2013 Season ~ Done

Monday after the final weekend of the EXPO Christmas show, our event year is officially done. Lots of factors made the turn out very low, and not quite what we'd hoped in sales.  Rather than dwell on that, I want to share with you some of the people who came and toughed it out with us for the 6 days!

First of all, my friend Lori, owner of Skirtin' Around, shared these days with us and presented her beautiful products to the masses.  I was so impressed with her stylish and well made bags, and the fun aprons were a hit with shoppers.  Some of her fabrics are a little risque, and while a few didn't approve, most stopped and admired!  Most popular? Sexy men, camping and cowboys! We are working on her website, it is up and running, but not fully populated.  Check back often, as new products will be added before Christmas.

Last year's neighbors, the Rista's (left to right: Melanie, Marci, Melissa) were just down the way. Recently recognized in the Statesman Journal as a local business utilizing social media to generate reputation and sales, they are rocking the confection world with 70 unique flavors.  I'm happy to report that Mr and Mrs. MadWood had the pleasure of trying most all of them!  But in moderation...wink....  Their products are available online if you need a sweet treat. Tell them the MadWoods sent you :)

One of the people we met in our inaugural year of MadWood Turnery, Mark, owner of Lora Linn was there with his beautiful wine inspired products.  I got a serving tray with a fabulous print from his sold-out Marrakesh line. And, I got to be one of the first to see his new screen printed trays, pretty cool! Niels thought Mark needed bunny ears for the photo.  His products are available from his Etsy store.

Even though we don't have any more shows, our products are available on the website or by contacting us at MadWoodTurnery@gmail.com.  We have stock on hand and can also do custom work in time for Christmas gift giving. 

To all our friends, family and customers...thank you for your support for MadWood Turnery, you have our gratitude and we wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Only a few more days...

It's Sunday night, getting close to Monday morning...feeling like I didn't get enough done, but wow...Mr MadWood sure did!  He has been making some new products for a "Signature Series" of personal products.  Razor sets with the very highest quality badger hair brushes and exhibition grade wood burls.  Believe me, they are amazing!  They are in the works, but from what I have seen so far, they will make for some very proud owners in the near future.

We got such a positive response to the first group of makeup brush sets, he made several more:

Bocote, Pink Ivory, Cocobolo, Black Ash Burl, and Cocobolo 

And the ships wheel nutcrackers...these definitely bring that sense of nostalgia, when I was a kid (quite a while ago) everyone had a bowl of nuts out during the holidays.  What I love about these is how much fun the kids have spinning the wheel, and how much easier it is than squeezing a hand-held cracker.  The shells fall right into the bowl with barely a bit of mess.

Oregon Myrtle

 Oregon Ash

Cracking Wheel

Hope you can come out and see us at the EXPO Christmas show, we are in Hall D, Row 5, Space 11.  We will have these and many other wonderful MadWood items available.  As always, a good sampling of products can be seen at our website, www.MadWoodTurnery.com

If I don't have a chance before Thursday to say it, we wish you and yours a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Whether it is football and food, or family and fun, or just a quiet day to reflect on the passing year, I hope you make the best of it and have as much to be thankful for as the MadWoods :) 

As always, thanks for stopping in! ~Mrs MadWood

Glass?? on a Wood Blog?

Picture if you will...a weekend surrounded by amazing artists.  Glass, fiber, photography, painting, wood, metal, everything you can imagine.  Several times each year, MadWood Turnery is proud to be part of these gatherings of artists, displaying Niels' works alongside these other talented individuals.  I (Mrs. MadWood) have worked very hard to keep my hands in my pockets and not buy everything that catches my fancy!

But I love glass.  Always have.  So, being the excellent husband he is, Mr MadWood will indulge me by buying or trading for things he knows I will love.  Such was the case with last weekend's acquisition, my desk slugs. (see previous blog entry~ Thank you Pasco)

Back in June, we were at the Edmonds Art Festival, in Edmonds, WA and in one of the few moments I had to wander away from our booth, I happened upon Johnny & Darlene's Opal Art Glass (http://opalartglass.com/) and found this!

