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Category: Behind the Grain
This is where you will learn about us, our products, festivals and fairs, and more!
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Meet Shadoe – Our Grumpy Old Man Cat (Who Was Never Actually Grumpy)
You know how the internet fell in love with Grumpy Cat, who—plot twist—wasn’t actually grumpy at all? Well, meet Shadoe, who seems to have been born not just with a permanent scowl etched into his handsome gray face, but with the attitude to match. Unlike his famous internet predecessor, our boy has earned every bit of his curmudgeonly reputation.
The Cat We Didn’t Choose (But Who Chose Us Anyway)
Shadoe wasn’t exactly a planned addition to our family. He came to us as a tiny kitten when someone who’d been living with us decided to move on, leaving behind this little gray bundle of opinions. We’re talking very little—small enough that we weren’t entirely sure what we’d gotten ourselves into, but old enough that he’d already figured out exactly how he felt about most things. Spoiler alert: he had strong feelings about everything.
Now, at nearly 12 years old this November, Shadoe has grown into his grumpiness like a fine wine ages in the cellar. He’s part Maine Coon, which explains his substantial size and the fact that despite losing all his teeth, he’s perfectly capable of swallowing kibble whole like some sort of dignified, furry vacuum cleaner. The short hair threw us off the Maine Coon trail initially, but the attitude? Pure Maine Coon royalty.
From Captain Thunderpaws to OMG-Can-You-Please-Clean-Yourself-Quieter
If you’ve ever lived with a cat, you know they’re supposed to be stealthy. Silent hunters, graceful shadows, masters of appearing and disappearing without a sound. Someone forgot to give Shadoe this memo.
From his kitten days when we nicknamed him Captain Thunderpaws, to his current status as the loudest self-grooming cat in possibly all of Arizona, stealth has never been Shadoe’s strong suit. We’re talking about a cat who somehow makes walking across carpet sound like a small elephant practicing tap dance. And the grooming? You can hear him from another room, going about his daily ablutions with all the subtlety of a washing machine on the fritz.
We joke that he’s about as stealthy as those viral videos of jars full of bouncy balls being opened—lots of noise, chaos, and you know exactly where he is at all times.
The Great Outdoor Adventure (That Almost Wasn’t)
For years, Shadoe was perfectly content being an indoor cat. He’d look out the windows with mild interest, but the idea of actually setting paw outside? Not happening. He was Arizona born and raised, but apparently, the great outdoors held no appeal for our discriminating feline.
Then we moved to Tucson, and something changed. Maybe it was the new environment, maybe it was a midlife crisis, but suddenly Shadoe discovered he had opinions about the outdoors too. Strong ones. He wanted to feel “freedom in his hair” (what little of it he has), which meant I got to experience the joy of chasing a determined, not-particularly-fast cat around the yard while he explored his newfound independence.
When we moved to Workshop Central and welcomed Smudge into our pack, Shadoe finally got his ticket to true freedom: the doggy door. Now he comes and goes as he pleases, though “going” rarely means farther than the porch. He’s not antisocial exactly, but he’s discovered that peace and quiet for contemplating shadows and freaking out humans is his preferred lifestyle.
The Seasonal Gentleman
These days, Shadoe has settled into the routine of a distinguished older gentleman. Summers in Arizona mean he spends most of his time inside, enjoying the climate-controlled comfort like the sensible senior citizen he’s become. When winter rolls around, he ventures out a bit more, but he’s always back inside by nighttime. Even grumpy old cats appreciate a good night’s sleep in comfort.
He’s claimed his spots throughout our home and workshop—always positioned for optimal shadow-staring and human-startling. There’s something deeply unsettling about catching those bright eyes watching you from a dark corner, and Shadoe has perfected the art of appearing just when you least expect it.
All Cat, All the Time
While Shadoe shares our space with Fuega and Smudge, he maintains his independence with the dignity of a cat who knows exactly who he is and what he’s about. He’s not unfriendly, but he’s selective about his social interactions. Think of him as the workshop supervisor who prefers to manage from a distance—always watching, always aware, but content to let others handle the day-to-day chaos while he focuses on the important work of shadow supervision.
