Gosh it felt so good to have everyone saying such nice things I thought I
would post an update. I nearly have the top finished. Just a little more to
go on the outer border and then I am on to the sides and ends.

I'm quite pleased with the results so far.


--
Kate
______
/l ,[____],
l-L -OlllllllO-
()_)-()_)--)_)

The shortest distance between two points,
is a lot more fun in a Jeep!

Very nice Kate, I wish I had the patience.


"Kate" wrote in message
t...
Gosh it felt so good to have everyone saying such nice things I thought I
would post an update. I nearly have the top finished. Just a little more
to
go on the outer border and then I am on to the sides and ends.

I'm quite pleased with the results so far.


--
Kate
______
/l ,[____],
l-L -OlllllllO-
()_)-()_)--)_)

The shortest distance between two points,
is a lot more fun in a Jeep!

Kate wrote:
Gosh it felt so good to have everyone saying such nice things I thought I
would post an update. I nearly have the top finished. Just a little more to
go on the outer border and then I am on to the sides and ends.

I'm quite pleased with the results so far.



That's amazing, Kate!

Kate

Very impressive! You have obviously done this before.
Looks greeat!

John

Kate wrote:
Gosh it felt so good to have everyone saying such nice things I thought I
would post an update. I nearly have the top finished. Just a little more to
go on the outer border and then I am on to the sides and ends.

I'm quite pleased with the results so far.

OUTSTANDING Kate, If that is the first one, I am waiting for the next
one. I have been carving for years and I don't think I could do as good.
Keep up the good work.
--

Richard

WIZARD WOODWORKING
489 N. 32nd. St.
Springfield, Or .97478

Take a look at my mess and work.
http://www.PictureTrail.com/gallery/...ername=thewizz



Political Correctness is a doctrine fostered by a delusional,
illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream
media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to
pick up a turd by the clean end."

Thank you Richard. I take that as VERY high praise.
BUT
I went and had a look at your website and I KNOW you're just blowing smoke
up my dress ;¬D

Thanks for the encouraging words though.

K.


"Richard" wrote in message
...
OUTSTANDING Kate, If that is the first one, I am waiting for the next
one. I have been carving for years and I don't think I could do as good.
Keep up the good work.
--

Richard

WIZARD WOODWORKING
489 N. 32nd. St.
Springfield, Or .97478

Take a look at my mess and work.
http://www.PictureTrail.com/gallery/...ername=thewizz



Political Correctness is a doctrine fostered by a delusional,
illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream
media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to
pick up a turd by the clean end."

It's my first shot at it. I've piddled around here and there but never tried
to make something.

I got the top all assembled this morning, it's looking pretty good.
I hope today to get started on the sides. Her birthday is on the 9th, time
is running out.

The bad thing is, her box is going to be so much prettier than mine is. Now
I'm jealous *WEG*
I guess I'll have to make another one. It's been a lot of fun but wow is it
taking time!

K.

"The Visitor" wrote in message
...
Kate

Very impressive! You have obviously done this before.
Looks greeat!

John

Kate wrote:
Gosh it felt so good to have everyone saying such nice things I thought I
would post an update. I nearly have the top finished. Just a little more
to
go on the outer border and then I am on to the sides and ends.

I'm quite pleased with the results so far.

Gosh it felt so good to have everyone saying such nice things I thought I
would post an update. I nearly have the top finished. Just a little more to
go on the outer border and then I am on to the sides and ends.

I'm quite pleased with the results so far.

Very nice indeed Kate! Well done!

"Casper" wrote in message
...
Gosh it felt so good to have everyone saying such nice things I thought I
would post an update. I nearly have the top finished. Just a little more
to
go on the outer border and then I am on to the sides and ends.

I'm quite pleased with the results so far.

Very nice indeed Kate! Well done!

I think it looks great, it is so easy to make the carving too deep and then
for pieces like this that get a lot of use bit keep getting chiped
off....mjh

Wow.

I had to go back to the other photos to put the process in context. Both the
design and execution are top notch.

How did you finish it? And how did you ge the stippling effect in the
background?

Regards,

Steve





"Kate" wrote in message
t...
Gosh it felt so good to have everyone saying such nice things I thought I
would post an update. I nearly have the top finished. Just a little more
to
go on the outer border and then I am on to the sides and ends.

I'm quite pleased with the results so far.


--
Kate
______
/l ,[____],
l-L -OlllllllO-
()_)-()_)--)_)

The shortest distance between two points,
is a lot more fun in a Jeep!






--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Thank You Steve
The wood is very old and it already has such beautiful color that I didn't
want to do much to it.
It has some existing marks and destressing that I am not taking out. I think
that they will add personality in the end.

