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Black Lives Matter, how 2020 changed this small business

Black Lives Matters Seed Paper Heart Shape

               For 25 years we have been serving the wedding industry.  2020 was a year like no other in our lifetime.  Our biggest lesson was not about how to pivot when events are cancelled.  Unlike many of our industry partners, we thrived last year.  Our greatest physical challenge was filling a record number of orders of our handmade goods, while our staff all stayed safe at home.  What we learned last year was not about our work, or just how many consecutive hours and days we can work without a break (a lot more than you would think). What we learned was that we were not doing enough for our community.

               While we marched for George Floyd, we kept cranking out our handmade goods, made paper late into the evenings, raised two high school students in a pandemic, built a backyard shelter for safe Covid gatherings, and knew we had to contribute more.

                So we read So You Want To Talk About Race? and other resources to understand what, as privileged white middle class folks, we have not had to pay any attention to: more than simply nodding in agreement with and shaking our heads at the difficulties faced by people of color.  It was very easy to be grateful that those struggles were not our struggles and know that we were not contributing to racism.  Life is tough enough without adding someone else’s worries to our day.  We never hurt anyone, so we are not guilty, right? Wrong.

               The murder of George Floyd at the hands of our police was impossible to turn away from.  It demanded action.  We will never be able to do enough.  What we will do, continues to evolve. 

Black Lives Matter message printed on a heart shape embedded with wildflower seeds.

               Since last summer we have included a token of support for the Black Lives Matter movement with every order that we ship out.  Each invoice, receipt and packing slip contains a silver dollar sized seed paper heart with a printed message that shows our support for BLM. This small message, and the signs in the windows of our home and our factory store have helped us to grow, and reinforced our commitment to helping.

               While we will now get back to posting and promoting our earth friendly products, we will continue to search for ways to help the black community; to have difficult conversations with people who call us to let us know that “All Lives Matter”; to demand equality for all.

                We encourage you to join us.  Our BLM hearts are available for sale here for $14.  $12 from the sale of each 50 pack is directly donated to the NAACP.  You can make your own donation here: https://naacp.org/. 

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New Wildflower Seed Paper Card-Making Activity Kits

Purple Larkspur Wildflower Seed Paper Cards and Die Cut Shapes

Here at Of The Earth, we absolutely love DIY! We sell a variety of DIY kits and materials for crafty projects. Check out our newest addition – these seed paper card making kits. They’re perfect for a fun activity for kids!

These kits include four cards, four envelopes, planting instructions, and sixteen die cut shapes to mix and match.

Seed Paper Quarantine Activity
Handmade Seed Paper with wildflower seeds, cards, envelopes, and die cut shapes

These kits are available in three colors – white, purple/blue larkspur, and pink larkspur. All of the paper contains our blend of wildflower seeds that will bloom if planted. Included in the kit are guides for planting the paper as well as a list of the seeds that you can include in each card.

Seed Paper Card with Leaf Shape
Purple Larkspur recycled seed paper cards and leaf die cut shape

Here you can see the smooth inside surface of the seed paper card which allows for easy writing or drawing. We recommend gel roller pens for the easiest writing on our handmade paper.

Assorted Die Cut Shapes, Cards, and Envelopes
Pink Larkspur Wildflower Seed Cards and Die Cut Shapes

We’d love to see what you make with these cards! Send us a picture or tag @ote_seattle on Instagram!

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Client Creativity with Seed Paper

Here at Of The Earth, we love to celebrate makers, creators, and artists. The creativity and skill that our customers exhibit with our paper and silk products never ceases to amaze us.

Seed paper tags customized by client
 

I’d like to shine a spotlight on Allyson of Daily Magic. You can visit her shop at www.livedailymagic.com. 

Allyson is using our seed paper tags as backing cards for her beautiful jewelry designs.

seed paper squares

Here you can see our new 2″ square tags with pink watercolor. The Daily Magic logo was added with a stamp, which is a great and easy way to personalize our handmade seed paper goods.

Large seed paper tags with blush pink dip dye

These are our large, 2.5″ x 3.375″ handmade paper tags, embedded with wildflower seeds. These tags are gently dipped into surplus fabric dye from our hand dyed silk ribbons.

Handmade seed paper with recycled fibers

Here you can see our large seed paper hearts. These particular hearts are made of our #47s paper, which contains recycled lotka fibers and even pieces of junk mail!

