Our next wood is going to be....

Well, We have had so many requests about what wood to do next! We are going to do Padouk wood, and we are still doing a little research on it, but we wanted to get your taste buds ready for it! 

 

This is a fabulously beautiful reddish to orange wood, wonderful to work and smells like cotton candy to me when its being worked!

full details coming!!

Today we talk about Holly Wood..the wood..

I have been reading and researching the wood that comes from the Holly tree for this wood information installment, and it has been really interesting! I  learned alot that i did not know.

The wood Industry has long prized Holly wood for its very white color ,tight graining and  fabulous sandability. It takes stain well and is used as a substitute for ebony when stained black. It is classically used as the white side of chess pieces when carved, and ebony as the other side. It is also used as a substitute for ivory on piano keys when needed. Faberge made cases for his famously beautiful enameled eggs out of holly!

Holly has over 600 species of plant and only the largest growing is used in the lumber industry. It is Ilex Opaca. Mostly the holly tree or bush is prized for its leaves and berries and thier beauty and properties. Especially in the winter, the holly leaves and berries are used as decorations. The berries are a very important food for birds.

Holly trees are grown all over the world where the climate and soil are right for them. THey are often grown in stands of soft maples and harvested with them. They grow all along the east coast of the us and are grown for thier foliage mostly, and the lumber is used from the trees that are large enough to get boards from. The wood must be harvested after the sap stops flowing , or the color of it will not be white, but become blue,grey or green from spalting.

WE have been searching for some more spalted holly for our hairforks but it is going to be tough to find since this is regarded as a ruined piece of holly lumber.

Other properties and information for the holly wood I found here . It has been regarded as a powerful protective wood, good against evil spirits, poisons,angry elementals and lightning ( i thought that was very interesting!) It is also associated with dream magick and fertility.

I hope you enjoyed this installment of our wood series and if you have any questions please feel free to ask!

BLACK FRIDAY SALE 15% off

Sale time is here in our Etsy shop! WE are offering 15% off everything through monday! today the code you can use at check out is BLACKFRIDAYNOV2010 and it will take the percentage off your order before you check out!
WE sure appreciate everyone who has come by, we have lots of really beautiful forks left in the shop and to be listed over the weekend!!

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Sale time starts tomorrow!

Just a quick post today, we are having a sale in our shop starting tomorrow and running through Monday! each day will have a code to use, you must check in  to our shop, facebook page or here to get  the code for the day! tomorrow and Fridays is BLACKFRIDAYNOV2010, type that in the coupon code box at checkout in our Etsy shop and 15% off your entire order! This sale is not in our artfire shop.
We are Thankful for all of our past and future cutomers, and this weekend we will be saying thank you in the wallet!  Looking forward to seeing you at our Etsy shop!
love to you all
Kimi & Stacy

Woods and Info about them

We have had a lot of questions about our woods of late and we would like to start doing a little series on the different woods, where they come from, if they are in any danger, and thier properties, magical, natural and visual! Hope you will join the tree love train we begin here!


First let me say, i know alot of you are concerned for the future of some species of trees. Stacy and I talk about this alot, as we love trees, and sometimes it feels funny knowing we contribute to them being cut down. But the fact of the matter is, whether we use the wood or not, it will be cut down. Wood has been used forever, as fuel, tools, and all kinds of things. It is strong, regows, its beautiful and every wood has different properties. EBony, for example, has been highly traded and valued even in egyptian times, for its beauty, hardness and ability to keep water rot away.


TOday i want to start with purple heart wood. It comes from Central and south america. Its botanical name is Peltogyne and is also known as amaranth or violet wood. There are 23 species of this flowering tree, and some of them have been overharvested.
I could not find any information about the replanting or farming of the species that are endangered, but i am sure that they are no longer being cut since they are labeled endangered. The company we buy our wood from has been vague about if they recieve thier woods from sustainably harvested places. If we stopped making purple heart wood hairforks, they would still cut the trees down so we look at it as a way for the wood to live a beautiful and forever life.


FOr those of you interested in the magical or healing and natural powers of the wood, i found this information.

The purple heart wood is said to be good for emotional and physical healing, and opening the seat of compassion and generosity.
WHo couldn't use a little more of that?!?


