Scroll Saw Blog

…except for the final box. I’m leaving that out for those last minute things in the morning. I did a bunch of labels tonight as well, though I still ran out of blanks.

Weather is still looking pretty nasty, though maybe we won’t get the thunderstorms just some light scattered showers.  That’s a hazard of outdoor shows…

This is going to be short tonight–I have to get up early tomorrow.  Not sure if there will be a post tomorrow, as I might just be too worn out.  We’ll see how things go…

Tonight we made a visit to Centerville to locate where my booth is going to be. Following the directions the Americana folks sent me, we found spot #329:

Unfortunately it’s almost directly in front of a dentist’s office…. and I can’t stand dentists!! Here is Jenny standing right where the booth will be.  The oral torture specialist is behind me to the left.

Parking won’t be as close as I’d like, so we need to get there early Friday and find a spot to grab.  I would prefer to park in a final spot and just tote stuff to the booth and back.  There will probably be a lot of other folks driving to their booth, and I’d like to just stay out of the traffic.

We had a meal at City BBQ, and walked around.  There was a 199 year old Methodist church we got to go inside–with some excellent stained glass work

Returning to the house, we got the truck mostly packed.

The tables, tent, merchandise are in the truck.  Still need to get the beaded trays packed and the paperwork stuff (money/receipts/tools, things like that). Due to the weather (50% chance of rain as I’m writing this), I’m not going to bother trying to mess with the battery/inverter combo.  I’m just hoping that it’s not so bad folks don’t come out; or that I (and the work) gets soaking wet. More later as things develop….

Tonight I inventoried several of the crates for the show this weekend. Since they were packed from the Lima show in the spring, it was mostly a matter of re-checking the inventory sheets.  You can see below the sheets taped to the boxes.  I’ll update the sheets on the computer and print new ones.  That way I can know which box has what, and keep track of what sold.

One big lack is the beaded trays–I’m going to need a new box for those.  I’m also looking at making special packing out of extruded styrofoam.  I have an 4′ x 8′ x 1/2″ sheet that I picked up for around $10.  It’s just finding time to cut it out.

Taking another break from packing…

I was checking the weather forecast (we’re moving stuff in an open truck, so knowledge of rain is a good thing!), and noticed that the Natl Weather service is predicting a high of only 77 for the 4th–that’s the date of the Americana show in Centerville.  That would be extremely nice for this time of year, and maybe draw some folks out to the show as well.  There is a 30% chance of rain, so we’ll have to watch out for that.

Back to the packing….

While taking a break from packing I found a couple of bookmark patterns I’ve made; a horse and a deer.   A link to them is here.  This is about a one-page  22K .pdf pattern.  Note the version number: 0.1–There are several blank bookmarks in addition to the two real patterns.  When I get them filled, I’ll link to it over with the rest of the patterns. Anyway, back to packing.  Enjoy the patterns!

Update:  The link should now work…And I’ve added a pictures of the cut-out bookmarks

I’ve been busy all day & haven’t had a chance to do anything scrollsawy.  In between Church services I spent time packing the trailer and messing with a garage door that broke. Not good having a door that won’t close when rain looks like it’s coming… The door is still broken, but at least it’s closed.

I told someone I’d look at posting some bookmark patterns.  Haven’t had time to look them up, but this post describes how I make them. It has an image of a horse pattern, so you can at least see how they look. The bookmark is not quite 3-1/2″ long, and is made from 1/32″ Baltic Birch plywood.

Tomorrow is a packing day, so I’m not sure how much scrollsaw work will take place–probably very little.  It will be nice when the trailer is ready to take a trip down South. Also, Centerville Americana is taking place friday, so I have to pack the truck for that as well.

Until later…..!

The local scrollsaw club had the summer picnic today, and we had one of those gift exchanges where you can “steal” gifts from others. I packed up one of the beaded trays, Balacia #08B08 and brought it in.  The original recipient seemed to like it (he was going to give it to his wife),  but another person “stole” it from him.  So it looks like there is some interest in the trays!

Another member had an idea: why not make up kits for the trays?  I could package the wood and plans in a box and sell that.  I’m looking into it; it’s worth a shot if I can make it practical to sell.  The plans I was going to make up anyway, so the main issue is a box to put the stuff in, and how to handle the beads.  I’d probably market them as separate items, so you could pick your own set or even supply your own beads. I doubt if I can have anything by 4 July, but maybe by the Xenia Arts & Rails show in August.

Here’s a couple pictures of the tray in question. It actually wasn’t one of the ones I cared for, as the beads really didn’t seem that coherent.

This afternoon I’ve been working up things for the booth, including the bookmark tray in the previous post. Another thing is the craftshow labels.  This year I decided to update the labels from simple print outs on heavy paper to a wood-based label.  I’ve got a template in Corel that I modify for each label.  The template has my logo on it, the name of the piece, a short description and the price.  The labels are then printed out on white paper on a color laser printer, and then cut out. Spray adhesive glues the labels to 3″x5″ pieces of Baltic Birch.  The wallpaper roller in the picture below helps roll out any air bubbles and makes a stronger bond to the plywood. The edges are rounded over on the 6″x48″ belt sander, and then finally given a clear coat.  I prefer the “triple-thick” glaze, but I also use the gloss laquer.

They fit into a 5″ long piece of sassafras or other wood that has a dado in it and the sides rolled over (this time with the same router bit as the animal puzzle bases). I don’t have a picture of them in this post, but I believe I’ve got one in a previous post.  One problem was how to label the wall clocks.  I had these posts that the clocks hang on, but putting the label on the table below wasn’t the best.  What I’m trying now is adding a piece of wood out the side with a dado in it.  The label then fits in the slot right next to the clock.  We’ll see how this works on 4 July in Centerville..

I finished up assembling the bookmark tray this afternoon.  It has room for 22 sets of bookmarks, and will triple the amount of bookmarks I can display.  Here is a picture of the tray after the first coat of paint:

If you look closely at the left side you will see a washer in the middle. I added a top to the tray so I can transport the bookmarks without constantly loading and unloading them into the tray. The next picture is the top:

I put a rare-earth magnet where it meets the washer.  Although the dados have enough friction to keep the top from sliding too easily, the magnet will give me some extra security.  It’s not good having a few hundred bookmarks all over the place! The lip beyond the end gives me something to grab on to when opening the tray, as the magnet is rather strong.

Just got my acceptance letter for the Xenia Old Fashioned Days.  This will be 12-14 September; the first time I’ve done a 3-day show.  This is also right after the Beavercreek Popcorn Festival; so when I pack up from that one, I need to be careful so I don’t have to re-pack again before wednesday! September is going to be full!