Commissions are a two edged sword.

It is usually a good thing to be commissioned to make a work – it’s an item that is sold before it’s even made. It can be exciting to start work intent on a particular piece to a specific purpose. There’s a little frisson of excitement while choosing the wood, deciding color and patterns with an image in mind.

But of course there are buts:

• It can limit an artist’s creativity, a customer might want everything exactly so, and the turner is just crafting something to their end.
• The artist may underestimate the time and materials, resulting in a disappointing payday. If I quote a price, I won’t go back to the client with a revised price.

• If the artist has free rein, the client may not like the result, request changes, or even turn down the art work.

There are ways to alleviate some of these: only take the commission that’s interesting works for me, don’t do the things I wouldn’t do normally. For example, I don’t take orders for custom croquet sets, chess sets or salad bowls sets. There are artists who don’t mind making something “to spec”, I’m not one of them.

The cost of a piece is often tricky. One gets better with experience. I’m not in the habit of tracking my time when I work on something for myself, I often spend several sessions of varying times on a piece, (all the while working on other pieces) so I often have a hazy idea of how long it takes to make something from beginning to end. I do try to give the customer a range of potential cost – from $200 to $250 gives me a little bit of wiggle room if I run into an issue.

And even if the artist has license to make something they want, it would be in everyone’s interest to find out some basic info about size and color and wood and cost and timeline.

Commissions are exciting, they can be a chance to flex muscles that aren’t often challenged, an opportunity to explore some fun byway that leads to new ideas and unique possibilities. It’s a good way to get new work out there in the world.

Well, after considering it over the winter, we have decided to go ahead with Saturday Market this year.  We have both had our vaccinations, and we are good to go.  There are still restrictions in effect – only every other booth space is covered each week, so it means we will be there on alternating weeks.  Since we are odd (!!), we will be on the 2nd and fourth weeks, even numbered booths will be on the 1st and third.  This may change as the season goes on, hopefully we will at some point be able to have all the vendors there every week.  Masks are still required, I will have hand sanitizer and wipes in my booth.

I am excited about it.  I took last year off from sales and just holed up in the studio making things.  Which is the part I enjoy the most anyway.  Without the pressure to make a lot of items for inventory, I spent more time on individual pieces, adding carving, color and pyrography.  It will be interesting to see how the public responds to it.

I am keeping my Items For Sale page up and will add more photos before market opens.  Not everything I make will be shown at Saturday Market.  Some items are too fragile or precious to haul back and forth every week, with the expectation that they will be handled multiple times each day.

Look for my booth on the Northeast corner, behind the Pizza vendor.  And if it looks like rain, I probably won’t be there – wood and water don’t work for me~

You might have noticed a new gallery on my web page – Items for Sale.

With all that is happening with Covid-19, I haven’t had the opportunity to do any shows this year.  Virtually all the summer shows in the Northwest have been canceled, and Eugene Saturday Market didn’t start up until mid-June.  Since Teresa and I are both in the age group where the virus can be a problem, I have decided not to do the Saturday market at this time.

But meanwhile, I have still been making things.  Every day.   Fewer bowls and stoppers and boxes that I sell at shows, and more “art” pieces, with carving and color.  These pieces go slower, generally days to weeks instead of the hours that I spend on the market commodities.  I actually prefer making the more elaborate things, but because they take longer and are more expensive,  I can’t do the volume that weekly shows require, which means that having a year off is the time to work on the ideas that have been percolating.  My solution was to create a new sale page with items you can buy from my website.  

If you click on an image on the sale page it provides information about the piece: the size, type of wood, and price.  If interested, just drop me an email and we can communicate about a purchase.  I take Square payments at this time, but I am looking at Venmo and Paypal options if I get any interest.

You can follow me on Instagram, (@tomborener)  which is where I first post any new projects.  Some of them get replicated to Facebook, but not everything.  I am also available for commissions, if a bowl or box or stopper is needed.  If you have a special piece of wood that you would like to have made into a remembrance, reach out to me and we can discuss costs.

The big show season is over for the year, just finished the Corvallis Fall Festival.  It was beautiful weather and lots of warm, funny people came out for the event.  I was disappointed with my sales, but after 5 years, maybe I need to take a break from this show.

With only a handful of regular Saturday market days left, I am gearing up for the Holiday market.  Lots of Christmas ornaments, bottle stoppers and small boxes.  I like these items, because each one is a little different, and I don’t get into a rut of routine.

I am already looking toward items for next year, more pieces with decoration such as pyrography and metal leaf, and lots of carving.  Expect more art work and fewer functional items, altho bowls will always be one of my mainstays.