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The Tip is 'Teach Grandchildren' One day, while I was on the Made In America Secrets site my granddaughter noticed and asked me what I was doing. I told her about the Big Secret and as I explained, she began to ask me more questions. After several minutes she left my office to play with her little sister. Months had gone by and until recently, I had forgotten about that moment. She was visiting again and I was talking to her about buying a custom printed T-Shirt. She immediately told me about a website that I could use to buy one. Wow I thought, she is only eight years old and already teaching me. The most amazing thing then happened, she said "Pops they sell Made In America T-Shirts". Thanks to her I purchased six custom Made In USA T-Shirts. Her name is Britton, she understands the Big Secret and I love it when she tells me her Little Secrets! Now she is ten and writing a screenplay called Mertastic. It is a story about a mermaid. Recently, she was visiting our house again and using my computer. She called me to come into my office and of course I came to her because that is what grandparents love to do. One of the reasons I love to be with her is because it is always interesting to see what she is up to. This time, she needed a mermaid tail for her movie, so we began to look around using Google. Her mother is a talented seamstress and will make the tail so we were looking for fabric that would be satisfy my granddaughter's vision of her mermaid tail. Once again we began to talk about Made in America and therefore started to investigate the country of origin of the fabrics she was considering. Because of that experience Made in USA fabric is now one of Made in America Secrets products. Thank you, Britton. Buying Tip Continued - Read more on Made in America Products by Swaine Street Woodworking The Swaine Street collection started on a very small scale: creator Jana started by handmaking a few high-quality items that she felt her kitchen was missing. As a woodworker with a background in printmaking and cabinetry, Jana found that turning her skills to making the perfect cutting board was a good fit?so good, in fact, that friends and family, and pretty soon, other people in the community?began asking if Jana would be making more Swaine Street cutting boards. The Swaine Street collection of oils and waxes is carefully balanced to enhance the look and durability of Swaine Street products and the rest of your wooden kitchenwares, keeping them preserved and aging beautifully. Our balanced oil treatment prevents the boards from splitting, by penetrating deeply into the wood. The wax adds an extra layer of protection, and neither affects the food you prepare?it only makes cleanup easier, and brings out the natural grain of the wood even more vividly. Jana's philosophy, in the kitchen and as an artisan, is to reduce clutter: a few carefully chosen kitchen tools, made with care, can last a lifetime, only improving with age. There are many pieces in my kitchen?dishes and utensils I use every day?that have been in my family for generations, Jana says. That's what got me thinking about craftsmanship, long before I started making my own cutting boards. The history of these objects, these plates and spoons that were still so useful, but had years of past behind them?I wanted to make my cutting boards part of that tradition, build them out of rich wood that had natural variations, unique characteristics that would come out with age. Swaine Street Woodworking is about making objects that are useful and beautiful right now, and will be useful and beautiful fifty years from now. |
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