Quality Merchandise, Superb Service - The Wood & Shop Inc

Without quality materials, you can't produce a quality product. As a woodworker, I am always searching for exceptional hardwood lumber. Exquisite grain patterns, beautiful colors, unusual species, and most importantly, availability in the widths and thicknesses I need so I don't need to devote a lot of time and energy to planing and sanding.

A few years ago, I found the Wood & Shop, locally owned and operated since 1983 by Bruce Denslow. At the time, the store was located in St. Louis, but has since moved to Thistle Hill Plantation in Eolia, Missouri where Bruce and his family also raise Scottish Highland cattle and Babydoll Southdown sheep. Everything in the store is also available through its comprehensive website: http://www.woodnshop.com/index.htm

Thistle Hill Plantation

 

The Wood & Shop is a woodworker's dream come true, with over 80 species of top quality domestic and exotic hardwoods in thicknesses ranging from 1/8" to up to 4". Over 900 wooden craft parts such as wheels, stars, angels, letters and numbers, and animals shapes are also available. Other products in stock include books, hardware, finishing supplies, hardwood plywood, Baltic Birch plywood, veneers, wooden embossed appliques, and hand tools. With a CNC router, Bruce can also custom cut special order shapes in sizes from 1" to 1" up to 30" by 30".

 
All the lumber I have purchased here has been exceptional, as has the customer service. Bruce and his staff with help you find exactly what you need and will offer suggestions about the best wood species for your project. They will also resaw or sand a board to the exact thickness you need. There is even a Wood of the Month Club so you can try working with wood species you may not have considered before. The only bad thing about the Wood & Shop is having to choose among all the great lumber, and of course, leaving without blowing your budget!


If you live or are passing through Missouri, check out the Wood & Shop. If not, be sure to browse through the website. You won't be disappointed.

Scrapbooking Meets the Teddy Bear

Because I love so many different types of crafting, I find myself using supplies and techniques developed for one type of craft in unusual ways for a totally different craft. My Xyron machine gets more use applying adhesive to scroll saw patterns than it does for card making or scrapbooking. I use scroll saw patterns in my glass fusing, cutting the glass with a ring saw. I love to scroll saw Chinese paper cutting patterns. I create rubber stamped jewelry pendants and earrings and have also rubber stamped designs on fused glass using glass enamel powders instead of ink.

It seems I am not alone. Many artists and craftsmen also cross the boundaries and do what I like to call "cross-crafting". Several years ago, Sizzix sponsored a contest where the grand prize was a collection of all of their dies. Entries included cards, memory books, and other items you would expect from a contest featuring die cuts. And then there was this cutie:

This hand made mohair teddy bear is decked out with ultrasuede appliques cut with Sizzix dies. Although he was not the grand prize winner, he did place first in the unusual application category. The bear was made by Elizabeth Taylor of Agape Bears. Elizabeth is a talented bear artist who happens to also be my younger sister. You can see more pictures of this Sizzix Bear here.

Elizabeth has created two more Sizzix embellished bears. This bear was an auction piece at a show in 2008 to benefit Good Bears of the World. The theme of the show was Teddy's Favorite Holiday. More photos of this bear can be found here.

The third Sizzix bear was also an auction piece benefiting Good Bears of the World. She was made for the 2009 Teddy Bear Jubilee in Kansas City where the theme was Bloomin' Teddies. More photos of her can be found here.

So, do you "cross-craft"? I would love to hear from other artists about their favorite unusual use of supplies or techniques.