Flashback to 1980

A newborn craftsman gets hooked by a Miami mall show.

See the potential!

I was first bitten by the “show” bug back in 1980, when my aunt Judy, who free-hand routed redwood signs and painted Cypress clocks, needed a flunky to heft and tote. By then, I had been working for her on and off for 2 years, cutting blank patterns for her signs and preparing and pouring [resin] on the Cypress wood slabs, on which she had painted animals, landscapes and swamp scenes on. Jude was regularly set up at a local Zayres store and a number of campgrounds in the area and doing quite well with her talents. I worked with her after school and weekends.

So, when she asked me to go with her to Miami (4 hours away) for a week-long mall show, I jumped at it. My 16 year old self was hitting a big city! There were four of us in total, me, Jude, her husband Nino (the Jolly Neapolitan) and Linda B., a friend of Judy’s who had also worked for her before. We all bunked together in a one bedroom suite at a place with stab wounds in the door. Exciting!

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The preparations for a mall show, especially for the first one, entailed building an attractive display, approvable by the promoter’s and mall management specs. Since this was not a one-time venture, the displays needed to be portable, easily set up, versatile for odd booth locations and durable for future uses.

Being that most of her business was routing redwood signs on the spot, we also had to construct a “work” booth that dampened the scream of the routers and contained the dust from the production process. The fumes from the spray bombs of flat black and crystal clear were (in 1980) acceptable (apparently, as no one complained) as long as the overspray didn’t leave odd silhouettes on the mall’s benches and planters.

Nino and I designed and constructed a state-of-the-art (for 1980) carving booth. It ended up being two 2 x 4 x 8 foot boxes. They were wired with eight power outlets, had workbench surfaces for routers, sanders and drills, a built in vac system that was baffled against the high db noise it created. Atop the workbenches we installed a 2 foot tall plexiglass surround that allowed the public to watch our work but protected them from the flying debris. 

We also had a 12” Craftsman band saw. This was my domain. I cut shapes as fast as Judy could rout them for Nino to finish. I sold my first wooden names there. Having grown proficient with cutting shapes for Judy, I had developed a knack for cutting letters from the scraps. This has grown to what is now and finally DustyNewt. 

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One particular pair of desk sets I did this week was for Sharon H. and  Harold P. Hummerheilm. These were memorable (44 years later) because of their names, their length was about 18” long and my band saw only had a 12” throat (so I had to cut half of them upside down) and I had to do them twice.

In the first sets, I used the “i” before “e” rule, but these were the dreaded exceptions. The customer was NOT happy when she showed me my error and I had to redo them both at an additional cost of 45 minutes and wood (while she waited and watched), and falling behind on my work for Jude.

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For displaying our crafts, we screwed samples of her redwood signs to the outside of the work-booth boxes. We used draped sawhorse tables and built sandwich board displays to hang the Cypress clocks and other finished works. These were arranged to keep wandering mall-walkers out of our dusty work area.

Security was a primary concern. Back then, crime was about 50% higher than it is now, so we had lots more people that wanted what we had and would take it if given the chance. We also found out while we were setting up that there had been a shootout with death the week before, at the mall exit we were closest to. 

We put casters on the boxes and hinged them together so that they could be locked closed at night. Locked closed, the contained unit was too big to wheel out the mall doors, but unlocking and unhinging them allowed us to load onto the truck when we left.

Beginner’s Luck

Looking back, this was the hook that encouraged my way of life for the next 10+ years. Like a first time gambler hitting a heavy whack on his first bet. All the work, energy and plotting were justifiably rewarded by people who liked our stuff.

Between the noise, fumes and activity, we drew great crowds and were quite busy. We all had wads of cash for our efforts. Digital sales were non-existent, accepting credit cards were a hassle and checks of any sort (in Florida) were a sketchy alternative. So, cash was King.

Being my first encounter with such a windfall, I promptly spent over half of my take on gifts to take home to family and friends, which were quickly unmemorable in hindsight. 

The crews at Westward HO! and Red Lobster looked a little dismayed when we stumbled in covered in dust, paint and grins,15 minutes before closing after having worked a fourteen hour day. But they warmed quickly to our humor and we always left a great tip.

After six, 14 hour days of working with her, I have yet to figure out why Linda B. was even with us…

2024

I learned so much this November week in 1980, continually upgrading products, displays, signs, self-promotion and modes of travel over the next 10 years.

The personal gains of being able to talk, face-to-face, with a wide range of characters has helped me to be more empathetic to my online client’s requests. The value of cash was a quick lesson to invest in tools and materials that will earn you more money.

There surely were times of bologna & cheese and hocking our CB radio for a motel room until we got set up at the next mall. But the successes, people and fine restaurants are more memorable.

It is amazing to me, 44 years later, how things have changed. The potential we now have of putting our work in front of millions of customers is enormous . The ability to bank the money immediately… even from sales to New Zealand! The luxury of living and working from home, buying and printing our shipping labels to be picked up every afternoon without the expenses of being on the road.

…and the music. Anything I want to hear, anytime I want it.

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DustyNewt World ~ A current map of where I have shipped my woodstuffs. See if your town is represented.

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If you are enjoying what you see… I like it hot and black. 😉

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