I hope you will leave us any questions you have or suggestions for woods that you would like us to research.
Next we are going to do holly wood!

Stacy and his 40% discount at the manicurist...

 Here is the story behind the hands of Stacy and how they came to be Grah-Toe Studio.
In 1996 Stacy was working at a cabinet shop, and being part of the tough guys in the group went along with the lax safety equipment that was there. Things like that can make the work easier, but when they need to be there, there is nothing that makes up for that time you saved without them.....He was alone making raised panel doors on a shaper, and no hold downs went along with a dull shaper bit as well. Pushing down and forwrad hard against the dull blade, Stacy's left hand slipped into the bit and became as shavings on the floor with the wood...he grabbed his hand to his chest immediately knowing it was not good, and went next door to get help. The people next door thought he had been shot, as the blood on his shirt and where he was holding his chest was profuse. They came and took him to the hospital and he called me at work. I went to the hospital to meet him and take care of all the stuff that gets unfinished when accidents happen. I arranged to go make sure his vehicle was safe, and that he could get his medications and get home and not be alone after wards. I don't know if you realize this, but there are actually surgeons who just do hands, and there aren't many of them. We waited a lifetime in the ER, as all 3 of the hand surgeons were unavailbale and the next one who could would be over. THe fingers were gone on the left hand, in an arc the shape of the blade but ragged. They needed several surgeries to make the skin, bone, nail beds that were partial all liveable.

Many of our Church friends came over and gave us support, hugs, and offered to do anything we needed, they were fabulous. After all the surgeries and the healings, Stacy actually went back to work very quickly, and  needed to be doing something. He worked there 2 more years and then he went to school for retraining into another field, dental lab tech. Now, Stacy was always really good with his hands artistically, and this made him more determined to be able to do even more than he did "with all those fingers in the way".

We had some friends who challenged him to carve one of his wooden chains in a toothpick...that he did, and has done several times now. WE featured a picture of the one we have here on our blog in the past year. Then he started to make tools to help him hold things better to work on them smaller and smaller, and the lab training was going well. AS an aside, after his first few weeks at dental lab school he suffered a heart attack and had bypass sugery..and began school all over that fall...ALl this time, we both wanted to do our art full time, but there was just no way to quit our jobs and do that so we continued on , i was a dental assistant and he was in school and we both loved what we did, and joked that we worked to pay for our habit, which was buying wood and stone and clay to make things!

And so as to keep you interested a few of the standard jokes about his hands involve his discount with the manicurists, his changing jobs and going into worldwide communications..shortwave...that his sign language has suffered terribly as he now mumbles when he signs, and  that God is good all the time, even when you get 40% off at the manicurists...

We have lots to tell in between here and there and how we became full time Grah-Toe Studios and we look forward to sharing the full story with you.....we would love to hear from you and know what you would like to know next?!? or if you have any questions for Stacy, he would love to answer them for you!

We appreciate everyone of you, and this is being told only to share a bit of ourselves with our wonderful customers, not to elicit any type of sympathy as we know that God has a plan in everything, and Stacy has excelled even without a few of his fingers! We hope you  will leave us comments and questions. We look forward to sharing more of our story as it comes!

Every shop on Etsy has a story...

Well, I know WE certainly do! and the other artisans i have met and become friends with all seem to too...next time you shop on Etsy (which you know you will :D) why don't you ask the artisan you are buying from about how they got started, or what inspired the item you bought! It could be the beginning of a wonderful friendship, or a beautiful story to go with your item as a gift!

I am going to tell you about Stacys story in the next week or so, but for now i just wanted to encourage you to enjoy the handmade shopping experience, get to know the artists you buy from and give them a chance to see a bit into your life too!  

Did your hair develop a Dr.Jekyll Mr. Hyde personality when the weather changed?

WOW, my hair is SO different in this cold weather! It is like learning a new head of hair! i have to adjust the amount of Panacea i am using, and i may need to change my shampoos or routine to make up for it.
How is your hair doing in the new season? is it different or the same as it always is? do you have a different routine for your summer vs. winter hair? we would love to hear how you deal with the differences and what they are!

Get Your Grahtoe On : Awesome Wooden Hair Forks

We are honored to have our hairforks reviewd here ont his video by Autumnmagic! Thank you so much for sharing your experience and your beautiful bountiful hair with all of us! We appreciate you so much!!

