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plaques; these were just flat pieces of wood which had been sanded to achieve a smooth surface, and then coated with five coats of yacht varnish so that they were adequately weather proofed. We even left one in a bucket of water overnight to test this. Brass numbers were then affixed to these plaques, or sometimes the numbers were painted on in watercolours and varnished over. " Can you do me a sixty nine love?" said one cheeky customer at the boot sale. "You'll have to wait until next week," I replied, rather too innocently for a woman of my years.

We bought wooden knobs and brass hooks to mount on our basic wooden plaques, thus tuning them into useful coat racks. Our stall always looked bright and cheerful, and was crammed to capacity with our display of painted wooden items. We held a stall at the local Primary School's Christmas Fair and one at the Village Hall Summer Fete. Many of our products proved popular with housewives; there were letter racks, kitchen towel holders and decorative trays; plus tea pot stands and spice racks; all practical and inexpensive gifts.

Hubby sent off for some clock mechanisms and we made clocks out of picture tiles and gave them wooden surrounds. We produced picture frames, and even bookcases trimmed with decorative beading, in different finishes. The solid wooden items could be stained with antique pine, walnut, mahogany and dark oak wood dyes prior to varnishing. Sometimes the dyes could be blended to create various shades in between. The finished items were either left plain or depicted some hand-painted design, usually floral, or rambling vines.

The beauty of wood is never fully appreciated until one sees the grain when it appears through a coat of shiny varnish. We realised this after restoring a battered oak chest which we bought for a song in a junk shop and were very impressed with the result. Most of our wooden items were practical but we also created some purely ornamental lines as well. There were our novelty "Decorative duck" pencil holders and gaily painted model canal boats. Some of the designs were hand-painted or stenciled but we found that Disney transfers could also be used and were easily varnished over to protect them from peeling off.

Most of our items were developed on a trial and error basis and we were pleased when our prototypes were declared a success. Our prices were reasonable and for a while our products sold well. We attended craft fairs and our goods were always spoken highly of but sometimes the

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