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