Jordan Klein - Sass & Sawdust
- Raleigh, North Carolina -
I started a hobby business about 5 years ago called The Ornate Plate, painting custom designs on plates, platters, wine glasses, mugs, etc after making some for wedding gifts and several people wanting them. About two years ago, I repeated that “mistake", this time however I made a couple end of year gifts, a pencil door hanger and a home plate door hanger for our kids teachers and coaches. the door hangers were are HUGE hit, everyone wanted me to make more. I made about 50 different designs just in the first month of testing the waters, and before I knew it, I began phasing out everything but the door hangers.
In July 2016 our family moved to Raleigh, NC from Kentucky, and expanded the business by offering door hanger paint parties. This is when things really took off! We were cutting about 100 signs a week, and I was doing it all on my own with a jigsaw and a scroll saw. Eventually, it got to be too much for one person, and I couldn’t keep up, so I would paint orders all day and when my husband Kris got home, he would cut even more signs out for me to paint the next day. In January 2017, I did a total rebrand to become Sass and Sawdust and began offering even more wood designs- including growth charts, and more interior décor along with our door designs. With the volume we were doing, I started to look into CNCs and laser cutters because I couldn’t keep up with the demand, and a friend introduced me to Axiom Tool Group.
We compared Several CNC companies, but Axiom was a no brainer for us. The build of the machine in itself was very impressive. The super quiet liquid cooled spindle was a major draw since we were working out of our garage in a subdivision with neighbors, and we have a 2 year old “assistant” at home with us most days. The biggest selling feature for me was not having to have it hooked up to a computer to run! I am a huge multi-tasker, so I didn’t want to buy a new computer to sacrifice to the CNC, or have mine tied up while files were cutting. The price point was only slightly higher than the other models we looked into, but also included things that would have had to be purchased separately on other models. We had set aside enough to purchase a different machine, and actually cancelled that order to order our Axiom! Axiom allowed us to finance the remaining portion of what we needed from what we had in hand, which also allowed us to build some business credit!
We ordered our machine in March 2017, and got it the next month. We even got our V-Carve Pro software in the month we waited for it to be built, so we had time to play around and learn the software before it came, and had files ready to cut! After about a month of learning, trial and error, and re-creating all our hand drawn files on the software, we were up and moved to total CNC in May!
Things picked up so much over the summer that Kris actually quit his full time Chrysler mechanic job in July, and joined me in the shop! Now we have had to hire a few extra sets of hands, and run our business full time from home and are looking for a retail/shop space to move into and expand in the new year!
Our CNC, who we named "Darla", has been a total game changer for our little “hobby”. We can cut anywhere from 50 to 60 signs in one day. We have branched out into offering carved and 3D carved designs, custom monograms, and large wall words or names. Our order volume has TRIPLED because we are able to design AND cut them in half the time, at the push of a button.
One of the best parts of being able to produce so much more with our machine is being able to do fundraisers. Just this fall between donated auction items, paint party fundraisers, and one specific batch of 250 pumpkin yard stakes, we have been able to donate close to $8,000 to a multitude of different organizations, charities, families, schools, and churches in our community. That to me makes it all worth the work! I truly feel as if our business would be NOWHERE near what it is now without Darla!
Visit the Sass & Sawdust website: www.sassandsawdust.com
