Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays, whichever way you celebrate, we hope that you have had a good time spent with family and friends.

I have been overly neglectful of the blog in the last few months. It always seems that as soon as the garden and yard projects wind down, the shop hobbies pick right up. The fishing boat moves out of the shop and I am in and setup to make all sorts of fun projects. This year, we did 5 days of craft fairs so there was a lot of shop time leading up to them and between them to make sure the stock was good for each one. Plus, I had some Christmas gifts to make.

Let’s get started with the craft fair stuff. The craft fair season started on Nov 5 with the RIH craft fair. It is a one day, large fair with a couple hundred vendors. We had an 8′ table display for this fair, which is a decent size for our display. We did well at this one last year and thought we would give it a go again this year. There were more woodworkers which was nice as we all offered something different from each other. We did well again this year, but noticed a definite shift in from last year in how people were spending. We imagine it is because of our economic state right now and the dollars not stretching quite as far as they have in the past. It was still a great fair and a wonderful way to start the fair season.

Our next fair was an artisan fair at a local winery on the weekend of Nov 18-19. This one was a tighter setup with only enough space for a 6′ table which is really too small for what we want have to display, but we made it work. I wanted to get into a few more of these style fairs as our items are not really “craft” in the sense price point. We thought going to an artisan market or fair would be more indicative of the types of vendors and more average price point between us all. It was a fun two days, especially because they had holiday music going and were serving wine to guests. It was very festive and had a very fun vibe. We found that guests would do multiple laps and spend their time buying and socializing. We had a lot more great conversations with people at this one that other ones we have been at that are packed to the gills so the guests feel like they have to move on and not linger. There were only about 30 vendors at this one, and we got to know quite a few of them as well. Overall, it was also a great weekend and we noticed that we did sell a few more of our artistic items rather than just the fun little items. We will likely go back to this one next year, but will ask for a double space or an area we can at least put an 8′ table.

Our last fair was at the local ski resort artisan market on Dec 9-10. This was the best and most ideal setup with a corner spot that allowed us to use 2 – 6′ tables in an “L” shape. This one I was really looking forward to because I could tell the other vendors were very much artisans and in line with an overall expectation of items. I had felt that this would likely be the one that our more artistic items would do best at. I wasn’t wrong. It was a fantastic event with some absolutely amazing vendors with beautiful hand crafted items. From stained glass to jewellers to photographers and painters, there was all sorts of beautiful art gift items.

Once again there weren’t a tonne of vendors, probably about 40 total. There was all sorts of holiday festivities happening in the village, so a lot of people were out exploring. We had a good mix of sales including quite a few of my dads stunning carvings. This was definitely the fair where people came for the art items. We will definitely be aiming to do this fair again next year as it seemed the best fit for what we create.

Some of my new fair items that were very popular were garden inspired. My herb strippers were a huge hit! I originally thought to make one when I saw a version of one on pinterest, because I thought I could use it with the amount of fresh herbs we like to use. Turns out there are a lot of people that would like to use them!

I also made a few new large lazy susans and cutting boards. I finally got to play with a chevron pattern and so far it has been great.

The dog paw print ornaments were also a hit, but I won’t make those again without a CNC machine…which I likely won’t get until I am much older. Right now, I like still making everything by hand. But these were too much on a scroll saw. My poor arm was so sore by the end of making 50 of them.

Since the fairs, I was working away on a couple items for family. My brother in law has had a game on his Christmas list for the last 2 years, so I made sure to find the time to make it for him this year. It is quite popular, mostly as a drinking game I think, but can also just be played for bragging rights and fun. It is a simple game, but still took a bit to put together. The goal is to swing your ring on its string and hook it on the base. Every time you get your ring on the hook, you move the marker. Your opponent is doing the same so speed and accuracy is important. I am sure he will have fun with it.

The other item I made was something I have had a lot of inquiries about at the artisan markets and has been on my projects list for a while. To really get me motivated, it turns out both my nephews play it and wanted a set. Can you guess what it is? A chess set!

I figured I would give them a whirl. They couldn’t be too terribly different from cutting boards. I decided if I was going to make them, I would make a few so that I have a stock for next years artisan markets. I had enough wood to make 3 so that what I have started with.

The boards were fairly simple, especially considering I have done a lot of checkered cutting boards. I decided to do 2 different frames on them. One with a walnut frame and 2 with a tiger wood frame. I included rubber feet on the bottoms with the edge trim covering them and almost going to the bottoms.

I actually finished one, sanding and oiling, but ran out of time to complete the other 2. I will have to do that in the coming week while I am still off work. I am quite excited to see how the walnut trim one ends up finishing up. The walnut is curly so there will be a beautiful shimmer and shine to it.

The chess pieces had me a little stumped, and probably why I had put off doing a chess set for a few years. I do have a small lathe and a nice set of tools that I got last year for Christmas but just haven’t had time to learn it yet. That will be remedied this winter as I plant to start making some lathe items and have a separate project list just for that.

Instead, for now, I found a great instructable on some simple modern chess pieces that also stack nicely into a box. Eventually, it might build a little box on the bottom of the board for the chess pieces to sit while not in use, but for now just had a little wooden box that is separate that I used for my nephews set.

Although simple looking, it took a bit of figuring out to make sure I had the right sizing and I also adjusted the plans to make it faster and easier for cutting all the shapes needed. In the end, they turned out fantastic.

Now I am enjoying some fun, games and laughter celebrating the holiday with Kurt’s family. I hear all the dogs barking, so I should wrap this up and see what all the fuss is about.