Archive for the ‘Mrs Ms Handmade’ Tag
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.
Velda’s had this theory that cheese boards should be sold where wine is being consumed. She’s had this theory for some time. I know, because she’s shared it with me.
And, since we’ve not scheduled a wine-centric event, that means I have heard the theory … regularly.
No more. Last weekend, Mrs M’s Handmade made the trek northward to the Livermore Wine Country Festival to be one of their 300 vendors. 150,000 people attend this event, with many local wineries and craft breweries (beer is also sampled) providing the lubrication to make this public alcoholic celebration a success. More than a few wine drinkers had necklaces holding their wine glasses, just so they wouldn’t be bothered with holding them.
For what it’s worth, beer drinkers saw no need for such adornment.
Oh, and on Saturday, I sold 4 cutting boards and not one cheese board.
This event was more formal than many street festivals … many of the ladies were wearing dresses. Maybe people have to dress up to feel right to sample wine.
But then there was the lady wearing combat boots with a 1″ spike little finger nail….
I only saw one group that I thought had been over-served. Other than that, it was a great event.
New Ideas
- Before we left, I laid out all of my boards in the family room (Velda loves it when I do this) to check pricing on all items. I made sure that cheese boards, small boards, cutting boards, end grain & edge grain boards – every category, in other words – was priced appropriately and comparatively. And, yes, some prices went up. Top priced board is now over 4x what it was when we started 15 months ago. Of course, the boards are bigger and better, too!
- We only took one car to this event, and we drove the farthest we have gone for a festival. We packed the Jeep full, put the canopy on the hitch carrier and left everything else at home. This meant that I didn’t take the step units for board display for the first event since I made the step units. It also meant that the basket we keep the pre-made-up bags for lotion sales in didn’t fit in the Jeep … we had to go to Walmart to buy a new basket. Cargo capacity is a definite issue.
- Mrs M’s lotions took a price increase as well. No one blinked … we were even complimented on our fair prices. Prices should be fair … that doesn’t mean cheap!
- Velda was getting sick on Friday, but insisted on going. She was miserable in the heat on Saturday, and actually agreed to stay in the hotel and sleep on Sunday. I got to solo all day. Sunday’s sales almost doubled Saturday’s, when Velda was there to “help.” Hopefully, she won’t read this, or she may never go to another event.
Observations
- For all of the specific directions on how to enter the event area for set-up, I was shocked that no volunteers were manning the barricade. We drove right in. Anyone could have.
- The specific directions on how cars must vacate the street by 8am were ignored, too. Policing vendors exceeding their booth sizes? Not done. It’s so hard to get good volunteers these days….
- Vendors can’t read and event producers can’t be trusted. The vendor packet clearly stated that vendors “must” remove their products on Saturday night, as the event security isn’t responsible for loss. I checked with other vendors who didn’t know, and the event producers who had to check … oh, just kidding. You can leave the products over night.
- We had an interior 10’x10′ booth, meaning we were surrounded on 3 sides. Tight quarters. It’s good when you have good neighbors … and we had one of those. (sigh)
- Velda met Veldon, who got his name from his Grandmother, just like Velda got her’s from her Grandmother (whose maiden name was Gavelda).
- Sold one of the 16″x20″ boards that I just started carrying last week (and as you know, that means the boards get carried). Had a couple ask me if I had anything bigger. Will it never end?
- No more pigs. I’m out of the pig business, at least until a new litter is born. I even agreed to a discount, because the earnest young man came back to the booth with his money in his hand, and I think it was all he had for a Mother’s Day gift. It was for his mother, so OF COURSE I said yes.
- Got very busy doing solo sales on Sunday. People came in waves, it seems, and I had many people waiting to talk to me while I was wrapping a purchase for another customer. Busy is good.
- As I have said many times, I’m doing this for fun. I don’t yell at my neighbors for minor encroachments. I don’t yell at annoying people in my booth. I smile. I’m having fun, and assume everything else will take care of itself. So far, that’s exactly right.
- Tear down & load out complete at 6:48pm. Not bad for a solo act … though I did use Velda for dead weight (she qualified) as I tore the canopy down.
- My new slogan is “Cutting Boards: pretty enough for your kitchen, ugly enough to use.”
The Food
Friday Dinner: The best meal on the trip by a very wide margin. We went to Sauced in downtown Livermore for some great BBQ, served with their house bourbon (!), Hawg Wild. The bourbon was nothing more than a happy hour well drink special … but then, that’s what it was. The pulled pork was wonderful, and the second glass of bourbon was better than the first. Of course.
Saturday Breakfast: Sara Lee’s Everything Bagels & cream cheese. The best bagels in your grocery store, IMHO.
