What are you all up to

RK

Margaret also has varifocals but she has transition lens which go darker the brighter the sun. Personally I have never liked that idea, I don't even wear sunglasses, despite the optician saying I should! Mind you given the weather we have had recently I very much doubt her lens have transitioned  very often recently!

David

We too both wear varifocals and have for many a year. Normally I don't have any problems with them but I have had trouble with one of the last pairs that I purchased two years ago and I can only use them for driving as they make my eyes very tired when using them for reading. Trying to get them properly adjusted was part of the reason I was so long in Specsavers the other day. 

We collected the caravan this morning with all jobs done. I was able to purchase a 6 kg propane refill while I was there, so no shortage of supply locally. Just a few bits and pieces to do inside the van and we will be ready for the off again when the weather is a bit more settled.

Enjoy your week away, R&R. Fingers crossed that the worst of the bad weather has passed over and you get a dry week.

We also have varifocals.  From Specsavers the second pair is "free" , so we both have an ordinary pair and one that goes dark with the sun.

Down at DD's on GP duties, as usual.  She has posted some of my turned items on "Etsy" and made a couple  of sales.  Amazing what price people on there will pay compared to what we were charging at the craft fair!!

I have made several spurtles, they were priced at £3.50 , on Etsy she put them  up for £6.  Postage is a cost, about £1.55, so after fees I will still  be ahead.

Kj

No idea what a Spurtle was until I looked it up!!! Margaret likes her porridge but she does it in the microwave. On a more serious note I would reckon selling them at £3.50 is too cheap? It might depend if others were selling them at the same show but I would have thought a minimum of a fiver?

David

Well, David, spurtles are quite quick to make, I reckon 10 minutes, plus preparing the wood, and the locals are not keen to pay a decent amount!   Bit of a "loss leader" maybe,  but  £3.50  covers my  costs.   Nobody else there was selling turned wooden items.

If you buy the mass produced, presumably Chinese made, ones, in a shop, they are less than £3, so difficult to ask a lot more here.

But you are correct, even on Amazon they are about £5.

A spurtle can be used for a lot more than stirring porridge......like.......custard.......white sauce......gravy.

Way back in the early 1970s we went with OH's parents to the spurtle mill on Deeside, not far from Balmoral, and  bought a couple of spurtles, we still have them.  I was fascinated by the way they made them.   Nothing done with electricity, all hand or foot powered.   They also made garden planters from old whisky barrels, we had a  couple, which have now unfortunately rotted away after 40+ years.

The old fellow who owned and operated the spurtle mill had specified in his will that on nis death it must be burned down, and his family complied, so unfortunately it is no more.

DD seems to be well informed on what might sell well,  so I am now tasked with making Christmas trees and  bells for our next sale on 02/12.

She seems to have inherited her maternal ability to sell things, so has purchased a 3D printer and is manufacturing all sorts of little things to sell.

She has been quite surprised at how much her stuff has been in demand!

KJ - I don't do much now, but I used to do a lot of woodturning and other woodwork and it's true what you say that people just aren't prepared to pay what things are worth - so I ended up giving away most of my work - as presents. I've had a look through my 7000 or so photos stored on the cloud and all I can find are these! The Windsor chair took at least 60 hours to make - so who's going to pay a realistic price for that when you could probably buy a mass produced one for peanuts! (Wouldn't part with it, anyway!) Carving the elm seat was the most laborious part - using one of these - don't know if you have ever come across one?

Richard

An Ercol Windsor chair at Heals will set you back £450 and that is just the standard design, not the two tier version, for want of a better description, shown in your picture. Funnily enough we were watching Greg Wallace, Inside the Factory,  yesterday, the episode where he visited the Ercol factory and supposedly made a Windsor chair. I suspect success in selling home made craft items, and at what price,  is probably down to where you sell them. Probably more successful at larger events but the downside being it's probably more expensive to have a place. Those Gavel's are beautiful but suspect they would be more difficult to sell at a local event but would probably sell well online at a decent price?

David

Etsy is the way to go KJ. There’s Folksy as well. The more niche and unusual your products the better, as online is a huge market, so your stuff has to stand out as being a bit unique. Sadly a lot of folks don’t understand what goes into making some stuff, and do compare it with mass produced tat that is thrown out by exploited workers.

My sister has been using Etsy for a while now, most of her stuff goes to USA and Canada, so make sure you get postage costs right as well. Brexit has made this a lot more involved, and frankly a PITA, but you only have to do the research and setting up once mainly. I am in process of doing my own shop at the moment.

Our DIL in N, Ireland is a milliner and sells many of her wonderful creations on Etsy. I agree TDA many folks just don't understand what goes into making all this wonderful stuff. My Mum was a professional dressmaker and people just didn't want to pay for the number of hours work that she put into making her clothes.  One lady when looking at something that my Mum had made remarked 'goodness that's lovely, it's almost as good as something you would buy in a shop' My Mum's face was a picture!!

OH and I haven't had the best of health during the past couple of weeks but hopefully we are on the mend now.