Pens and lots of them!

Acadia Desk Set made in Red with White Lines Acrylic

Would it be bragging if I said that I get to make a lot of pens for people each year?  A lot of people know that I am a self taught woodturner.  What most people don't know is that pens are how I taught myself to turn way back in the spring of 2000.  As I said I make a lot of pens each year, a little over 500 custom pens each year.  I make them from natural woods, dyed woods, colorful acrylics and even a few from deer antler (don't worry the antlers used are what the deer shed each year).  One way to get a pen that is always popular for graduates and retirees alike is as a desk set.  Each desk set consists of a gold Acadia pen, pencil and letter opener in a nice Rosewood box with a tilting glass top.  I usually make up about 30 desk sets each year and right now I'm in the middle of making 18 sets.  Pictured above and below are just a couple of the acrylic desk sets that have recently gone out to new homes.  Let me know what you think of them.


Acadia Desk Set made in Scarlet and Black Acrylic



6 pack of natural wood mills.

Last week was a very busy week here and these are just a few of the pieces that I made and shipped out.  Here are six natural wood salt & pepper mills made in the Morrison style.  From front to back they are 6" Walnut, 8" Ash & 10" Cherry.  Notice the beads or rings down near the bottom of each mill.  They help to tell you whether the mill is for salt or pepper.  One bead/ring means that it's a salt mill and three beads/rings means that it's a pepper mill.  Their new home is at the Center for Maine Craft in W. Gardiner, ME.  They also received a new shipment of wood pens too.  If you are traveling in Maine on the turnpike (Rt 95) or on Rt 295 stop at the rest stop in W. Gardiner and you will find the Center on the left just as you enter the building.  The Center is filled with very unique products that are made here in Maine by Maine artisans.  If you get a chance stop by and check the Center out.  You won't be disappointed.

Three Acadia pens headed to Colorado.

The three gold Acadia pens pictured above are part of a group that I turned over the weekend.  The top one is Maroon Fleck, the middle one is Caribbean Swirl and the bottom one is Light and Dark Green Swirls.  All are made from acrylic.  The three of them along with nine more Acadia pens made in various acrylic colors are headed to a new store for us called the Colorado Collection in Centennial, Colorado.

The Irony of a good wine.

I will be the first to admit that I don't drink a lot of wine.  Because I make a lot of cork screws and wine stoppers I am always asked at shows what my favorite wine is.  It's a little embarrassing to have to admit that I don't drink much wine.  I prefer good ale over wine.  I know that my sister loves wine and a few weeks back I was going to spend a night at my sister's new camp in Massachusetts.  So on the way in I stopped at a store to pick up a bottle of wine.  After all you've gotta christen the new camp in the right way.  I mean they do it for new boats; can a new camp be much different?

In amongst the hundreds of bottles of wine I was completely lost as which one to choose.  I figured it might not send the right message if I grabbed one of the small kegs of wine for $4.00 and showed up with that.  I did know that I wanted a wine that was made from something other than just grapes.  So I walked around reading labels and came across a Pinot Noir from California called Irony.  A wine called Irony now that sounded interesting, at least to a novice like me.  The label said that it had hints of cherry, vanilla and rhubarb.  Now how could I go wrong with all of those hints of flavors in it?  But what really sold me on the wine was the story of the two brothers and how they came back to work at the family winery.   It all sounded good to me so I bought a bottle of Irony Monterey Pinot Noir.  Later that night when my sister and I settled down in front of the fire to talk we shared the bottle of wine.  I have to tell you that I'm sold on this wine.  It was great!  One of the reasons that I don't drink a lot of wine is because of the after taste or bite after each sip.  There wasn't any of that with this wine, just a great taste and total smoothness after each sip.  All by accident I have found myself a nice wine and as their site says "what occasion doesn’t benefit from a bit of Irony"?   And the irony for me is that I now have a wine that I can discuss with my customers, not be embarrassed because I don't drink much wine and it's called Irony.  Think I'll be able to remember the name?  Tell me the name of your favorite wine and why, maybe I'll check it out and see if I want to add it to my new list of favorite wines.

The winner of the picture contest is....

Winner!  Grain pattern facing out.

A big thank you to everyone who voted.  And the winner is..... the grain facing out by a huge margin of 2 votes.  The voting was very close and was actually tied most of the way through the weekend but facing out managed to squeak out the win.  The mills have been delivered to Maine Public Broadcasting Network (MPBN) and will be up on their site soon.  I will let you know if they get juried into the MPBN Juried Art Show.  Dailey Woodworking helps to support MPBN each spring by donating one of our products to the auction. MPBN is a great organization that brings many programs into our lives and one of our favorites has to be the high school basketball tourneys each spring.  Please think about helping them out by purchasing from the auction or making a donation to MPBN.  You can check out some of the things that they have up for auction by clicking here.   Thanks again to all who voted.

Which picture do you like best?



 Facing Out



Facing In

















This is a set of 10 Inch Purple & Black Haynes Salt and Pepper Mills that I'm am donating to Maine Public Broadcasting Network (MPBN) for their yearly auction and possibly they will make it into their Juried Art Show that they hold every year.  Once I get the info from them I will put a link here to my page on the auction site.  So the question is which picture do you like best?  With the grain pattern facing out or the grain pattern facing in?  Your votes and your votes alone will decide which picture that I submit to MPBN. 

What would you like to see on sale?

Lately I've been thinking about sales.  Not about how many pieces did I sell or about sales volume over all but about running a sale on my products for you, our customers.  If you could make up your own sale on my products what would it be on?  Pens, salt & pepper mills, bottle stoppers or spice grinders? And what would the discount be?  When would the best time for a sale be?  I may never be able to use what you tell me but I really am curious about this and would appreciate your input.  If you were running Dailey Woodworking what would you create for a sale?