Saturday Lunch: Spring rolls & dumplings. Not the best fried food, for sure, but there was no line to buy it.
Saturday Snack: No time.
Saturday Dinner: Some Italian cafe that was barely OK. Certainly not good enough to be memorable … no clue what the name was.
Sunday Breakfast: Holiday Inn Express biscuits & gravy.
Sunday Lunch: I got 4 nuggets of beef jerky as a free sample. The jerky was $20/packet, so I elected to starve. No lunch. No time. No fun.
Sunday Snack: No time.
The Facts
- Total miles driven: 630
- Booth cost: $375 + $39 city business license
- # of people we met during the event from the producer: 1, who only verified we had our reseller’s permit and city business license on site. Just including photocopies & numbers with the vendor application was not enough here.
- Total sales: $1,763 – our 3rd best event, and better than all 2014 events. Maybe we are upping our game this year!
- # containers of product taken: 15
- # boards available: 55
- Saturday alarm: 5:45am
- Sunday alarm: 7:00am
- # transactions: 40
- # soap & lotion vendors: unknown
- # woodworking vendors: unknown
- Edge grain vs. end grain: 9:6
Boards sold: 15
- Cutting Boards: 6
- Cheese Boards: 6
- Small Board: 1
- Pig Board: 1
- Engraved Board: 1
Clearly, I need to keep making edge grain boards. I finished a batch two weeks ago, including four large (translation: high priced) boards … and most of them are now gone.
The pigs took longer, but not by much.
I love my sous chef boards, but I’ve still got 7 of the 18 after two months. Wait. I sold 11 in two months. Hmmmmm.
Cutting Board # 15 – 037. Hard Maple, Cherry and Jarrah End Grain. Juice Groove with resevoir ends. 16″ x 20″ x 1-1/2″.
Pig 15 – 04. Cherry, Hard Maple and Purpleheart. 12″ x 19″ x 1″.
Cutting Board # 15 – 001. Black Walnut, Hard Maple and Jarrah Edge Grain. 12″ x 16″ x 1-1/8″.
Small Board # 15 – 019. Hard Maple and Jarrah. 8″ x 12″ x 1-1/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 018. Honey Locust, Purpleheart, Black Walnut and Cherry Edge Grain. 9″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cutting Board # 15 – 033. Hard Maple, Purpleheart and Honey Locust End Grain. 14″ x 18″ x 1-1/2″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 010. Black Walnut, Hard Maple, Padauk and Cherry. 8″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 011. Black Walnut, Cherry, Hard Maple, Padauk and Yellowheart. 8″ x 9″ x 1″.
I have received many compliments on my price tags, which identify the woods in each board. Some have told me my prices are reasonable; others have definitely communicated the prices are too high. Who should I believe?
Livermore’s Wine Country Festival, 2015. This is a land-locked 10×10 booth, surrounded on three sides.
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.
Sometimes, there’s just not much to say. This event disappointed. It was underwhelming and sparsely attended. At least one vendor had zero sales.
This was a 2nd annual event, and the idea of an exclusively handmade pop-up event next to Crafted in Los Angeles is a good idea, we thought.
The marketplace did not agree.
There is a successful holiday boutique in this location the first weekend of December, but we’re booked so we’ll miss that one.
New Ideas
- Mrs M handled the booth, with the help of Little Girl on this day. I was handling the Santa Clarita Home Show, and chose not to clone myself.
Observations
- Very difficult to find your way into this fenced off warehouse compound. GPS took Velda to the wrong place for the entrance. The entrance was not well marked.
- Once inside, the choice was climb 8 steps into the warehouse, or go up a ramp at the other end of the building and walk the length of this large warehouse to get to the booth setup back in the front. Difficult load-in, in other words.
- No one came. Well, almost no one came.
- The producers had several ideas implemented to maximize this event. They raffled off merchandise to people that turned in their receipts. They had a vendor meeting to encourage social media promotion. Charitable contributions were dedicated out of proceeds. They definitely tried to create an event, but ….
The Food
The ladies didn’t remember. Boredom was overwhelming.
The Facts
- Total miles driven: 118
- Booth cost: $69
- # of people the ladies met at the event from the producer: 4
- Total sales: $158
- # containers of product taken: 6
- # boards available: 23
- Saturday alarm: 5:45am
- # transactions: 7, 5 were for lotion & 2 were for boards
- # soap & lotion vendors: 4
- # woodworkers: only 1
- Edge grain vs. end grain: 1:1
Boards sold: 2
Small Board # 15 – 023. Black Walnut, Cherry, Yellowheart and Hard Maple. 11″ x 12″ x 1-1/4″. Sold after about 2 months of showings.