He may have lost his teeth, but he’s never lost his personality. He may sound like a small storm system when he walks across the floor, but he’s our small storm system. And despite his permanent expression of mild disapproval with the world, we wouldn’t trade our grumpy old man for anything.
The Shadoe Legacy
The truth is, while we didn’t choose Shadoe, he’s chosen to stay with us through nearly 12 years of life changes, moves, new pets, and all the beautiful chaos that comes with sharing your life with a cat who has opinions about everything. He’ll be here, ruling from his shadowy kingdom, until he decides it’s time to stomp into whatever comes next and claim his throne there too.
Until then, we’re honored to serve as staff to His Majesty King Shadoe, First of His Name, Sovereign of Shadows, and Chief Supervisor of All Things That Go Bump in the Night.
As always, we’re here if you have questions or just want to chat about wood, dogs, cats, or the beautiful chaos that happens when all three worlds collide in our workshop! Whether you found us through the woodworking or stayed for the pet tales, we’re grateful you’re part of the Sarkanys Rising family.
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11 Weeks In: From Workshop Dreams to Pitch-Ready Reality with The BOTOX® Cosmetic Confidence Project
I am so excited to announce that I am one of @botoxcosmetic’s 2025 program participants for The Confidence Project! #TCPEmpoweringWomenEntrepreneurs
Hey there, Sarkanys Rising family!
I’m sitting here with my water bottle and I can hardly believe where we are — we’ve just begun week 11 of 12 in The BOTOX® Cosmetic Confidence Project, and in just days, I’ll be pitching Sarkanys Rising for a $20,000 grant. My hands are literally shaking as I type this, but it’s the good kind of shaking — the kind that comes from being so close to something you’ve worked incredibly hard for.
The Journey That Changed Everything
Eleven weeks ago, I thought I knew our business pretty well. Rex and I have been pouring our hearts into every piece of reclaimed wood art, every resin experiment, every custom cutting board that becomes part of someone’s family story. But this program? It’s been like looking at Sarkanys Rising through a completely different lens.
The expert coaching sessions have pushed me to think bigger than I ever imagined. We’ve refined our business model, strengthened our financials, and learned how to tell our story in a way that connects our passion for beautiful craftsmanship with real business potential.
Rex keeps asking me what I’m learning in these sessions, and honestly, it’s everything from “How do you scale a custom business without losing its soul?” to “What does sustainable growth actually look like for a veteran-owned woodworking operation?” The answers aren’t always easy, but they’re always eye-opening.
The Reality of Being This Close
Twenty thousand dollars. I’ve been carrying that number around in my head for weeks now, and it feels more real every day. That’s not just funding — that’s Rex finally getting that floor drill press he’s been eyeing for two years. That’s expanding our workspace so we’re not playing wood-storage Jenga in the resin room. That’s being able to say yes to those larger custom projects without worrying about whether we have the equipment to deliver.
But here’s what I didn’t expect: the confidence that’s come from just being in this program. Learning that women founders receive less than 3% of all venture capital funding used to feel discouraging — now it feels like fuel. We belong at this table. Our story of giving new life to reclaimed materials, of creating functional art that lasts generations, of building something meaningful with our hands — that story matters.
What These 11 Weeks Have Taught Us
The program hasn’t just prepared us for the pitch; it’s changed how we see ourselves as business owners. I used to introduce us as “just a small woodworking operation,” and now? Now I say we’re a sustainable artisan business with 40+ years of craftsmanship expertise, creating one-of-a-kind heirloom pieces from reclaimed materials.
Same business. Completely different confidence.
We’ve learned to quantify things that felt unquantifiable — like the environmental impact of every piece of wood we save from the landfill, or the generational value of creating pieces that’ll outlast us all. We’ve discovered that our “problems” (like every piece being unique, making it hard to scale) are actually our biggest strengths in a world hungry for authentic, handcrafted goods.
The Pitch That’s Coming
In just a couple of weeks, I may stand in front of a panel of aesthetic entrepreneurs and business leaders from Allergan Aesthetics and Hello Alice. I’ll have just three (count them 3) minutes to capture years of passion, months of preparation, and a lifetime of Rex’s woodworking mastery in a presentation that could change everything for us.
