Iguanadon

Next, tell her you'll bring home the bacon...

Hi Mark, below are my top sellers. I removed the custom local ones I do that sell well. I use poplar, I like the color variations in the wood and it isn't too hard. The harder woods I've had trouble with blade flexing which causes the puzzle pieces to not slide thru from both sides. Let me know if any other questions. Dachshund Rescue (dog) Unicorn Dragon Mermaid Swimming Elephant Pit Bull Labrador Beagle Pug Husky Corgi Schnauzer Black Lab Aussie

At least I know I can't do any worse than the dog show! LOL You bring up a point, I need to be sure to have a lot of my RESCUE dog puzzles on hand. The two day event went very well. Sold 40 on Friday and 57 yesterday. I have about 40 I need to cut this week in advance of the dog festival to try to be sure I have enough of everything on hand.

Here's the description they have on their event page... WoofStock 2018 Come join Rotary and Paws-Ability as we celebrate all things dog at our first annual Woofstock party, held at Franklin Square Park in beautiful downtown Southport. We will start with a dog parade down Howe Street and then begin the festivities. The band Seneca Guns will entertain us with songs from the Summer of Love. Food trucks, dog demos, adoptable pets, and plenty of shopping from our sponsors' tents. You can even have a commemorative photo taken of you and your dog! It's going to be an all-around spectacular day, so mark your calendars now!

Ha! Yeah, everyone rub salt in my still fresh wounds from the dog show fiasco!!! LOL That was such a disaster. This dog festival will be a totally different atmosphere. It was funny, at my event today, the host organizers of the dog festival happened to stop by my booth and pretty much screamed HOLY COW ARE YOU AWARE WE'RE DOING A DOG FESTIVAL NEXT SATURDAY?!?!?! YOU HAVE TO COME SET UP!!!! And I said "Yep, I'm already signed up." LOL This is the first year of it, so it could be a bit disorganized, but that's fine, I'll set up my tent and wait for the hoards of furry customers to drag their humans over to take a look. ;-)

You're not being nosey, I'm happy to answer questions. Check out my videos on You Tube, I cover a lot of your questions. This link should take you to them. Let me know if it doesn't. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrcQ1TitDtz-ViCOg1RUN8Q Assembly line is a pretty good description, I'm very much into processes and efficiency, it's just how I am. I lay out 20 patterns on a 6' long board, cut it into pieces with a jigsaw, then I cut the outlines of all 20, then drill the holes as needed in each one, do all the interior cuts for all of them, and then the final step is cutting the puzzle pieces for all of them. Yes, accepting credit cards at events is pretty much a necessity these days. I'd say half my sales are CC and half are cash. Square is very easy to set up an account and get started. P.S. I wrote a "booklet" about getting started as a craft vendor with tidbits of information I learned when I got started less than 2 years ago.https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079KXGVYH Let me know if you have any other questions. Iggy

Glue 'em up, the puzzles that get the most attention and oooh's and aaah's are the ones with color variations (two tone, etc). They will likely look great.

Day 2 = 57 sold. Total for the 2 days = 97 Just shy of target of 100. I'm very happy for the first event of the year. They advertise that the event draws 14,000 people. It was very busy today and yesterday wasn't too shabby at all as far as foot traffic.

I'm down to 20 minutes per puzzle now. Not that I rush through them, I enjoy cutting each and every one of them, I just have a nice flow going now.

LOL, yep, but that was a formal, fancy actual dog show. Lesson learned, I won't do that again. WoofStock is a fun parade and dog festival for dogs and their humans. I'm looking forward to this one. https://www.facebook.com/events/171835623576672/

Day 1 of a 2 day event was today. I had to shake the rust off and remember how to do this! :-) Sold 40 today with a decent sized crowd ($885). Tomorrow should be better since today wasn't a holiday for many folks. Goal for tomorrow is to sell 60. Dogs were the number 1 selling item as usual selling 14 of them. I sold several items I only had 1 of on hand, so I'll have some cutting to do next week to restock. Next Saturday I heard about an event called WoofStock... a dog festival. Dog parade and everything. LOL I'll give it a try and see if enough dog crazy folks show up.

I'm so tired of this "cold" weather (my version of cold is much different than most of the rest of you. LOL) but I'm ready for warmth... then I can bitch about how hot it is in the shop. Last day of cool weather for us today. At least I haven't been out there building a new fence and a shed like the guy I hired... he looks cold out there as I peer out my window. ;-)

Were your non-puzzle items in retail stores? I've tried puzzles in stores 3 times with no luck. When they're shrinkwrapped folks don't grasp the fact that they are puzzles, so I want to try non-puzzle form, unwrapped just so people can touch and feel them.

Hey Duke, it was either $20 or $25, I'll ask him next time we speak. And he does a lot of them as non-puzzle. I'm going to try some of those in retail locations as soon as I have a chance to make a few.

Folks, don't be confused, this was one of my zombies, not me. His name is Tom, down in Mississippi, this was his first big event and his results.

Yep, he didn't mess around, going with a 10x20 tent... I only use a 10x10 but now at events that I know they cram you up against each other, I pay for 2 spaces and set up in the middle of the space.

Tom started buying patterns from me a couple of months ago and had a lot of custom ones made for his local area. Funny... he called me to tell me this, then he posted it on a Facebook page we both take part in. LOL ==== Tom wrote: My wife has been less than enthusiastic about me spending so much time in my shop on the scrollsaw working on these puzzles. She agreed to help me with one show, so this past weekend she worked this booth with me at an arts festival in our hometown of Ocean Springs, MS. She started out just doing the credit card sales portion for me, but as time passed and we were selling more and more, she got involved in the total process. By the end of the weekend, she couldn't stop talking about it and last night she informed me that we made $1540! Fast forward to this morning. I woke up at 5:30 and rolled over to find her not only awake, but looking at her phone. Before I could say a word, she said, "Well, it's about time you woke up, sleepyhead. You need to get out there and start cutting some wood!"

I dip (the entire puzzle) in mineral oil and then let soak in on a rack. I get about 400 puzzles per gallon of mineral oil so the cost per puzzle is minimal ($22 per gallon)

Stunning.

Nicely done Kevin. Harvey has done some beautiful vehicles... even though he can't drive them. LOL (Amish joke)

Duke adapted the Harvey Byler puzzle patterns to be non-puzzle. You can do it as well, or see both puzzle and non-puzzle varieties on my site, scroll down to the patterns area. www.WoodcraftByScott.com

FYI - the video of the story is now available at the very top of the article/link.

A great story just now on CBS Sunday morning about using your hands and feeling happy. Personally, I've found great pleasure making my silly little puzzles the past 2 years. I truly enjoy making each and every one of them. I get a sense of enjoyment as well as accomplishment as I finish each one. This story definitely resonated with me. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/handiwork-how-busy-hands-can-alter-our-brain-chemistry/

3M 45 for me... 77 is pure evil... I swear it trapped a bird flying over my house in it one time. ;-)

Yep, able to see it and download it. SUCCESS!