Small Board # 15 – 035. Cherry, Yellowheart, Hard Maple, Jatoba, Purpleheart, Padauk and Honey Locust End Grain. 13″ x 11″ x 1-1/4″.
We had a double booth last week at the California Poppy Festival. It was great having extra space! The photo essay is below.
Here’s our schedule for the coming weeks:
4/25, Handmade in South Bay, San Pedro, CA
(Velda, with a rare Mrs M appearance by Little Girl!)
4/25 & 26, Home & Garden Show, Santa Clarita, CA
(Just me; a solo appearance for Mr M’s Woodshop)
5/2 & 3, Wine Country Festival, Livermore, CA
5/9, Street Fair, Simi Valley, CA
5/16 & 17, California Strawberry Festival, Oxnard, CA
This was our booth at the California Poppy Festival, 4/18-19/2015. Six months later, our booth is very similar … but will be totally different in 2016!
More
Mrs M’s Handmade: The Booth, 10×12
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.
It was windy.
The Poppy Festival in nearby Lancaster, CA was a great event for us. Really. But, man, it was like a weekend spent camping. We were left windblown, dust-filled and exhausted.
It was windy. Really, really windy.
This event is not for the faint of heart. You need to be dedicated. You need pro-quality equipment that will withstand gale force winds. You need 100 pounds of weight on your shade structure so it won’t become airborne. You need to be prepared, or you will have a bad weekend. A very bad weekend.
You might have a bad weekend like the nice ladies in the next aisle over. It was their first festival selling jewelry. They didn’t bring weights for their brand new consumer-grade shade structure. They held it down. It broke, and they didn’t make it to Sunday afternoon. They left, and I doubt they’ll do another event anytime soon.
The weather report: it was hot. Then it cooled off when the breeze picked up. Then it was really windy until nearly the end of the afternoon. We have the same kind of wind cycle in Santa Clarita (which is 50 miles southwest), but not nearly as intense.
Just like last week’s event, Big Hat Days, applying to be a vendor at this event was challenging. The city of Lancaster also required a certificate of insurance naming lots of people as additionally insured. The problem was complicated, though, by the instructions in the vendor packet being wrong. I then got instructions on what to do … that were wrong. I generated 5 different Certificates, and they finally either got what they needed or gave up. Either way, we were in.
Since the boss of me, the second Mrs M, lives in Lancaster, it was a no-brainer to make this big community festival a big Mrs M event, too. We stayed the weekend with them to save on miles … well, not really. We stayed with them because Miss P likes it when we do, and it’s our sacred duty to spoil our granddaughter.
Setting up the booth was a challenge … getting into the booth area required following a serpentine route through the large city park. When we found check-in, they gave us our parking pass, IDs, and then we were clear to drive over a curb onto the grass to the booth. After set-up, we parked in the outfield of one of the 4 baseball fields adjacent to the festival area. After the event, getting out involved another serpentine route, driving over 2 curbs, visiting a softball field, and finally exiting the park after driving through a chain link fence that was temporarily opened to make the path possible. This is a big, complicated city-sponsored event with 500 vendors – everything from local colleges to cable TV suppliers to ladies making tutus.
Was it a big event for us? You bet. Record sales for the weekend … for the second week in a row. Sold the most expensive board on the table … for the second week in a row. Can’t wait for this weekend. Prices are going up.
New Ideas
- Mrs. M’s sampled their sugar scrub for the first time. They set up a water dispenser so you could rub on a sample of scrub, and then wash it off. It was a live demonstration of softer skin, brought to you by Mrs. M’s! The result: sugar scrub sales skyrocketed. Velda is
convinced she’s a genius.
This is the first outdoor festival that we’ve done with a double booth … so we had to buy a second shade structure and make a second set of weights. It was worth the cost. The second booth allowed us to spread out: much more room for Mrs. M, and a bit more space for the cutting boards as well. It’s really essential to have enough space to create an attractive display.
Observations
- Poppies do cover parts of Lancaster during their brief spring season. There’s a poppy reserve, even, kept just so people can enjoy the flowers. Unfortunately, the poppies were well past peak at this point this year, and, beyond that, the poppy reserve is nowhere near the Lancaster City Park where the Festival is held. The only poppies in sight are simply landscaping by the entrance … along with non-native flowers. This did disappoint some customers who thought the Poppy Festival was about poppies.
- Our neighbor, catty corner across the aisle, was selling dry pasta. They had a stove and cooked pasta to give out free samples. Unfortunately, they did this without a sink … so they never washed their hands. The guys did wipe their hands on their pants, though, so I’m sure it was sanitary.
