Show and Tell Saturday.....

A new Christmas ornament for my wife.

I found this in a Coach House store, but I have been admiring them in Christian Bookstores. They are designed by Jim Shore and mass produced in China. The quality is marvelous and even though the original piece is carved in wood the duplicates are not. I want to believe they are hand painted, but I don't know that for sure.
My wife claims I bought it for me to blog about but then she admits she almost bought one for me. I like it's integrity of design, quality of color, and it's over all "wow" appearance. I guess it goes back to my need for three dimensional art work to view.

We are not into the country theme as a dominate design, but our house is old and we have afghans, pottery, and old things everywhere.  This means the country quilt design works so well among our old wood furniture.

The carving detail is so great on this piece. The wings were something I had not noticed until later after I had started taking shots of it.

As it is well done and made in China, I want to balance things by sharing about a local company that has gone big, which creates this kind of work.   Sticks,   http://www.sticks.com/    is a company that Sarah Grant started in 1992 when she was asked to create and sell manger figures carved from wood, in the Better Homes and Garden magazine.  This magazine is published here in Des Moines, and it was one of the magazines first adventures in selling products.  Needless to say, it was a hit, and Sarah Grant had to hire people to help her fill her orders.

When you go on to the Sticks site you can see the products that they make.  The legs on furniture are usually made from fallen trees, left natural, but the rest is decorated with woodburned designs and hand painted.  They create tables that are personalized for families, and will write sayings on them with matching pictures of the interests of the family.  It is an American company that has gone big, as they ship all over the country and the world.

I use to take my students on tours of the factory, but it has gotten so big that they won't allow tours.  Artist sit in large groups and hand paint objects, furniture, and signs.  It is quite a community of workers, each person is allowed to put a little of their personal touch to the pieces, yet restricted to color schemes and style of painting.

http://www.sticks.com/

I borrowed this photo off of the Sticks website and I don't think they will mind as I am promoting their company.  This is a linen chest that they have created.

Enough for show and tell today.   We are actually a -17 degrees F. today.  I will go out to start the car to see if it will but I doubt we will go anywhere today.  The air that I feel when I let the dogs out the door is literally painful to the skin even when I am inside.   Have a good day and thanks for stopping by.....