Thanks again to Allyson for her beautiful photos and wonderful feedback.

 

 

 

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Watch your love grow with personalized wedding favors!

One of the most common questions that we hear at Of The Earth is whether we can print a personal message on our handmade seed paper goods. We do accommodate all kinds of custom orders, and we love these requests.

Handmade Seed Paper Personalized Heart

We are introducing more products that help streamline these requests, by using customizable templates. This allows the favors to ship more quickly, within three days, and eliminates proofing costs.

Personalized Seed Paper Circles

These personalized  seed paper circles have room for both the bride and groom’s name (or, of course, both brides or grooms!) as well as the wedding date.

Customized seed paper favors

For a simpler favor, we also have seed paper circles available in three colors with custom initials. These favors are also extremely affordable, starting at just $0.58 apiece.

Customized Seed Paper with Initials

Another option for personalized favors with initials are these cute 2″ seed paper squares with a frame of watercolor branches. These are printed on the back with planting instructions.

Customized Hexagon Favors

These customized seed paper hexagons pair our handmade seed paper with a modern calligraphy font. They can also be printed with a variety of font styles.

Personalized Seed Paper Hearts for Wedding Favors

This is our newest customizable design for seed paper hearts. The botanical print has several options, as does the font used for the names of the bride and groom. These can be ordered with or without the planting instructions on the reverse side.

The best feature of all of these favors is that your guests can plant them afterward to sprout wildflowers, and watch your love grow and bloom.

Seed paper sprouting

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Be-leaf in yourself! Die Cut Seed Paper Shapes with messages you will Fall for.

Plant Me Leaf 60S
Printed Seed Paper Leaf Shape in 60S

Washington might be the Evergreen State, but we are definitely starting to see some autumn colors here in Seattle! Fall is one of the most beautiful times of the year in so much of the country. If you love autumn leaves as much as we do, here are some of our products that would be perfect for a fall wedding or event.

Maple Leaves
Pressed Japanese Maple Leaves

The crafting possibilities are endless with these pressed red Japanese Maple leaves. Attach them to paper goods for decorations or use them in resin art. We also offer custom invitations with pressed leaves added to create a unique and memorable invitation for your wedding or other event!

Red Japanese Maple Leaf invitation
Custom invitation with Maple Leaves

Maple Leaf Accent Invitation
Custom Lotka Invitation with Maple Leaf

We also have a whimsical leaf die cut shape, which is available in a variety of our seeded papers in printed and blank options. The leaf shown below is made of our handmade, #12S seeded paper which contains kenaf fibers.

#12S Leaf
Seed Paper Leaf Die Cut in #12S

 

You can also get creative this fall with our pressed oak leaves, available below:

Oak Leaves
Pressed Oak Leaves

Does autumn inspire you to stay in and get crafty as the weather gets cooler? Show us your projects or contact us with ideas for custom printed items!

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Rainy Days – Seattle weather inspires paper and silk artists to create “mood goods”

Seed paper cloud 34S
Seed paper cloud  in paper 34S

It’s officially fall, and here in Seattle that means the rain and clouds are back after a warm, dry summer. Here at Of The Earth, we’re experiencing the rainy day blues in a more positive way – inspiration!

“Into each life some rain must fall.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

This collection of our lotka paper, handmade in Nepal, fits right in with the mood and weather we’re having. This is a lightweight paper with many decorative and artistic uses, including wrapping gifts.

Blue lotka handmade paper
Seattle Blues Lotka paper collection

Any discussion of color and mood would be incomplete without mentioning our Earth Silk Ribbon. These hand dyed, rich colors pull me right into a relaxed, rainy-day attitude.

Earth Silk 085
Earth Silk Ribbon 085

Grey Earth Silk Bouquet Cascade
Grey Earth Silk Bouquet Cascade

Earth Silk 531
Earth Silk Ribbon 531

Our seed paper cloud shapes are available in a variety of our seeded and petal papers, with or without printing. You can also create a custom design to be printed on them for your business or event.

Seed Paper Cloud 04S
Seed paper cloud in paper 04S

 

Stay dry out there!

 

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Summer 2019 Of The Earth customers showing off their many talents with our handmade seed paper and hand dyed silks.

hand holding a jute wrapped dishtowel with a green gift tag

Of The Earth customers had a busy summer. Here are some images that they shared recently of how they used our products.  They include wedding invitations, delicate jewelry, custom art, seeded goods and more!