- When I see neighbors holding their shade structure down in the wind, it makes me very nervous. Most vendors weren’t prepared. I didn’t see a shade structure fully launch into the air, but I did see two lift off the ground. Very scary.
- 2pm Saturday – after 4 hours – our sales were $148. What have we done???
- 2pm Sunday – after 4 hours – our sales were $629. Who said Sunday mornings were always slow?
- One customer came to buy another cutting board from me on Sunday. He’d bought a sous chef board last month, and his wife won’t use it as it’s too pretty. So, he’s hanging that one on the wall, and bought another board he hopes is ugly enough to use.
- I need to make more ugly boards, apparently. But then, after selling 39 boards in 2 weekends, I better make some pretty ones, too.
- Velda had a pair of teenaged boys (brothers?) who were enthralled with her sugar scrubs. They discovered the lip scrub (quoth the 16-year-old: “the ladies will like this.”). So, the guys got in touch with their feminine side and had a great time talking to Velda about her lotion products. One of them came back 3 minutes later holding a pine cone, and bet Velda a lip scrub that she could not tell if the cone was male or female. Velda figured she had a 50-50 chance, and she guessed right (female) … and then she still gave the creative young man a lip scrub for entertaining her. Young ladies, beware of those lips!
The Food
- Friday Dinner: Christopher made spaghetti. You can never go wrong with a spaghetti dinner.
- Saturday Breakfast: McDonald’s, # 4. Of course.
- Saturday Lunch: Chicken wrap with garlic Parmesan fries. The food was OK, but it took too long. I had to stand in the hot sun waiting. Welcome to life at festivals….
- Saturday Snack: Blackberry shave ice. Velda went to get it and waited in a LONG line. She chose the flavor for me (!) … and when she came back, I was heavily engaged with two customers making difficult decisions and giving me specs to do an order. I got one bite.
- Saturday Dinner: Best meal of the trip. Little Caesar’s pizza pizza. The quality of the meal was all about the company, not the food. For the photos, see A Frozen Birthday.
- Sunday Breakfast: McDonald’s, # 4. Of course … though I may have reached my limit now!
- Sunday Lunch: Velda brought back nachos and baby tacos. She concluded the hot sauce was too hot for me … so she took the nachos and I got the tacos. Beef, onion, cilantro and tortillas … and call them tacos. I ate some before new customers
demanded deserved my attention. The rest was thrown away.
- Sunday Snack: We were too busy.
- Sunday Dinner: 9:30pm. Not even stale crackers in the house to eat this week. So, we drove to Jimmy Dean’s, which was was closed. We went on down the road to Jack in the Box. We both had # 28. Comfort food … sausage egg burrito.
This weekend wins no culinary awards. None.
The Facts
- Total miles driven between 3 cars: 380. One extra trip from Lancaster to Santa Clarita for gear pick-up, one for gear return, and then the normal to and fro from the venue and our home away from home.
- Booth cost, 12×24: $305
- # of people we met during the event from the producer, the City of Lancaster: 0
- Total sales: $1,934
- # containers of product taken: 19
- # boards available: 86
- Saturday alarm: 6:15am
- Sunday alarm: 7:00am
- # transactions: 66 … 47 selling lotion
- # soap & lotion vendors: no idea. We didn’t have time to look.
- # woodworking vendors: Three that I know of. One sold routed signs; the other made children’s toys.
- Edge grain vs. end grain: 14:5
Boards sold: 20
- Cheese Board: 3
- Surfboard: 2
- Pig Board: 1
- Small Sous Chef: 2
- Large Cutting Board: 4
- Small Board: 5
- Custom Design: 1
- Engraved Board: 2
Here are some favorites that sold this week:
# 72 Cutting Board, $100. Black Walnut and Hard Maple, edge grain. 16-1/4″ x 11-5/8″ x 1-5/8″.
I have received many compliments on my price tags, which identify the woods in each board. Some have told me my prices are reasonable; others have definitely communicated the prices are too high. Who should I believe?
Pig 15 – 03. Cherry, Purpleheart, Hard Maple and Yellowheart. 12″ x 19″ x 1″.
Cutting Board 15 – 025. Hard Maple, end grain, with a juice groove. 13″ x 18″ x 1″.
Surfboard # 15 – 03. Black Walnut and Cherry.
Cutting Board # 15 – 024. Spectacular color and grain patterns make this a board a visual treat. Jarrah, Hard Maple and Cherry end grain. 13″ x 19″ x 1-1/2″.
Cheese Board # 15 – 015. 8″ x 10″ x 1″. Hickory, Honey Locust, Black Walnut and Cherry.
Cheese Board 15 – 008. Cherry, Black Walnut, Hard Maple and Jarrah. 8″ x 12″ x 3/4″.