I brushed some thinned out Ebony Minwax stain into the crevices and
background then used a rag to blend it in.
All I wanted to do was create a depth not to change the color of the wood.
The oils from the stain have just deepened it a little.
I MIGHT add a finishing wax to the upper surfaces when I am all done just to
keep the dirt and hand oils off or possibly a wee bit of tung oil. I really
like the lok of it as it is though.

The background is from a small dental instrument that I have. It's used for
packing fillings and is kind of a star texture.
On my original box there is a texture in the background so I went looking
through my things to find something that might look good and found it. It
looks like a background of little stars. I think it really dressed it up.

Thank you for your kind words

Kate


"C & S" wrote in message
.. .
Wow.

I had to go back to the other photos to put the process in context. Both the
design and execution are top notch.

How did you finish it? And how did you ge the stippling effect in the
background?

Regards,

Steve





"Kate" wrote in message
t...
Gosh it felt so good to have everyone saying such nice things I thought I
would post an update. I nearly have the top finished. Just a little more
to
go on the outer border and then I am on to the sides and ends.

I'm quite pleased with the results so far.


--
Kate
______
/l ,[____],
l-L -OlllllllO-
()_)-()_)--)_)

The shortest distance between two points,
is a lot more fun in a Jeep!






--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

"Kate" wrote in message
Gosh it felt so good to have everyone saying such nice things I thought I
would post an update. I nearly have the top finished. Just a little more
to
go on the outer border and then I am on to the sides and ends.

I'm quite pleased with the results so far.

What an absolute treasure that's going to be, Kate!

Knowing who you're doing that for kinda melted my heart there for a minute
because my oldest daughter, now 33, married and living in England and soooo
far away now, has always been into things Celtic and always loved dragons
and unicorns since a kid.

You ought to put out a shingle with that carving talent ... there's riches
in niches.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 9/30/07
KarlC@ (the obvious)

"Swingman" wrote in message
...
"Kate" wrote in message
Gosh it felt so good to have everyone saying such nice things I thought I
would post an update. I nearly have the top finished. Just a little more
to
go on the outer border and then I am on to the sides and ends.

I'm quite pleased with the results so far.

What an absolute treasure that's going to be, Kate!

Knowing who you're doing that for kinda melted my heart there for a minute
because my oldest daughter, now 33, married and living in England and soooo
far away now, has always been into things Celtic and always loved dragons
and unicorns since a kid.

You ought to put out a shingle with that carving talent ... there's riches
in niches.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 9/30/07
KarlC@ (the obvious)

You should make her one...
send it to her with love from her dad. It would be the bestust!

I would love to do some carving and market it but have no idea on how I
would begin.
Marketing and pricing would be a big chore. How do folks know what to charge
for their carvings?

I searched for these kinds of boxes on Ebay and found some similar selling
for around $25. No way would I make something like this for that little. I'd
rather give them away LOL

Kate

In article ,
"Kate" wrote:

Marketing and pricing would be a big chore. How do folks know what to charge
for their carvings?

Take what seems like a reasonable hourly wage. Now double it, since you
are undoubtedly underestimating various costs. Keep track of time spent
and materials costs - get a price.

Your competition is not cheap crap on eBay, unless you want to live in
similar conditions to the fine artists who produce that cheap crap. Your
customer is also not the person who's happy to buy the cheap crap. There
is a market for good stuff, and that is the market you want to be in.

If you cannot sell at or above the price arrived at by the above method,
then don't bother selling - it'll just turn a nice hobby into a sucky
underpaid job. Shortchanging yourself is not a good plan. Sometimes
actually raising the price of something that's not moving will get it to
move - a good deal of the value to the customer is going to be what
value you as the artist place on the thing, as well as their own
impression of the quality of work. If you think it's $25 cheap junk,
then it is. If you think, really, based on time and effort and quality,
that it's $25000 work, then it is - and anywhere in between.

....and it follows that if you think it's $25 and you price it at $250,
it probably won't sell. Oddly enough the same can be said for $2500 at
$250 - why is it 90% off - is there something wrong with it?, says the
customer...

If you make the second one faster, the price does not go down - your
hourly rate goes up.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by

Thank you, it sounds like good advice.
A second one would definitely take less time. It took me a week of carving
to get just the top done.
Long learning curve though.

I'll keep it in mind and do some more research.

K.

"Ecnerwal" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Kate" wrote:

Marketing and pricing would be a big chore. How do folks know what to
charge
for their carvings?

Take what seems like a reasonable hourly wage. Now double it, since you
are undoubtedly underestimating various costs. Keep track of time spent
and materials costs - get a price.

Your competition is not cheap crap on eBay, unless you want to live in
similar conditions to the fine artists who produce that cheap crap. Your
customer is also not the person who's happy to buy the cheap crap. There
is a market for good stuff, and that is the market you want to be in.

