Herbs Have More Uses Than You May Think!

For thousands of years, people have used herbs for a wide variety of purposes including cooking, perfumes, disinfectants, medicinal remedies as well as currency. Herbs are of course still used extensively today, mainly for medicines.

Herb Basket

You may well have a few small jars or pots filled with herbs in your kitchen which you probably use to flavour and spice up your food! Cookery books are full of recipes that use herbs.

The herbs today come from all over the world and over the centuries we have learned how to use them from past chroniclers.

These chroniclers came from ancient Egypt, Sumaria and Greece. Hippocrates, the famous ancient Greek doctor regularly used herbal remedies and we also learned about herbs from the Druids well before the Romans invaded Britain!

Polmac Wooden Herb Pots For: Fortnum & Mason UK

In the Middle-Ages monks in Europe used herbs for medicines grown in their herb gardens. They used these medicines not only for themselves but also for local people and travelers passing through!

We know that people of all ages from many different countries used herbs because they wrote about them. In Britain for example, Nicholas Culpeper's book showed ordinary people how to prepare their own herbal remedies.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, the Pilgrim Fathers took herbs with them on their voyage to America. Then, over time native American herbs found their way back to Europe and other parts of world.

Polmac (UK) Ltd supplies wood presentation boxes and packaging for a wide range of premium quality food products, including herbs and spices.

Our wood boxes are custom made to order, at no extra cost and are truly eye-catching to boost company branding and sales.

http://www.polmacuk.com

The Ancient Art Of Using Antler & Horn For Knife Handles!

From prehistoric times to the present day, the tradition of using animal materials, such as bones, tusks and antlers is well established. There are even examples of people carving ivory in Babylon as early as 2300BC. If you were a boy scout you probably owned a hunting knife, with a bone, or antler handle, which you took on camping trips.

Red Deer Antler

Whether horn, bone, shell or ivory was used depended upon tradition, as well as appearance. However, it always seemed natural to take a roughly furrowed stag handle hunting knife on a hunting trip rather than a knife with a plain wooden handle.

Horns

 

Other materials such as elephant ivory and even mammoth ivory with it's rich brown, blue and red hues have been used for knife handles. However, ivory is a smooth solid material and is more often used for carving and engraving intricate shapes.

Another material used for knife handles is shell which has a wonderful iridescent finish and like ivory has been used as a more decorative rather than practical alternative. However, the natural angular shape of many antlers and horns makes them ideal for making knife handles.

The texture of antlers and horn materials also helps improve grip strength, which on a hunting trip is essential. Many horns, bones, and ivories become tacky when wet and so improve the grip when used.

The natural angular texture and variation in colour make antlers and horn handles visually appealing and provide a stunning contrast with a smooth polished steel blade.

Along with elephant and mammoth ivory, mastodon ivory, fossil walrus tusk and oosic are also sought after knife handle materials, including some types of shells, coral and pearl materials.

Many of these materials however, are rare and expensive and of course increase the value of the knife dramatically. They are highly sought after but regardless, there use is a moral and environmental question that should be addressed.

Elephant ivory is undoubtedly a limited resource and much of the stock available today has been obtained illegally. As the elephant is now an endangered species, it is extremely important to avoid using ivory for any purpose and source alternative materials, such as antler and horn from sustainable and managed stocks.

Polmac 3-Piece Dinner Set For: Abbeyhorn Ltd

Polmac (UK) Ltd supplies wood presentation boxes and packaging, including boxes for knives and forks with antler, or horn handles. They are custom made to order which means they are manufactured to your exact requirements, at no extra cost.

Polmac customized wood boxes are supplied with clear lacquer finishes, to highlight the natural warmth and beauty of wood and with stunning natural wood and colour stain finishes. They are also supplied with beautiful flock or silk fabric internal linings on moulded inserts, if a more luxuriant finish if required.

Polmac custom made wooden boxes can be supplied with printed text and logos, using metallic foil blocking, laser engraving and silk screen printing techniques, for a more personalized finish and are designed to boost company branding and bottom-line sales!

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Shaker Boxes - A Marriage Of Graceful Beauty & Utility!

Shaker boxes originated in the 18th Century Shaker communities in America and were made from thin wood veneers that were sourced locally. It was a time when form and function inevitably came together.