Here’s the booth we’re now using for a 10×12 presentation, such as at the Clovis Big Hat Days or the Valencia Town Center Farmer’s Market. These pictures were all taken at Big Hat Days last weekend.
This weekend, come see us at the Lancaster Poppy Festival.
Lancaster City Park
43063 10th Street West
Lancaster, CA
Here’s our schedule for the coming weeks:
4/18 & 19, California Poppy Festival, Lancaster, CA
4/25, Handmade in South Bay, San Pedro, CA
4/25 & 26, Home & Garden Show, Santa Clarita, CA
5/2 & 3, Wine Country Festival, Livermore, CA
5/9, Street Fair, Simi Valley, CA
5/16 & 17, California Strawberry Festival, Oxnard, CA
The Board Chronicles is a new 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 Clovis, CA Chamber of Commerce sponsors Big Hat Days every April, and they claim attendance of over 100,000. There’s no doubt that the street was filled with people strolling through the 300+ booths offering everything from custom pocketknives to parasols to gourmet balsamic vinegar (guess which Velda bought?).
The event is laid out in “Old Town” with most vendors lined up along several blocks that run north & south (so vendors either face west or east). We got an east-facing booth, which was good to keep the lotions out of the sun most of the day. In addition to the vendors, there were some carnival rides, a stage & adjacent beer garden I regret to have missed, a pony ride, petting zoo, pet adoption center….
This is a very big community event. Clovis must have decided that it needs to act like a big community, because it had an incredibly long list of people that Mrs M’s certificate of insurance had to name as additionally insured. I actually had to produce 3 different certificates, as their laundry list of names wouldn’t fit on a single form.
The vendor packet we received about 3 weeks in front of the event was large and full of rules. There were assigned set-up times, along with very specific routes for you to get in and get out of the event area. They used lots of capital letters and red ink. It was professionally done … and insistent that You. Will. Follow. The. Rules. They were very concerned that no vendor exceed their allotted space (our booth was a 10′ x 12′). I called to check, and was told I couldn’t bring our awning to provide shade if it stuck out beyond our 10×12.
Imagine my thoughts when I went walkabout on Sunday morning, and saw 3 vendors with awnings up.
Mrs M and I went to the event with very high expectations: this was the farthest we had ever traveled to an event, and it was the highest booth fee we have ever paid.
What were we thinking?
We spent most of Saturday thinking “what have we done?!?” Sales were definitely below expectations, and FAR below our hopes. We weren’t over our booth cost until much, much later in the day than it should have been, we felt. Sunday turned out to be better, thankfully. By the time it was all over, this was our highest sales weekend ever: # 1 in our vast experience of 13 months as a vendor.
Note that this was not our highest profit event. Far from it, in fact, given the high booth cost, hotel and travel expense. We felt good that we were opening a new market, but there was definitely some sweat equity involved getting here. It was odd to be asked, “Are you local?” Our normal answer, “YES!”, had to change to “We’re from Santa Clarita, down by Magic Mountain. Just a couple of hours down the road.”
OK, three hours.
Good people in Clovis. We definitely enjoyed this event, and will consider returning in 2016. I doubt that we’ll increase the size of our booth, given the very high value that the Clovis Chamber of Commerce places on their space. We might opt to apply for section I, which is designated the Arts & Crafts area of the event. Unfortunately, that designation is only on the Chamber’s vendor map, as near as I can tell, and some of the vendors in that area were definitely not handmade.
New Products
- Lip Scrub. Velda’s tried some recipes, and has settled on the one she likes. She thinks. Only problem is that her formula seems to gush oil that must arrive constantly through a warp from a parallel universe. In any event, more oil was weeping out of the containers than she ever put into them. The lip scrub containers wept all weekend, and every purchaser (there were several!) was warned to keep their container out of their purse and upright. Many labels were ruined, so the bottom layer of jars in one container – about a third of the product – could not be sold. Mrs. M needs to find some little self-sealing jars….
- Pig cutting boards. This product introduction was explained in an earlier blog, here. Bottom line: in spite of my best efforts, I’m back in the pig business.
- Juice grooves. For the first time, I showed boards with juice grooves. The hard maple end grain with a juice groove was the # 1 Most Commented-on board at this show. And it didn’t sell. However, I did sell a custom, engraved board with juice groove based on that design.
Observations
- Remember Magda in There’s Something About Mary? She was a senior citizen that was amazingly overtanned, and wore Barbie Doll pink lipstick, which glowed against her skin. Put that image together with the ‘fro’d out hair of Rosanne Rosannadanna, and you’ve got the vision I had walking down the street on Sunday. Obviously, Clovis can be a scary place.