YES, IT IS A RAZOR CLAM!  Wow, right?  Well, of course I had to have it!  

Then what happened? We ran into them again at the Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts and Mr. MadWood traded some custom turned tap handles for this:

The picture does not do justice to this awesome octopus.

So, in time, Mr. MadWood went about making the tap handles and sending them off...expecting to hear if they met with approval or not.  In the mail today, I think we got the answer...

NO WAY!  REALLY JOHNNY? 

Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love mushroom hunting.  And particularly, morels.  Needless to say, I will cherish this one!

So, while I'm drooling on my beautiful new glass morel, Mr. MadWood is doing what he does..working and getting ready for the EXPO Center in 2 weeks (http://www.expochristmasbazaar.com/) We will be in space D5-11, I hope you can stop by and see us.  I'm working to get some new items on the website, the sea urchin and banksia ornaments and beautiful nut cracker bowls with brass ship wheels.

As always, thanks for stopping in to visit...I welcome your comments ~  Mrs. MadWood

Thank You Pasco!

Okay, I'm dead tired today.  Slept in until....well, truthfully, never really quite got up...it was a take it easy in pajamas kind of day, but Mr MadWood assures me that I earned it!

 Last Thursday morning we loaded the van full of beautiful things and headed for Pasco, WA...specifically to the TRAC Center for the 18th Annual Christmas Arts & Craft Show.  Over 150 artists come together to offer their handmade products, no commercial items allowed.  It never ceases to amaze me the talent of the these people.  I acquired a couple of new pieces...photo to follow!
Here is Niels and the MadWood booth, ready for the show to start. He thought it would be funny to buy me a sock monkey santa hat to wear...

Over the three days of the show, we had thousands of people stop in to admire Niels' work and a good share of them to make purchases.  A constant scene was Niels surrounded by people as he described the wood, technique, or function.  Most popular was definitely the handcrafted razors.  There are a lot of lucky guys in the TriCities area that will be getting a custom razor this Christmas! 

These are all gone!  Beautiful combinations of pine cone and alumalite resin and colored dymondwood.

Beautiful ornaments were subject to many oohhs and ahhs, too!  One customer loved the way 3 were displayed together, so much so...he bought the whole display! 

 

So,  thank you to all the Eastern Washington folks that stopped in and visited, and super thanks for all those who made a purchase. And to great neighbor artists, Mary Lou Wayne of Characters in Clay, who made my adorable little sheep ornament, and Paul Labrie of Labrie Glass Studio www.labrieglass.com for the amazingly fun additions to my collection of art glass!

Check out my new office slugs!!!

I'm happy to report that Niels is going to be busy, making more custom items for the last show of the year, America's Largest Christmas Bazaar at the EXPO Center in Portland.  Starting the Friday after Thanksgiving, we will be there two weekends with lots of fun, functional, and beautiful items!

Thanks for stopping by, and as always, I welcome your comments or questions! ~ Mrs MadWood

Boxes, Boxes Everywhere!

If you happened to catch Niels' Facebook page today, before 3:00 am he posted a "selfie" in his stocking cap, safety glasses, and respirator.  One of the challenges he faces is random insomnia so...when he can't sleep, he works!  I'm not saying it doesn't eventually catch up with him, but he seems super focused in the middle of the night...three amazing Myrtle salad bowls came out of last night's efforts!

But, this post is really about BOXES!  One of our customers' favorite items, Niels makes a variety of different styles.  Here is a sampling...

Each is made from a single piece of wood, and no two are ever alike.  Why? Because Niels doesn't use any kind of duplicating equipment and each piece of wood has its own character.  Shapes can be similar, but each is unique.

Here are Niels' newest boxes...Not sure what to call them!  Any ideas? The separation of the lid is almost invisible. In Maple, Myrtle, and Walnut...here they are with  lids on and off. The decorative rings are burned in with a piece of piano wire as the box turns on the lathe.
 

 

These are "snap lid" boxes, there is a little lip that holds the lid in place and when you put it on it "snaps" back into place.  Left to right: Honduras Rosewood, Narra or Amboyna, and Olivewood.  Each with African Blackwood finial.