                                         

Polmac Shaker Boxes For: Fortnum & Mason UK

Wood veneers were bent to form 'pantry boxes' to store food items such as herbs, spices and tea. Soon handles were added to make the 'shaker boxes' easier to carry. The Shakers tended towards the utilitarian, so their shaker boxes were usually plain looking.

However since they followed the creed that form followed function, their creations were often graceful and beautiful as well as useful. However, this did not stop the development of the now familiar and more decorative 'swallow-tail' finger joints on the sides of shaker boxes.

 Shakers were devout people and these 'swallow-tails' often pointed to the right, it is thought, as a sign of moving towards God in the 'right direction'.

 

Shaker Boxes With 'Swallow-Tail' Jointing

Shakers generally made oval shaped shaker boxes and sold them to the wider community as 'nested sets', with looped handles, or 'dipper' handles that were used as a scoop for measuring dry foodstuffs.

Polmac (UK) Ltd supplies wood presentation boxes, including shaker boxes made from natural reed materials and thin gauge birch plywood. They are custom made to order which means they can be made to your exact requirements, at no extra cost.

Polmac shaker boxes are supplied with clear lacquer finishes, or stunning natural wood and colour stain finishes, to bring out the natural warmth and beauty of wood. If a more personalized finish is required, they can also be supplied with printed logos and text.

http://www.polmacuk.com

Port & Stilton - A Match Made In Heaven!

Many dessert wines, such as Sherry and Madeira combine extremely well with cheese, but Port and Stilton is the classic wine and cheese combination that many people find irresistible!

The Classic Port & Stilton Combination

Port is the red wine traditionally made in the Douro valley in Portugal. It's a fortified wine which means grape spirit is mixed in to halt the fermentation process, to make it sweeter and give it a slightly higher alcohol content This means it's usually served as a dessert or an after dinner drink.

There are many kinds of Port wine, including Ruby Port, Vintage Port and Tawny Port, known as 'Colheita', which has a wonderful, smooth, nutty taste. All these Ports go well with cheese and with Stilton cheese in particular!

Port and Stilton cheese go so well together because there is a nice balance between the sweetness of the wine and the pungent saltiness of the creamy blue cheese. The wonderful flavours mingle in the mouth and keep you coming back for more.

Port can be served on its own, or with other accompaniments, such as a dessert, or with some roasted salted nuts. Culinary heaven however, is a combination of a premium quality Port wine and a beautifully smooth creamy cheese, with just a hint of saltiness!

     Polmac Port & Stilton Box For: Fortnum & Mason UK

Polmac (UK) Ltd supplies wood presentation boxes, including Port & Stilton boxes to many food and drink suppliers and retailers. They are custom made to order, which means they are manufactured to your exact requirements, at no extra cost.

Polamc Port & Stilton boxes can be supplied with company logos and text, in a range of different colours and styles, which means they can be personalized to boost your company branding and sales!

http://www.polmacuk.com

The Ancient & Venerable Art Of Cheese Making!

During the time of the Roman Empire, cheese was already part of people's diet and cheese making was a firmly established practice. Some wealthy Romans even had special kitchens just for making cheese.

Roman Cheese Making

The ancient Egyptians illustrated the art of cheese making on tomb walls dating back as far as 2000 BC. There's even archaeological evidence that people in Poland were making cheese 1000 years earlier than that!

The art of cheese making and cheese storage, to keep the cheese as fresh as possible, has been well established over the centuries.

If you purchase a top quality cheese, the last thing you want is to spoil it by storing it the wrong way. So, what's the best way to store cheese?

Well, firstly avoid storing your cheese in plastic wrappers. Wrapping cheese directly in plastic wrapping suffocates the cheese and suppresses the flavour. The plastic also has a bad, synthetic taste which tends to linger on the cheese and will completely spoil the taste.

Cheese is a living breathing organic food and suffocating it with plastic wrapping is bad practice and is probably the worst thing you can possibly do.

The best way to store your cheese is to use cheese paper. If you can't find cheese paper, try using parchment or waxed paper. Then wrap every thing loosely in plastic wrapping, or a plastic bag. This allows the cheese to breathe, to a degree, without drying it out.

When you decide to eat your cheese, it's a good idea to remove it from the fridge and allow it to stand for an hour or so before eating. This allows the cheese to breathe and draws out the flavour, which means you'll eat your cheese at it's very best.