If you cannot sell at or above the price arrived at by the above method,
then don't bother selling - it'll just turn a nice hobby into a sucky
underpaid job. Shortchanging yourself is not a good plan. Sometimes
actually raising the price of something that's not moving will get it to
move - a good deal of the value to the customer is going to be what
value you as the artist place on the thing, as well as their own
impression of the quality of work. If you think it's $25 cheap junk,
then it is. If you think, really, based on time and effort and quality,
that it's $25000 work, then it is - and anywhere in between.

....and it follows that if you think it's $25 and you price it at $250,
it probably won't sell. Oddly enough the same can be said for $2500 at
$250 - why is it 90% off - is there something wrong with it?, says the
customer...

If you make the second one faster, the price does not go down - your
hourly rate goes up.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by

"Kate" wrote in message
...
Thank you, it sounds like good advice.
A second one would definitely take less time. It took me a week of carving
to get just the top done.
Long learning curve though.

I'll keep it in mind and do some more research.

Also, if you were to make some for sale, you could justify some better
tools. Good tools do increase your confidence and speed.

As a side note, in my youth I lusted after tools often but could not afford
them. So I volunteered my services for projects that required the use of
that tool. Part of my payment was the purchase of that tool.

On Fri, 5 Oct 2007 08:50:41 -0500, "Kate" wrote:

Kate... I sell pens, bowls, goblets, etc...
Some great advice I got in the woodturners group was to start high and call it
"art"..
You can always reduce your prices but it's harder to raise them after things
sold to cheaply..

Buzz words that help: ART, Hand Crafted, one-of-a-kind, etc..

You're "competing" with other artists, not a factory in China..


Thank you, it sounds like good advice.
A second one would definitely take less time. It took me a week of carving
to get just the top done.
Long learning curve though.

I'll keep it in mind and do some more research.

K.

"Ecnerwal" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Kate" wrote:

Marketing and pricing would be a big chore. How do folks know what to
charge
for their carvings?

Take what seems like a reasonable hourly wage. Now double it, since you
are undoubtedly underestimating various costs. Keep track of time spent
and materials costs - get a price.

Your competition is not cheap crap on eBay, unless you want to live in
similar conditions to the fine artists who produce that cheap crap. Your
customer is also not the person who's happy to buy the cheap crap. There
is a market for good stuff, and that is the market you want to be in.

If you cannot sell at or above the price arrived at by the above method,
then don't bother selling - it'll just turn a nice hobby into a sucky
underpaid job. Shortchanging yourself is not a good plan. Sometimes
actually raising the price of something that's not moving will get it to
move - a good deal of the value to the customer is going to be what
value you as the artist place on the thing, as well as their own
impression of the quality of work. If you think it's $25 cheap junk,
then it is. If you think, really, based on time and effort and quality,
that it's $25000 work, then it is - and anywhere in between.

...and it follows that if you think it's $25 and you price it at $250,
it probably won't sell. Oddly enough the same can be said for $2500 at
$250 - why is it 90% off - is there something wrong with it?, says the
customer...

If you make the second one faster, the price does not go down - your
hourly rate goes up.


mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Kate wrote:
Gosh it felt so good to have everyone saying such nice things I thought I
would post an update. I nearly have the top finished. Just a little more to
go on the outer border and then I am on to the sides and ends.

I'm quite pleased with the results so far.


Wow Kate. That's just beautiful. You really do nice work. I'm just about
ready to post a pic of a sign I'm making for my son. The overall design
is a celtic knot I designed myself (fairly simple). It'll be out here in
the next day or so. Once again, just gorgeous. By the way, are you going
to carve the sides of the box?

"Chris Damico" wrote in message
. ..
Kate wrote:
Gosh it felt so good to have everyone saying such nice things I thought I
would post an update. I nearly have the top finished. Just a little more
to
go on the outer border and then I am on to the sides and ends.

I'm quite pleased with the results so far.


Wow Kate. That's just beautiful. You really do nice work. I'm just about
ready to post a pic of a sign I'm making for my son. The overall design
is a celtic knot I designed myself (fairly simple). It'll be out here in
the next day or so. Once again, just gorgeous. By the way, are you going
to carve the sides of the box?


Thank you Chris,
Yes, I am laying out the sides now.
I'm looking forward to seeing your sign!
Desicning your own knots is quite a challenge.
I have to admit that I have taken patterns I have found and "recreated"
them. Altering and shifting so that they fit what I want.
I imagine I could have started from scratch but sometimes I work better with
an inspiration piece and then go from there.

Kate

"Kate" wrote

I imagine I could have started from scratch but sometimes I work better
with an inspiration piece and then go from there.

Part of a legitimate, time honored process.

My oldest sister, who is a real life artist (IOW, she indeed makes a living
at it), sculptress, and noted doll designer, often starts with an
"inspiration piece".

