Telephone orders

Every summer I get calls from people who have visited my studio during their vacation. They either wished they had bought a particular piece of work, or that they had bought more items to take home as gifts.

This yellow birch bowl is just one example of an item that I have mailed this summer:



I got a lovely notecard from it's new owners in Pennsylvania to tell me that it had arrived safely. It was much admired by all their family and is destined to become a family heirloom. Feedback like that is always so nice to receive, especially for unique pieces like this that I am so fond of myself and really wish I didn't have to sell. I find it reassuring to know that it has gone to a good home.

I currently have an order for a small salad bowl. The lady had seen something she liked in my booth at the craft market, but didn't buy it at the time. Whichever bowl it was, I don't have it any longer, but I do have some roughed out blanks that are ready for finishing, so I will be starting that job next week. When they are finished I will send some pictures by e-mail for her to choose from.

While it is often possible for me to fulfill requests like this, very often truly unique pieces cannot be replicated if they are already sold. So if you do visit my studio and see something you like, do remember that it may not be available for very long. A lot of my work never makes it to the website.

But if you do need to purchase something that isn't on the website, you can call me toll-free on 1-888-428-3794, or email me.

Incidentally, the notecard I got from Pennsylvania was of a watercolor called 'Trumpets of Hope' by artist Andy Smith who donated the work to the American Cancer Society.


Technorati Tags: woodturning, bowl

Another Satisfied Customer

I often get e-mails from customers telling me how pleased they are with the piece of my work that has just arrived in the mail. But this is the first time it has been done publicly on a blog.

Wayne Hurlbert, who is the author of Blog Business World, got his spurtle just in time for Easter.

Wayne, I am delighted that your Mom is so pleased with her easter gift. But do please encourage her to make good use of it! These spurtles are functional tools, and as attractive as they may be, I don't make them as works of art.

Most of us live today surrounded by mass-produced wares created by machines and anonymous workers. My hope is that the cook using one of my spurtles takes some pleasure from the fact that they are using a tool which was handcrafted by someone they know a little bit about. Just as in days gone by, before the industrial revolution, when many of the artifacts in daily use were made by a local craftsman.

One of the purposes of this blog is to help customers get to know me better, and to learn a little about the craft of woodturning. I hope it will add to their enjoyment of my creations.

Finally dear reader, do take a look at Wayne's Blog Business World. It is always a good read and full of information about the world of blogging, for both bloggers and blog readers alike.

Tags: woodturning, spurtle, cook, craftsman, artifacts

Recycled Packaging

I make use of a lot of recycled packaging for shipping customer orders. I save all incoming packaging and collect more from friends and my wife's workplace.

While small items can be shipped in padded envelopes, which I have to purchase, larger items and big orders are shipped in corrugated cardboard boxes. When I get these, I calculate the cubic capacity of the box and write that on the side, then break the box down so that it can be stored flat. Then when I have an order to pack I find a suitable sized box and re-assemble it. I also use flat pieces of cardboard to reinforce the tops and bottoms of some boxes.

The packing material that I use comes in many forms. Polystyrene pellets are quite common, though they are not the most environmentally sound product because they cannot be recycled. I also use larger pieces of expanded polystyrene, the sort of stuff that electronic equipment is often packed in. I cut it down into more manageable sizes with the bandsaw, then use it to fill larger voids in your parcels. Bubblewrap is an old favourite which I normally save for wrapping more delicate items. More recently I have started to see inflatable packaging being used. This comes in the form of polythene bags full of air, which seem to be a very environment friendly solution since there is very little material used to achieve a very large amount of padding. If they aren't going to be reused they can be deflated and recycled along with any other LDPE .

One strange material I got recently was corrugated cardboard which had be cut into v-shaped pieces. It made for a quite heavy packaging, but since most Canada Post parcels have a minimum density applied to them (low density parcels are paid for by volume, not weight) , this is probably not a big problem to me.

So why do I go to all the trouble of storing and re-using recycled packaging? Well, it saves cash for one thing. For the quantities of packaging that I use, it can be expensive. But I would much rather re-use something than throw it away. I like to do my bit for the environment, and if I can use something one more time before it goes to the landfill or recycling facility then so much the better. So as long as it is clean and reasonably presentable, then I will happily re-use it.

Why is this bowl so expensive?

That question was asked of me today about a very nice bowl that I took to the craftshow. One of the biggest hurdles many craftspeople face in their marketing is educating the public about the value of their work.

I must say straight away that this piece was turned from a very unique piece of wood, in that the branch had made a complete U-turn as it grew. This has resulted in some interesting figure and a bark inclusion right into the center of the bowl. This was one of those pieces of wood that are difficult to mount on the lathe, and not without risk once it starts spinning due the 'defects' hidden within.

The natural edge around the rim of the bowl not only adds to the interest of the piece, but also requires considerable skill to turn. As the wood spins on the lathe, the handheld tool is alternately cutting wood then air, making it want to bounce around. Much skill is needed to overcome this and ensure that the tool doesn't jam in the wood. This is most definitely workmanship of risk, and a moments inattention can lead to the work being totally ruined, or worse.

Then there was the skill that went into identifying the unique features of the piece of wood, designing a form to suit these features and then working skillfully to overcome the challenges that woods of character often present. This bowl is most definitely a one-of-a-kind piece of art that took a lot of skill to make. In my opinion it is worth every penny I am asking for it. Until the day that a customer agrees with my opinion, I am quite happy to keep this piece in my studio to admire myself and as a talking point for visitors. It certainly drew many admiring comments today.