Polmac Cheese Safe For: Harrods Ltd UK

In the summer months particularly, leaving your cheese out of the fridge will make it very attractive to flies that may contaminate it. A good way to avoid this is to use a 'cheese safe'

There are many styles of cheese safe but essentially it's a small box on legs with a hinged lid, secured by a catch and has open mesh, fly proof side panels, which allow the air to circulate freely inside. Sometimes a cheese board, made from beech wood is accommodated inside.

Polmac (UK) Ltd supplies cheese safes to a number of high-end food chains and retail stores. They're custom made to our customers exact requirements, at no extra cost and are made from unlacquered, food compatible, alder or linden wood.

All Polmac cheese safes can be overprinted with text, or logos, if a more personalized finish is required and are designed to boost company branding and sales!

http://www.polmacuk.com

Stunning Counter Top Display Stands Can Boost Your Add-On Product Sales!

Counter top display stands are ideal for putting on counters next to the till, for driving sales, in a low cost and planned way. They will help you make the most of your counter top display space and are used very effectively, in shops, restaurants and hotels, to display and market add-on merchandise.

Polmac, Custom-Made, Aromatherapy, Counter Top Display Stand

They are ideal for counter tops of nearly every shape and size and can include a variety of inner shelves and dividers, to hold a wide range of products.

High quality, counter top display stands can really increase your sales, at point of purchase. Well designed counter top display stands can be eye catching, or more subtle depending on the type of product/s you have and your target audience.

They can also offer excellent branding opportunities, so you can add a sales message and your logo, to maximize your branding impact.

Polmac (UK) Ltd supplies wood, counter top display stands, for a wide range of products and merchandise. They are custom-made to order, which means you can design your own counter top display units, to suit your exact requirements.

Alternatively, we can help you to design your counter top display stands, at no extra cost, using our specialized knowledge and expertise, to maximize your company branding and product sales!

Polmac wood, counter top display stands are supplied in clear lacquer finishes, to bring out the natural warmth and beauty of wood, beautiful natural wood and colour stains and stunning block paints in a wide range of vibrant colours.

They can also be personalized with printed text and logos, using screen printing, laser etching and metallic foil blocking techniques

Polmac (UK) Ltd will create effective, low cost, wood, display stands from your specifications, to make a stunning visual display, designed to boost your point of purchase sales!

http://www.polmacuk.com

Decorating Wood Boxes Using Traditional Craft Techniques!

Decorating wooden boxes by hand can be fun and very satisfying and there are many techniques and processes developed over the years that can be used to create visually stunning, decorative effects.

Pyrography is one of the traditional techniques used to provide special, decorative features, motifs and effects on wooden boxes and can also be used as a base for other decorations. 

                                Polmac Treasure Chests With Pyrographic Decorative Motifs 

 A hand held, electric pyrographic tool is used to literally burn decorative shapes onto wood, to create original patterns and textures that can then be over painted with natural wood and colour stains and / or block colours!

Metal strip inlay is a technique that uses flexible, thin gauge, corrugated, or plain brass or nickel plated metal strips, as lines to create patterns, shapes, decorative motifs and borders.

A thin groove is cut into the wood and the metal strips tapped in, flush with the surface of the wood. Any raised edges are then, ‘sanded’ off, on a special sanding machine, to provide a flush, even finish on the wood surface.

 

                          Polmac Stationery Boxes With Pyrographic & Metal Strip Inlay Motifs
 

Traditional hand carving techniques are also used to create textured areas, motifs and patterns, using special, hand carving tools!

Polmac (UK) Ltd supplies decorated wood boxes that are custom-made to order, using traditional hand carving, metal strip inlay and pyrographic techniques. The boxes are finished using wood stains, as well as solid block colours, in a range of vibrant colours.  

You can choose an existing pattern, or alternatively, we can help you design your own decorated boxes, using our specialized knowledge and expertise, to maximize your company branding and product sales!

http://www.polmacuk.com 

 

Jackdaws Love Our Bright, Polished, Metal Clasps!

Polmac (UK) Ltd supplies a vast array of customized, wood, presentation boxes with hinged lids, that are secured with metal clasps.

There are many types of clasps ... large, small, plain and decorative, made from different materials and finishes. The most popular clasps are made from pressed steel sheet, with a brass, or nickel plated finish, because they are elegant, durable and economical. 

Polmac Brass & Nickel Plated Clasps & Misc Fixings

However, metal clasps, with a black, or bronze effect finish, as well as solid, polished brass clasps are also used, although they are more expensive.

