Getting Married? Use Wooden Flower Boxes For Centrepieces!

When considering the décor for your wedding reception it's always tempting to leave the arrangements to the wedding management company, if you have one. Whatever the circumstances, you'll naturally have an input but you can easily use your creative talents to add your very own personal touches.

For instance, you can design and make your own wedding invitations and stationary and you can also design your own wedding centrepieces, that will undoubtedly set the tone for the wedding reception.

Using Wooden Boxes For Floral Centrepieces

For brides and grooms a DIY craft wedding is a terrific way to put your own stamp on your wedding, especially if you're looking for a more rustic overall flavour. If your wedding is taking place in a barn for example, it may be an ideal opportunity for some creative thinking.

Weddings can be expensive affairs, so making some of the decorative items yourself can be an excellent way of saving money, especially if the finances are a bit tight!

If you haven't done any art since school don't worry about it. You can still wow your guests by using your imagination and developing some really interesting ideas. One way to accomplish this is to design your own wooden boxes for centrepieces.

If you're looking for modern trends, a good place to start looking are wedding websites and magazines where you can find some terrific ideas for wooden boxes for floral arrangements.

You'll also find the little bits and pieces you'll need as embelishments, such as coloured ribbons, bows, cut out decorations and trims. This will ensure your wood boxes for centrepieces look modern, fresh and of course professional.

Wooden boxes come in all shapes, sizes and finishes, such as square, rectangular, round, hexagonal, octagonal, single tier and 2-tier etc. You can use old wooden craft boxes from the shed and decorate them yourself, or you can have new ones made to your requirements and even have your names and a message printed on them.

The very first thing to decide is the shape and the size of your wood boxes and after that the finish. For instance, this could be a simple matt emulsion in light pastel shades, a clear lacquer finish or a wood or colour stain if you wish to retain the grain character of the wood.

Wooden boxes can make spectacular wedding centrepiece floral arrangements. The keys to success are to provide lots of colour and variety in your floral arrangements, so use your creative juices to mix things up a bit!

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Wooden Craft Boxes To Decorate & Personalize!

Keeping track of childhood memorabilia and all those small personal possessions such as watches, cuff links, jewellery and letters, can be daunting, especially if you're a bit disorganized. However, this can be easily remedied by using a beautiful, decorated wooden craft box, to keep all your stuff in. 

Polmac Keepsake Boxes

Small wood craft boxes to decorate, are personal by their nature and can be made more so by providing a decorative touch.

Bigger boxes are less personal but can also be decorated to provide that missing emotional charge. Wooden craft box suppliers sell wooden craft boxes to paint and decorate as you want. These are called box blanks because they're supplied as plain wooden boxes, ready for decoration. 

There are dozens of different decorative techniques and ways to embellish wooden craft boxes, including hand painting, drawings, carving and stamping. You can also use decoupage and even pyrography to literally burn the decorations onto the wood surface.

Laser etching is a high tech, printing technique that's expensive but is often used to decorate wood craft boxes and the results can be truly stunning!

Wood craft boxes with lids that are rounded can make excellent treasure chests for children to store all their personal memorabilia, such as photos, toys, coins, stamps and diaries etc.

For older children, providing a treasure chest with a mortise lock and key for privacy is always useful.

If there's a strong army connection in the family, wood craft boxes can be painted khaki with a union flag on the lid. Alternatively, they can be decorated in bright primary colours or pastel shades depending upon individual preference and taste.

Wood cut-out characters can also be glued onto the surface of wooden boxes to provide interesting and original decorative effects. These can be anything you like, such as animals, birds, insects, cartoon characters, footballs, stars and hearts etc.

Decorating Wood Cut-Out Characters

If wood craft boxes are constructed well using a good quality, blemish free wood, they can easily last a lifetime and beyond. The material used can range from natural, hard woods like Beech, to flat board materials such as plywood.

Wood craft boxes with lids that slide, or lift-off are economical to manufacture and boxes that are hinged with a clasp fastening at the front and fixed with metal wood screws or pins are safe and secure.

Wooden craft boxes are supplied in a large variety of shapes, sizes and types. They can be round, square, hexagonal, single tier, two tier, three tier and even made into towers.

Wood craft boxes can be truly evocative due to the inherent natural warmth and beauty of the wood used in their manufacture. All it takes is a little skill and imagination.

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Responsible Forest Management Helps Sustainability!

The wood and wood materials used in Polmac (UK) Ltd customized presentation boxes are sourced from managed and sustainable forests but many people regard the felling of trees as a destructive process.

