Jeanette's Cat Candle Holder

[AES]

Someone here was kind enough to post a pattern a while back (sorry, I've forgotten who) which I thought would appeal to my wife's girlfriend for Crimble. She's a cat fan.

A nice piece of wood (sorry, no idea what species), half an hour with the trusty Ex21 (+ about 2 hours edge sanding!) then 2 coats of liquid wax buffed hard with a very soft cloth when dry, and here you are:

The reason for 2 shots BTW is that I'm not sure which one best captures the real colour of the wood.


I also have a couple of general comments re "Christmas Fairs" (Weinachtsmessen in the local lingo).

We have a big one very near here (Basel) which we visit fairly often; I've visited the Nuernburg one in the past; and just a few days ago my wife and I, along with a boat load of others, visited the famous fairs in Colmar and Strasbourg (France).

I don't know the state of these things in UK these days, but both my wife and I, plus several other guests during the above boat trip, all remarked on how disappointing these fairs/markets were.

Great if you want to eat and drink local delicacies like gluhwein (in the cold, standing outside of course!), and OK if you wanted to buy a load of apparently mass-produced, gaudy, glitzy, over-illuminated "Chinese plastic tat"!

But with VERY few exceptions, there was little or no "craft/hand work" on display at any of the above, and generally, the small amount seen was to pretty low standard - even I can make better wooden toys that the few rough examples we saw!

NOTHING at all out of the ordinary to be seen, little in the way of hand-made ornaments, candle holders, marquetry, intarsia, figures, animals, small turnery, etc, etc. Certainly, with the exception of 2 outstanding examples (a woolly hats & scarves stall and a marquetry stall), really nothing up to the standard of stuff I see appearing regularly in this section here.

So a question for you all? Are you blokes who do this stuff on some sort of paid basis (definitely not me!!!) missing out on a good market opportunity (sorry for the pun)? Or is what we've seen at these, apparently "top-notch" Christmas markets simply what the general public wants and expects?

Anyone?

Happy New Year

AES

 

[NazNomad]

I got a parking ticket in Basel about 35 years ago... Still got it here somewhere. :-D

Nice tealight holder, I like it.

 

[CHJ]

Simple construct it may be but it provides a unique gift with personal relevance for the recipient.

Your comments about the content of the Weihnachtsmärkte stalls rings a bell with me. When we started to visit Bavaria some thirty+ years ago we used to see variation between the various markets and predominantly locally produced craft, they have been loosing their appeal over recent years and I put it down to just boredom with seeing the same old thing, but thinking about it after your post I realise that what we are seeing and contributing to the boredom in more recent years is the move to more of the same at each market with mass produced plastic and laser cut wooden creations rather than artisan produced.

In fact our visits to the seasonal market in Bath over the last few years have been far more pleasurable because it is predominantly populated by individual craft workers, local food and drink suppliers and selective fine produce from GB regions not too far removed.
This means we come away with some quality individual, non mass produced gifts for friends and family, samples of cheese and drink for the festivities and a list of interesting venues and outlets to incorporate on a Grommet style 'Grand day Out' should the mood take us during the forthcoming year.

 

[AES]

I don't know what to say about the ticket NazNomad, sorry about that (NOT)! :lol:

Re your last para about Bath CHJ, yup, that's the sort of stuff I was expecting to see at Colmar and Strasbourg. But we found no food & drink specialities on the Christmas stalls that we can't find there all year round in the normal shops (Neither is all that far from us - unless you go by Rhine cruiser!).

But you're a turner aren't you? Do you/would you sell your stuff at such markets? Would you even go as far as to make special stuff for sale? (Not being personal, I have NO plans to set up any sort of wood working "business", but such subjects do crop up from time to time on the Forum, as you know).

AES

 

[CHJ]

.....But you're a turner aren't you? Do you/would you sell your stuff at such markets? Would you even go as far as to make special stuff for sale? ...

Had I started wood turning at a much younger age I probably would have tried my hand at that sort of outlet but as things happened other things filled the hobby and spare time slots.
These days it's just a hobby and I don't need the commitment to such ventures, there's never enough hours in the day or slots in the calendar.

I've only had one local table for the last couple of years or so as a participant in our local hall fund raising event, those events have indicated that the number of folks willing to pay a price anywhere nearing matching the time factors and work involved are few and far between, and it's the cheaper stocking fillers that move.
The thought of just making similar for regular events is not my idea of fun other than playing around figuring out construction methods which is the fun part for me.

