Sunday, June 22, 2008

wooden toys

These blocks are my new obsession after I saw them on Amy Karol's blog. This tower is pretty chunky: about 6" high & 1 1/2" thick, made of alder wood, and will be part of my leafy nursery decoration. See all of the series here: Fantastic Blocks By Spiel & Holz Design

I'm inspired to add to it (I've been sketching while falling asleep) when I have a jigsaw in the vicinity (visiting my mom in July). For thicker pieces, I'll have to use pine, but I was pleased to discover that Lowe's carries some very nice 3/4" aspen and poplar that I also see in my future...
My favorite wooden toys vendor right now is Fine Wooden Toys. The girls and I loved pretty much every single thing we found on their website & shipping never exceeds $9.95, even for large pieces like the lovely wooden kitchen. I declared an "all wooden Christmas 2008!" ("we'll tell Santa...") and they didn't complain one bit. I believe I will finally be buying the wood rainbow I've lusted after for years (Magic Cabin, my favorite covet-mag, carries it, too):

I thought this piece was particularly brilliant, and, like with the fantastic blocks, am still a bit bamboozled that I haven't seen it before, because I'm an ardent wood toy stalker and especially love dolls and dollhouses :). The hard choice will be between the rainbow, pink/purple, and natural finishes...Of course, wood bits of all kinds are marvelous to have about for crafting and play, and last Christmas was highlighted by my purchases from Casey's Wood Products. A Maine company that sells wonderful miniatures and wood turnings of all sorts, made in New England mills, their prices are great and items beautiful. Peg dolls, tiny bowls, little wood bottles...I outfitted a whole tiny fairy/woodland/pioneer miniature store for my six year old.

I'm hoping I can have the self-control to wait for Christmas for my big order (I need to get back to the pottery studio & earn some money!), but this will likely be waiting for my November arrival a bit sooner:
This particular rattle is from etsy seller red rock zone, but I am tempted by a few other styles available on etsy as well...

2 comments:

sallyavena said...

I'm sure you've stumbled across thewoodenwagon.com in your wanderings. It's a fun one to look at, but it seems like a lot of stuff is always sold out.

Anonymous said...

Wow, thanks for all those links. I love wooden toys too. If you aren't already familiar with stumppondtoy on Etsy, give him a look--I have given many of his flying machines as birthday gifts.

Now off to plan our Christmas list!