Mona happy

Here we are working our way through February.  Mostly we are focusing on show applications for the upcoming show season, building new and exciting special pieces, filling internet orders, and spending time hiking in the mountains when the weather cooperates.

We have 3 sites available for ordering: our own webstore at eggtoothoriginals.com ;  a jewelry site at ETSY (eggtoothoriginals.etsy.com) and a wood only site at ETSY (eggtoothfinewood.etsy.com).  Most of what we offer is available from each of those sites, all prices the same,  but some items are so unique or  limited that we only offer them at shows.

If you haven’t been to the shops for awhile, check them out and let us know what you think.  We really do appreciate and use your feedback to help us improve our shops.  If you are interested in more in depth coverage of what has been going on in the studio, check out our facebook page at facebook.com/eggtoothoriginals .

Have a great week!

Mona looks ahead to spring

This week we look forward to a bit more of winter, but the weather here has also made us think of spring.  Still too cold for much of anything to sprout or grow we know that spring is just around the corner somewhere.

We enjoy the seasons here at Eggtooth Originals and appreciate every one.  Karen has recognized the seasons with her natural impressions taken from objects on the forest floor, the seashore, flowers, leaves, needles, and even lichens.

Poppy Pod earrings in bronze

Our highlight for the week is the lovely Poppy Pod impression in bronze earrings.  These are big earrings, at least by our standards, measuring about one and a quarter inches in length.  The lovely poppy pod charms are topped with a striking, smooth red jasper bead.  These are very unique pieces and like most everything done here at Eggtooth, you won’t find them anywhere else.  Check them out on our website ; if you prefer, we also offer a version of these in silver with gold overlay that are exquisite, but a bit more expensive!

Have a great week!

Mona with pine backdrop

Mona loves weekends because she goes for long walks in the mountains by our place.  Yes, weekdays she also goes for a couple walks a day, but not like the four mile hikes on weekends. We walk thru the dense pine and fir forests where there are plenty of interesting things to smell and chase.  We also enjoy our walks in the forest because they are often quite inspiring, sometimes leading to new creations in the jewelry studio or furniture designs.

Ponderosa Pine Earrings in Bronze with Blue Jasper Stones

Many of the earring designs in our Forest collection have come about from these adventures into our neighboring woods.  One such design is the ever popular ponderosa pine impression, which uses the distinctive texture of ponderosa pine bark to embellish the charms.  This design, originally available in fine silver only, is also available in several unique bronze pieces at our webstore for you to peruse, so check it out today.  That’s about all for this Mona’s Monday post, the last of January.  Have a wonderful week!

Sketch, scaled drawings, story stick, and posts.

I decided to enter a post now and then about the woodworking part of Eggtooth Originals, so here goes.

This winter I am fortunate to be working on a commission of a three piece bedroom set.  The matching pieces include a Chest of Drawers,  Nitestand, and full-sized bed.  As many of you may already be aware, my furniture style is mainly “post and panel” where my pieces have shaped legs or posts in each corner and free-floating solid wood panels between.  I try to make each of my pieces interesting by combining different color or species of woods in each furniture piece.  Generally, I  use darker colored wood in the legs or posts to “frame in” the lighter colored wood panels; I really like that contrast.  In this bedroom set, the posts (or legs) and frame pieces will be made from Pacific Madrone and the panels will be made from some unique pear wood from a homestead on the South Fork Trinity River in California (I also really like to know where my native wood comes from and the story behind it).

The photo shows how I typically proceed in the early stages of a new project….from upper right clockwise: I sketch my concept in my permanent sketch book; transfer the sketch to a scaled drawing; transfer the critical measurements to a life-sized and shaped story stick; then actually start the cutting and joinery on the posts or legs.  Sometimes I build a mock-up of the piece out of cardboard, however in the current work I didn’t believe that was necessary.  I am simultaneously doing a a small desk for myself  that has very similar components and processes, where I hope to make all of my mistakes so they are avoided with the commission work.

Both madrone and pear are woods that have their workability issues (like hardness, checking, fracturing, and color blotching) so that is an added challenge with these already complex pieces.  I planned (and priced) this project to take about 150 hours, but suspect that I have been overly conservative in my estimate…time will tell.  I have allowed  plenty of acclimation time for the wood to rest and adjust between each of the early dimensioning steps…better to do that now than have the wood move alot after I put it together into a finished piece.

This week I am cutting  joinery on the dimensioned frame pieces that have now rested in the shop for nearly two weeks; resawing and gluing-up panels for the chest of drawers and bed; and resawing drawer box materials for later assembly.  That said we will see what the week holds as it progresses.

That’s all (and enough) for today’s post…more photos of progress on our Facebook page.   Hope you have a great weekend and week ahead…jack

Mona smiles on Mondays

Even though the photo doesn’t show it, winter has finally arrived here in the Klamath Mountains.  Sunday brought us a snowy day here, but accumulation only amounted to less than half a foot.  The good thing about storms is it usually warms up a bit, like in this case from lows in the teens to lows in the low 30′s.  Mona and Roc really love the snow; plowing their snouts thru it as they run along…like little kids playing.

Winter Solstice with Labradorite

In honor of winter, Karen shares some of her popular winter solstice jewelry, check it out at either ETSY or our webstore.  One of  her most special pieces is shown here in the photo…to see more just go to either store, they are awesome.

Have a great week!

Mona loves winter hiking in the Klamath Mountains

Here at Eggtooth we are enjoying the dry winter days by doing some hiking in the nearby mountains.  Mona and Roc love to get outside as do we.  It is great to take a break during the day from our Eggtooth creative activities and do a short hike or even a long one.   We know that when it does rain or snow, we will not regret having taken the time to do these small adventures. We are thinking ahead to the show season, applying for a number of shows, and working on our creations and commissions.

Mona appreciates the winter sun

It has been unusually dry, sunny, and cold here in the Klamath mountains this fall making it easy to speculate that a drought may be on the horizon.  Mona thinks it is better to appreciate the sun now than think about what my lie ahead, especially since we have no control over what immediate course nature takes.

We do have control over other things, including shopping decisions and shipping timeframes… Just a reminder to all those procrastinators out there that the shipping clock is ticking….to alleviate a slight bit of pressure, we are upgrading our free shipping this week only to USPS Priority (noirmally First Class) on all webstore, ETSY jewelry, and ETSY finewood items (excludes furniture)….order now because orders received here after noon Dec. 21st (yes, this Wednesday) will not ship in time for Christmas eve delivery.  O.K. so if you can’t make it by then, but still want to try for christmas delivery, please contact us at egg2th@gmail.com for options and their additional costs.

Order your gifts today!

Thank you again for all your support this past year;

WE APPRECIATE YOU!…Jack and Karen

Mona thinking about dog cookies

Just a quick note to say a couple things….first, thanks Fort Jones for another interesting show this year. Best part was we got to do alot of visiting with our local friends and neighbors. This was our last show of the 2011 season and we are happy with that…time to ponder the past year and think about the future.

Secondly, just want y’all to know that there is still time to do your handmade in USA (yes, this is something to consider) gift shopping online.