A new you-tube review of our work! And, Fork for kitty SOLD!!

We are so excited to tell you that the fork for the broken kitty has sold! YIPPEE thank you so much! and we would like to share another artisans work that is going to help that same kitty, this special piece of work she made just for him is amazing!We also want to share with you a video that was made about our hairforks. We so appreciate that she took the time to share her opinions and experience on a video. SHe has a bountiful amount of hair and has allowed us to make some very special forks for her!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejNu1Meu7dc

We would welcome your comments and your visiting the shop above, which is
http://www.etsy.com/shop/venbead to look at the listing for kitty but while you are there perhaps you will find that special something you have been wanting for yourself or a gift! she has an amazing talent with metal and glass and i own several wonderful pieces from this shop and they quality is top of the line.

Please help Kitty Oliver-George!

I belong to a team on etsy and one of my teammates is in need of some help. SHe is donating her time and services and shop proceeds to a recovering broken pelvis kitty. Here is his story:
http://peculiarmomma.blogspot.com/2010/11/s-is-for-sucker-or-post-wherein-you.html

We are donating the proceeds from a hairfork to go to her and several other group members are going to do the same, and shopping at her etsy shop will also help.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/60822139/benefit-for-a-broken-kitty-in-need-micro
This is the fork we are donating, and her shop is
http://www.etsy.com/shop/PeculiarMomma

If you are looking for a way to help out this season, and get some gifts or something special for yourself at the same time, this is your chance!
Thank you so much for your consideration and for reading and sharing the story around, that too will be a huge help!
Love to you all
Kimi

It's not snowing outside yet, but snowflake adoptions are available at the studio!

We haven't had any snwo at our place yet, although the mountain peaks are white again....i am not looking forward to shoveling out the drive way! but we have been in high snowflake gears in the studio!

Its the time of year to start thinking about decorations and ornaments again and we have been not only making them but finding them on Etsy! there are so many talented artisans making lovely ornaments for your holidays to be glitzy and bright!

For animal lovers, i found the cutest hedgehog ornament made of clay!

If you love snowmen you have got to see this pair!

Porcelain and personalized ornaments abound on Etsy
ANd , of course, there's one of my faves, a hide-a-heart ornament!

So whatever your heart is looking for, try out etsy and support a real person, instead of the mall or chain stores this year!

Tell us about your hair!

We thought it would be fun to have YOU tell us about your hair today!

WE are wondering..why do you want to have long hair? are you trying to grow longer or maintaining it at a length you love? ANd what length is that?

If you have any pictures of your hair that you can share we would love to have you post them on our facebook page, especially if you have one of our hairforks!!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Grah-Toe-Studio/202833224024?v=wall

Our making hair forks came from a love of long hair and a need to keep it in an updo safely and securely..with thick hair those plasitc clips spring in about 2 minutes!  and wooden hair forks are actually better for your hair, they don't pull, they give an even hold, and they protect your scalp from the constant rubbing the plastic jaw teeth cause!

Please, tell us your long hair story!!

Just a quick fashion note, Updos are IN this season, and with hats,head wraps, ear warmers, scarves and turtle neck sweaters, its a great time to have your hair in a pretty updo!! Add a few sparkly finishing pins, perhaps from this etsy shop
http://www.etsy.com/shop/nightblooming
drop down a single curl or 2 by your ear or eyebrow and you are ready for family gatherings or the opera!
This is also a perfect time for a fabulous pair of earrings!
http://www.etsy.com/listing/52912551/peridot-sterling-silver-earrings-lime

WE look forward to hearing about your hair journey and goals, and what you do to keep it healthy and safe!

