Chippygeoff
Established Member
I thought I would share this with my fellow scrollers out there. I have just finished a 3 day event at a National Trust Woodland Centre. All those invited had to be involved with wood in some way. On different days different people turned up. We had a husband and wife team displaying things they had made from drift wood, a brilliant guy who effortlessly made love spoons and made it look so easy. There was an abundance of wood turners and one special guy who was a wood sculptor, he had on display several birds of prey and several animals. The centre piece was a tree trunk 6ft high and 2ft in diameter and over the three days he made it into a golden eagle with the public invited to have a go. Fantastic workmanship.
I had a couple of tables in what was once a stable block and had been converted. I had my friend Derek opposite me displaying his wood turning things, which meant we could watch each others stall if one of us had to go for a leak. To one side of us was the tea room and on the other side as the loo’s so it all worked out very well.
Day one was very interesting, it was fascinating watching a wood turning demonstration that was taking place next to my stall and I ended up giving one of the guys a small commission in making an item for my fly tying and when I asked him what I owed him he said nothing, what a nice chap he was. A lady outside of where we were was doing basket weaving.
On day two we had more people turn up and I was surprised to see a guy and his wife setting up a scroll saw. It was a Peugeot. It was bolted to a piece of 40mm worktop which in turn was secured to a workmate. He had a long chat with me and said he had only been doing it a few months and he admired all the things I had on my tables. As the day wore on I was feeling more sorry for the guy outside on his scroll saw. When he switched it on the sound was almost identical to a Harley Davidson motorbike, despite being bolted down the whole thing shook. He was very limited to what he could produce because the smallest blade he could use was a number 10. He explained that anything smaller would just break when he switched it on, he could never get enough tension on the blade, it just would not have it. We had a long chat and he picked my brains and I advised him to look out for a second hand Hegner and explained how he would enjoy a new experience in scrolling and told him he would be able to make anything I had on my tables.
The event had been widely advertised on radio and in the papers and we had a good turn out over the three days and I was happy with the sales I made. One of the problems with events like this is young children, many of them can be a bit overly enthusiastic and want to pick everything up, things get knocked over and every time they go on to the next stall I have to go and re-arrange everything again, and again.
Day three was my best day for sales and I did very well. I was getting a bit low on my normal stock on the morning of the third day and I had an idea this would happen so I made a point of taking along items that have proved difficult to sell in the past and low and behold I sold the lot. When I come up with a new idea I make one or two and see what the reaction is to them and if they sell say within 4 craft fairs, if they do I make more if they don’t then I dismiss the idea and over a long period I had accumulated quite a bit of dead stock but I am so pleased it all went today and I think the reason for that is we had a large variety of people come in.
On the way home yesterday I popped into the supermarket to get some rolls etc so I could take a packed lunch with me and this morning I clean forgot to make it, thankfully the tea room next door to where I was did a large variety of food so at lunch time I wandered over and asked for a baguette and a coffee, the baguette was £6-50 and the coffee was £2-20 so that was almost a tenner gone just like that. I told the girl behind the counter I would have to ring the bank and arrange for a loan.
Today I had another wood turner set up opposite me, the guy was just brilliant and I learnt a lot from him with regard to some finishes he used on a regular basis, during the lulls when we were not serving the punters he went to great lengths explaining his finishes and how they could be applied to scroll saw work. He had some little tubs of different coloured creams, he had made a small bowl and while it was still on the lathe he applied the cream to the bare wood, he left it a couple of minutes and then buffed it with a cloth with the bowl stationery and told me I could achieve the same effect which was absolutely stunning, the finish was a metallic one and what came to mind straight away was that I could make a few things in cheap wood, like pine and when treated with this finish would look like a million dollars.
Another thing he showed me on several of the things he had made was the use of various resins, again, the effect was stunning and straight away I saw a good use for it in scroll saw work, like filling in a word with it, just put some tape on the back of an item to stop the resin coming out and then pour the resin in the top and Bob’s your uncle. I was given various web sites to look at and other details and I will research this in the coming days and let you all know how it all works out, I am quite excited about this new discovery and will look forward to carrying out some experiments.