This conclusion however, can be easily challenged because where forestry is managed responsibly, it helps preserve trees and the environment and plays a crucial role in sustainability. 

Managed Forest

In the Amazon, huge swathes of the tropical rain forest are being destroyed by illegal logging, as we all know. Once free from trees the land is converted to grass pasture and often given over to cattle farming, or mining.

This means two essential functions of the forest - absorbing carbon dioxide and excess rain water are undermined. This process is on-going worldwide and there is now a real problem with methane gas and other toxic pollution, that is contributing significantly to climate change.

The recent floods in the North West of England were exacerbated by deforestation carried out by local landowners over the centuries because they thought and still think sheep farming is more profitable. That may be true but the deforestation has caused untold misery to thousands of people.

Indeed, deforestation and it's negative consequences is often the result of changes in land use rather than  other factors. So, the idea that manufacturing wood products results in the destruction of trees is wrong, because where forestry is managed responsibly and in a sustainable way, the opposite holds true.

If we wish to protect forests from changes in land use, then we must manage them in a sustainable way. What we must avoid at all costs is to chop down vast swathes of forest and then pretend we're engaging in some kind of responsible forest management!

In today's digital age, consumers are becoming much more environmentally aware. So, they want to know where wood products come from, how they are produced and where the wood is sourced, because then they can make an informed decision.

That's why Polmac (UK) Ltd helps preserve the environment by sourcing it's wood and wood materials only from sustainable and managed forests.

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Transportation - A Vital Component In Customer Satisfaction Levels!

Have you ever experienced problems delivering products to your customers in a timely manner?

Making deliveries of goods on time and in good condition is an important factor that often determines the customers' satisfaction level with a company. It's a vital component in the quality of the overall 'service' provided and ultimately can influence the length of a relationship.

Transport is a vital economic activity for any business, because it links the company to its customers and suppliers. Unfortunately, late deliveries can be a source of irritation, so it's important to ensure the logistics are fit for purpose and well managed.

International Transport Lorry On The Road

Products may also be damaged in transit, or the wrong goods delivered, due to warehouse loading errors. These types of problems can be frustrating for customers, leading to dissatisfaction and the possibility that they give their business to a competitor.

However, despite all your best efforts, problems are sometimes unavoidable. When this happens it's vital to keep customers informed, so they can see you are making every effort to resolve the situation and are doing your best to protect their interests. Doing so, may well strengthen your relationship with your customer, rather than weaken it.

When a company consistently delivers its goods on time and in good condition, it can build confidence, which makes customers more resistant to attractive offers from competitors. Often, reliability is more important than a price cut. It may even result in your company getting more business from the customer.

Transporting goods is an activity that should be as economical as possible but without compromising quality of service. You're in business after all and certain principles always apply.

Generally, fast modes of transport are more expensive than slow. For instance, transporting goods by air can be 20 times more expensive than by sea. However, in an emergency, using a faster mode of transport can be justified if timing is crucial, as it may preserve your reputation for reliability with your customer.

From a business perspective, it's vital to carefully consider the cost of transporting goods and ways to deliver them in the most economical way, so they are delivered on time and in good condition.

Polmac (UK) Ltd utilizes experienced, insurance backed, international transport companies that specialize in transporting palleted loads of over 250kg in Europe and couriers for smaller loads for local UK deliveries.

All consignments leaving our factory are tracked to ensure our customized, wood presentation boxes are delivered safely and on time, every time!

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Hand Tool Woodworking Myths Exposed!

Polmac (UK) Ltd manufactures custom-made, wood presentation boxes and packaging using traditional woodcraft techniques and semi-automated methods of production.

This means we use hand tools as well as power tools when manufacturing our wooden boxes. But why use hand tools when we have all these amazing, ultra-modern, fast, efficient power tools available to us? Well, when analyzed much of what has been said and written about hand tools are myths.

The first myth is that hand tools are slow and inefficient but the truth is that it's often the person who's slow and inefficient and not the tool. Hand tools have always been designed to be used quickly and efficiently but you need to pick the right tool for the job and use it correctly. 

Nailing A Metal Catch Using A Hammer

Polmac (UK) Ltd comes from a craft background, so Polmac craftsmen are expert in the use of traditional hand tools, that provide a degree of quality that power tools cannot match.

Both hand tools and power tools are very quick if used as they are designed to be. Once you understand what the tool is for and practice using it until it becomes second nature, then you'll work quickly and efficiently every time.

The second myth is that hand tools are less precise than power tools but this is simply untrue. A hand plane for example can remove wood to fractions of a millimetre and this kind of precision is something power tools again simply cannot match.

