WOODbyC Daily

June 30 I passed my 3rd Shipment Review and was fully accepted as a member of the League of NH Craftsmen. Wow. Wow? Well, we shall see if it makes a difference…

For now, though, I haven’t time to think of anything but building stock. Because their 77th Annual Craftsmen’s Fair is scheduled in early August, and I’ve been distracted mightily by my dad’s 90th birthday bash, and the concurrent visits of my brother and his wife, and my daughter — all from the west coast and further.

Stock is also needed for the Lowell “IMAGES” quilt show in Massachusetts during the same period, so there is even MORE work to be done. Now!

ttyl…

Sadly, the folks in New Castle, NH were not so appreciative of my work on Saturday. (I’m hoping it was the economy, in general, and not so much that they didn’t like my offerings.)

The crowd was fairly small, though, probably due to the South Berwick Strawberry Festival happening at the same time. Heck, if I had been a visitor, I’d have gone to South Berwick, myself!!

In fact, I’m thinking next year, if the G’s are cooperative and if I remember to apply in time, perhaps I’ll be chowing down on strawberry shortcake in between bagging up crochet hooks all day.

(To add insult to injury, though, one of my three charged-sales came back as “Decline” when I tried to process it that night… which rarely happens. And the law prohibits a shop from requiring identity check and contact info on charges.)

[Luckily, after waiting three days I tried again to process the charge, and this time it went through. Whew! That one charge represented about a third of my total profit for the day!]

But, you can never tell with these little one-day shows put on by the local church group. And New Castle is quite a well-to-do community! Just not filled with ladies inclined to do needlework, it seems.

Coincidentally, it was held around the church where one of my folks’ dearest friends was memorialized a few years back, and produced by another of their younger friends, who actually knew me when I lived in Dover decades ago!

Small world…

So I’ve been off-blog for a long time. Breakdown in the software and server-side. Then busy stock-building for a slew of sewing shows.

Now that selling in-person is slowed way down, I’m trying to rebuild my eBay presence. Mostly trying to cull the crud (so-to-speak) from my storage boxes by creating BARGAIN BASEMENT auctions. Taking advantage of FREE listings (no fee is charged to list auction items beginning at $0.99).

Turns out, even when I am selling an item that I consider “second” quality, if it only gets one bid and sells for 99 cents, it irks me!

But I try to remind myself that I would never have put it on my show tables, or even given it away…usually. So just let it go.

Anyway, I have more serious issues pinging on my brain, with two 80-somethings to care for and very little tranquility dealing with at least one of them. (And it’s NOT the one with Alzheimer’s!)

Feels like I’m going a bit bonkers over it, frankly.

Not really sure I have the stamina or skill to stay the course here…

Well, clearly there were more than six broken!

More like about 21 trees blew down on my birthday! Really changed the look of the land around here. Lots of changes in the wind, I think…

Time out (briefly) from my retrospective…

Been visiting and only have a short few minutes for WOODbyC DAILY to jot down some show plan schedules for the new business year.

#1 Already had my “shake out show” for 2010. In Exeter, NH at the 1st annual FUZZ FEST.

#2 Will celebrate my big “six-oh” at the end of this month. Right here in Dover, at the New England Marketplace!

#3 Will follow a month later, March 27, in the same locale…

#4 Sadly, I’ll miss the MQX show in April (down in Providence), but the third Dover Marketplace on April 24 will conclude that run.

#5 Will be my first-time appearance at the Nashua Celebration of Needlework show, starting April 28. Looking forward to that for sure! Might have some new designs to offer…yea!

Heart boxes were popular around this time of year…

And my hairpins were always a good seller, since lots of girls had L-O-N-G hair, myself included.

These wood and Swarovski crystal ornaments were also perennially appealing, for hanging in a sunny window to cast rainbows across the room. And incidentally to keep birds from flying into the window panes!

My names-on-wheels were favorites of kids and big-wigs, alike!

For the most part, I used natural, solid hardwoods like Bubinga, Bird’s Eye Maple, Imbuya, Padauk, Mexican Bocote, Hawaiian Koa, and Satinwood. And everything was cut freehand, so no two were identical.

[...Well, time to head to the airport to pick up a visiting bro' ... catch you all tomorrow!]

Ok, so I outgrew the kitchen pretty quick. (Not too fond of sawdust in the spaghetti sauce!)

And since the front “living room” was available, I moved the tools there, got a few more, and soon began to feel like a real woodworker.

My boyfriend had been selling his silver jewelry as a street artist on “The Avenue” in Berkeley for a while, so that was the direction I took. Filed for a licence and soon hit the street with my Wooden Goodies.

In Berkeley, the city-run program allowed anyone to sell their handcrafted work, 365 days a year, from lottery-given spaces on the sidewalks of Telegraph Avenue, leading up to the campus of the University of California.

You just had to be screened — prove you were the maker of the goods — and pay the fees. Quality was not an issue.

Given the times and the place — remember, this was Berkeley, California… Telegraph Avenue… Just down the street from People’s Park… one icon of the Flower Power movement and the historical standoff between the police and the hippies… 1978, when the “homeless” were still known as “street people” — it wasn’t surprising that my first popular product was a line of curious teak pipes.

(Yeah, sure… they were bubble pipes …)

But I outgrew that phase pretty quicky, and moved on to more universally appealing stuff.

Especially with the holiday selling season approaching, I focussed more on family fun, developed pocket boxes, heart boxes, names-on-wheels, puzzles and tangrams, and a line of wood and crystal ornaments that looked great in a sunny window and on a Christmas tree.

Will find some neat pix for tomorrow…

So, back to the tale… WOODbyC actually came into being in 1978, on “The Avenue” in Berkeley, CA, following my 10-year pursuit of a college degree.

I didn’t pursue it so much as slog through it. But when dad sent me a “con-grad-ulations” check for $500, I went out and bought a 24″ belt sander from Sears, a tiny drill press, and a 3-wheeled bandsaw.

We had no out-buildings, and my boyfriend / housemate had already comandeered the larger bedroom for his jewelry business! So I set them up in the breakfast nook (cordoned off with plastic) and set to work.

Speaking of work, the daily duty calls again, so this tale will go on hold…

I guess it’s fitting to start my blog on Groundhog Day. (That is one of my favorite movies, and it does herald my birth month…) Let’s hope it won’t develop into a repetitious bore!

I’m a lady woodturner, with a business online and “out in the world.” Recently sales have been hopping — following an unsolicited endorsement (in a national quilting magazine) of my popular line of wood seam rippers.

It began last April at the MQX show in Manchester, NH. Mark Lipinski (original editor of Quilter’s Home magazine) gave a workshop, and his students kept flaunting the seam rippers they bought from me.

At day’s end he rushed over to get one, and a few months later emailed to ask if I’d let him feature one in his “Mark’s Favorites” column. (Would I???!!!)

That brought a flurry of interest and sales like I’d never seen and I’ve been working overtime to try and sustain the high.

But daily duty calls, so I’ll sign off now and pick up the tale tomorrow. Thanks for reading!