Love to you

Stacy and Kimi

My first Curated Front Page Treasury~~

I love to do treasuries! i joined a treasury group, and we make lots of treasuries, our goal, of course to be on the Front Page of Etsy! but also to have fun and promote other artists!
well, this treasury was not one i did under my team guidlines, it was a random pounce on shops with no sales and i wanted to pick the most unrelated items i could! well, it was on the FP on saturday and i didn't even know it!! and , i am so glad , several of the items have sold! WHOOHOOO!!
it is a real thrill to have an item on the FP as well as to have a treasury I made on the FP, WOW!
Congrats to all the great artists in this group, including:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/SquidBox
http://www.etsy.com/shop/castawayshall
http://www.etsy.com/shop/SimpleShapes
http://www.etsy.com/shop/itsastitch
http://www.etsy.com/shop/littlebrownpen
http://www.etsy.com/shop/HeartfeltEmbroidery
http://www.etsy.com/shop/muddywheelstudio
http://www.etsy.com/shop/andrewsreclaimed
http://www.etsy.com/shop/uncommoncreatures
http://www.etsy.com/shop/BlackBaroque
http://www.etsy.com/shop/StravaMax
http://www.etsy.com/shop/bluebirdheaven
http://www.etsy.com/shop/DannyRoberts
http://www.etsy.com/shop/BugUnderGlass
http://www.etsy.com/shop/velvetmechanism
http://www.etsy.com/shop/angelydia
Hope you will check out these fellow etsians and thier really cool art!
Love to you all
Kimi

Glass Evil Eyes and hair forks and stick, Oh MY!

WE love glass eyes! And this is the time of year for creepy things too! but we think they are fun all year long..hey, who doesn't need an extra eye in the back of thier head, i mean really??
THis is one we did on request , a dark brown eye in silk oak wood on antler....we also had a request for a yellow cats eye in zircote wood on antler and here it is...

WE love making these!!!
When we asked what you would like to see more of some people wanted to see more inlaid forks, but the reason we don't keep alot of those in the shop is that they are expensive to make, and usually someone will say they want one like that one, but with changes..so we try to have one or 2 made and ready to buy but they really work better as a custom order, then you get what you want, in the color and wood you love!

Now, i would love to start putting live treasuries up on here, and i am learning how! i hope to start featruing the treasuries i make and that we are included in as well as honor the makers of the treasuries that include our work, because we really, REALLY appreciate you all so much!!

SO, thats it for today, hope you enjoyed the pictures and remember to read our previous post about the holiday custom deadlines!
Love to you all
Kimi

I don't think we are in Kansas anymore, Toto....

I can't believe it has been so long since i did a post, and i apologize! time is in warp drive here it seems and going faster as the holidays approach!
we are very busy at the studio with custom orders and with making stock to keep that part available for the coming holidays as well. we want to remind everyone about sipping to out of the US for holidays, we will need any custom orders for the holidays BY THIS WEEKEND and customs orders in the US for the holidays by the end of this month. also , for just regular shipping to out of the US leave 3-4 weeks for holidays to be sure your package arrives, unless you wish to pay for upgraded priority shipping...convo us for a quote on that, we are happy to do that for you as well.

Something we have been really glad about is that our box of wood pieces are selling! we thank you who have already bought them, as we are loathe to throw out those pieces, but our shop had become overrun with them and we were in a quandry! we are glad that perhaps boy scouts, instrument makers, hobbyists who may never need a piece of ebony large enough to pay for an entire board are getting to use these lovely pieces!! thank you so much, we will continue to offer them as long as they continue to sell!

NEW WOODS ARE HERE!!!

WE have had several requests for apple wood, and after much searching have acquired a beautiful piece that is suitable to make hairforks!!! it really is lovely, there seem to be lots of colors in it, and it looks chatoyant all the way through...it is hard to tell until we get one to a finished point but we think it is going to be really beautiful in a hairfork! we also got a new piece of Zircote, and it has mostly heart wood, very little of the lighter sap wood, and a new piece of figured cocbolo wood..YUMMmmmmm...i am anxious to get forks going on these new woods!!...since the Apple wood piece is fairly small, i would like to hear from those of you who wanted an apple wood fork, so i know what styles to cut out! In the mean time, we have to make a few so we can see and show off the wood graining!

This fork with the antennae on it is something we have been wanting to do for months , and now that we are closing in on holidays, they are finally made! this was so fun to wear, so animated and lightweight! this would be alot of fun for costume accessory, or teachers, or even for Christmas wear!  we have already had a custom request for this in different wood with eyes on the ends so if your heart is aching for something just ask!!!

