# First thing I sold



## kweinert (Nov 4, 2017)

This morning the very first thing I sold was my business card holder. 

A scrap of FBE that was too gnarly to do of anything with so I just cut a slot in it to hold my cards. 

Lady wanted it for her husband. 

*sigh*

Reactions: Like 4 | Funny 2 | +Karma 1


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## greenleecustomcalls (Nov 4, 2017)

Yeah, know the feeling on that one, I have sold a few call stands and pen stands out of material that just couldn't do anything with, but didn't want to throw it out.


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## Tony (Nov 4, 2017)

I used to have a turned Mesquite piece that was about 12" tall, about 6" in diameter. I used it to display my kitchen utensils. I picked it up at a garage sale for $2 I think. People kept wanting to buy it so after 3 years of people asking I finally sold it for $50 last year. Good luck! Tony

Reactions: Like 1 | Way Cool 2


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## rocky1 (Nov 4, 2017)

You shoulda sold it two years sooner and made another one like it, repeatedly!!

Reactions: Agree 4


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## kweinert (Nov 4, 2017)

So far the rest of the day has gone well.

Sold 2 of the triplets and the other person who was looking at the bigger one ordered one that size.

Sold one of my early segmented bowls.

My wife talked me into making 'girlie' pens. Not sold a one.

Reactions: Like 3 | Way Cool 3 | Informative 1


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## rocky1 (Nov 4, 2017)

Girlie pens make great Christmas presents, she was planning ahead.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## CWS (Nov 4, 2017)

rocky1 said:


> You shoulda sold it two years sooner and made another one like it, repeatedly!!


That @rocky1. He is always thinking one step ahead of the Texans that we love.

Reactions: Agree 1 | Funny 1


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## ripjack13 (Nov 4, 2017)

CWS said:


> That @rocky1. He is always thinking one step ahead of the Texans that we love.



I don't know about that....love is an awfully strong word.

Reactions: Funny 2 | Sincere 1


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## rocky1 (Nov 4, 2017)

CWS said:


> That @rocky1. He is always thinking one step ahead of the Texans that we love.




I'm just thinking, bought it for $2, sold it for $50, skeet trees growing everywhere out there, and he didn't sell it how many times? Someone shoulda smacked him with a cuttin board sooner or something; good grief!!! I'd give up makin Texas Cuttin Boards altogether for that kind of profit.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 2 | Funny 1


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## Nature Man (Nov 5, 2017)

Congrats! Hoping you gain momentum on sales! Chuck


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## kweinert (Nov 6, 2017)

Turned out to be the best show I've ever done. Nothing I could retire on but about $500 overall take home once you account for all the hardware (pen guts, etc.) A good share of that was from the two cutting boards and the segmented bowl. That also doesn't include the cutting board that someone ordered. For the setup it actually had a pretty good flow of folks coming through the place.

The only acrylic thing I sold was one double seam ripper. My wife said she'd pay for the pens  I had some plates that never sold so I bought some cheese spreaders and paired them with plates to sell as a set. I sold one ironwood handle cheese spreader because the wood looked like the cheese board she already had (white marble/dark wood.) So I still didn't sell a plate.

Two tea light candle holders sold that were 2 1/2" slices of locust branch, live edge, hole drilled for glass insert (included w/candle). I also finally sold my sycamore branch vase. That was a piece that was a mix of turned wood and natural. I couldn't turn it down to get rid of the barkless dried out part or there'd be nothing left so I just turned till it was mostly smooth, drilled it out and put in a glass insert. One little live edge weed pot sold. Other misc stuff as well, of course.

I still have to go over the list of everything that sold and see if there's a pattern (aside from no acrylics :).

Did get a couple of interesting ideas for the future as well. I will say that it's interesting what some folks come up with. For example: use a 2x6 and a 2x8, cut them square. Use a paint wash on them (these were red and grey, thinned so you could still see the wood underneath), distress the edges, then use your Cricket or Silhouette or whatever to cut snowflake or reindeer, etc shapes out and glue them on. $20 a pair (one of each.) No, I have no idea how many sold. Me? I'm thinking "that would be much cooler if they were laser etched." :)

I do have to tell one cute story about the day. We didn't intend to take any of my son's duck calls as we didn't think it was the right market for it. However, my wife did grab the one that was setting out so we put it on display. A 9 year old girl wanted to buy a duck call so she could talk to the ducks that were in their neighborhood. Her 14 year old brother wanted it. My wife ended up driving back home to pick up the other ones we had. While she was gone the young lady brought me a fun sized Butterfinger candy bar to thank me for getting another call. They did end up buying 2 of them.

While I obviously still think that my work can improve, this weekend does reinforce that where you sell is just as important as what you sell. I'm pretty sure that if I had been in one of the usual venues (community Fall Festival, etc) that none of the higher dollar items would have sold. This was a neighborhood event, but the vendors were all hand-made items and the 'sponsors' selected who could attend. There was a surprising amount of traffic coming through. This is the second year that the folks have done this. Basically they hold the event at their houses, 13 vendors in each house. They move out furniture to open up the space and they don't have the same kind of vendors in the same house. There was another woodworking couple but they basically used pallet wood to either make those bottle opener things with the magnet to catch the bottle caps or a wall rack that could hold 3 or 4 wine bottles and hang the glasses underneath - so nothing like my stuff. Still, they kept us separated into the different houses.

Really the only time we didn't have people walking through was during the Bronco's game. I didn't watch it (obviously) but I'm surprised we didn't have an increase in traffic after half time as it doesn't appear that there was any reason to keep watching.

Reactions: Like 2 | Way Cool 3


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## ripjack13 (Nov 6, 2017)

nicely done Ken....

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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