Furthermore, using a hand plane means you don't have to sand the surface to provide a smooth, even finish. With a power planer you invariably do, so the hand tool saves you time.

It's also important to realize that using hand tools doesn't need to be entirely freehand. There are many jigs and appliances available that can help to steady and guide hand tools. Many of these you can build  yourself, for particular kinds of work that you undertake regularly.

Another myth states that hand tools are unsuitable for complicated work. The truth is that hand tools often free you from using complex jig arrangements that are time-consuming to set up.

For example, if you want to cut a joint at a complicated angle it could take ages to set up on a jig. However, using a hand tool means you just need to mark out the joint and cut it - it's that simple!

To obtain the maximum benefit from using hand tools, the first priority is to discover precisely what they should be used for. It is true that power tools are fast and efficient and save you time but hand tools can too, if used properly!

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Wood Jewellery Delights - A New Story To Tell!

Polmac (UK) Ltd specializes in supplying customized, wood presentation boxes and packaging using craft techniques and semi-automated methods of production. 

Our wooden boxes derive from a craft heritage and we are always looking at new ways wood can be used. This allows us to learn new production and finishing methods and keep abreast of developments, which means we can continuously improve the quality of our wood boxes for your benefit. 

The use of specialized, wood decorative techniques in wood gift boxes and jewellery came to our attention recently as an innovative new way wood can be used. 

Wood Bangle Bracelet

From the earliest times our ancestors used wood for creating shelters, making fire, tools, utensils and weapons. They also used wood for decoration. At some point they learned to shape wood and realized that they could carve, pierce and decorate small wooden objects to create primitive jewellery.

When we think of jewellery today we think of precious and semi-precious stones, as well as gold and silver. We rarely think about using wood in jewellery. However, designers today are rediscovering wood as a material that can be used successfully in jewellery, even at the high-end of the jewellery market.

This reincarnation of wood allows us to appreciate the natural warmth and beauty of wood once more and the many uses it has.

Wood & Glass Mosaic Pendant

Many countries, particularly in the new world have fine wood carving traditions and these skills are being preserved for future generations. Traditional wood carvers are co-operating with jewellery designers to produce bold new designs using techniques that have been developed over thousands of years.

People are attracted by unconventional materials such as wood, in superior quality jewellery including bangles, bracelets, earrings and cuffs.

The special quality of wood adds an extra dimension to our visual experience. Polished rosewood and ebony for example contrast beautifully when used with faceted white diamonds!

A technique comprising pressed thin sheets of native coloured woods in rich, natural hues called 'marquetry' was recently discovered in Brazil and is now used in the manufacture of contemporary jewellery.

Many woods like the blue azul cavalho can be combined in marquetry with other materials such as mother-of-pearl and glass, to provide distinctive and beautifully textured designs.

Wood is a truly unique and versatile material and it seems today it definitely has a new story to tell!

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Euro Pallets - From The Sublime To The Ridiculous!

Polmac (UK) Ltd uses euro-pallets to ship its customized, wood presentation boxes to the UK and other European destinations.

The euro-pallet measures 800 x 1200 mm and is a block-style, uni-directional base pallet. Most European businesses prefer euro pallets because their warehouse systems are generally designed around them.

Shrink Wrapping Polmac Load On Euro-Pallet

Euro pallets are well made, stronger, stiffer and more durable than most other pallets currently in use and therefore last longer. Furthermore, using euro-pallets tends to incur lower product damage claims, due to stringent EU regulations governing their manufacture and use.

Alternative pallets used in Europe may be subject to delays and disposal charges.

The euro-pallet evolved in the 1960's when the European railways wanted a standard pallet type for use on the railway network.

It was found that loading euro-pallets on railway carriages took just 10% of the time than previously when non-standard pallets were in use. In 1968 a standard lattice box pallet design was specified.

Most European businesses quickly switched to the standard euro-pallet design for use with trucks, forklifts and high-rack warehouses, optimized for their size.

Agreements were developed for pallet exchange between organizations where goods would be delivered on euro-pallets and the same number would be given in return.

Today, there are literally thousands of surplus euro-pallets in circulation. One project uses wooden pallets, including euro-pallets to build cheap, environmentally friendly houses that can be turned into permanent homes for the needy!

House Made From Wooden Pallets

To create one house, measuring approximately 3m x 6m requires only 80 pallets. They are nailed or strapped together to form the walls and partitions.

Then, locally sourced materials such as stone, earth, wood and corrugated sheeting can be used to fill in the wall cavities and cover the roof, to create a permanent, water-tight and insulated structure.

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