Brass and nickel plating on metal clasps, is used primarily as a decorative finish but does also provide excellent wear and corrosion resistance.

To protect the bright, polished brass or nickel plated finish, clasps can be supplied with a clear lacquer finish!

However, regardless of the type of clasps used, they must always perform one important function, which is to keep the lid tightly secured to the base and prevent the item/s inside from falling out.

Firstly, the metal clasps must be well made, with all the various parts functioning correctly.

Secondly, the clasps need to be physically fixed to the wooden boxes, using either metal screws, or special, serrated fixing pins.

Screw fixings are more expensive than pins, because they're more labour intensive. However, they are often used to fix larger clasps to larger wood boxes, where stronger and more robust, metal fixings are required.

However, for small, wooden boxes 8 - 10mm serrated pins are very effective and these are hammered home at a slight angle, to provide a secure and permanent fixing.

Polmac wood, presentation boxes with brass, or nickel plated, metal clasps are beautifully made, versatile and terrific value, which means that they boost bottom-line product sales!

http://www.polmacuk.com

Impress Your Clients With A Hamper Gift Box!

Many companies give their clients gift hampers chocked full of corporate goodies as a way of maintaining and enhancing the sales relationship, particularly during the festive season.

The 'Law of Reciprocity' states that if you give someone a gift, they'll feel obligated to give you something in return. This undoubtedly is a well tried and tested sales technique and it works!

Polmac Wood & Wicker Hamper Boxes For: Fortnum & Mason

Many online delicatessens and farm shops also use hampers to market their pre-picked produce, or even provide a 'pick your own' service for their customers.

Gift hampers are traditionally made from natural wicker and come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. These can be open trays, baskets, or more usually in the shape of a small, flat 'suitcase' with hinged lids.

Wicker gift hampers may be the traditional choice but in the cut and thrust of the commercial world, it always pays to be different.

For example, a gift hamper can be made from a combination of wicker and wood, or from thin, flexible plywood in the shape of an elongated hat box, with a lift-off lid. 

Polmac, Personalized, Plywood Hamper Boxes

 

These 'hamper boxes' can be easily personalized, with a company logo, or text and are designed to impress.

Hampers can be filled with a wide variety of gifts, depending upon the company and can include fine wine, champagne, chocolates and packaged foodstuff.

They can be encapsulated with white satin fabric and / or clear cellophane (like the material used to wrap flowers) and tied with a coloured, ribbon bow, to provide that essential finishing touch.

Polmac (UK) Ltd supplies a large range of 'hamper boxes', as well as traditional wicker hampers, that are custom-made to our customers exact requirements. 

The hampers we make are delivered directly to our customers door and they fill them with wealth of wonderful products, for sale, or as gifts.

http://www.polmacuk.com

Metallic Foil Block Printing: Simple, Economic & Appealing!

Polmac (UK) Ltd uses a number of different printing methods to personalize our wood, presentation boxes and packaging. One of the most popular methods of printing onto wooden boxes, is metallic foil block printing, or hot stamping.

Polmac Metallic Printing Foils

Metallic Foil blocking is a printing process that uses a a heated die, that is stamped over coloured, metallic foils, making the foil adhere to the wood surface below, leaving a permanent imprint of the logo / text design.

Gold and silver metallic foils are extensively used, although a wide range of coloured and even patterned foils are also very popular.

Metallic, foil blocking machines, called 'hot foil stampers' use heat to transfer the metallic foil onto the wood surface below. For small runs, hot foil stampers can be hand operated. However, for larger commercial runs, power-operated, pneumatic machines are generally used!

Polmac Champagne Box For: Fortnum & Mason With Gold Foil Blocking Logo

Before the stamping process can begin, the metal die has to be manufactured, with the logo and / or text design, etched in reverse, onto the flat surface of the die. This process of etching a logo / text design onto the die, is computer operated, to ensure 100 % accuracy!

The metallic, foil blocking process is similar to 'potato printing' which you may have done as a child. With potato printing however, the potato 'die', is dipped in wet paint and then stamped onto paper.

Many Polmac boxes are printed with metallic, foil blocking logo / text designs, because it's the most economic method of printing onto wood boxes. However, metallic foil blocking is generally a single color stamping process. The exception is if a patterned foil is used!

Polmac wood, presentation boxes, with printed foil block logo / text designs are beautifully made, versatile and terrific value, which means they boost bottom-line, product sales.

http://www.polmacuk.com