Iguanadon

Nice work John. I personally donate $5 of each piece I sell to a dog rescue that my wife and I are associated with. I make a donation monthly based on my sales and I post the receipt on my Facebook page so that everyone sees that it's for real. I'm only a beginner, just started with a booth at the local farmers market 5 weeks ago. I mention the donation as soon as people ask what my prices are "$25 and five of that goes to the Australian Cattle Dog Rescue..."

I'm rather excited about it and wish the next 30 days would fly by... other than having to pack and move... Ugh. Days like today when it's 94 degrees with a heat index of 111 and it's 96 in my garden shed and I can't get near it until after the sun goes down makes me want to be in the new garage workshop NOW! The wishlist is already beginning... Definitely need a table saw.

Is this what you're looking for? Upload a photo and it turns it into a stencil/pattern. http://online.rapidresizer.com/photograph-to-pattern.php

It's not a done deal yet, but it's close... buying a new house just 3 blocks from current one. Three reasons we're moving... My wife needs a space for a home office, the dogs need more yard space (our real dogs, not the ones I cut out of poplar) and Iggy needs a real workshop area. I've been working in a garden shed and have less than half of it designated for workshop space. The new house has a 2 1/2 car garage with so much space I almost cried a little when I saw it. ;-) Pictures of my current setup and a picture of the new space (with the current owners stuff still in it). If all goes as scheduled, will be moving in the last week of August. Counting down the days.

My wife and I were just talking about that while we had an early dinner... it's great being in a tourist location because we have all new people every single week. I said to her that if we were still in Raleigh at the flea market I wouldn't sell nearly as many after the first month or two as the same folks stroll through over and over. But being a beach location means I have about 5 months at most, but that's OK as now I know what I should stock up on and can do that during the winter months.

You guys and gals are the best. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, ideas and experiences. It's great to have a repository to tap into like this.

UPDATE - Today was my best day at the Farmers Market (only my 5th time out there), sold 35 pieces today, well over my average of 19. The banner looked great and it was very convenient to point to it to show what a scroll saw is and then show them one of the actual blades which I always have with me. http://content.screencast.com/users/Iguanadon/folders/Jing/media/251556ac-e2bd-49ae-9469-14d00e8734b9/2016-07-23_1358.png http://content.screencast.com/users/Iguanadon/folders/Jing/media/16d3109b-b2e2-4400-8004-2dcc4e8d90c8/2016-07-23_1357.png On a side note, I had a major OH SHIT! moment... using my PayPal credit card swiper, I was processing a sale for $50.00 but as I was typing in the amount, my finger hit a 9 after I keyed in the amount... it processed as $500.09. I FREAKED OUT... and it wouldn't let me stop the transaction even though it hadn't been signed yet. Fortunately for me, the lady was far less worried about it than I was. I gave her my name, address and phone number and I got her name and phone number and told her I'd issue a refund for the overage as soon as I got home. I was able to do it very easily from my computer on the PayPal site and I texted her to let her know and she was very nice about the entire thing.

New banner arrived today... Will share picture of it hanging in my tent at tomorrow's farmers market. FYI - when ordering from Vistaprint, don't ever pay extra for faster shipping... they always ship things out quickly. I ordered this Monday and chose the slowest shipping method and received it today (Friday).

Dang, I should have waited a day... Travis, I greatly appreciate your offer to help me with the picture and I'll keep you in mind with my next banner design/order. We'll see how this one turns out. I'll share a picture once it arrives and I hang it in my tent the first time.

Thanks Len, you bring up good points. The nice thing is that with Vistaprint and their various coupon codes, the signs are relatively inexpensive to have made so if I get negative feedback or questions about the sign, I can look to improve the next version. Keep the ideas coming.

Thanks DGMAN... I'm a niche kind of guy actually. I keep expanding the animals I find and cut and am enjoying them so much I'll probably stay focused on them for a while. The banner only costs $48 so I won't be out much if I expand my hobby.

I think I have a winner here. Without setting up a full studio photo shoot, I think the blue tarp backdrop helps with the "clutter/busy" look. http://content.screencast.com/users/Iguanadon/folders/Jing/media/6763c86c-a028-4e0d-8844-76e71f467102/2016-07-18_2007.png

That's one vote for photo with sawdust... ;-) I really do want feedback, so everyone please chime in.

Excellent 1 cent Jerry. I actually looked at some of the stock photos of the DW788 and thought about doing that. I did swap out the photo with a slightly different one and here is the current version... http://content.screencast.com/users/Iguanadon/folders/Jing/media/454a76af-4f8b-449d-a4e5-2770b621ff87/2016-07-18_1638.png And here it is with your suggestion... http://content.screencast.com/users/Iguanadon/folders/Jing/media/d6192648-668d-44cd-a5b8-ea83ad49f14a/2016-07-18_1719.png Place your votes!