Further thoughts based on the last paragraph seem to point to the reason the German markets are moving the way they are is this price point barrier, gone are the individual hand crafted Regensburg porcelain models of local town buildings for more machine moulded heavily glazed stuff etc.

One thing that was obvious from Bath this year was how professional the majority of the stalls were marketing their wares, both by presentation and personal presence, those that were just relying on browsing were very conspicuous by being quiet.

I had the opportunity to visit the Melton Mowbray Christmas market and pick up local pork pies and generally browse the stalls and once again it was very much a local business, produce and product event biased to quality and uniqueness.

 

[Claymore]

Chas. what about making a Melton Mowbray Pork Pie shaped turned box?

 

[AES]

: Chas. what about making a Melton Mowbray Pork Pie shaped turned box?

Good one Brian =P~

AES

 

[CHJ]

I think I'll leave that project to those who need to earn a crust.

 

[sunnybob]

The reason you dont see good quality stuff of any kind at markets and fairs is down entirely to the greed of the ground owners. Renting a stall at a commercial fair is so expensive that you have to sell low cost stuff at high prices to be able to afford the pitch.

The mark up on food and drink (75% is the norm but it can be higher) is the reason there are so many coffee and cake stalls, and as high as 95% on plastic toys for the kids, compared to a craft profit of pennies in some cases and breaking even being more usual.

 

[bodgerbaz]

This is our third Christmas living in Germany Andy, and I have to say that I unfortunately agree with some of your comments about the Christmas Markets.

My sister and brother-in-law love the markets, as do we, and have spent a week's holiday with us in the last two December's. We've hit half a dozen markets each time and this year appeared to be much quieter - even without Berlin :evil: !!! We strolled around, came out the other end and thought "What shall we do now!!"

We didn't hit any of the larger markets (except Koblenz) but even so, compared with previous years it was quieter, 'seemed' to have less stalls, a marked increase in food and woollen glove stalls and what scrolled stuff there was all seemed cheap and nasty and mass produced laser-cut items with expensive price tags.

We will always visit the markets but we were disappointed this year.

By chance, my next door neighbour popped in on Christmas Day (a traditional time to visit friends, family and neighbours because Germany celebrates 'Christmas' on Christmas Eve) and they love the gifts that I have made them for birthdays and Christmas. So much so that he has a contact who has a stall at the Trier Christmas Market and he has taken some of my work to show this guy who he is seeing tomorrow. If all goes well I might be able to get some commissions - if the price is right? :wink:

I'll let you know how I get on.

Barry

 

[AES]

Interesting, thanks for all the comments gents.

Happy New Year

AES

 

[Dominik Pierog]

About photos both are distorted.
Light, focus or camera fail.
Why you sand edges?

I never do that.
I use this brand. And edge are even in birch plywood have glass gloss.

Beech wood and oil.

 

[monkeybiter]

I like that tea light holder, nice wood/finish and I think the cat is quite stylish.

 

[Cordy]

Nice work AES
Here is the design again

Sometimes I modify to put a clock in lower aperture -- no clock photos

The cat has gone international :lol:
Switzerland; one to my sister in Sudbury Canada, another to our niece in Darcy Lever

Like you I never sell my woodwork

 

[AES]

Thanks for the comments folks.

@Cordy: Was that you who posted this design in this section a while back? If so, thanks a lot, I find it a very elegant design, and more to the point, we had dinner with the recipient yesterday and she's over the moon with it. It may well be that in future months some variations of this design will appear here (but don't hold your breath). I like the 2 woods laminated version you show too.

@Dominik: Thanks for the tip re the blades. I have used these in the past, along with another German-made own-brand called Lux Tools. Both are fine, but having tried other famous brands such as Flying Dutchman, etc, I've now tended to stick more or less always to Pegas. Pegas have just brought out a new tooth design blade in various sizes which they call "Modified Geometry Tooth" (MGT), and it was this I tried on this cat and base for the 1st time. Although only a No 2 blade I used on this, it seemed a bit coarse for this job (the wood is only 8mm). That fact, coupled with my only slowly improving capability to cut smooth, flowing curves without small hesitations in the overall curve ("MORE practice required AES"!), plus the fact that I knew I wanted to try a liquid wax finish for the first time, led me to all that sanding - I ended up with 400 grit wet & dry 'cos I wanted to try and ensure that all the edges were equally absorbent. As you have correctly identified, this was NOT particularly successful! Ah well "onwards and upwards" (+ as above, "MORE practice AES").