On a new note, i have acquired a set of hair braids from Puppycatmeow and  I am SO pleased with them!! Tressa was wonderful to work and communicate with, and although you should ask for color swatch samples for a really good match, we did mine with only a few photos and here is the result! this is one braid, wrapped around my hair in a high ponytail for a "Jeanie" type look..i secured the braid to my ponytail with an elastic, wrapped and tucked the ends and used one of our wooden hair forks to hold it all in place!  it makes me feel like a queen and i am sorely tempted to get a few more different ones now!!! she is very busy this time of year, but the quality is amazing , the prices are so reasonable and they really can help give an updo the little boost it needs, or the outlandish look you want for halloween!

Although i have waist length hair, it is layered and i am unable to do a pretty braid, so these were exactly what i wanted..next i am going pippy longstocking style with one on each side LOL
THe wood fork helped not just hold the braid in place but give the weight of the updo support. It worked fabulously!  i wore this most of the day yesterday and really forgot i had anything other than my hair on!!
Thank you so much, Tressa, for the fabulous color match and the quality of work you do! i am looking at some rosettes next......HMmmmmm

Happy Sunday!

We hope you are having a lovely and relaxing day of rest today! We have just listed alot of new forks this week and have amny more on the way, many with fall or autumn themes, we got a new batch of glass evil eyes for the Halloween season and we have ordered some new wood at the request of many customers..Apple wood! we also found a beautiful piece fo zircote that we believe will make some exotic and amazing new forks...

We have to set a cut off date for our custom orders for the holidays so we wanted you to be able to plan for that now. Our international customers will need to have thier custom orders placed by Oct 15th, and for domestic or inthe US orders, by Oct 30th...we need 2-3 weeks to complete them, depending on what they are and then of course shipping times are much slower after that time..so we want to allow for that as well. We are able to offer expedited shipping for an extra fee and if you are interested int hat please send us an email or convo, we will respond very quickly to you!

There are so many fun findings out there, i hope you find something you love in what we have chosen to decorate our hairforks with and we gladly take custom requests for whatever you would like on them!

we tend to go with earthy and bizarre on our own, so if you are looking for something different , please feel free to ask! i wil do my best to find it ,or you can send us what you want on your fork and we will work with youto accomplish that as well.

The safety and health of your long locks is very important to us, and we have designed our forks to be different that what has been available, to be strong and not break with hair pressures, and to be organic and unique, crafted to be heirloom quality and last you through all hair lengths. If you have any questions about our hair art, or about hair in general, please feel free to ask that as well, and we will do our best to get you fitted to the right fork for your hair, help you with any hair issues you may have or send you to the right people to get answers!
Please be sure to check out the shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/nightblooming for hair treatments that are resotrative and healing as well as fabulous smelling!
ANd, i have ablog post coming this week about another fabulous item for hair fun that i found at http://www.etsy.com/shop/puppycatmeow  and there will eb pictures to demontrate the fun as well.
FOr now, have a lovely day and take care of those tresses! i hope you enjoyed the pictures here!

Today we would like to know what YOU want to see...

Usually i am sharing something with you about Love or about our studio, our process of making hair forks....but today, i want to put a call out to all of our fans and followers and any of thier friends who want to answer!

We want to know, what do you want to see in your hairfork makers? what is missing in the hair toy industry? what makes our forks your favorite, or your least favorite? what would YOU do different, or want us to do better for our hair forks?

We LOVE long hair, and we make these hair forks to help you have a sturdy, long lasting heirloom quality hair fork or stick that is functional and yet as beautiful as a piece of art in your hair!  When you have very long hair, keeping it up hleps keep it healthy and safe. It also gives you tons of styling options!! LOng hair is NEVER boring!!! just check you tube for long hair updos, you will be bombarded!!

so, today we want to know what we are lacking that you are looking for!!Or what we do that you love and do not want to see change!

Thank you so much for your patronage, your encouragement and your continued support..also for commenting here, and be honest!! we are ready to start a new pattern, a new design, and want your input!
Much love and thanks in advance to you all!
Kimi & Stacy

Our Labor day holiday, the day after labor day

Believe it or not, we really don't like crowds. When you are younger, it seems like if life could be a rock concert, all would be well..then , somehow it reverses and you start to enjoy quiet, and peace and aloneness...well, we moved out here for the alone-ness factor, and the opportunities for it are great! But, summer time holidays weekends, all the alone places are PACKED with screaming families in campers....so, having the beautiful job of working at home, we took our day off for the week on Tuesday, and everyone was passing us going down the mountian with thier campers, we were driving up...

