First event of the season for me.

[Rolf]

We took about $1200 worth of inventory out east Where we leave it on consignment. We do not have to be there. They sell the three days after Thanksgiving and the following weekend. What ever is left comes back to me along with a check. Nice and easy! We mark up our prices to cover the consignment fee.
Our main event and the only we are at, is Dec 7. So I need to get back in the basement and get busy.
I ordered the square yesterday. I should have it in time for the 7th.

[keystonecop]

Rolf.. I was going to say I only sell on consignment, but realized my puzzles are sold outright.. I Love to talk scrolling. and like to talk, I just cannot see selling online with mailing,, and paying for a spot when you have a place to take on consignment. the part I miss is HOW DID YOU DO THAT.. Hope all you get back is a check.

[Rolf]

Beauty & Beast best.jpgDone 12 14 16 rb (399 x 600).jpg Actually John I don't do individual consignment. Only this short term event each year. Since starting this hobby in 2002 I have only done three individual consignment projects. These two were for good friends. Intarsia frame and Wolf, the third was some large word art for someone that nudged me at one of our woodworking fairs. The frame was a BD present for a friends wife, the picture they already had. for the frame I only charged a very small fee so that it was a gift from him not me. Notice the the upper right hand corner foliage in the picture tied in nicely with the frame, purely by accident.

[NC Scroller]

I am like John. I enjoy the face to face.

[Rolf]

We had a great Fair Saturday, to put things into perspective there are only about 20 vendors. My two sisters and I are three of them.
I take two 8' tables. I don't know what I was thinking but I only took two pictures this year of each end skipped the middle But I attached a picture from last year of the middle. Which is 90% ornaments. A steady flow of customers and we did very well. Our table fee for the two tables is. $90 and I give them an additional donation of 10% of my sales.
DSC_0247 (Medium).JPGDSC_0815 (Medium).JPGDSC_0249 (Medium).JPG

[jttheclockman]

Wow that is alot of ornaments and look very professional. May I ask what you sell them for because you added a gift box as well?? What is the average sze?? The photo sometimes is deceiving. Thanks and nice display.

[RJweb]

Very nice, I like your sign stating that they are hand cut, not by lazer, RJ

[Rolf]

With rare exception I scale all of my ornaments so that they fit in a box. The box is 3-3/4 by 5-1/4. that makes cutting some things a bit more challenging. The boxes now cost me $.65 each. the majority of my ornaments sell for $12. I cut six at a time. Average cut time for six depending on detail is 30 to 45 minutes. My wife paints some of them, she also does all of the packaging, pricing, setup, inventory and sales.
Yes she has spoiled me.
When we get the remnants back from the consignment show Wednesday, we will have a complete picture of this season. I mark the items up by 20% at that show to cover the fee. The ornaments sell there for $15. It is a very touristy location, surrounded by vineyards.

I keep a couple of my smallest blades to show customers what I use. They are always amazed.

[KarlB]

Rolf,

How many times do you do one-offs? That is deciding a project takes too long to make too many of them on the off chance they don't sell.

Karl

[will8989]

As always, beautiful work. Great minds think alike. Look familiar?

[Rolf]

Karl, I am not sure what you mean by one off's. If you mean the things like the Christmas, Noel or Peace Nativity. They are not as profitable but I enjoy making them because I use many more of my tools besides the scroll saw. It is still primarily a hobby that is completely self supporting.
I make things that I like, I also get a lot of input from my wife. Since the majority of what we sell are ornaments making a stack of six is not a big deal. Since we started selling we have only had a handful of clinkers. But you never know what will sell year to year. We also try to introduce something new every year.

[NC Scroller]

Rolf,

How many times do you do one-offs? That is deciding a project takes too long to make too many of them on the off chance they don't sell.

Karl

That is something you can't predict. I have made items I thought would sell and don't. I have made items that sat in inventory for 4-5 years and then sell.

[Sandy Oaks]

Very nice display, Rolf. Your work is always top notch.

[will8989]

Christmas themed items always sell from October on. I made Sue Mey’s nativity cross expecting to carry it all season. 2 weeks ago a guy bought it and ordered 2 more. He wants to give one to each of his sisters. That one of turned into $200+. Sometimes just one of a larger item sells faster because if they think about it it might be gone by the time they make up their mind. And there is always the next show if something doesn’t sell!!

[Rolf]

Some of the one offs are projects that I made for SSWWC articles, like the John Nelson shelves and the clock. I put those out more to show what can be done with a scroll saw, not expecting for those items to sell. I wish they would
We are getting our first snow of the season this morning and I have to go pick up the remnants of our consignment show. It will be interesting to see how we did there.