Jim Finn

I agree with Edward. I put prices beside each piece. I did 25 shows last year and averaged 15 times my space rental. I have had only two this year, so far, and did even better at those. Fall sales are best though. I find the more folks that walk in front of my display the more sales I get. This is a function of how much promoting of the sale has been done. We ,as venders, have no control over that. I keep my prices low and I am competing with retail items made in China. I outsell almost all of the other venders. You have a very nice display and a nice variety of items. I have made racks that allow me to display over 100 items in a ten feet by ten feet space. I sell mostly 8" x 11" cedar boxes with images inlayed into the lids, no fretwork at all but some lettered plaques and some intarsia, even a few toys and wooden flowers. I once sold $1300 worth of $3- $6 toys in one very busy day. (I was there alone) This was when I was only making and selling toys. You never do know what will sell any given day so I bring a variety of items. My angle is to make an item cheap enough to sell easily. I mass produce most of them.

Welcome to the forum.

good work there Kevin

This past Saturday I did my second show of the year. First one was about 300% of my last years average and this second was 150% so yes this year has started well for me. Most of my sales are boxes with images inlayed into the hinged lids. I had also offered some compound cut flowers at both shows but did not sell any at the first show. Second show (same place) I sold all my flowers before noon. You just never know what will sell and when. Now to get to work making more flowers...

I had a sale this past Saturday myself. A monthly outdoor street sale. Did about 150% of my average....so a good day.

I had started to learn relief carving and was looking for functional items to decorate with carvings. I started making fireplace bellows with carved fronts and needed a scroll saw to cut out the basic shape of the wood for these. I eventually stopped carving on the bellows and now I make them, among other things, and on the face of the bellows I put in images using the double bevel inlay method.

welcome....I am in Lubbock

I use some of the many many fonts that are in word. I can stretch them to most any shape I want or Double underline them to connect the letters together if I need that.

Update: I just had my first sale of the year at a simple small monthly street fair in a small rural town in west Texas. I sold twenty boxes, 5 toy guns, all the intarsias that I had..(four) and two large wall plaques.(36" x30")and an order for one more like them. Also sold four small sports team plaques and got orders for three more. I sold triple (in dollars) what I expected to sell and now I am working to replenish my supply of finished products. The higher priced items went first and the last to move were the $5 toys.

Yesterday,I was a vendor at a monthly street fair in Post Texas and had a great sales day. About triple of my usual dollar sales, there. I sold over twenty boxes and some intarsia as well. So, today I have started making twenty replacement boxes for the sale next Saturday, here in Lubbock.

I first started wood working about 30 years ago by doing wood carving. Looking for something to carve on I made, over the years,about 50 functional fireplace bellows. I am now working on making number 51 and the first one using a scroll saw. I have put an image of a jumping fish on the front using the double bevel inlay method with my scroll saw. When I get it finished I will post a photo of it. So "what am I up too?" this and filling an order for 20 cedar boxes with inlayed images on the lids. Busy busy busy.....life is good. Edit: Bellows made of Cedar with Maple inlay, leather and brass nozzle.

What sells? Where you try matters a LOT. I sell at craft fairs, street fairs, flea markets and festivals in west Texas. This is in the "Bible Belt" so crosses sell well here although I make few. I find that toys sell well, simple toys. I sell more boxes than anything else. (About 330 a year) I inlay various images into the hinged lids of cedar boxes. I also sell some Intarsia and lettered plaques. Currently I am working on making compound cut flowers to sell. Western themes sell well here but if I lived near the coast I would try some nautical images and lighthouses. I make very little seasonal stuff. I have some cornucopias I made and have had them for two years now. When they do not sell in the fall I have to wait a year to try to sell them again. Trial and error will teach you what will sell in your area. I try to present a variety of items at each sale in a variety of prices. I display over 100 items at most shows. I built a display rack to display this many in a 10 feet by 10 feet space.

Yes Hegners require a very heavy stand and it needs to be bolted to the floor. Without that they do shake a lot because they are moving so much weight.

I told you I was sick.

Ha ha! Now that is funny! Just today I came into about 100 pounds of free 3"-4" lengths of 3"x3" mahogany. I could not resist. I have enough to make wooden flowers for years now.

........"I am not only a wood hoarder I have people helping me. ................." I have folks giving me wood all the time. Lots of guys buy wood , start a project, loose interest, sell their equipment and give away their, left over, wood. There I am with a truck and a smile. I also buy new, eastern red cedar by the pickup load full. (200+ board feet). I also have a lot of curly maple that was given to me ,over a year ago,to make some items that I have not yet gotten the go ahead on. When I moved my workshop I saved all the 2x4's and 2x6's and have a pile of them. I have used about 1/2 of them so far and about to start a home project that will use the rest I think. When a neighbor cuts down a tree, there I am with my truck and a smile. I have some very nice apple wood now. I use it in intarsia and to inlay it into the cedar. Yes, I am a hoarder and yes, life is good.

Great job!

I have done some of this flocking for the inside of boxes I make. As a way to save some money I buy the adhesive locally at a lower price. It is a slow drying paint. I use Oil base paint the color of the flocking.

yes Lowes here will cut plywood for you. First cut is free and the rest at 25 cents a cut. That is what I would do if I were you.

There are many of us out here that do not do fretwork. I tried spiral blades on thicker woods and found I was spending as much time sanding as I was cutting so I stopped using spirals at all. Gave mine away. I do not use reverse blades either. (Yes, I tried them also) I use FD Polar blades and NEVER sand the cut. Sanding would ruin the smooth burnished cuts I get. If I ever do start to do fretwork I would try reverse blades and spirals I suppose.

Here are some photos of the coin banks I made with that pattern and how I made the bottom removable to access the coins.. Just another idea to try.

excellent job on the high button shoe and all the others! I have not done an intarsia of that shoe but I will now, after seeing how nice yours turned out. I have used that pattern to make a stand up coin bank but have not made one in years. Great work!

I am making yet another horse head Intarsia. This one using apple wood, mesquite and ebony for the eyes. I will try to attach a photo of the last one I did .(and sold)

Tip Board? never heard of it.

I make most of my items of Eastern Red Cedar. I buy it here in Texas for about the price of Oak. I fill my pick-up with it every nine months or so. 1 1/8" by 8" by 8'. I resaw it to 3/8" and make jewelery boxes with it and inlay images into the lids.The buyers sure do like the smell. I fill the bed of my pick-up with it every 9 months or so. I found that 1/4" cedar would split a little too easy so I went to 3/8". Also when screwing on hinges I never did find screws shorter than 3/8" so even the sides of my boxes need to be 3/8". I can use some 1/4" for the bottoms of my boxes though. I have also glued some 1/4" stock together to make 1/2" for the 2 1/2" sides.