Unlocking Scroller's Block

Was sitting around last weekend wanting to cut something but didn't know what. I wasn't real thrilled with the latest offerings in Woodworiking and Crafts magazine so I began looking around the shop for some wood and found a half inch thick piece of wood about 7 inches square and a quarter inch piece of bloodwood. Valentines day was coming up and I seemed to remember Steve Good had a pattern for a heart shaped basket and so I went to his on line catalog containing hundreds of free patterns for the downloading and I found this little beauty.

About two hours of cutting and another one sanding, gluing and finishing and there you have it.

I went back to Steve's catalog and looked for some more fun things to cut and there were several to choose from, but what caught my eye this time was a neat little stand he designed for the I-pad computer. Well I don't have an I pad but I do have the Kindle Fire and this project works real well for that too as you can see.

Found some other things I hope to cut in the near future when I get some time. Right now I have a couple of orders to fill. More on that in a future post.

It is Winter

It is winter and we are finally starting to get some significant snow here. Want to make time for a little cross country skiing but a recent bout with cold and flu have kept me off the trails and out of the shop. Been battling a bad cough for the past week and afraid it may have something to do with dust in the shop. I work too often without a dust mask. That is going to have to change.
I suppose I should explain the picture of the tulips with the caption "This is Winter". Well it is kind of a reminder that when the sun returns with some warmth about mid April to early May,
those tulips that you worked so hard to plant and nourish last fall will start emerging and filling your yards and gardens with beauty.
These little beauties are the result of last weekend's work in the shop (which may have contributed to this nagging cough I've had for the past week. They are made from pieces of 2x2 and are a result of compound cutting. The pattern was designed by Diane Thompson. I am very pleased with the way the picture came out. I received a photographers light box specially designed for taking photos of small projects and it gives the pictures a nice professional quality. I am a little less pleased with the paint job. That is something I am still trying to master and so far it is pretty amateurish. I must say though, that I think they look fairly good compared to some other projects I've tried to paint. They kind of give me the inclination to go to Holland, Michigan this spring for a weekend at the tulip festival. If you've never been there for it put it on your bucket list. It is quite amazing to see and ocean of multicolored tulips as far as the eye can see. Oh, they also have an excellent craft fair that weekend too. Might just have to look into that.

Another Year Almost Over! Merry Christmas

Greetings family and friends. I've have been very busy lately. This past weekend I did the PA announcing for eight basketball games and a hockey game and still managed to turn out these two Christmas projects. The patterns are from Artist and designer Sue Mey. She is wonderfully talented and extremely creative. I am planning to make a serious investment in more of her patterns. The ones I have made in the past have been very popular and all have sold well. I already have a couple of people at my day job interested in these as soon as I put them on my desk.

Speaking of my day job an incident there today as re-emphasised the fact that it must go. I must get rid of it . I hate it. The people I work with there make it bearable but the company makes it a miserable existence. I confess I'm a conservative but I can see where these "occupy" whatever nuts are coming from. I've got to stick it out at least another year. I've got the date circled on the calendar for giving them the Johnny Paycheck "take this job and SHOVE IT" treatment.

In the meantime this business has got to get going far more than it is now. Over the next year there must be expansion and innovation. It cannot survive on just woodcutting alone. If I worked 24 hours a day I couldn't produce enough to sustain it. So the challenge will be to find ways to build and sustain a scroll saw business. Starting today I have 375 days to do it. Game On!

Back in the Workshop

Cut out some ornaments and finished up some Christmas orders this weekend. The ones above will be placed on our office tree a work and offered for sale. We have a decorating contest for our various units. I'm proud to say we won it last year but that has caused the other units to really step up their game and the competition will be very stiff this year.
Not much going on around here this time of year. Did not participate in the so called Black Friday midnight madness sales. Don't get me started on that.
Weather today was very conducive to scroll sawing...cold...wet... dreary and no football game on tv that I cared to watch. My pro team played Thursday and gave their usual meaning to the term "Turkey Day". Over the next four weeks will be working on Christmas ornaments and decorations. Will post updates as time allows.

What Happened to this holiday?

Halloween hadn't even passed yet and Christmas decorations were appearing in stores. Some idiot radio programmers are already all Christmas music. Christmas ads began overwhelming TV programming. WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO THANKSGIVING? It seems to get worse every year, the commercial hype over Christmas and, of course, it has nothing to do with the birth of Our Lord and Savior. OOOOH I just brought religion into it! That's soooo unfashionable these days. I probably just offended a Muslim somewhere. How dare I. The Winter Solstice Festival Police will be knocking on my door any minute now.