Am I nervous? Absolutely. Am I ready? More than I ever thought possible.
What This Means for Our Family
Whether we receive a grant or not, this experience has already been worth everything. The connections I’ve made with other women entrepreneurs, the business strategies I’ve learned, the confidence I’ve gained in talking about what we do — these are gifts that’ll keep giving long after the program ends.
But I’ll be honest with you — I want this. I want it for Rex, who’s spent four decades perfecting his craft and deserves tools that match his talent. I want it for every piece of reclaimed wood that’s waiting to become something beautiful. And I want it for every one of you who’s believed in what we do and helped us get to this moment.
The Thank You That’s Long Overdue
You know what’s wild? None of this would be possible without you. Every spoon or cutting board that’s found its home in your kitchen, every serving tray that’s hosted your gatherings, every pen that’s signed important documents in your life — you’ve been building this business with us. You’ve shared our pieces with friends, tagged us in photos, and made us feel like we’re creating something that matters.
This pitch isn’t just about Rex and me. It’s about everyone who’s ever believed that beautiful, functional art deserves a place in everyday life. It’s about proving that small businesses with big hearts can compete with anyone when they’re given the right opportunity.
Here’s to Week 12 and Whatever Comes Next
So here we are — 11 weeks of learning, growing, and preparing almost behind us, and one final week before the pitch that could change everything. I’m scared and excited and grateful and determined all at once.
As always, we’re here if you have questions or just want to chat about wood (or business dreams, or the beautiful mess of following your passion)! Thanks for being part of our story — especially during this chapter that feels like it could be the beginning of something even bigger.
Until next time, keep making beautiful moments in your everyday life — and maybe send us a little good luck for the pitch ahead!
With gratitude and hands that won’t stop shaking (in the best way),
Dawn (and Rex, who’s already cleared space in the workshop for that dream equipment)
BOTOX® Cosmetic (onabotulinumtoxinA) is a prescription medicine that is injected into muscles and used to temporarily improve the look of moderate to severe forehead lines, crow’s feet, frown lines, and vertical bands connecting the neck and jaw in adults (platysma bands).
Talk to your doctor about BOTOX® Cosmetic and whether it’s right for you. There are risks with this product—the effects of BOTOX® Cosmetic may spread hours to weeks after injection causing serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems or muscle weakness can be a sign of a life-threatening condition. If this happens, do not drive a car, operate machinery, or do other dangerous activities. Patients with these conditions before injection are at the highest risk. Swallowing problems may last for several months. Side effects may include allergic reactions, neck and injection-site pain, fatigue and headache. Don’t receive BOTOX® Cosmetic if there’s a skin infection. Tell your doctor your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, and medications, including botulinum toxins, as these may increase the risk of serious side effects.
For Boxed Warning and Medication Guide, see @botoxcosmeticpi.
Intended for U.S. audiences only.
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How Artisan Vendors Sell Out Fast at Craft Fairs and Markets
People sometimes watch us pack up an empty booth at the end of a festival day and assume we got lucky. “Wow, you sold everything!” they’ll say, like it was a happy accident. The truth? Selling out isn’t luck. It’s love combined with logistics, and a lot of lessons learned the hard way.
The love part is easy — we genuinely adore what we do. When someone picks up a Magical Jupiter Pen and their face lights up, or when they run their hands over the smooth finish of a cutting board and sigh with appreciation, we feel it too. That authentic enthusiasm is contagious. People can tell when vendors are excited about their own work versus just trying to move inventory.
But enthusiasm alone won’t empty your booth. The logistics are where the real magic happens, and it took us years to figure this out.
One of the first things we learned is that an over crowded table won’t be shopped. People cannot see any one item. First, know your audience. The people at the Tucson Celtic Festival are looking for different things than the folks at Art in the Park Sierra Vista. Celtic Festival attendees love pieces with fantasy elements — our Dragon pens and mystical-looking resin work do incredibly well there. At Art in the Park, people are thinking more about practical home items — cutting boards, bowls, kitchen tools.
Inventory planning is crucial. We’ve learned to bring more smaller items than large pieces, not because they’re more profitable per item, but because they’re impulse-friendly. Someone might admire a $300 lamp but walk away. That same person will happily buy a $45 pen set without much deliberation.