Re the pix, I'm not sure exactly what you mean. The camera, only a Sony DSC 5, although quite old now, has been used a lot in the past for both aircraft external and internal shots, long and short range; plus technical document and components close ups (macro as well); all to do with my previous professional life - and always without complaint!

I do NOT pretend to be a professional photographer, far from it, but have learnt the basics I think. These shots, just as an example, were with the semi-auto settings set to "close up portraits", the subject cat was on a table lit with 2 x 100 watt bulbs from each side/slightly above, the camera was on a tripod about 35-45 cm away, and with the 10 sec delay timer used (due to a medical problem I cannot guarantee an in-focus shot, even with the Sony built-in anti-shake electronics). There was no picture re-working done except to crop and re-size the pix with Photoshop 5, then MS Picture Manager to compress the pix just for the Forum.

So I don't know what went wrong, sorry (if you want to see lousy shots by me, taken in a big rush at 3am, without tripod and lighting (!!!), look in this same section for my post "Tractor & Trailer")!!! But anyway, I'll try to do better next time

Re the Christmas fairs comments, thanks all. Very interesting, Sunnybob may well be right about the costs of renting a stand, I just don't know.

In Germany it appears that these are run by the local council and/or local chamber of commerce, and certainly the food and drink stalls are VERY professional bits of kit which obviously call for a significant cash investment. No doubt overall there's quite a bit of money involved somewhere.

I entirely agree with CHJ's comments about coming to this lark later on in life. Although in earlier days, when I was heavily into free flight and control line competition aeromodelling, so often used to build exactly the same aeroplane in batches of 3 or 4 at a time, I certainly don't want to find myself building model tractors or cats (or anything else) in batches nowadays. That's NOT what I retired for!

It just seems/ed to me that with the very high quality of work often seen here, there SHOULD be a market for such unique and valuable work to be sold at such fairs.

Perhaps someone should set up an "agency" where, for example, each scroller, turner, etc, in his "gang" is asked to produce X quantity of various designs during the year which the "agent" then sells in bulk to the Christmas Fair organiser.

Dunno really, just me in mellow day dreaming mode with a full (brimming actually) glass of port in my hand.

Happy New Year all, and genuinely, thanks for making this Forum such a rewarding thing to be a part of.

AES

 

[CHJ]

......Perhaps someone should set up an "agency" where, for example, each scroller, turner, etc, in his "gang" is asked to produce X quantity of various designs during the year which the "agent" then sells in bulk to the Christmas Fair organiser.....

There stands the rub, when you do the maths it's the producer that's at the bottom of the pile supporting an inverted pyramid.

A few years ago I was approached to supply someone in Canada for marketing in Canada and the USA, at what most of us Brits would see as eye watering prices.
Doing a basic business plan from my end soon came up with enough negatives to show that I would be working more hours than before I retired with little time to myself and 95 % of the retail price would be going into someone else's pocket for just handling and distributing packages.

Even requests from a UK business I had, to supply items they would market well into 3 figures, would mean that I would be working to semi enforced and inevitable conscience driven output at times with little more than a break even on costings, let alone working hours profit as a basic income tax payer.

 

[AES]

I'm sure you're right CHJ. A glass (or 2) of part makes everything (seem) so obvious though, doesn't it?



AES

 

[CHJ]

.A glass (or 2) of part makes everything (seem) so obvious though, doesn't it?



AES

It's even worse when you forget you had them with the cheese and biscuits and wade into a round of Malt sampling.

 

[AES]

QUOTE: ........ and wade into a round of Malt sampling UNQUOTE:

Oh don't please, I've got to be up really early tomorrow morning!

But there'll be some in Schwarzwald in a couple of evenings time - I'm taking some with me, just to be sure

AES

 

[Dominik Pierog]

Perhaps someone should set up an "agency" where, for example, each scroller, turner, etc, in his "gang" is asked to produce X quantity of various designs during the year which the "agent" then sells in bulk to the Christmas Fair organiser.

Dunno really, just me in mellow day dreaming mode with a full (brimming actually) glass of port in my hand.

Happy New Year all, and genuinely, thanks for making this Forum such a rewarding thing to be a part of.

AES

Like CPLiA (1949–1990) > cepelia
Centrala Przemysłu Ludowego i Artystycznego
Central folk and Artistic Industry

In past that was a big government organisation/company to sell and promote folk art and artists. It was wery inportant instytution for education and crafstmanship.

The company collapse and now this name is synonym of daub.