There were no signs of fall yet, i thought perhaps the aspens would have a tinge of yellow to them, but they did not.

Our original hopes were to see the salmon migrating upstream in thier bright red glory, but alas, there were NO fish to be seen in the stream at all..but we did find this beautiful vine with the seeds from the sacred tree of Pandora!

This is looking up the stream where the salmon migrate, or spawn..they are not natural to this body of water and were brought in years ago.

We drove down in to a campground and there was a pack of mountiain goats! We had never seen them in person since we moved west, and there they were! ( Are they packs, herds, groups, flocks, ...i don't know but) there was a bunch of them, several collared and tagged. But this handsome fellow was sure to keep his eyes on us. We sat by the stream and had lunch with our pups. One of the goats, i think the momma , kept a bit away from us but growled loud enough to make me have visions of being on those shows where stupid people try to pet the bears at national parks...i wanted to get in the car but Stacy thought we were far enough away, and sure enough i worried for nothing. The dogs never even barked at the goats at all!

Loving the beautiful landscape here makes us take pictures of rocks, lots of rocks. This one looked fairly normal until you see me in the picture...it looked like it was balanced on the tiniest bit of stone, as if a breeze could knock it over so of course i had to go stand in its shadow...:D

A bit farther out on our way back we saw MORE goats! after not seeing any ,it was a boon day for goats, and we only saw one deer. Usually we see lots of deer and elk on this drive..but only goats this trip. You can see the beautiful red rock cliffs behind the trees in this picture..

Then, we were almost home... we are always so inspired to get back to creating after a trip up the mountain. ALthough no fall colors were evident, we did feel the coolness in the air and it was lovely.
I hope you enjoyed a tiny peek at our Labor Day adventure and enjoyed the scenery as much as we did!
Love to you all
Kimi & Stacy

Hide-A-Heart and our Anniversary!

Hi Everyone! I wanted to share with you about our wedding anniversary that we celebrated this week.

It starts with Country Magazine...several years ago we read a lovely story about a couple who would hide SHMILY around the house for eachother as a game, for the other one to find..SHMILY refering to "See How Much I Love You" and that would be a small reminder to each of them that the other one was truly in love with them all the time, even when it wasn't said out loud, or didn't seem to show...you know those times...
well..we started to play this game! At first it was a pencil writing on the wall in various places...then my crafty husband made me a piece of wood and inlaid SHMILY in the wood oval and we would hide it back and forth..but i found this place...

http://www.etsy.com/shop/HideaHeart

They actually MAKE glass hearts for this very game! I was so excited when they agreed to make me a SHMILY heart for our anniversary!

The heart comes BEAUUUUTifully packaged with the story to the hide a heart, and adorable little flowers and hearts confetti, a baggie with a card and a little heart on a string too! Now, yours won't say SHMILY, but they have a range of options for saying and are open to custom orders! it is such a fun way to keep love alive, as we all know life, work, kids, jobs, stress can get in the way of sharing your love for your spouse, and what is more important?!?! we need to keep the love alive, get the divorce rate down and the happy spouse rate UP! and i believe this is one way you can add a little spark back into your marriage!  i would keep it above small hands reach, and make it a fun secret game that noone else in the house knows about, so it can be a romantic little get away for you when you find your hide a heart..your spouse may be at work and it will bring you a smile, a butterfly in your tummy, or inspiration for a welcome home from work evening together:0)

Even if you have a great marriage, this can just add to the love...i hope you will go see thier options, read thier story and become thier fan on facebook as well!
 http://www.facebook.com/pages/Grah-Toe-Studio/202833224024?v=wall#!/HideaHeart?ref=sgm

Love to you all
Kimi

We are getting faster !

we have been making hair forks for almost  2 years now! in November it will be our 2 year anniversary on Etsy! and we have learned alot, changed alot, and gotten much faster at a lot of what we make..so...for YOU..we have changed our pricing on some items that may please you and your wallet and your hair! The items we can now do alot faster have better , more affordable prices! There are still some things that just take time, no matter what, like sword handles, and 5 tine forks,...but our biggest sellers, the 3 tine lillis are going to be more affordable in the exotic woods! also the 2 prong mermaids tails forks! WHOOHOO!!
SO, a big thank you to all of our customers who have given us so much practice :D and we hope you will continue to support that practice while enjoying the new prices!! we love you all dearly, for real, and love that you can have a useful, sturdy, hair fork or stick to keep your hair safe and growing long!!