- Velda was frightened by the sizable man walking down the street in his white t-shirt … showing side boob through the arm hole. Vendors are people watchers; there’s a lot to see here. Sometimes, too much.
- You can’t choose your neighbors, and ours were annoying. Again. On one side we had a long-time Clovis-based vendor that told us she didn’t have to follow the rules about staying inside the boundaries of her booth. And, she didn’t. On the other side, we had taser sales, so we heard “ZzzzzzT” every 30 seconds. All day long. The taser guy left after Saturday, and we had a guy hawking dried salsa spices on Sunday. He was a somewhat annoying hard sales type, but at least he didn’t make frightening noises every 30 seconds. All day long.
- Here’s a note for all of the 19 year old young ladies that read the blog. When you go to Big Hat Days, don’t wear 4″ spike heels. Be kind to yourself. He’s really not worth it, trust me.
- Variety is the spice of life … and proved to be important for board sales here. For the first time, I took 11 different styles or designs of boards to an event. That’s a good thing, because I sold at least one board from each of the 11 categories. I’ve already got the 12th and 13th styles in my head, thank goodness … and now I can’t stand to have them in my head another minute.
- Strangest conversation of the weekend: discussing doing a deer’s head-shaped cutting board with a backwoods lady that whipped out her knife to show me the shape she would want. This conversation was prompted by the shapely pig cutting board … I hate being in the pig business.
- I often say that if you sell the most expensive board on display, then it’s a good day. I did that – twice. It was a good weekend.
- Three people asked to negotiate price on my boards. I declined the opportunity each time. Only one made the purchase anyway, and I’m totally fine with that.
- The jerk of the weekend told me he knew about wood because he worked for some kind of landscaping company (you can’t make this stuff up). He told me that pine was the same as maple, that he knew the board I had marked for $35 wasn’t worth that, and he’d give me $20. Surprisingly, this young man didn’t buy anything from us. Oh, and Velda almost threw him out of the booth.
The Food
- Friday Dinner: Carl’s Jr. on the road. I got the cod sandwich, which I won’t be doing again.
- Saturday Breakfast: McDonald’s. I had # 4. I mean, wouldn’t you?
- Saturday Lunch: Velda decided to go get lunch during the crush of food gathering by the tens of thousands of Big Hat people. She said she barely escaped with her life, and brought me fried fish and fried cheese. Our booth was busy with customers, thankfully, but I did manage to eat some fried stuff. After it got cold. Yuck.
- Saturday Snack: Strawberries & Desert Topping. $7. Fabulous.
- Saturday Dinner: El Rodeo Mexican Restaurant, Clovis. We followed their 4 star reviews on Yelp … to find very Americanized Mexican food. It was OK for tired vendors. But noteworthy? No chance.
- Sunday Breakfast: Best meal of the trip. Holiday Inn Express Biscuits & Gravy. Mmmmm. Just us, the U16 girls traveling volleyball team, and some National Guard soldiers.
- Sunday Lunch: Meat on a stick with garlic fries. Thank goodness it came with peppermints. Yes, we were immersed in the festival experience.
- Sunday Snack: Gorilla Gurt … froyo, don’cha know. Served under a giant inflatable purple gorilla. (Marketing note: brand awareness is important.) They were out of chocolate, so I got strawberry/vanilla with blackberries, almonds & chocolate. Later, the truck’s mother bought lotion from Velda since we bought desert from her child. Serendipity.
- Sunday Dinner: At home. 9:45pm. Cheese & stale crackers. Velda didn’t even use a cheese board. Sad times … but I did fix myself a bourbon on the rocks. So, good times. She also let me throw away the stale crackers we didn’t eat, so better times are ahead.
The Facts
- Total miles driven, between our 2 cars: 803
- Booth cost, 10×12 w/adjacent walkway (so, 2 sides open): $405
- # of people we met from the producer, the Clovis Chamber of Commerce: 0
- Total sales: $1,797
- # containers of all products taken: 18 (the reason for 2 cars)
- # boards available: 103
- Saturday alarm: 5am
- Sunday alarm: 6am
- # transactions: 67 … 49 selling lotion
- # soap vendors: 5
- # lotion vendors: 4
- # woodwork vendors: 4. There was a routed sign guy who couldn’t get out of bed to open on time Sunday morning (just sayin’). A very nice man named Grandpa Bob sold his unpainted wooden toys for $8 and up … and he far outsold my higher cost boards, he said. Highlight of his booth: a very large & prominent sign, saying: “I make these toys in my garage in Clovis, CA.” There was another guy (missed his name) selling custom baseball bats he made. I didn’t talk to him, because I think turners are crazy.