OK here is what I've mocked up... speak now or forever hold your peace... http://content.screencast.com/users/Iguanadon/folders/Jing/media/a93fd8e3-cee4-4e13-957a-729a2e391f26/2016-07-18_1618.png

Hi All, It's Iggy again with another odd question for folks to ponder and put in their 2 cents. So... attached is my business card (which my wonderful wife designed for me) and I had it turned into a 2' x 3' banner which I hang from a table at the front of my booth. I want to have another banner made, a bit larger to hang from the back of the tent so that it's behind me. I plan on having a picture of the scroll saw with one of the puzzles sitting on it and then wording that says: ANIMAL PUZZLES INDIVIDUALLY HAND CUT USING A SCROLL SAW Is this appropriate wording? I keep getting hung up on using "hand cut" but actually using a power tool. Maybe just remove the 3rd line entirely? Or just go with HAND CUT ANIMAL PUZZLES The entire intent of this sign is that I get asked all the time what computerized cutting machine am I using. I'm open to any and all suggestions, so throw out your ideas. Hand Cut? Hand Crafted? etc, etc... Thanks as always, Iggy

That's a good thought and thanks for sharing your experience with trying to adapt to the event. I'll still have all of my usual items on display for sale but will add these new items in their own little designated area and worst case I'll have wasted a handful of hours making the display pieces.

As I knew they would. Keep 'em coming! I've been doing Google searches all morning looking for ideas as well and coming up with some good ones. I'm purposely not sharing what I've found so far because I don't want to sway peoples minds so you'll all come up with your own unique ideas that I likely haven't thought of yet. Right now what I plan on doing is finding 10-12 new/different items specifically for this event and make 1 of everything for display purposes only and take orders. Since it's 2 days and is all day, into the night music event, people won't want to carry a piece of wood around with them for hours, not to mention the risk of losing or breaking it. This way I don't have to try to guess what will be popular by making several and getting stuck holding a bunch of stuff that won't sell until the next music fest.

To my fellow Villagers, I have signed up for an event in October and looking for ideas. It's a Seafood Jazz and Blues Festival. It's a 2 day event and I'm looking for ideas of items I can make in addition to my usual batch of animal puzzles. I'm thinking musical instruments, music symbols, etc... associated with Jazz and Blues. I thought I'd toss it out here and see what you brilliant scrollers could come up with. Any ideas should include patterns, or links to patterns I can purchase. I look forward to your suggestions and ideas. Thanks! Iggy

Congrats on the first event. I'm a veteran of 3 events now. ;-) I'm hooked, looking for and signing up for various fairs and events as I can. Good luck and continue to enjoy.

Very nice work... and yeah, no way in the world I'd even attempt something like that. I admire those that do have the skills and patience to do beautiful work like that.

Yum, breadsticks... Oh, the patterns... they come from woodenteddybearonline.com On the left hand side of the page go to PATTERNS, then PUZZLE PATTERNS then the category you want... dogs, cats, other animals, etc. Interesting story, the maker of the patterns is an Amish gentleman in Ohio. He does amazing work. I've written him a letter asking him to create something specific for me but I haven't heard back as of yet. The dinosaur puzzles came from this book. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1565231848/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Already ahead of ya DW. When a purchase is made, I shrinkwrap it on the spot with a card slid inside. ;-) The customers appreciate the safe way to transport it since most of them are vacationers and have to get it back home safely. Funny though, I've had a couple hundred cards taken, yet not a single follow-up email, additional order or comment on my Facebook page. That's fine, I just find it interesting.

As usual, not bragging, just reporting in. This was my 3rd Saturday at the local Farmers Market which is 25% food vendors and 75% crafters and artisans. Still a whole new world to me and very much enjoying it. The dog puzzles are still leading sales, but just barely as the dinosaurs have proven to be very popular with the kids. I made some new items and the Giraffe and the Elephant were snatched up today while the Seagull and Pelican got a lot of compliments, but nobody plunked down any cash for them. This is only a 5 hour thing each week, 8am to 1pm and today I sold 26 pieces, a new high for me after selling 21 and 16 the first 2 weeks. I'm glad I got my credit card swiping thing for my phone via PayPal, half my customers this week paid by credit card. I'm scheduled every other week til the end which is early October and very much enjoying this as my hobby continues to become an obsession.

I'm showing my math so someone can correct me if I'm wrong. 2 3/4 = 2 6/8 and that is double 1 3/8, so the answer is 50%