Archive for June, 2009
How do you spell HOT?
The Nawger Nob festival in Townsend Tennessee should have been a cool venue. We were back under the trees, well off the main road, and next to the Little River. Unfortunately, it was 93 degrees with very high humidity. Needless to say, most of us just about melted out there Saturday. I kept a small towel in my cooler so I could hang it around my neck occasionally. We had a lot of foot traffic between 10 and 12, but after that, I think all the customers took shelter somewhere cooler because it became a ghost town that afternoon.
Sunday brought cooler temperatures, less humidity, and fewer customers. Those who came to the show were buying, but the crafters I talked to, who had done the show many times in the past, agreed that the turn-out was much lower than past years.
I still had a wonderful time. I was able to socialize with a lot of crafters and I also ran into some friends that I had not seen since the 70s. I just love being up in the mountains, and I can’t think of anything else I would have rather been doing this weekend than chilling out in Townsend.
Heading North
Well, I’m off to Townsend Tennessee tomorrow morning for the Nawger Knob Festival. I’m really looking forward to getting out of Atlanta for a few days and back into the slow pace of the Smoky Mountains. I spent all afternoon loading the trailer with my booth and products. This is my first out of State show and I have much more stuff loaded than I normally take to local shows because I won’t have the luxury of running back to the shop for something I forgot.
I grew up in Alcoa, about 45 minutes from Townsend, so I will be staying at my parents’ house while I’m up there. This trip allows me to do a show and also visit with the “old folks” for a few days. It should be a lot of fun!
How Do You Spell Multitask?
I’ve been working in the shop non-stop for the past 5 days, including Saturday and Sunday, and I think it’s starting to wear me down. I have a show this weekend in Tennessee and I’m trying to finish up a few more batches of bookmarks and get cutting boards seasoned (oiled). All this is being accomplished in between finishing four built-in DVD bookcases for a customer. I’m leaving for Tennessee on Thursday and I want to get these bookcases installed on Wednesday before I leave town.
When I worked in the corporate world, I was very good at multitasking. Juggling multiple projects all over the country was no problem. However, in my small woodworking shop, multitasking becomes difficult because I run out of space to set all my projects. Many times I have to stop, move, and stack items to make room to perform a task on other items. I tend to sand everything on my assembly bench, so when the bench is covered with items being glued up, I have to find another table to sand items ready for that stage. In other words, space availability dictates what I work on at any given time even though I may want or need to work on something else.
Right now I have bookcases and adjustable shelves drying from the clear coat on one side of the shop, cutting boards drying on the other side on my assemble table, and bookmarks drying on top of my planer. I was working towards this scenario because once lacquer starts going on, I cannot cut anything because of dust getting on everything. I finally got to take a break this afternoon since all I could do was watch the lacquer dry.
My 30 Seconds of Fame
My interview for TryHandmade.com was published. Check it out. There’s nothing better than a free plug for the home team.
New Bookmarks
I finally found time today to get pictures taken of my new bookmarks. I tend to procrastinate on pictures because it takes a while to set up my lights and umbrellas, so I usually wait until I have a lot of things to shoot. These bookmarks are made with both domestic and exotic woods and are around 1 1/2″ wide x 6″ long x 1/16″ thick. My first try with bookmarks last year were just domestic woods. They have sold very well at shows,, so I have expanded my designs to exotic(non-domestic) woods. My next show is in a couple of weeks in Tennessee and I am anxious to see how well they are received.