- Edge grain v. end grain = 16:3
Here are some of my favorites that sold this week:
Lazy Susan 15 – 09. 17″ diameter. Cherry, Black Walnut and Hard Maple.
Pig 15 – 02. Hickory, Walnut, Hard Maple and Jatoba. 12″ x 19″ x 1″.
Surfboard # 15 – 05. Cherry, Black Walnut and Hard Maple.
Cheese Board # 15 – 006. Black Walnut, Cherry, Padauk, Jarrah, Curly Cherry, Honey Locust, Teak and Birdseye Maple. 12″ x 11″ x 5/8″.
Sous Chef # 15 – 18. Hard Maple and Purpleheart. 11″ x 18″ x 1″.
Bread Board 15 – 02. Jatoba, Hard Maple, Walnut and Yellowheart. 5-1/2″ x 15″ x 3/4″.
Boards sold: 19
- Cheese Board: 4 *
- Lazy Susan: 3 *
- Surfboard: 2 *
- Large Sous Chef: 2 *
- Pig Board: 2 *
- Small Sous Chef: 1
- Large Cutting Board: 1
- Small Board: 1
- Custom Design: 1
- Engraved Board: 1
- Bread Board: 1 *
* sold my favorite piece in this category this weekend
Here’s the Mrs M booth for 2015. Ready for business!
I freaked out last weekend after selling several cheese boards … and I had to make more for our next big event.
Well, I call them cheese boards. You may think they’re perfect cutting boards for your small kitchen, RV, for cutting a sandwich, or whatever. To each his own. I’ll keep making them as long as people like them!
Today, Mrs. M’s Handmade is at the Thousand Oaks Street Fair. Come see us … and you’ll get to see these boards, up close and personal.
I’m working with some new woods here … and trying some new techniques in the shop, too. Please share your thoughts; would love to hear what you think of these new boards.
Black Walnut, edge grain. 11-1/2″ x 12″ x 1-1/8″.
# 27 Cutting Board, $50. Black walnut, end grain. 11-1/2″ x 11-1/2″ x 1″.
# 28 Cutting Board, $50. Black Walnut, Hard Maple & Cherry. 11″ x 8″ x 1″.
The Alien Board. Honey Locust & Hickory end grain. 11″ x 8″.
Velda’s favorite. Black Walnut, Teak and Curly Maple edge grain. 11″ x 9″ x 1″.
Black Walnut, Curly Maple and Yellowheart edge grain. 10″ x 7″ x 1″.
The candy corn boards. Black Walnut, Yellowheart, Padauk and Hard Maple. 11″ x 8″ x 1″.
Black Walnut, White Oak, Honey Locust, and Hard Maple edge grain. 11-1/2″ x 12″ x 1″.
Hard Maple, Cherry & Walnut edge grain. 12″ x 12″ x 1-1/2″.
Black Walnut, Cherry, Hard Maple & Yellowheart edge grain. 12″ x 12″ x 1-1/2″.
Curly Maple, Teak, Black Walnut and Yellowheart edge grain. 12″ x 11-1/2″ x 1-1/8″.
Black Walnut, White Oak and Hickory end grain. Two are 11″ x 9″ x 1-1/8″. The third board is 10″ x 8″ x 1-1/8″.
Detail of “the Santa board,” as Velda calls it. I love the cross species synchronicity, as the Hickory aligns perfectly with the White Oak.
Hickory end grain. 10″ x 10″ x 1-1/8″.
More
The Trouble With Success
Cheese Boards That Think That They Are Cutting Boards
Cheese & Cracker Servers
Mrs Ms Handmade set a one-day sales record yesterday. My retail persona, Mr M, sold more wooden objects in a day than ever before … 13 pieces were sold.
Yes, for you numerologists out there, that good number occurs again in our lives. I love 13. Link below.
So, back to the success thing.
I’ve been building a number of cutting boards, cheese boards and serving pieces, as you know. Have to be ready for the big push for the holidays! And in our first big event of the 4th quarter … we sold 1/6 of the inventory.
One sixth.
Here’s the problem: we have 14 days of sales left. Oh, and we added another retail location last week, and that will require pieces to sell. And display pieces. In three weeks.
So, as much as I enjoyed having that nice lady pick apart Mrs. M’s lotion display so she could buy the display pieces for Christmas presents … and then hand me more money when she saw another piece when she began to walk away … it meant that more pieces were walking away.
Success means I have a LOT LOT LOT of work to do in order to be ready for November’s events.
Success. And since when does success mean you have to work harder?
Perhaps I would be happier as a lazy bum.
Nah. Never going to happen.
So here’s a visual goodbye to some of the pieces I loved that served to remind me that there’s a lot of work required of me … and I couldn’t be happier.
