Canadiana: Bess & Charlie - Birch Bark

The Birch Bark Wall Art Post: (This might get epic)

I can't begin this post without paying tribute to the artist who created the original Tuohi (Birch Bark) Wall Element, designer Tapio Anttila for Showroom Finland. I first saw this piece at John and Juli's shop Mjölk in Toronto and absolutely fell in love with it. Big Chuck and I love to have natural elements in our home, and this modern and clean piece with it's warmth, texture and grand size certainly left an impression on me.

I never thought that I would have the chance to have my very own Tuohi Wall Element - let alone undertake one as a DIY project. The occasion presented itself perfectly however, when after visiting Mjölk on the Thanksgiving long weekend Big Chuck and I arrived at the cottage to find a recently felled birch tree, bark intact. My dad gave us the go ahead to harvest as much bark as we like and at the end of the weekend we brought a big bag home with us.

And so the project began.

Here's what we needed to get this job done:

• two 2' x 4' 1/2" plywood pieces (we would have bought 4' x 4' but our car wasn't big enough to get that home)

• brass plated mounting hardware, wood screws and airplane wire

• X-acto knife

• ruler and/or template

• cutting surface (we cut on the plywood)

• birch bark removed from 13" - 15" logs (we used about 14 different pieces/logs)

• carpenter's glue

We began by cutting out a 12" x 12" cardboard template that we could use to estimate how many tiles we could get out of each piece of birch bark. Some yielded two, most only one. You have to account for variation in surface texture, holes and the like. After selecting all the best pieces I began cutting out our 12" x 12" tiles, 16 to be exact. As you may have guessed, birch bark is a tricky material to work with, it was difficult to measure accurately because it isn't flat. If I could give you a tip I would suggest that you steam the pieces (which we did after they were cut) first.

Once all the tiles were cut, we steamed them over a pot of boiling water. This method worked nicely and we ended up with relatively flat pieces. Now comes the fun part, placing them on the plywood. We played around with different locations, alternating between light and dark, more textured pieces and less. When we were satisfied with our results we started at one end of the plywood and began glueing. Don't be shy with the glue! We glued one to two pieces at a time, weighing them down with heavy objects and leaving them for at least 30 minutes before moving on to the next pieces. This is when I realized this project wasn't going to be done that night.

Over the course of the next week we slowly glued all our tiles down and trimmed any edges that weren't perfect. Big Chuck attached the two pieces of ply wood side by side using a piece of wood and attached the mounting hardware to the back. Using our trusty stud finder we located a stud in the exact place (lucky!) that we wanted to hang our birch bark wall art, and... voilà!

It makes me happy every time I look at it, and adds a lovely warmth to our home.

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

xo bess

Canadiana: Lost Nation

This weekend, while I was in Toronto I had the wonderful pleasure of having brunch with my best-friend, Diana. She was telling me about a friend of her's who was taking part in the OneofaKind Christmas Show, Toronto's biggest handmade holiday market. Katie's work sounded so beautiful that I had to check it out.

Katie Barnstaple is a woodworker, creating custom furniture and accent pieces for the. Her humane antlers and wooden antler chandelier are some of my favourites. I love the simplicity and warmth in her work, something that comes from the found wood she uses to create her pieces. Katie works out of an old wooden garage that she converted into her Lost Nation studio space in Thornbury, Ontario.

You can see more of Katie's work in her Etsy shop, and read up on all of Lost Nation's latest news on her blog.

Have a wonderful Tuesday!
xx bess

images 1, 2: Lost Nation

images 3, 4: OneofaKind Show

Helsinki 1952

Me and my camera bag falling in the snow, we were never apart (see below)

One of the best parts of visiting Finland, aside from ice swimming of course, is getting to hear stories and see photos from my family's past. Living in Canada for most of my life, I rarely had the opportunity to see my Finnish grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousin. So every time I go to visit I make a special request to see some of the old family photo albums. Of course, this last time didn't disappoint. Along with the classic black and white photos of my mom and her siblings as children, there were some new-to-me gems. For example, who knew that during the 70's my mom was rocking a hairstyle similar to Big Chuck's? And that my aunt had glasses whose frames were as big around as coffee mugs? Are they going to kill me for writing this, in a word YES!, but I love it - I love knowing the history of my family, the good, the bad and (especially) the questionable fashion choices.

On this last trip I learned a few new things about my great-grandfather. The first was that, similar to me, he always had a camera in his hands. My aunt said that I reminded her of him, and that was pretty neat. The second was that he was a talented artist and enjoyed designing and making furniture. When the 1952 Summer Olympics were held in Helsinki, he made this clever walking stick that doubles as a chair. He even painted the Olympic logo onto the seat, and on the back, the instructions on the correct way to sit on it. This way he was able to walk to the events and have his very own place to sit. Genius, no?!


1. My male model showing us how to use the walking stick
2. 1952 Helsinki Olympic logo, painted on the seat
3. The bottom of the seat shows us how to properly sit on it (backwards)
4. From walking stick to chair

Stay tuned for Canadiana Tuesday later today.

Bess

(photos: Bess Callard)

teal and gold

Today I have a great little Canadian design company to share with you, teal and gold. The designers behind these beautiful wooden objects, Tyler and Kelly McKenzie, create their handcrafted pieces out of their Kelowna, British Columbia home. I found them via Poppytalk where they are participating in this month's handmade market. Big Chuck and I are big fans of anything wood and I could see us making many summer picnic memories with the lovely Picnic Tote below, and I quote "We bring you a finely handcrafted bent walnut bag, with durable latigo leather strapping and an attached vintage wool blanket. This bag has been designed around the standard 750ml wine bottle,a couple stemless glasses and maybe some cheese.". Yep, heaven...







One more thing - - - >
You can check out Teal and Gold's blog and follow them as they create this beautiful Nakashima inspired table.



I love how they put their logo on the little bow tie - cute!

(all photos: teal and gold)

Have a great Tuesday!
Bess

Herriott Grace

These beautiful wooden objects are designed by father & daughter team, Herriott Grace. They both live in Canada, although 4600 kilometers apart. The father is a craftsman and creates these beautiful hand carved wooden objects, he ships them to his daughter and she sells them in their online store. It's a wonderful venture, and you can read more about the story behind Herriott Grace here.

{all photos are from Herriott Grace}

Happy Tuesday!

bess

3dots Design

Fallen Leaves 2
Peacock Tail Necklace
Mistletoe (on Sale!)

Aren't these necklaces just perfect for fall?! I have to admit I have a very small jewelery box and one of my favourite pieces is a necklace that my best-friend bought for me in London. It's simply a piece of leather string with 10-12 wooden "doughnuts" strung through it. So simple and sweet, just like today's Canadiana Tuesday designer, 3dot. Based in Quebec, designer Lucie is a furniture maker full-time and jewelery designer part-time. Her Etsy shop is full of beautiful and unusual pieces and I'd recommend stopping by, especially since the Mistletoe necklace is on sale - perfect for Christmas, non?! Speaking of the holidays, below are some of Lucie's Holiday Stars, very festive!


Holiday Star
Photos: 3dot

Have a wonderful Tuesday!
bess