Sometimes things beyond your control affect sales. This day was one of the hottest on record in this location. We still had customers, but most were too hot to really shop or carry items. Display matters more than we initially realized. Early on, we’d just arrange our pieces on tables and wonder why people walked by. Now we think about sight lines, lighting, and creating little vignettes that help people imagine our pieces in their homes. Dawn started bringing battery-powered LED strips to illuminate the resin work, and sales of those pieces doubled overnight.
Pricing psychology is real. We learned to price things as whole numbers so people didn’t have to worry about change. It sounds arbitrary, but it consistently performs better. We also learned to offer logical bundles: pen and letter opener sets, cutting board with matching coasters.
Our notebook and pen display at an art show in November 2025 But here’s the biggest secret: we prep for specific scenarios. Rex brings extra business cards and knows our shipping rates by heart because people always ask. Dawn practices explaining our process — how long pieces take to make, what makes our resin work different, why certain woods are special. When someone’s interested but hesitant, having those stories ready makes all the difference.
Weather contingency plans, backup power for card readers, comfortable shoes, and way more coffee than seems reasonable — these aren’t glamorous details, but they’re what separate vendors who sell out from those who go home with full inventory.
Our booth display at a craft show in December 2024. Pay attention to the back table. We only had time to fill out some of the pen display. We now make many more pens than we carry! The real secret isn’t any single trick. It’s treating every festival like you’re hosting a party in your own home, where you’re genuinely excited to share what you love with people who appreciate it. Do that consistently, with good logistics backing you up, and empty booths become the norm rather than the exception.
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Shopping with Soul Still Beats Shopping with Convenience
We live in the age of ultimate convenience. Two-day shipping has become same-day delivery. One-click purchasing. Subscribe and save. Shopping has never been easier, faster, or more mindless.
And maybe that’s exactly the problem.
When you can buy almost anything without thinking — without considering where it came from, who made it, or how long it will last — shopping becomes a reflex rather than a choice. You accumulate things instead of choosing things. Your home fills up with objects that serve their function but tell no stories.
Shopping with soul is different. It’s slower, more intentional, and yes, often more expensive. But it’s also more rewarding in ways that go far beyond the transaction.
When you choose one of our handcrafted pieces, you’re not just buying a Jupiter Pen or a cutting board. You’re investing in Rex’s four decades of skill development. You’re supporting Dawn’s artistic vision and our commitment to giving new life to materials that might otherwise become waste. You’re choosing to surround yourself with objects that carry stories, intention, and human touch.
There’s something profound about using tools that were made specifically for you — not “you” as a demographic, but you as a person who deserves beautiful, functional things that will last. When Rex turns a pen, he’s imagining the hands that will hold it, the words it will write, the memories it will help create. That intention gets embedded in the piece in ways that mass production can never replicate.
Shopping with soul also means supporting real people and real communities. When you buy from us, you’re supporting a veteran-owned small business, sustainable practices that give new life to discarded materials, and artisans who’ve dedicated their lives to perfecting their craft. Your purchase has impact beyond your own satisfaction.
The convenience model is designed to make you forget about your purchases as quickly as possible, so you’ll make more of them. Handmade pieces do the opposite — they make you remember. Remember the festival where you found them, the conversation you had with the maker, the moment you knew something was meant to be yours.
There’s joy in anticipation too. When you order something handmade, you know it’s being created specifically for you. You wait not because of shipping delays, but because someone is taking the time to make something beautiful. The arrival becomes an event rather than just another delivery.
We’re not suggesting you purchase handcrafted everything in your life — that’s not realistic for most people and we know it. But what if you chose soul over convenience for the things that matter? The tools you use daily, the pieces you see every time you walk into a room, the gifts you give to people you love?
In a world optimized for speed and efficiency, choosing beauty, story, and intention becomes a quiet act of rebellion. It’s saying that your life, your home, and your relationships deserve more than whatever’s cheapest and most convenient.
Shopping with soul beats shopping with convenience every time. Not because it’s easier, but because it’s better.