Hickory end grain board. 14″ diameter x 1-1/4″ thick. 20 degree cant on the edge.
# 62 Cutting Board, $150. Hard Maple, Walnut, Yellowheart and Cherry. 22-1/8″ x 14-3/8″ x 1-5/8″. Edge grain.
# 70 Cutting Board, $125. Hard Maple end grain cutting board. 12″ x 14″ x 1-1/2″.
Three pieces were made from some walnut I got from a contractor doing home restorations. There are 3 slightly different sizes. # 1 is 11-3/8″ x 10-3/4″ x 1-1/8″. # 2 is 10-5/8″ x 10-1/2″ x 1-1/8″. # 3 is 10-7/8″ x 9-1/4″ x 1-1/8″. End Grain. Black Walnut.
# 10 Cheese Board, $30. Walnut, Padauk, Hard Maple, Red Oak.
#27: Purpleheart, Walnut, Red Oak, Hard Maple.
More
June 13, 1975
13 Things To Do On Friday The 13th
One last batch of cutting boards finished before the 4th quarter craft fairs begin. These, and many others, will be at Mrs M’s booth this weekend.
If you’re out and about in Santa Clarita on Saturday, please join Mrs Ms Handmade at the LA Sheriff’s Department’s Annual Fun In The Sun Chili Cook-Off at the Equestrian Center in Castaic. The address is 26983 Tapia Canyon Road.
If you’re not so fortunate as to be out in the heat with us on Saturday, then write me on the Contact Us form and tell me what you would like!
Two Hard Maple boards. Cutting boards for your RV? Cheese boards? Bar boards? You choose. One is 12-1/2″ x 8″ x 1-1/2″. The other is 13″ x 7-1/4″ x 1-1/2″. End grain.
# 63 Cutting Board, $125. Edge grain cutting board. Hard Maple, Black Walnut, Cherry and Yellowheart.
# 62 Cutting Board, $150. Hard Maple, Walnut, Yellowheart and Cherry. 22-1/8″ x 14-3/8″ x 1-5/8″. Edge grain.
# 68 Cutting Board, $150. Black Walnut, Yellowheart, Cherry and Hard Maple. 18-3/8″ x 14-1/2″ x 1-1/2″. End grain.
# 66 Cutting Board, $150. Black Walnut, Jatoba, Padauk, Yellowheart and Hard Maple. 18″ x 16″ x 1-1/2″. End grain.
# 69 Cutting Board, $125. Black Walnut, Hard Maple, Padauk and Yellowheart. 15-1/4″ x 12-1/4″ x 1-1/8″. End grain.
# 64 Cutting Board, $125. Black Walnut, Cherry and Hard Maple. 19-1/4″ x 12-1/2″ x 1-1/2″. End grain.
# 67 Cutting Board, $125. Black Walnut, Hard Maple and Cherry. 20″ x 12-1/2″ x 1-1/2″. End grain.
# 65 Cutting Board, $125. Hard Maple, Cherry & Black Walnut. 16″ x 12-1/2″ x 1-1/4″. End Grain.
# 61 Cutting Board, $100 – $150, depending on size. Hard Maple end grain.
Hard Maple. 20-3/4″ x 12-3/8″ x 1-1/2″. End grain.
Commissioned restoration project. This 20-year old board was presented to me in two pieces: a glue joint had failed. The pieces were squared up, re-glued, sanded and re-finished. Purpleheart and maple.
More
Mrs Ms Handmade
Cutting Boards: What Kind Do You Want?
Cutting Boards: Care & Cleaning
Cutting Boards: Restoration
My latest cycle of woodworking passion resulted in 13 cutting boards and cheese boards … and some that are whatever you think they are.
Small cutting boards are perfect for slicing a tomato or an onion … or for serving cheese & crackers. Therefore, I’m not going to define them. That will be up to their owners!
With that disclaimer, here are the new boards.
# 12 Cheese Board, $35. Black Walnut edge grain with Yellowheart and Hard Maple inlays.
Hard Maple end grain cutting board. 16″ x 20″ x 1-1/2″. Commissioned piece.
Hickory end grain board. 14″ diameter x 1-1/4″ thick. 20 degree cant on the edge.
# 31 Cutting Board, $40. Hard Maple and Black Walnut end grain board. 11-3/4″ x 8″ x 1″.
# 29 Cutting Board, $40. Hard Maple and Black Walnut end grain board. 7″ x 10-1/2″ x 1″.
# 30 Cutting Board, $40. Hard Maple and Black Walnut End Grain Board. 12-7/8″ x 8-3/8″ x 1″.
# 70 Cutting Board, $125. Hard Maple end grain cutting board. 12″ x 14″ x 1-1/2″.
