An Unlikely Pairing

I had a conversation with a friend of mine a couple of months back and he suggested that I paint wine bottle stoppers. Hum...that's an interesting prospect, i thought. I guess they could be made out of the same material that I have been working with to create all of the other items that I have in my line. Okay. So, I did some research. I never thought that during the process, I would find another person out in the world, who is going through the same thing that I am, with bolstering a business from all perspectives, who has a similar informed yet approachable demeanor as the one that I attempt to have. It's been great.



So, we started out with some thoughts on design...very step by step. What do you like? What is the style like? What is restrictive? (I initially suggested a design that would have punctured a person's hand. Woops!) What are the base options? How are they attached? What are they going to cost?!...always the big question. Next step, how should they be prepared? I think, aside from the very profession quality that Rob at Treespun brought to the table, this was what sold me. He knows his stuff. And he considers all of the options for the consumer, making your job easy. I was able to focus on my brand and work on the design, knowing the whole time that I was going to get a great product.


Each of the stoppers is hand-turned. If you've never seen the process before, you should check it out. I find it pretty fascinating. Especially considering the fact that Rob turned out my stoppers from a 1.5” X 1.5” X 2.0” piece of wood. That's small. Basically, what happens is the wood is attached to a lathe and then it's set to spin at a certain number of revolutions per minute (RPM). From there, the craftsman takes a really sharp set of carving tools and goes to work. Carving something while it's still is amazing, but doing that on a 1.5” X 1.5” X 2.0” piece of wood that's going 3000 RPM...now that's crazy!


So this is what we've ended up with. Final product, after all of my distressing, layer building and artwork has been put on it. The design is a approximately a 1/2" high at its highest point, which is fun to paint, but requires a lot of concentration and a steady hand. The nifty stand that Rob sent me helped a lot with that. That's another thing that I'm finding, when you're working with true professionals, they're always interested in the process and figuring out ways, within their skill set to help you out as best they can. Contemplating and figuring. I think that comes from experience and a genuine interest to be a part of something, which in turn makes for a great experience.