Getting ready for Clarkston

Here are a couple of beauties I cut this weekend to sell at the Clarkston art and craft show.

People seem to really like word art and I think these should sell easily for my asking price.

Which brings to a delicate subject...Pricing. I have constantly been told I am way under pricing my stuff. I guess it all goes back to a lack of self confidence and underestimating what people will pay for things I made. But that is changing and I have to say I am no longer undervalueing my work. Today I sold a little piece of word art called "Home is where the dogs are". I made it special for the lady who sits next to me at work, one of what my wife calls, my "girlfriends". I told her it would be six dollars. She insisted in paying me ten. Gradually my wonderful test market ladies are teaching me what my work is worth. I've got to start getting it and this is going to be the weekend. I don't negotiate on my prices. I remember one crafter telling me that when people ask him how much less he'll take then what he's asking he says "actually the price just went up!" Don't think I could be that bold but I aint goin down either.

So for the show this weekend I've been concentrating on puzzels and word art. Will take last years left over Christmas ornaments. And, of course my wildlife wall art. And this being 4th of July weekend I hope to sell a few patriotic things to. Military ribbons and such. Wish me luck.

It's the first big show of 2010 for me. If it goes well, I'll do more. In any case, the scoll saw will always be hummin.

The Wizzard of Westwood

At first glance this looks like something Yogi Bera might have said. But when you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Quick is good. Quick is decisive. Quick wins championships. Hurry is caused by desperation. Hurry causes mistakes. Hurry means turnovers. Hurry can cost you the game.
This is a quote from the great John Wooden, the greatest basketball coach and teacher this country has ever produced. You probably know that he passed away last week at the age of 99.
If you never saw him coach or watched one of his teams play you really missed something. I was in high school during the high point of John Wooden's career. It was amazing. It seems like his teams NEVER LOST. And they seldom did. They went 88 games without losing before Notre Dame upset them in South Bend. They won 10 national championships in 12 years! Nobody has ever done that. Not Dean Smith, Not Bob Knight, not Coach K (I can't spell his name either). John Wooden won all those national titles having to change players every year.
Back then freshmen could not play on the varsity so he only had Kareem Abdul Jabar (then Lew Alcindor) and Bill Walton and others for three years! His teams were so fundamentally sound it was ridiculous. They weren't flashy. They didn't dunk (it was illegal back then anyway). They used the back board and banked their jumpshots in because Wooden taught them how to use the angles. He taught them not only basketball but Geometry as well! They played a zone press defense that hounded teams into turn over after turnover. John Wooden would never let his teams over celebrate. They never beat their chest and said "look at me, Look at me" like today's players. They just beat your brains out with sound fundamentals and walked off the court afterword with their heads held high, because they knew that this one was over and another one was coming up and John Wooden always said, "You have to do it over and over and over again". Those of you who never saw him coach or one of his teams play, I encourage you to research this man. Learn the principles of his pyramid for success. You will learn why he was far more than just a basketball coach and why, sadly, we'll never see his like again.

Inspritational Word Art

I have been in to word art a lot lately. People seem to get such a kick out of it. A lady at my real job asked me to design the piece you see here. It was the theme of her church's retreat weekend. She wanted 3 originally, one for her and one for her pastor and another as a gift. I had a feeling when the others on the retreat saw them I would be making more. Sure enough, last week she came to me with orders for 12 more and that was just a start, she said. Another freind of hers had a weekend entitled "Still I Rise". If I get as many orders for that one I will be able to pay admission fees for several shows this summer and fall. That's all for now but there is another post coming right behind this one. So please read on.