In the shop

Got into the shop last night for a couple of hours. We've had a bit of a cool front come through the area and it's really quite comfortable out there now.

I managed to get 4 stoppers turned last night. One of Box Elder Burl, one of Sycamore and two of Madrone Burl. It's interesting in that some of the species have been "stabilized" and they seem to have a distinctive aroma when I turn them.

Ranking them by the attractiveness of the wood itself, from most to least:
Box Elder
Madrone
Sycamore

Ranking them by ease of working, easiest to hardest:
Madrone
Box Elder
Sycamore

The weather's pleasant, temperature-wise, today, so I hope to be able to get back out into the shop tonight. Maybe get 6 more turned?

I've also been thinking about packaging and presentation for the stoppers, pens and wands. I've tried to find pre-made boxes for the wands, but have had no luck. I think an appropriate size would be the size of rolls for player pianos, but I don't know if purchasing those would make sense. I could come up with a design for my own cardboard boxes, but I've been tossing around a design for a wooden box for both the wands and the stoppers instead.

I'm also thinking about a laser-engraved design for the lid of the box, but don't know about the economic feasibility of that, either. Using a nicely printed label just would not look good on a wooden box.

I also need to make stands for the stoppers when they're on display. Do I add in a little slot in front of each stopper spot to have little tag with information on the wood used, etc.? Would that be too much of a hassle? Would the stoppers get placed back in their correct spot? Would it make a difference if it's on display at a convention art show as compared to a craft show?

If Peri catches this, I'm wondering about the ratio you mentioned (1/3 or 3x). At shows, did you expect to sell about 1/3 of your stock on hand? Or did you always have enough stock to do 3 shows at one time? Or am I misremembering your comment?