Scrolling at the Market?

[EIEIO]

When you go to a sale, do you set up your saw and make new or personalize items for customers?

If you personalize, do you also have a printer to make the text that you'll add, or maybe a label maker for labels to cut through? Or take orders for personalized items?

Do you bring just one of each design (for bigger items like bowls etc.) or several of each design?

[Judy Hunter]

We do not set up at a show because of the noise and dust.  And we would rather visit and sell
as in ...convince the people that they really need/want/can't live without our items.  We pretty much take everything we have and keep restocking with duplicates from under the table. We so have a photo of my son at the saw and taped to that is the blade we use.

Along with a good product "BS ability" is very important.

[Jim Finn]

I used to set up a scroll saw at shows , thinking it would draw interest to my booth. I was doing double bevel inlay and letter cutting. I found that 99% of the shoppers would just glance at what I was doing with the saw and just move on to look at my finished goods.  I no longer set it up at shows.

[kenreich]

I set my saw up at an outdoor arts festival and cut out names for $5/ea.as fast as I could cut them all day.  I had 3/4" pine blanks cut and sanded, ready to cut ahead of time.  It drew a lot of lookers and I could visit and answer questions while I was cutting.  I had people at my booth all day.
Ken

[dunk]

How did you make the name templates?  Did you take a laptop and printer?  Did you use plastic letters?

[kenreich]

You're probably not going to like this part any better than I did...........but, I could not find plastic templates of a font I wanted to use except for a couple that were VERY expensive.  SO....I cut my own.  I printed the alphabet in all caps at the size I wanted, then attached that to formica and cut my own templates.  I have used formica for a lot of templates on things I knew I would be cutting over and over.  It is very thin and very durable.

One thing about cutting a curvy type letter, is that unless you have 2 of them side by side, you can get away with not being exact on your cutting and no one notices - they still look good.  If you use a font that has a lot of straight sides, it forces you to make a lot of straight cuts and REALLY slows you down.  So this font gives you a lot of freedom and speed.

I did this because I didn't want to have to take a computer and printer out in the dusty conditions and try to keep track of adhesive spray and paper in the wind as well as needing 2 more electric outlets.  This greatly simplified the process.  All I had to take was 2-3 pencils, templates and pre-cut blanks.  It went very well.

Ken

[puzzleguy]

We use to do that alot - set up at a show and cut on our saw.
unless your ready to use it all day and put on a show-
they tend to get in your way . AT some of the early american style fairs,
we use to bring one of our treadle machines with us -
that draws attention -but also asks fpr trouble .
one of the first shows we used it at , i decided to bring it home with me that night.
and we had a breakin to our booth ( someone was looking for it to permanebtly borrow it )
from that point on it went home with us every night -

[Marcellarius]

some video's on this subject I like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1RUr66DTmA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMQD-FuMrfs