WE are also listing some forks on Artfire through the holidays, so be sure to check both of our shops, they will have different hair toys in them!

My Favorite item in our shop!

I absolutely LOVE this hair fork! We ordered the cameo from Rainforest designs, and once we receieved it we designed a special fork to allow the light to shine through the cameo , and enhanced the shape of the fork with the echo of the leaf that the little gecko is sitting on in the cameo! This cameo is exquisitely made, and signed by the artisan that made it! that is another reason we wanted to leave the back open, so the signature was not covered. THis hairfork will come with the papers of authenticity from the Wounaan Indian Tribe of Panama. THe wood we used is Lignum Vitae. It is a green wood, that we thought was perfect for the leaf!
We hope you enjoy it as well and look forward to the special hair that it gets to have a home in!http://www.handmadespark.com/myspark/GrahToeStudio
Thanks everyone!

SALE SALE SALE

We are having an End of Summer sale at our studio! EVERYTHING is 20% off today and tomorrow(Saturday and Sundaay)....and if you will follow us on twitter and/or facebook and mention it with your order, we'll make your discount 25%! WE need to make room for our new fall /winter inventory and new designs!!!
Come on over and grab what your heart has been looking for!

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!

The Hummingbirds are here..it worked!

THEY ARE HERE!!!I finally cought one on film in flight! and they are buzzing allaround our back yard! i am pretty sure that they are back on thier way south for the fall. But while they are here i am going to totally enjoy them! they are most active here in morning and evening and this was one of 3 that were flying around our porch yesterday!

Aren't they just beautiful! YEA!!!

The hummingbirds never came to our house...

We usually get lots of hummingbirds through the summer and it is one of my great joys.. ilove the special chittering noise they make, and how the "sentinel" ones defend "their" territory...i love thier colors and sounds...but this year, they didn't come...we put the feeders out, changed the food when it got hot....i think an incident i had at the very beginning of summer cursed the blessing of the hummers away.....

I had just gotten a new tye-dye shirt with a large purple mushroom-ish shape in the center of it, i was standing on the porch looking and one zipped right up to me! i was so shocked and taken aback i swatted at it thinking it was a wasp becuase of the noise....i instantly realized it was not a wasp and cried out my apology, and my wish for them to grace our porch again...nothing. i even put that shirt on sometimes and stand out there with my coffee...but alas....now, about a week ago, a few showed up! the Rufus' and the ruby throats and the black and white ones, i am not sure which kind they are or maybe they are the females..but i am not a pro photographer, and believe it or not, there is a hummer in the above picture! he is hovering in front of a trumpet, but hes green....look really close....

the best shot i could get so far is below...

 

*sigh* so i put out an apology to the great wide world that i am sorry for swatting and would you PLEEEZE come back to my porch little hummer, i love watching you SO much...pleeeeze?!?!?

A picture of our message...

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A friend of ours was on vacation and wrote this in the sand! I wanted to show the world, and hope youwill go see the rest of thier pictures and read about the trip this was written during...Thank you for spreading our message , even in the sand!

Fairy wog-dog and Queen drip-slobber...

The word "love" has many meanings. In describing the enjoyment of ice cream some would say, "I love butter pecan." And in describing their deepest and most intimate feelings some would say, "I love my fiancée." Love is a little word with lots of implications


Love is too large, too deep ever to be truly understood or measured or limited within the framework of words. M. Scott Peck

Love talked about can easily be turned aside, but love demonstrated is irresistible. W. Stanley Mooneyhan
Love doesn't just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made, like bread, remade all the time, made new. Ursula K. Le Guin

Acting in kind and loving ways causes us to experience kind and loving feelings. Stephen Covey

"And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love". I Corinthians 13:13

Let love and kindness take WING in your heart today!

P/S i just read Watership Down-Richard Adams , again and am now reading the tales from Watership Down, the title is inpsired from this book ....its fabulously entertaining!