Forest Treasures on Etsy

There's been some re-stocking going on in Forest Treasures over on Etsy ... Check it Out

I have uploaded most of my stirrers and 3 of the muddlers range. 

Small Muddler for Caipirinha and Caprioska by Bob Gilmour

This Caipirinha and Caprioska muddler (by Bob Gilmour) is the smallest of my bar and kitchen muddler range and is designed for use in small to medium glasses (medium glsss shown in image). It's also a great muddler for Old Fashioned and similar drinks.

Besides being perfect for muddling ingredients for most small-glass cocktails, the short muddler is also great in the kitchen. Grind up spices straight on your cutting board or on the bench top ... or, better still, ask me about my garlic mortars. A muddler is a wonderful stylish tool for making nice smooth garlic paste or breaking down basil or coriander. You'll find plenty of uses for it.

You can use this muddler for breaking food items straight in the pan or wok for fusion-style east-west dishes. Then, go ahead and use it as as stirrer. The short muddler is very comfortable to use and is very strong. It is double sealed, so you can use it in the bar as well as the kitchen ... although it's better to have one for each.

Like all of my utensils, your muddler is finished to a very smooth finish and fully sealed with two applications of food grade 2 part sealer. Unlike utensils which are only coated in oil (vegetable or mineral) which washes off the first time you wash them, the sealing process that I use ensures that your utensils will keep their color and look great for several years.

The sealing process also creates an effective moisture barrier which preserves the wood, preventing cracking or mould growth. It largely prevents the wood from absorbing liquids from your food, hence eliminating the risk of growing bacteria or other nasties.

Your muddler is pretty much maintenance-free. If it finds it's way into the dishwasher by mistake ... don't panic ... it will be OK, as long as it's only occasional. To clean up, treat it like any of your hand-wash items and wipe dry after use. If you plan to use you muddler purely in the cocktail bar, PLEASE DON'T OIL IT ... nobody likes an oil slick in their cocktail.

I've been making utensils since 2001 and have sent them all over the world. Many of my customers purchase from me regularly ... so I know all of my designs are well recieved. Furthermore, every utensil shape I create is an item which I have originally designed and made for my own personal use ... so I know they work.

My muddlers have been purchased by cocktail bars around the world and luxury hotels including the Washington Marriot and the Grand Hyatt Dubai.

Been a bit quiet round here lately ...

It gets pretty difficult maintaining all these websites and blogs and stuff when you actually need to spend a fair bit of time making stuff to write about. Well, like a lot of art and craft people blogs, things do get pretty sparse in blogging terms from time to time.

It's been 5 or 6 months since I've posted anything here, but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy. Our busy season in Port Douglas (where I physically sell work) was pretty good and wound up before Christmas. Holiday season sales were strong.

Just in the last few days, I've started re-stocking my Etsy store at  www.foresttreasures.etsy.com.

I took 6 weeks out to create a large sculpture installation for public display. The results of that can be seen at www.dance-me.com. This was an abstract figurative work celebrating (in my mind) freedom of life. I'm working on where to go next with that.

Forest Treasures continues to roll along. The time out for sculpture work impacted on my stock levels and I'm just getting stocked back up again now. There were quite a few web sales during that time, so I ran out of some Forest Treasures items.

We are in the middle of our monsoonal wet season right now here in Northern Australia ... although it would seem that the whole of Oz is getting the monsoon this year. This time for me is one of re-grouping, re-stocking ... and trying to spend some time on creative directions. I have a couple new product lines for Forest Treasures which I'm slowly introducing ... and am still creating some one-off serving ware ... hopefully, some of which might make it on-line this year.

Anyway ... 2011 looks like being another big year here.

Forest Treasures Facebook Page

Finally got around to starting a Facebook Page for Forest Treasures.