I am kind of working in several directions at once these days. That tends to happen when deadlines are coming up and we are in crunch time.
I worked on my spider web candle tray and got it sanded and oiled. I also picked on the little charm pieces and got them to where I wanted them. At first I did them and I think they were a bit large. I wanted them smaller than the larger spider that I showed yesterday, but they had to be big enough that the legs wouldnt be even more fragile and they would fall apart. I think I found the right size and with a few tries, I think it will work.
I didnt get to the scroll saw yesterday because my partner was cutting his next piece out. It was one of the few times that we had a scroll saw traffic jam with both of us sharing a saw. I guess days like that are to be expected with the two of us doing the same thing here, and I am kind of surprised that it hasnt happened more in the past. It wasnt a big deal for me though, as I had plenty of other things to do.
The Canada Post strike was settled earlier this week and I had three orders to get out. Its funny because I am always saying that probably 95% of our orders go out electronically, but in the last week when there was a postal strike, there were three. I think they call that Murphys Law. I did send the customers notice that they wouldnt see their orders anytime soon and explained to them that the beaver was upset and sent them the patterns electronically so that they could at least get started on them. They were all very appreciative and were happy that I took the time to do that. I hope it encourages them to order that way in the future, as I think some people are afraid to order electronic files. It really makes it easier though for all parties (and cheaper) and although I understand that some people may not have printers, I think it continue to be the way that most of my customers prefer their patterns.
I went ahead and did some more drawing and cleaning of files on my computer. I need to take more pictures of the new things, but I had heard from my contact at the wholesaler and she will be out of the office until after the Independence Day holiday and the pictures wont be necessary until Tuesday. Since there was a lot going on here in our little shop and there was stuff all around, I thought it would be best to wait until we were ready and take the pictures of several projects at once. It would be far more efficient that way.
I had called one of the larger hardwood suppliers in the US because since showing my last two projects, I have had a couple of calls from customers in the US looking for roasted birch. I suppose that I didnt realize that it was such a white elephant and difficult to find. I Googled it and found a supplier in BC, Canada as well as my own supplier here in Halifax, but I failed to find anyone in the States.
When I called the place I was familiar with, they said that in the past week they also got a couple of phone calls with people looking for it and havent heard of it before. They said that the people looking for it were scrollers. I wound up giving them the web addresses for both the sources in Canada to see the possibility of them supplying it for the US. I think however that both Canadian places are willing to ship to the States, but I am sure that it will be quite expensive. I am going to keep looking and I would also appreciate if any of you in the States finds a source for it to please let me know so that I can share it with others. I know I am going to be using more of it in my design work and I would like to be able to refer people to a source so that they can purchase it too.
I am going to keep this short today, as I have lots to do and want to get an early start. I want to really push hard the next few days and see how many new things I can get done for the catalog. Then I can take a breather and we will be ready to start the class. I should start that blog next week, and I am looking forward to doing so. Once we get rolling on it, it should be fun. At least I hope it will.
I wish you all a good day and hope you find the time to make something nice.
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