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Why Our Kitchen Tools Outlast Everything Else
There’s an uncomfortable truth about most kitchen tools: they’re designed to break. Not immediately, but eventually, so you’ll buy replacements. Planned obsolescence isn’t just for electronics — it’s built into almost everything we buy, including the tools we use to feed our families.
We’re not about that.
When Rex crafts a Maple & Walnut French Rolling Pin, he’s thinking about how it will feel in your hands not just today, but twenty years from now. He chooses wood with tight, stable grain patterns from trusted sources like Cook Woods. He turns each piece to precise tolerances that account for how the wood will move over time. He applies finishes that will protect and nourish the wood through thousands of uses.
This isn’t just craftsmanship — it’s a philosophy. We believe kitchen tools should be companions, not consumables. That rolling pin should be something you pass down to your children, along with your grandmother’s pie recipe and the story of where you got it. These useful pieces are an heirloom they will not only love, but continue using.
The materials matter enormously. Mass-produced tools often use whatever wood is cheapest, regardless of its suitability for kitchen use. We select species based on their working properties: maple for its tight grain and natural antimicrobial properties, walnut for its stability and resistance to moisture, cherry for its beauty and durability. When a piece needs extra stability, we use Cactus Juice penetrating stabilizer, which hardens the wood fibers from the inside out.
But it’s not just about the wood. It’s about understanding how these tools will be used. A cutting board needs to be hard enough to protect your knives but soft enough not to dull them. A rolling pin needs perfect balance so it rolls smoothly without requiring excessive pressure. A knife handle needs to feel secure even when your hands are wet or flour-dusted.
Rex has been perfecting these details for over four decades. He understands how different woods behave in various climates, how grain orientation affects strength, how the smallest variation in thickness can change a tool’s performance. This isn’t knowledge you can download or inherit — it’s earned through years of making, testing, adjusting, and making again.
We hear from customers all the time who still have kitchen tools their grandparents used daily. Not museum pieces, but working tools that show their age gracefully, developing the kind of patina and character that only comes from decades of use. That’s what we are working to make — not just for this generation, but for the next.
The economics work out too. A cheap rolling pin might cost $15, but if you have to replace it every few years, you’ll spend more over time than if you’d bought one quality piece that lasts forever. Our tools cost more upfront because we’re not cutting corners on materials, time, or craftsmanship.
More importantly, there’s something deeply satisfying about using tools that improve with age instead of degrading. Wood develops character as it’s used. It learns your hands, your kitchen, your cooking style. A well-made tool becomes an extension of yourself in ways that plastic never can.
In a throwaway world, making things to last is almost a radical act. But every time you reach for that perfectly balanced rolling pin or that cutting board that still looks beautiful after years of daily use, you’re reminded that quality endures — and that some things are worth doing right the first time.
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Buy Holiday Gifts Early at Summer Craft Fairs and Festivals
Some of the best holiday gifts you’ll give this year are sitting in booths at summer festivals right now, waiting for someone smart enough to think ahead.
That exquisite Cherry & Golden Walnut Yarn Bowl you spotted at Pine/Strawberry Arts & Crafts fair in July? Tuck it away in your closet, and come December, watch your crafty friend’s eyes light up when they unwrap something they never would have expected. The story makes the gift even better: “I saw this at a festival months ago and immediately thought of you.”
We’ve noticed that our most satisfied gift-givers are the ones who shop festivals during the warmer months. There are practical reasons for this — better selection, no shipping scrambles, more time to plan complementary gifts around a main piece. But there’s something deeper too. Shopping early for someone specific shows a level of thoughtfulness that’s rare in our last-minute world.
Festival shopping offers something department stores can’t: the story. When you give someone a handcrafted pen, you don’t just say “I got you a pen.” You say “I met this veteran woodworker at a festival, and he told me about the wood in this piece, and I thought you’d appreciate the craftsmanship.” The gift becomes a narrative, not just an object.
There’s also the serendipity factor. You can’t plan to stumble across the perfect piece — it has to find you. Rex often talks about customers who weren’t looking for anything specific but left with exactly what someone on their list needed.
Early festival shopping also means you get first pick of truly unique pieces. By December, artisans have sold their most striking work. In the fall, you have access to pieces that will never be made again — one-of-a-kind items that can’t be found on any website (everything we sell is on ours though! LOL) or in any store come holiday season.
