AHHhh , Laquer and scotch tape, the smells of the holidays...

Well, let me explain that title. FOr years we have been making snowflakes for the Holidays. For so many years, that i now equate the smell of the laquer we use on the snowflakes with the coming of the holiday season! and scotch tape, well, that has always made me think of the holidays , becuase of gift wrapping! we are working on our new batch of snowflake/ stars and i wanted to share a little about them with you.

Stacy makes thes out of six pieces of wood each. They are cut to a specific angle on each side, and then cuts are made on all four sides of the diamond shaped piece. Some are made on the table saw, some on the router. Then after all the cuts are made, we glue the 6 pieces together to form a sort of log. Its very tense and tough thing to do, but we have come up with a system over the years! we end up with "logs" of snowflakes! once those are cured, we slice them off into the snowflakes you see. They then have to be sanded on each side and BOY is that fun...yes, skinned fingertips galore! after they are all sanded, we put the finish on them.

That also involves alot of time and tedious efforts, to which we have come up with a plan, but it still just has to be done...a labor of love , these are!, for the effort, we are rewarded with these!

SO, thats the tale of the snowflakes from our end of it! ...but heres the real tale:

Wooden Snowflakes

In the spring, about the time that Scrying Lake dissolves into shimmering mirrors, the trees on planet Gratoe come into bloom. Most beautiful of all the flowering trees, however, is the SnowStar whose feathery-white blooms have six petals that shimmer like  daybreak on new snow. As the air warms soft breezes carry the heady scent of these flowers far and wide, signaling that warmer times have come again.


Beauty in nature is transient, and as spring gives way to summer and the trees ready themselves to bear fruit the SnowStars fall. The flowers coat the ground and for a time it seems that it has snowed in summer. Soon enough the SnowStars grow ridged and lose their centers, but retain their delicate six-pointed shape, taking on an uncanny similarity to a snowflake.

These the children gather and hang as winter solstice decorations, both a celebration of winter and a portent of spring when the SnowStars will bloom again.
(This is a tale that was written for us by Nightblooming on Etsy.)
Hope you enjoyed another  little peek into the Grah-Toe Studio workings!