Tomorrow I am at my normal craft fair so it will have been non stop for four days and after that it will mean 16 hours a day in the workshop replenishing stock, I know it’s all hard work but I just love it.
I had a couple of tables in what was once a stable block and had been converted. I had my friend Derek opposite me displaying his wood turning things, which meant we could watch each others stall if one of us had to go for a leak. To one side of us was the tea room and on the other side as the loo’s so it all worked out very well.
Day one was very interesting, it was fascinating watching a wood turning demonstration that was taking place next to my stall and I ended up giving one of the guys a small commission in making an item for my fly tying and when I asked him what I owed him he said nothing, what a nice chap he was. A lady outside of where we were was doing basket weaving.
On day two we had more people turn up and I was surprised to see a guy and his wife setting up a scroll saw. It was a Peugeot. It was bolted to a piece of 40mm worktop which in turn was secured to a workmate. He had a long chat with me and said he had only been doing it a few months and he admired all the things I had on my tables. As the day wore on I was feeling more sorry for the guy outside on his scroll saw. When he switched it on the sound was almost identical to a Harley Davidson motorbike, despite being bolted down the whole thing shook. He was very limited to what he could produce because the smallest blade he could use was a number 10. He explained that anything smaller would just break when he switched it on, he could never get enough tension on the blade, it just would not have it. We had a long chat and he picked my brains and I advised him to look out for a second hand Hegner and explained how he would enjoy a new experience in scrolling and told him he would be able to make anything I had on my tables.
The event had been widely advertised on radio and in the papers and we had a good turn out over the three days and I was happy with the sales I made. One of the problems with events like this is young children, many of them can be a bit overly enthusiastic and want to pick everything up, things get knocked over and every time they go on to the next stall I have to go and re-arrange everything again, and again.
Day three was my best day for sales and I did very well. I was getting a bit low on my normal stock on the morning of the third day and I had an idea this would happen so I made a point of taking along items that have proved difficult to sell in the past and low and behold I sold the lot. When I come up with a new idea I make one or two and see what the reaction is to them and if they sell say within 4 craft fairs, if they do I make more if they don’t then I dismiss the idea and over a long period I had accumulated quite a bit of dead stock but I am so pleased it all went today and I think the reason for that is we had a large variety of people come in.
On the way home yesterday I popped into the supermarket to get some rolls etc so I could take a packed lunch with me and this morning I clean forgot to make it, thankfully the tea room next door to where I was did a large variety of food so at lunch time I wandered over and asked for a baguette and a coffee, the baguette was £6-50 and the coffee was £2-20 so that was almost a tenner gone just like that. I told the girl behind the counter I would have to ring the bank and arrange for a loan.
Today I had another wood turner set up opposite me, the guy was just brilliant and I learnt a lot from him with regard to some finishes he used on a regular basis, during the lulls when we were not serving the punters he went to great lengths explaining his finishes and how they could be applied to scroll saw work. He had some little tubs of different coloured creams, he had made a small bowl and while it was still on the lathe he applied the cream to the bare wood, he left it a couple of minutes and then buffed it with a cloth with the bowl stationery and told me I could achieve the same effect which was absolutely stunning, the finish was a metallic one and what came to mind straight away was that I could make a few things in cheap wood, like pine and when treated with this finish would look like a million dollars.
Another thing he showed me on several of the things he had made was the use of various resins, again, the effect was stunning and straight away I saw a good use for it in scroll saw work, like filling in a word with it, just put some tape on the back of an item to stop the resin coming out and then pour the resin in the top and Bob’s your uncle. I was given various web sites to look at and other details and I will research this in the coming days and let you all know how it all works out, I am quite excited about this new discovery and will look forward to carrying out some experiments.
Tomorrow I am at my normal craft fair so it will have been non stop for four days and after that it will mean 16 hours a day in the workshop replenishing stock, I know it’s all hard work but I just love it.
I always thought my Harley was quite smooth, though I must admit, my missus didn't agree with me.