We’ve started keeping a “gift notes” file for customers who buy pieces months ahead of when they’ll give them. “This cutting board is for my son’s wedding in October.” “The resin pendant is for Mom’s birthday in February.” It helps us remember the stories behind the purchases and adds a personal touch when we see them again.
The anticipation factor is underrated too. There’s something wonderful about having that perfect gift already chosen and waiting, knowing that while everyone else is fighting crowds in December, you’re already done — with something infinitely more thoughtful than anything they’ll find in the rush.
So next time you’re wandering through a summer festival, don’t just think about what you want for yourself. Think about the people you love, the occasions coming up, the joy of giving something that no one else will have thought to find.
The holidays are coming whether you’re ready or not. But the perfect gifts for them? Those are available right now.
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Why Handmade Costs More – Explaining Artisan Pricing to Friends
We’ve all heard it. You show someone a beautiful handcrafted piece, they admire it, ask the price, and then say, “Oh wow, I could get something like that at Walmart for $20.” Cue internal screaming from every artisan everywhere.
Here’s the thing: they’re not wrong about the Walmart price. What they’re missing is that price and value aren’t the same thing, and “something like that” isn’t the same as “that.”
When Rex makes a Chef’s Knife, you’re not just paying for the finished product. You’re paying for his 40+ years of accumulated skill, the knowledge of how different woods behave, the steady hands that can turn a rough blank into a perfectly balanced tool. That expertise didn’t happen overnight — it’s decades of practice, thousands of mistakes, countless hours of refinement.
You’re also paying for materials that mass producers would never use. We source from suppliers like Cook Woods and Woodworkers Source, choosing pieces for their beauty and quality rather than their cost-effectiveness. That Australian red gum burl? It’s expensive because it’s rare and stunning. A factory would use pine with a printed wood-grain pattern and call it a day.
Time is the invisible cost people don’t consider. Dawn might spend six hours on a single resin pour, waiting for each layer to cure perfectly, adjusting colors, creating depth and movement that catches light. A machine could squirt out a plastic approximation in six minutes, but it would look exactly like what it is — exactly like all of the others squirted out that day.
Then there’s the durability factor. We guarantee our pieces will last generations because we build them that way. Rex uses traditional joinery techniques and finishes that protect the wood for decades. Compare that to mass-produced items designed to break or wear out so you’ll buy replacements. Our cutting board might cost five times what Walmart charges, but if it lasts fifty times longer, which is really the better value?
When people make price comparisons, help them understand what they’re actually comparing. That $20 Walmart cutting board will warp, crack, and need replacing within a few years. Our $125 cutting board will still be beautiful and functional when your grandchildren inherit it. Break that down over its lifetime, and suddenly our “expensive” piece costs pennies per year of use.
There’s also an emotional value that’s impossible to quantify. When you use a mass-produced item, it’s just a thing. When you use something made by hand, with intention and skill, it connects you to the maker’s story. Every time you reach for that handcrafted pen or cutting board, you’re reminded that someone cared enough to make it beautiful.
We’re not trying to compete with Walmart, and we shouldn’t have to. We’re offering something completely different — the irreplaceable value of human craftsmanship, materials chosen for beauty rather than cost-cutting, and pieces made to become heirlooms rather than landfill fodder.
The next time someone questions artisan pricing, remind them: you can’t get “something like this” anywhere else, because this is one of a kind. And one-of-a-kind has never been cheap — nor should it be.
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How Artisan Vendors Sell Out Fast at Craft Fairs and Markets
People sometimes watch us pack up our booth at the end of a festival weekend and assume we got lucky. “Wow, you did you sell everything!” they’ll say, like it was a happy accident. The truth? Selling out isn’t luck. It’s love combined with logistics, and a lot of lessons learned the hard way.
The love part is easy — we genuinely adore what we do. When someone picks up a Jupiter Pen and their face lights up, or when they run their hands over the smooth finish of a cutting board and sigh with appreciation, we feel it too. That authentic enthusiasm is contagious. People can tell when vendors are excited about their own work versus just trying to move inventory.
