Thursday, July 2, 2015

July 2 - Gameplan

Good Morning,

What a day yesterday... $279 to snake our kitchen sink in order to fix the floor drain clog next to the shop.  It took him 20 whole minutes.    Don't have a calculator?  That's $837 per hour... I'm definitely in the wrong business, except for the fact that I don't do plumbing and schlepping around a snake and plumbers stuff holds zero appeal, so I guess I'll just stay with the sticks.  To top it all of, he had the whole plumbers butt crack thing going on... Ivy found it interesting... I found it appalling, and people complain about my prices.

Between the drain, blogging, 5 different ETSY conversations going on at once, roughing, engraving and inlaying, I was toast by 6:00 last night.   Oh ya, lets not forget the stick that quite literally blew up in my face, first time ever, thank goodness for safety glasses... otherwise I would be blind right now.     Well, I managed to get myself incredibly confused, I couldn't remember whose stick was who's, inlays, lengths... anything.  So, I shut the shop down and found a beer.

Also, I forgot, after a couple of hours yesterday afternoon sitting at the bottom of the trash can, I pulled the exploded stick out, and managed to find a pretty little petite that was just crying out to be found, so that's a little bit of good news.

For today it's pretty much trying to wrap up the pending pinecones.  Here's how I resolved the confusion issue, the sticky's weren't there yesterday so you can see how one can get confused.



Have a great day, I'll be checking in later.

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Update: 8:00 AM

I just finished that little exploding petite and Erin will be posting it shortly.  Don't worry, the section that exploded was "turned away", he's a sturdy little guy.

I also just caught up on LHC, so let me put my 2 cents in as it relates to stress.  I understand that Friday Night Sales are probably stressful for some, not on our end though.  :)  With the majority of inventory  generally being sold in under 2 minutes, so yes, I get it, that's stressful.   The absolute last thing that I want with this whole blog thing is to create stress, I need it to alleviate stress. There's that, and also to let you into our  life a little, and perhaps see behind the curtain.  So, if it gets stressful for whatever reason,  heck, I'll just simply change the rules.   I have enough going on where I don't need this to create stress.

My hope is that through all of these silly-ass games I'm playing that each and every one of you gets a stick that you want, some how or some way.  Just because you've been beat out on one, please... don't sweat it.  Here's a little secret:  That's the exact reason I'm doing "Surprise Customs".  Unfortunately, customs slow me down, no matter how simple the design.  So, no I can't pump them out as fast as in the past,  but my preference is zero inventory and you (at some point), get what you want.

Hope this helps.

13 comments:

  1. A petite? I'd love to know more. A pointy petite, by any chance?

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  2. Probably not to your exacting standards :) But yes, you were in the back of my mind and it is pointier than usual.

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  3. Is it listed yet? Petites in general have a better chance of meeting my stratospheric standards! :P

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  4. Ah, just saw it. No, 'fraid the taper is too short. The purple's gorgeous, though!

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  5. For what it's worth, I feel the blog is a win-win for everyone. The artist still gets to flex his artistic muscle and the customer is now more likely then ever to get exactly what they want. I think the surprise custom option will be very helpful to customers on the other side of the world that may miss out on a daily listing simply because they are in a very different time zone. I really appreciate Doug's efforts to make everyone happy.

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  6. Good God that pinecone in the shop is gorgeous...

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  7. Oh my, just saw the stick in the shop, just gorgeous but a little too short for me. Love the red in it though.

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  8. So here's my take on it. If someone is really looking for something and intent that they will own it, whether an etsy store, blog, brick and mortar store and it's in limited supply there will be some pressure to get that item. Its unavoidable. Unrelated but I got rather mentally tied up in ficcare for a while. I would stalk the swap board and actually get upset if I didn't get a clip. I had to take a big step back and assess my inner barometer. I'm better now but many of us have been there:)

    Doug, what I'm getting at is you are using several techniques to ensure people get the sticks they want. It will just take time to satisfy pent up demand. I believe this will happen and there will be lots of beautiful things to go around. It will just take time.



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  9. I agree Slynr, I think most of us that have been collecting TT's have a list of colors or style combos that we're looking to add. Just have to be patient to get there.

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  10. I love the pinecone in shop too....I love the color, length. Gorgeous!

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  11. I'm on team Doug as well. You and Erin are amazing. Keep doing what you are doing. That is all I ask. All I hope is it continues to be fun for you both. Hugs and support from this end. :)

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  12. As one who have written a comment about being stressed out I feel I need to explain myself better:
    I really like this blog and enjoy getting a glimpse into your life Doug. I also think that the games is a good and fair way to bring back customs and it's very kind of you to do so.

    The stress part is solely my own. I'm stressed out by other things in life right now to the point that even the smallest thing can be the breaking point, even if it is fun, low key stalking of this blog which is the reason I'm taking a break from trying to get a custom stick for now. I will still read this blog from time to time and certainly enjoy hearing about, and seeing your creations.

    I'm sorry if my comment came out as critisism against you Doug, I didn't mean it in that way at all.

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  13. Hi Maria,

    No worries, I didn't take it as criticism at all, everyone on all sides of this issue has a good point, I get it. I primarily wanted to let you all know that I do understand, and I know there are a million what-if's.

    So where is my time better spent, trying to address things that I can't even foresee yet, or just make a stick... I choose door #2. Folks, this blog is 2 whole weeks old, lets all just relax, I'm making this up as I go along, we'll find a rhythm. The alternative is that I just won't do customs, and I don't think anyone wants that.

    Now, I've got go back to work.

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