Wooden Bowls

I have taken two classes at Woodcraft in Roanoke.  For the most recent class, I used a bloodwood bowl blank my son gave to me.  I was in no way good enough to use this wood.

  

The instructor explained it was super hard and very brittle and not for a novice.  But I decided it was better to try it with them than to take it home and do it by myself.  This was a mistake.



  

I got a decent rough shape, but when I tried to remove the screwed on chuck, one of the screws broke off.  We weren't able to dig it out and the instructor had to turn it out for me.

  

The I was trying to clean up the rim and I cracked the collar off the back.  I had to cut a new one and this made the blank shorter than I wanted and wasted some of the beautiful bloodwood.

  

With a LOT of help, I came home with a very nice bowl.

  

I now have three bowls that I have made out of three different woods.  The flatter, lighter one I made by myself on my Shopsmith lathe, with no help and a LOT of sanding.

I used a mineral oil and beeswax blend to finish the bowls.  That way they are food safe.  Although my son tells me I am to fill the bloodwood bowl with blood.  He said it isn't called potpourri wood.

  

I am not good yet, but I feel that I can start making more bowls at home and see if I can get good. Or competent.  I'll settle for that.  If I can make some decent bowls,  I have been invited to place them for sale at Explore Park. That will be fun.

The weather will have to warm up considerably before I make any more bowls.  At least above freezing.  Or 50°....

Smaller baskets

I recently took some new fabric baskets up to Explore Park. They have been selling baskets I make in the visitor's center.

  

When I arrived, the baskets were displayed on this ladder. I thought it was a fun display.

  

They did mention moving the baskets to a different location as I had brought up more .

We discussed lowering prices on the baskets to sell more and sell them faster.  But, the profit margin is so small, I decided to try making smaller baskets instead.

  

I tried some much smaller baskets.  But it is too hard to manipulate the smaller ones under the sewing machine.

  

They were also too small for the charms I like to add to each basket.  The little baskets were cute, but took almost as long to make as the bigger baskets.

  

I tried a mid-size basket. (At this point I'm feeling like Goldilocks and looking for JUUUST right.).

  

The mid-size baskets are pretty cute, but I haven't gotten up to speed on making the new size, so I am only saving about an hour on each one.

  

I am also finding size creep.  I don't want have too many different price points, so I want to have each one be a similar size.  I find my self adding a few rows of coils on each new basket I make.   I need to be careful about that.  I have made so many baskets, that my muscle memory sometimes takes over from my conscious mind.  Removing coils to make a smaller basket seems silly.

This one is the biggest of my mid-size baskets. But I really like it.

  

I'm liking these new baskets and will take a few up in the new year to see how they do.  I'm not sure how many I should make until I see how many sell versus the larger ones.

  

No More Etsy

After much contemplation, I decided to close my Etsy shop, SgfCreations.  Before I do, I have to thank my brother Randy and sister-in-law Jeanne for supporting me and buying my first basket.  My daughters helped with getting some beautiful photos for the site.  But there was just not enough traffic to make it a worthwhile adventure.  On Etsy you have to pay a monthly fee for each item you have for sale, so there was a cost to just have the site.

I was approached at a craft fair to place my baskets at a Roanoke Parks and Recreation location along the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is called Explore Park.  They are really expanding the operations there and have a thriving gift shop for local artisans.  I was asked to represent the fiber arts.

Up until now, I have had baskets for sale in both locations.  Sadly, I have only sold a few baskets on the Etsy site and many more are being sold at Explore Park.

This coming week I will be taking some replacement baskets up there.  Maybe some people will find some beautiful Christmas presents in the form of my baskets.  Think hostess gifts!