OK. Whew! Rant over. I feel better now. What I really wanted to do was post this word art piece that I made and encourage everybody I know to pause for a moment next Thursday, put down your midnight madness sale flyers, and take a moment to give thanks to your Maker for all the blessings you enjoy. Thank God that you were born in this land. Thank Him for the generations of men and women who gave their lives to preserve it for us. Thank Him for the life and the love that surrounds you everywhere. Let us have Thanksgiving before we move on to the Christmas season and maybe that will help us to remember what Christmas really is.

Another Great Day!

We did another bazaar this weekend, this time in the great Michigan city of Frankenmuth. The show was held in the high school gymnasium. It was a bigger show than last week. More vendors and we were packed in like sardines. This one was virtually all crafters, unlike last weeks which featured some commercial enterprises.

As I was setting up my tables the vendor next to me was admiring some of my work. "It's very beautiful" she said. "Do you use a laser?"

"NO MAM" I immediately responded. "These were all cut by hand by me on a scroll saw. Laser

cutting is not crafting, it's manufacturing."

"But laser is acceptable." she replied"

"Not to me it isn't" I said.

It is a sore spot with me and most scroll sawyers. We work hard, our products take a lot longer to make and then we get to a craft show that supposedly has ONLY hand made items and there is a laser cutter there with his mass produced items selling for far less than we can afford to sell ours for. Most scollers won't go back to a show like that.

Anyway with that explained it's time to talk about this show. As I mentioned there were plenty of vendors. Only two other woodworkers that I saw. Most seem to have clothing type items and wreath decorations, a guy selling dog treats and some others I can't remember right now.

The crowds were really good and sales were excellent though not as good a last weeks. That kind of surprised me because I had low expectations for last weeks show and high for this one.

Last week, however, was so good that I drew down a lot of my stock and didn't have enough time to replenish it. Still I made a few things and they sold any way. Puzzles, ornaments, and word art were among the things that sold. I also sold a few letter openers I had made.

I think that's gonna do it for craft shows for this year. I had really soured on them after some

poor sales in 2010 but things seem to turn around this year and I may try a few more next year.

We'll see how things go.

You Jsut Never Know!

Greetings all my friends and family. We did a craft show at Valley Lutheran High School yesterday (November 4th). Going in our expectations were low. It was a small show with not too many pure crafters. There were a lot of home party vendors (tupperware, pampered chef, ect.) and people re-selling things they had bought in lots; so we weren't expecting much. The show was very close to home and it was quite inexpensive so we purchased two spaces and figured "whatta we got to lose?".

Well I can say now that we finally hit the mother lode. All I've been hearing lately from crafters on line is that the economy sucks, no body is buying, crowds, are down, blah blah blah. The crowds were pretty good here yesterday and from my experience they were buying like crazy!

Our very first sale of the morning put us in the black as far as expenses go and it just kept getting better from there. I can't give you a total for the day because I haven't run the numbers

yet but let's just say it was a little shy of.... One Million Dollars!!! (actually way shy, like the distance from earth to the sun and back but that expression is a little semi private joke between me and my daughter who is probably roaring with laughter as she reads this. Think "Dr. Evil" from the Austin Powers series )

So what sold. Well, unlike past shows where only little things in the two to five dollar range sold, This time people were buying my bigger pieces that I put the most work into and am most proud of. Ornamental crosses and wall art sold very well. If you look at the bottom photo, almost everything on this table sold. The items on the peg board all ranged in price from $ 20 to $70 (and believe me, for the amount of time I had into them, that was CHEAP!). Today is Pastor Appreciation Sunday in the Lutheran Church and people were looking for gifts for their Pastor (I had no idea! That was a stroke of luck). Christmas tree ornaments also sold very well.

They always do. Word art was a little disappointing. "Faith, Hope, Love, sold well and a Faith, Family and Friends, sold but the cute ones, like "Manure Occurreth", "Dude Relax", and "No Coffee NO Workee" didn't move at all. People get a kick out of em but they don't buy them.

All in all it just goes to show ya...ya just never know!

Next Saturday, the Frankenmuth High School gymnasium. Expectations are high for this show. Frankenmuth is one of those communities that is big on Christmas so I am looking forward to selling a lot of ornaments and Christmas type decorations. But then again, YA JUST NEVER KNOW! I have to replenish stock so if you'll excuse me I got some serious scrollin to do!