak, Yellowheart & Black Walnut. 17″ diameter x 3/4″.
Hard Maple, Padauk and Yellowheart edge grain small boards. 12″ x 11″ x 1-1/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 064. Purpleheart, Hard Maple, Cherry & Yellowheart. 9″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 043. Purpleheart, Hard Maple & Jatoba. Edge Grain. 9″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 052. Black Walnut, Cherry, Hard Maple & Canarywood. 8″ x 10″ x 3/4″.
Small Board # 15 – 051. Black Walnut & Hard Maple. Edge Grain. 10″ x 11-1/2″ x 1-1/2″.
Lazy Susan # 15 – 043. Jatoba, Purpleheart & Canarywood. 17″ diameter x 3/4″.
Lazy Susan # 15 – 042. Cherry, Black Walnut & Caribbean Rosewood. 17″ diameter x 3/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 055. Black Walnut & Bloodwood. 8″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cutting Board # 15 – 082. Black Walnut. End Grain. 12″ x 15″ x 1-1/8″.
Sous Chef # 15 – 51. Black Walnut, Hard Maple, Cherry & Purpleheart. 9″ x 16″ x 3/4″.
Cutting Board # 15 – 076. Hard Maple & Jatoba. End Grain, Juice Groove. 16″ x 20″ x 1-1/2″.
I started making cheese boards, and I’m still making them. This week, I made a lot of them … 42 in all.
They are my biggest selling item, and I finally went “all in” to make a bunch. A big bunch!
But that’s OK. The world’s full of cheese, and someone’s got to eat it … I’m just doing my small part.
My problem is, every time I finish a board, I fall in love with it. Since I’ve got a relationship with the board (woodworkers are an odd lot, I know), I want the prices to keep going up … but I make myself keep cheese boards at $35 and $40. It was at an event last year that I was told that the cheese boards at $35 were “at the perfect price.” That customer then bought 5 boards.
Well, OK, then. The marketplace has spoken!
Cheese Board # 15 – 054. Purpleheart & Hard Maple. 9″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cheese Board 15 – 058. Hard Maple, Yellowheart & Cherry. 8″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 065. Black Walnut & Teak. 8″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 061. Black Walnut, Hard Maple & Padauk. 8″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 062. Hard Maple & Cherry. 8″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 055. Black Walnut & Bloodwood. 8″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 066. Hard Maple, Jatoba, Black Walnut, Yellowheart & Cherry. 8″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 067. Cherry, Hard Maple & Black Walnut. 9″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 060. Padauk, Black Walnut, Hard Maple & Cherry. 8″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 063. Padauk, Hard Maple & Black Walnut. 8″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 065. Black Walnut, Cherry, Hard Maple & Yellowheart. 8″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 052. Black Walnut, Cherry, Hard Maple & Canarywood. 8″ x 10″ x 3/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 064. Purpleheart, Hard Maple, Cherry & Yellowheart. 9″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 068. Black Walnut, Yellowheart & Cherry. 9″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 051. Hard Maple, Purpleheart & Cherry. 8″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 053. Black Walnut. 8″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 056. Black Walnut, Hard Maple, Cherry. 8″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 057. Cherry, Purpleheart, Hard Maple & Yellowheart. 9″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
More
How To Fill Your Cheese Board
It’s February, so it’s time to get serious. It’s been a nice couple of months without any events … but those days are gone.
