I'm not sure where i want this thread to go - perhaps I just need a rant, but lets see what happens next.
I sell a small amount of stock through an outlet that is owned and operated by a national organisation that set firm standards when I first approached them. When I turned up with my first batch of stock ( just 7 items, as I recall) they were a bit skeptical about the price that I was charging, saying that I was probably pricing myself out of their market. Sales are steady, but slow, which is sort-of ok, because I'm not able to produce a lot of stock whilst I'm on the road to recovery after the accident, and it gets my stuff out there where it will hopefully be noticed.
So here's the rant! On the weekend we visited the venue and were shocked by what we saw on sale. Pete M. J. is going to love this bit....tea-light candleholders made by simply sawing 3" logs into 4" lengths, and drilling a shallow hole in one end, just big enough for the tea-light to sit in. OK, it's not in direct breach of fire-safety regs because the aluminium pot provides the non-flamable material that the law requires, but you ask any fire-safety officer what he/she thinks, and you'll be told in no uncertain terms. And guess what; they were priced at around £10 each.
Next came oak chopping boards, I hate that one! One of them was a simple, waney edged piece of oak, about 10" x 10" and 1" thick. The pith was running along one surface and the board had cupped severely, such that it if you put it flat on the shelf, the edges almost laid flat (it had also twisted), but the centre-line was over 1" up in the air. At each of the 4 corners was a hole and there were 2 pieces of twine threaded through, one at each end, as carrying handles. It was £50, all but a penny.
On another shelf there was a beautiful painting of 2 birds on a waney edged piece of board. It really was a fine piece and skilfully painted. However, the artist felt the need to call it a clock, so he'd stuck a quartz mechanism behind it and glued a 4", bright-and-shiny brass plated chapter ring on to the front, with Roman Numerals - hardly sympathetic to the otherwise-natural feel of the piece. The hands were even worse! they were bright-and-shiny brass plated, Serpentine hands, but they were for an 8" clock face. The flipping hands (I'm getting cross, now) were so big that the shop manager had to take the battery out of the clock because, whilst sat on the shelf, the hands were too big to go around. I won't tell you how much they were asking....it's immoral.
None of this makes any sense to me!
Les
