Cool Enough to be Blogged About?

So, here we are....the 2014 event year started for us last week with a very successful trip to the Spring Art & Craft show in Spokane, WA.  SUPER excited to report that one of Niels' finest creations was purchased!  This amazing piece was born while I was out of town with my good friends, the Ristas.  I got a text with a "see what I made" picture of this Masur Birch lidded vase with Madagascar Rosewood trim.  I then decided I needed to leave town more often!  I think you can see why....

But, before we headed out of town for the Spokane show, we were contacted by another local blogger Lisa Ratzlaff, asking to interview Niels!  It's pretty neat to have Niels recognized as one of the 'Local People With Cool Businesses in Portland'.  She came to our home and got a glimpse of the madness that is MadWood Turnery...and shared it with a new audience.  Read her blog about us here:

http://www.facesfromtheneighborhood.blogspot.com/2014/03/niels-madsen-turning-wood-to-art-at.html

Besides my crazy day job, I've been busy sending in applications to the shows we hope to be part of this year.  We were invited back to the Coeur d' Alene lake shore for the Art on the Green at
North Idaho College in August and we await jury results for the Edmonds Arts Festival and the Art in the High Desert in Bend.  It looks to be a busy summer and you can always find our current show schedule on our website, MadWoodTurnery.com

Just to share, here are a pair of new lidded dishes..

 Coolibah trimmed with Wenge

Camphor with Blackwood Finial

The Spring Art & Craft Show in Pasco, WA is this coming weekend, so I'm making my lists and checking them twice.  We set out Thursday morning to the home of the first uranium enrichment facility in the US.  If you aren't familiar with the how the Hanford facility changed the face of this corner of eastern Washington and American history, you should be...the Manhattan Project, plutonium and the A- Bombs that ended the war with Japan.  Oregon Public Broadcasting did a fabulous documentary (click to view)

And our great luck, the people in the TriCities of Pasco, Kennewick, and Richland are some of the nicest to be found and we enjoy these opportunities to meet them!  

Thanks for taking the time to read our blog and we always welcome questions or comments ~Mrs. Madwood

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