It is not unusual...

 Just a caddie to hold 2 yogurt containers and some brushes

...for me to make something for sale.  I have been self-employed for over 40 years.  I have never had a regular paycheck, certainly no standard benefits, no compensation for time off, no sick pay, no paid holidays.
There have been other benefits, mostly my time has been my own.  Even when I had a really bad job I knew it would be over when it was finished and I could go on to something else, always hunting for that next great job.
   I did most of my advertising through Home Shows, that one opportunity to "be on stage" and allow the public to compare me with the competition.  I learned the retail trade because of these Home Shows, the space is very expensive.  I learned that the worst possible thing I could do was to sit at a table and wait for them to approach me.  Mostly I sold a service, sort of renting me and my crew out to remodel your home and this could cost thousands of dollars.
   I learned that there was a market for those who couldn't afford or didn't desire their homes torn up and rearranged.  They liked me, wanted something from me, just not the whole big job.
   So I got to thinking, wouldn't it be nice if I could create a product?  Maybe something that would be an advertisement in itself?  Something that would help with the ever increasing cost of doing Home Shows?
   I started pretty simple.  My very first goal was to create something that would feed me during these four day shows.  I had incentive.  I told myself "no lunch" until I made a sale!  At the time I was importing lumber from the Fiji Islands (I could blog about that for awhile!) and I had made some kitchen cutting boards and clip boards out of these exotic woods.  I also made some little toys, something that might attract kids and get their parents to linger.  Well, it was a hit and I ate well that first day but completely sold out my meager inventory on the opening night!  If I had only had more I could have paid for my space!
   Over the years my interests changed and I would be into other things, one year doing nothing but decks and outdoor living, another just kitchens and another I was into bathrooms but I always had a product, something to sell off the floor.  The last few years when I got into steel I could quadruple my space costing me over $3,000 for the very long weekend and pay for it entirely with "stuff" that I brought for sale!
   I got in the habit of making my hobbies pay for themselves.  If I liked it maybe someone else would too?
And then I could sell it allowing me to continue.  My first welder was just a little guy costing me about $300 and on principle I refused to buy a better one until I could pay for the first one through the sale of something I made.  In less than one year I bought the one I have now for $2,400, all paid for with a $300 dollar machine!
   I still have that attitude.  It was something developed over time and is just a part of me now.  In a forty year career I can often go look at a job and find something of mine already in someone's house. That is nice too!

More is HERE

So far So Good

Developing a prototype is contant thinking, tinkering and adjusting.  I remember when I first developed "Stone Posts", my slate covered light posts, almost 20 years ago. I had concrete shapes all over my backyard, broken ideas, failed first steps.  I knew it was the key to getting me out of construction so I continued until I got it right.

 Artist's Pedestal

   I am liking my first easel and tested it out yesterday on a larger canvas, about 3' by 6', steel framed, of course because that is what I do.  An artist really needs a lot of space, a lot of supplies and a lot of room to work.  I needed more furniture, bigger pallette, more room for more brushes and at least three cup holders for the little yogurt containers I put turpentine in to clean my brushes and stir stuff.  So I made an artist's pedestal.  Three cup holders, room for 20 tubes of paint and holders for a dozen brushes.
And the steel top is the pallette where I mix the paint.

 Here it is, in my garden!

   The advantage of making prototypes is that I get to keep them.  I think I will continue this process at least until I can create a perfect pair of them, one a stripped down practical model with all the bells and whistles for about $200 and another, furniture quality, powder coated with embellishments in the $500 range.  Over the years I have furnished my whole house that way and on occasion created a product to sell.
   The easel itself eventually needs to have foldable adjustable legs or I could never ship it.  In the meantime it is perfect, strong and stable.  It can easily support a six foot wide canvas.
   One added benefit to all of this is that I can learn to paint at the same time!

Market Reseach/Easels

I have never used an easel until yesterday.  I paint inside my shop on my welding table or pin up my canvas on a vertical structure I also built for welding.  I never really thought much about an easel until yesterday.

   It was such a beautiful day.  The sun was out in full force but the long shadows signifying Fall were lurking as shadows are prone to do.  I wanted to paint outside!

   There is no drying time to welding.  You weld it and it is done.  I gathered up scraps from around my shop and began with a tripod, that wonderful three legged creation that is always stable.  And then I added to it.

 My first Easel

I needed places for some brushes, holders for my little yogurt containers of turpentine and linseed oil and a nice flat steel shelf I could use as a pallet for mixing paint.

   So all this gets me to thinking?  I wonder if I could make a dime from this?  Is there a market for a good, well built, sturdy easel? and what would that be?

   Or maybe companion furniture for the artist?  A one foot square pedestal with places for brushes, paint and supplies?

   There must be a million plastic things already on the market, but I am thinking something nice, well built, sturdy, inspiring.

 My Easel in front of the Trumpet Vine

HERE is more stuff I make

   So, tell me about your easel?  What do you use?  What do you like about it and what you don't?