In the case of portraits, usually photographs, which she often insists on
taking herself, for the obvious "reality" inspiration.

In the case of still life's she'll occasionally do a piece "in the style of"
another artist, from which she draws inspiration.

She did the pastel below of my oldest daughter as a gift for me about ten
years ago. She used the pose in the photograph, which was taken at a much
earlier time, then had my daughter sit to capture her "age/appearance" a few
years later.

She also did the still life as a gift to me to hang in my kitchen "in the
style of" another noted artist.

Being from South Louisiana, and the ONLY cook in the family, I wanted "gumbo
vegetables", and she also made the shadow in the oil painting to appear as
if they came from the kitchen ceiling light, which is the right of the
painting.

And to stay on topic - I made the frame for "her" oil painting from some
left over crown molding I had laying around in the shop ... and she never
fails to ask at holiday time when I'm going to get the "real" frame.


--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 9/30/07
KarlC@ (the obvious)

Wow! Now SHE is an artist.
I just don't know what to say. I have always been envious of people with
that kind of talent.
It just befuddles me when I think of how they can do create things as
lifelike as the vegetables and as soft and pretty as the pastel of your
beautiful little girl.

AND to stay on topic.. I like the frame that you built *WEG*

Kate



"Swingman" wrote in message
...

"Kate" wrote

I imagine I could have started from scratch but sometimes I work better
with an inspiration piece and then go from there.

Part of a legitimate, time honored process.

My oldest sister, who is a real life artist (IOW, she indeed makes a living
at it), sculptress, and noted doll designer, often starts with an
"inspiration piece".

In the case of portraits, usually photographs, which she often insists on
taking herself, for the obvious "reality" inspiration.

In the case of still life's she'll occasionally do a piece "in the style of"
another artist, from which she draws inspiration.

She did the pastel below of my oldest daughter as a gift for me about ten
years ago. She used the pose in the photograph, which was taken at a much
earlier time, then had my daughter sit to capture her "age/appearance" a few
years later.

She also did the still life as a gift to me to hang in my kitchen "in the
style of" another noted artist.

Being from South Louisiana, and the ONLY cook in the family, I wanted "gumbo
vegetables", and she also made the shadow in the oil painting to appear as
if they came from the kitchen ceiling light, which is the right of the
painting.

And to stay on topic - I made the frame for "her" oil painting from some
left over crown molding I had laying around in the shop ... and she never
fails to ask at holiday time when I'm going to get the "real" frame.


--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 9/30/07
KarlC@ (the obvious)

"Kate" wrote in message
Wow! Now SHE is an artist.
I just don't know what to say. I have always been envious of people with
that kind of talent.

... and to think that when we were kids it was _me_, who could never draw a
soda straw, who had to draw her pictures of horses and dogs to keep her
quiet.

It just befuddles me when I think of how they can do create things as
lifelike as the vegetables and as soft and pretty as the pastel of your
beautiful little girl.

I could not believe, when my sister unveiled the pastel, that she had
captured that certain "look" in my daughter's eye. It was well known fact
that I could never get mad at that kid ... once she turned that gaze upon me
with those haunting eyes, it speared my heart through and through. Still
does to this day.

Mine were, somehow, always ended up being the least dry eyes in the house at
the time!

AND to stay on topic.. I like the frame that you built *WEG*

Thanks, Kate. It'll have to do until I can make the "real" one.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 9/30/07
KarlC@ (the obvious)

On Fri, 5 Oct 2007 13:58:43 -0500, "Swingman" wrote:

snip
And to stay on topic - I made the frame for "her" oil painting from some
left over crown molding I had laying around in the shop ... and she never
fails to ask at holiday time when I'm going to get the "real" frame.

Looks like a very nice frame to me...

You and your daughter are both talented in your own medium.... as it should be,
IMHO...


mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

For you Celtic Design lovers.
DOVER Publications has some good books with CD's with them for setting
up patterns.
www.doverpublications.com

--

Richard


Richard L. Rombold
WIZARD WOODWORKING
489 N. 32nd. St.
Springfield, Or .97478

Take a look at my mess and work.
http://www.PictureTrail.com/gallery/...ername=thewizz

"Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste
good with ketchup"

Political Correctness is a doctrine fostered by a delusional,
illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream
media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to
pick up a turd by the clean end."

Thanks Richard!

"Richard" wrote in message
...
For you Celtic Design lovers.
DOVER Publications has some good books with CD's with them for setting
up patterns.
www.doverpublications.com

--

Richard


Richard L. Rombold
WIZARD WOODWORKING
489 N. 32nd. St.
Springfield, Or .97478

Take a look at my mess and work.
http://www.PictureTrail.com/gallery/...ername=thewizz

"Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste
good with ketchup"

Political Correctness is a doctrine fostered by a delusional,
illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream
media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to
pick up a turd by the clean end."