But enthusiasm alone won’t empty your booth. The logistics are where the real magic happens, and it took us years to figure this out and we are still learning new “tricks” every time.
First, know your audience. The people at the Tucson Celtic Festival are looking for different things than the folks at Art in the Park in Sierra Vista. Celtic Festival attendees love pieces with fantasy elements — our Dragon pens and mystical-looking resin work do incredibly well there. At Art in the Park, people are thinking more about practical home items — cutting boards, bowls, kitchen tools.
Inventory planning is crucial. We’ve learned to bring more smaller items than large pieces, not because they’re more profitable per item, but because they’re impulse-friendly. Someone might admire a $300 lamp but walk away. That same person will happily buy a $45 pen set without much deliberation. We have also learned not to put everything out. To give ourselves room & still be able to offer that surprise from under the table if what’s on it isn’t quite right!
Display matters more than we initially realized. Early on, we’d just arrange our pieces on tables and wonder why people walked by. Now we think about sight lines, lighting, and creating little vignettes that help people imagine our pieces in their homes. Dawn started bringing battery-powered LED strips to illuminate the work, and it seemed like sales doubled overnight.
We also learned to offer logical bundles: think pen and letter opener sets, or a cutting board with a knife. Plus, we tweaked our pricing strategy, moving to whole numbers instead of exact figures
Weather contingency plans, backup power for card readers, comfortable shoes, and way more coffee than seems reasonable — these aren’t glamorous details, but they’re what separate vendors who sell out from those who go home with full inventory.
The real secret isn’t any single trick. It’s treating every festival like you’re hosting a party in your own home, where you’re genuinely excited to share what you love with people who appreciate it. Do that consistently, with good logistics backing you up, and empty booths become the norm rather than the exception.
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Limited Edition Handmade Wood Art? – Actually it’s all One of a Kind
In a world where you can “buy one in every color” and stores stock hundreds of identical items, we’ve been forced to make a different choice. We intentionally make only “one of a kind” items, and we’re going to tell you exactly why.
First, there’s the simple reality of our materials. When Rex finds a beautiful piece of Australian red gum burl, there’s only so much of it. That burl grew on one tree, in one place, with grain patterns that will never be repeated. When it’s gone, it’s gone. We could try to approximate the look with different wood, but it wouldn’t be the same piece, so why pretend it is?
Dawn faces the same thing with her resin work. When she develops a color combination using P-Town Subbie micas — maybe a deep blue swirl with metallic highlights — the exact ratio of pigments, the way they flow together, the ambient temperature of the workshop that day, all contribute to the final result. She could make something similar, but never identical.
But there’s a deeper reason we keep things small, and it’s about you, the person who chooses our work. When you pick up that Maple & Walnut French Rolling Pin, you’re not getting “item #4,327 off the production line.” You’re getting one of maybe three or four rolling pins Rex made from that particular combination of woods and it’s the only one with that wood in that combination he did. Your cutting board isn’t the same as hundreds of others — it’s one of the few that exist, period.
We’ve had people ask us, “Could you make fifty of these for our corporate gifts?” The answer is always no, not because we don’t want the business, but because we can’t make fifty identical anythings. Even if we used the same wood species and followed the same general design, each piece would be unique. The wood grain would be different, Rex’s hand movement on the lathe would vary slightly, Dawn’s resin pour would create different patterns.
There’s something powerful about owning something genuinely rare. Not artificially scarce because a marketing team decided to limit production, but naturally limited because the artist made what the materials allowed and then moved on to the next inspiration.
This approach means sometimes people miss out. We’ve had customers email us months later asking if we have “that blue and purple bowl from the Tucson Celtic Festival,” and we have to tell them it found its home with someone else. It’s bittersweet, but it’s also what makes finding the right piece feel like destiny rather than just shopping.
When you own one of our pieces, you know that even if someone else has something similar from us, they don’t have yours. Your Jupiter Pen has wood grain that exists nowhere else. Your cutting board has a story that’s entirely its own.
In an age of mass production and infinite availability, there’s something beautifully rebellious about saying, “This is it. This is all there is. Choose now or it’s gone forever.” It makes each piece more precious, each decision more meaningful, each ownership more special.