Wedding Suites:

image of candle, wax seal and a card
photo: A. Brauer

Customized seeded wedding card

pink toned wedding invitation with sweet peas and ribbon
photo: Kristin Paige

Blush toned Earth Silk

purple colored gift wrapping
photo: Carrie Anne Fox

Purple Earth Silk

Gift Giving:

hand holding a jute wrapped dishtowel with a green gift tag
photo: Amelia Reddick

Green Seeded Lotka gift tags

three lavender flower pots on a glass table with dirt in plastic bags and flower seed paper butterflies attached
photo: Jen Noguez

Little seeded butterflies with blue larkspur

Artwork:

picture of orange flowers printed on white paper
photo: Marissa Kay

Printed on lotka paper

close up of botanical pendant
photo: srod2448

Queen Anne’s lace blossom used as flowering tree design

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Iris in Residence: Lori Graham the Rainbow Maker (Happy Pride Month!!)

Earth Silk Color 088 Rainbow colors green red blue purple
Earth Silk Color 088

In ancient Greek mythology, Iris is the personification of a rainbow. She makes a rainbow bridge to travel between the heavens and waters below to fetch drinks for the gods in Olympus. The freedom to travel between these worlds allows her to be the messenger, the communicator between mortals and immortals. Folks usually ‘wish upon a star,’ but next time I see a rainbow, I’ll give my hopes to Iris so she can carry them where they need to be heard.

Speaking of rainbows and communication, I think of Lori Graham as our very own ‘Iris in Residence.’ She’s our color impresario, the master dyer and co-owner of Of The Earth. She creates glorious rainbows of ribbons using sustainable practices. She obsesses about shades, and recently I took an opportunity to speak with her about color.

Q: Lori, besides the lovely ribbons of cotton and silk for Of The Earth, do you dye other materials?

Lori: Yes, I used to dye wool and cotton fabric using natural and chemical dyes.

Q: What were your favorite colors when you were younger?

Lori: When I was young, it was pink pink pink! Pink duvet, bedspread, pink lace – all pink – all the time.  Then in my early twenties, lots of black. Now it’s orange.

Earth Silk Color 089, light pink tipped with bright pink
Earth Silk Color 089

Earth Silk Color 053 pale pink, like bubblegum but not as bright
Earth Silk Color 053

bow in the back of a dress
Earth Silk ribbon adorns a bridesmaid dress

Earth Silk Color 099, pure black silk ribbon
Earth Silk Color 099

Earth Silk Color 092, bright orange ombre to deep golden orange
Earth Silk Color 092

Q: When new Pantone colors are released, do you generally agree with their trend sense?

Lori: I am interested in their bridal color forecast. That’s what I pay attention to because that’s what my clients will ask for. But I’m not always jazzed about the Pantone forecast and dread the “muted” or ambiguous tones that I’ll need to develop. For example, ‘seafoam’ (324, 324-5, 534, or 515?) and ‘merlot’ (093, 030, 247-5, or 232-5?) Both can be imagined in so many different ways.

Q: What is the most difficult color to achieve?

Lori: Right now I would have to say it’s “warm black.”

Earth Silk Color 079 black, softish black
Earth Silk Color 079

Earth Silk Color 241, soft black
Earth Silk Color 241

Black is a finicky mixture of colors and achieving the subtle differences in black shades is more of an art than a science. You’ve probably seen how when bleach splashes on black clothes, you get a lighter blotch, but it’s not grey or “pale black.” You may see a green, purple, orange, or blue blotch.

Lori continues: Regardless of ingredient inconsistencies, we are determined to create true colors for our clients. In the past, ‘warm black’ may have been a two step process. But more alterations and futzing is required when the original ingredients are different.  So, we keep copious notes and are constantly working to ensure that our shades match our swatches. Our colors are definitely a secret recipe!

Q: Do you dream in color, and when you dress up to go out, what is your happiest celebration color?

Lori: Yes, I definitely dream in color and I feel best wearing the colors of a candle’s flame: red, bright orange, fiery yellow and teal blue of the hottest part.

Earth Silk Color 097, four color ribbon with blue, white yellow and red orange
Earth Silk Color 097

Earth Silk Color 019 orange yellow blend
Earth Silk Color 019