As for most of us out there, the last couple of years have been pretty difficult. The economy and employment issues have plagued many of us in a variety of ways, so to keep myself active during down times i have tried to stay busy. Mrs. October asked for a "halloween style shelf" to display our growing collection of decorations. Of course as long as I was making sawdust, I thought I would make a few different styles, and the reaction was good..everybody wants one. This prompted thoughts of building more and possibly posting on Esty.
Now, I am quite the novice when it comes to this thing, so of course my head is spinning with all kinds of issues- mostly shipping. The shelves are different sizes (actually I could custom make them to any size) but some of them are pretty large, so shipping options have become a headache. I talked with the Undertaker over at www.hauntedhotsauce.com/ and he was kind enough to share his thoughts on marketing and the woes of shipping. I know and follow many of you out there, Shellhawk at shellhawksnest.blogspot.com, Pam at http://labyrinthcreations.blogspot.com/ and of course Pumpkinrots Pumpkin Hollow pumpkinrot.com/pages/Page28.htm. There are so many talented people in the haunt community, obviously I cannot list them all, so my apologies for that, but I would welcome any suggestions, reviews or input of my work.
I am capable of building full size furniture like hutches and bookcases as well as custom kitchens. (Wouldn't it be cool to build a whole kitchen in this style!) That would be a dream, but location and of course shipping again tends to kill the dream. A nice thought though...
So here are my shelves. They are all solid wood, hand distressed, aged and painted. I used a orange under coat and a black top coat with a rub effect which I felt turned out rather well. I also played with the idea of finishing them in the traditional "barn grey" as well. Wow, I think that is the "wordiest" post I have ever made, so I will stop, hang up and listen for my answer. Thanks everyone, and I look forward to you comments and input.
The October Boy.
I think they look fantastic! But you're right, shipping is a challenge. Email me if you like and we'll chat, o.k.?
ReplyDeleteshellhawksnest at ya hoo daht calm
LOVE!!! I'm working on a similar thing to your bottom piece (in my case, I'm converting a "doll-house" style bookshelf, not building from scratch like you did here).
ReplyDeleteYeah, at the end of the day, it will be difficult to get these shipped. That's the major obstacle.
Oh wow! I love those! They have a great understated gothic look to them I love!
ReplyDeleteI was wondering when we would get to see these! Very cool! I like the natural knotty areas and how you painted them.
ReplyDeleteThose are really nice. I can picture filled with so many different things. Well done! And congrats on your business venture. I wish you every success.
ReplyDeleteI love the shelving .... And I often had to "custom make boxing for odd-shaped shipments... a utility Razor and a lot of tape
ReplyDeleteThen you have to score the cardboard where you want it to fold.... You will get better at it the more that you make .... the best of luck in what could be a very profitable past-time.
Thanks everyone. It's good to get feedback, and I appreciate all the ideas and suggestions. I think I might have to go into the "box making" industry as well!
ReplyDeleteOoooo, drooling...
ReplyDeleteGreat designs and the advantage of painting (nice job of distressing btw) is you can use light woods like poplar or basswood and keep your weight down for shipping. I made the mistake of building a guitar wall display from half inch Ash and Lexan and you don't want to know what it cost to ship! Great job! Think I'm going to have to start following this blog!
ReplyDeleteOooh - beautiful. I can believe you made those. I would be nice to have talent like that.
ReplyDeleteHope that you are doing well.... I have been a bit behind on making new posts due to many "unfortunate" events as of late... But I will try to get back to posting as often as I use to do.
ReplyDeleteYour Friend ....the Doctor
Hopefully you don't mind I "Pinned" one of your shelves on my "Woodworking Inspiration" boards on Pinterest. It does link back to your blog. Did you know you don't have an email address on your profile page?
ReplyDeleteDon't mind at all Mark, no problem. And yes I do know about the email, I use mine pretty much for business and figured I could give it out should the need arise, as it has on occasion. I guess I could set up a account for my blog, but never seem to have the time to get around to it.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your word or encouragement on my attempt at a Pumpkin Patch.....
ReplyDeleteYour best "fiend" ....the Doctor