 

 Lastly, simply unique boxes...on the left, the Walnut reminds me of an acorn, don't you think so?  And on the right, Australian Black Morrell Burl that Niels kept the natural burl edge and added an African Blackwood finial.

Questions?  Comments?  Suggestions??  

Thanks for stopping by!  Mrs MadWood

More Holiday Offerings!

So I have to say this about my Niels...he appreciates that women appreciate beautiful things. 

A while back, inspired by his beautiful daughter, he made a few makeup brushes.  Lovely, durable, and amazingly soft, they have been a hugely popular item at our shows.  Surprisingly, much of the time you see men walk up, pick one up and turn to their spouse or partner and say "hey honey, look at this"....in the same way that women pick up one of our old-school badger hair shaving brushes and call to their men to look.

 

These sets with matching cups are gorgeous...the photo does no justice to the color and figure in the wood.  Pictured are Cocobolo on the left, Black Ash Burl on the right.  Niels has several more sets working, to be ready in time for our show in Pasco, WA.  Olivewood, Pink Ivory, African Blackwood...each in a coordinated stand.

Check out www.MadWoodTurnery.com for examples of the brushes we offer and other MadWood creations!   Hopefully I'll have these up in a day or so :)

Left: Cocobolo   Right: Black Ash Burl

Thanks for stopping in!  Mrs MadWood

A long time coming!

HI!  This is Mrs. MadWood; office help, web support, chief photographer, event scheduler, marketing manager, and now Blogger!

It's been awhile since the last post, but trust me, Mr MadWood has been hard at it for the last many months, either at shows, or working to create new and beautiful items to add to the inventory.  We did several new events this year, Kirkland Uncorked, Edmonds Art Festival, Spokane and Pasco Art and Craft shows, and of course, Art on the Green in Coeur d' Alene, ID.  We have met some amazing people, the kind that welcome you into their homes and lives.  A very special thank you to Sue and Galen Luce, of Spokane.  Sue is a darling woman and very talented glass artist, and her husband Galen has a sharp wit and uncanny skill to find the best junk food.  He also is guilty of introducing Niels and I to the caramel/cheese popcorn...darn you!  We met this spring at the Spokane show and they kindly invited us to stay with them for the Art on the Green in August.  Talk about hospitality....5 stars!  Anyway, that is one thing we have learned from this business, the other artists out there working to make a living are kind, fun, wonderful folks.

This August, we were happy to have Kathy and Jerome of Simple Things by Kathy (http://simplethingsbykathy.com/) stay with us for the Vancouver Wine & Jazz Festival.  Again, the kind of people that become friends and welcome in your home.  We are excited to seem them again next month for the big EXPO Christmas show (more info below).  Kathy hand paints glass with wonderful designs and colors and Jerome is the best salesman of her work one could ever hope for!

Besides meeting great people, we worked hard this year to figure out where we "fit" in the Arts & Crafts world.  I think we found some good events that we will apply to for 2014, a few that we won't.  I'll get a tentative 2014 schedule working soon on MadWoodTurnery.com.

And now, it's almost the holidays...how did that happen??  Where did this year go?  We have two more events to finish the year, the Christmas Arts & Crafts Show in Pasco, WA November 8, 9 & 10 (http://www.custershows.com/home.php?flag=1&secid=7)  and The World's Largest Christmas Bazaar at the Portland EXPO Center Nov 29-Dec 1 and Dec 6 - 8.  Two big weekends with hundreds of vendors, many handcraft artists like Niels with amazing products.   http://www.expochristmasbazaar.com/    Making her EXPO center debut will be our good friend and show neighbor, Lori Schumann.  Her website, www.skirtinaroundbylori.com  will be up and running soon, offering custom sewn aprons, bags, pillow shams, and other unique creations. 

Here are some pictures of Mr MadWood's latest...these will be available at the Pasco and EXPO shows! And of course by request either here, Facebook, or the website. These are Australian Banksia Pod and Sea Urchin Ornaments, finished with exotic wood finials.  For the tree or on a stand for year round enjoyment!

So, thanks again for checking in, we welcome any comments!