Tag: sustainable design

Pine Tar: A Sustainable, Natural Wood Preservative and Stain

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Venmo, dishwashers, those Instagram filters that give tired faces a glow-up—we can all agree our world has benefited from progress. But some things don’t need to be improved upon. Case in point: pine tar.

Pine tar has been in existence since the days of the plundering-and-pilfering Vikings, who distilled the stuff in large quantities and used it to preserve their wooden ships. If it’s potent enough to waterproof these vessels that sailed the rough waters of the North Sea, it’s surely good enough to protect your wood fence, deck, garden shed, barn, or home.

To learn more about pine tar, we reached out to the folks at Earth & Flax and Sage Restoration, two North American companies that specialize in natural Scandinavian paints and wood finishes, as well as Emil Jespersen, cofounder of Danish-Norwegian architecture firm Jespersen Nødtvedt, who recently worked with pine tar on a project for a client.

What is pine tar?

Above: Plywood painted with pine tar clads the exterior of this cottage in Sweden by architect Johannes Norlander. Photograph by Rasmus Norlander, courtesy of Johannes Norlander Arkitektur, from Architect Visit: Johannes Norlander in Sweden.

Pine tar is a natural marine-grade wood preservative. Traditional pine tar was made by essentially cooking down pine stumps in fire pits to yield a syrup-y, dark-colored, and resin- and turpentine-rich liquid. Today, most pine tar products are produced in kilns (using heat only).

Post-Viking Age, pine tar is primarily used as a finish for decks, fences, facades, and roofs in Scandinavian countries, but interest in the wood preservative is growing in the U.S. “What’s old is new again. People are looking for alternatives to modern chemical finishes, and architects are looking for something new to offer clients,” says Michael Sinclair of Sage Restoration, which is based in Tamworth, Ontario. “Our sales have been increasing every year.”

Natalie Yon Eriksson, founder of Philadelphia’s Earth & Flax, agrees. “This trend is going strong. Pine tar has been used with or in place of the traditional Japanese shou sugi ban burned or charred siding treatment,” she says. “The best aspects of pine tar are that it is sourced from nature, using a waste product from the timber industry, and is an exceptional natural wood preservative.”

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March 15, 2024
Sustainable Seed Starting: 5 Favorite Eco-Conscious Methods

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Buying plastic starter pots and trays certainly isn’t going to tip the world into a climate disaster, but when there are so many plastic-free options these days, you have every reason to choose sustainable over synthetic. Below, five Gardenista-approved, Earth-friendly options for starting seeds. (Note: If you already have plastic starter pots, go ahead and […]

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March 8, 2024
Quick Takes With: Molly Sedlacek – Gardenista

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We are big admirers of Molly Sedlacek, a self-described “second generation female landscape designer from the central coast of Oregon.” (You can find our coverage of her projects here, here, and here.) As the founder of ORCA, she wants to “help reconnect humans with nature through plants and materials in their rawest form. My work bridges the places I find most inspiring: the Pacific Northwest in Oregon and West Marin in California.”

For our inaugural Quick Takes column, we asked Molly about plants, pavers, and her personal preferences about just everything.

Photography courtesy of ORCA.

Above: Molly has a background in organic textiles, where she “found a love for using materials that the earth provides us to create spaces that bring us tranquility.”

Your first garden memory:

Under the large maple tree in my parent’s front garden in Florence, OR. I am laying in the grass looking up, moving my head to allow the leaves to shade the sun as the light filters through. There is a smell of grass below me and the sound of blue jays above me. I revisit that tree, and lay under it, every time I am home.

Book/show/movie/art that has influenced your work:

Dwellings, a book from the ’70s my father gave me. The conversations are around building with the materials in proximity to us, and creating space through resourcefulness.

A quote from the book: “The way in which you are and I am, the manner in which we humans are on the earth, is Bauen, dwelling. To be a human means to be on earth as a mortal. It means to dwell. The old word bauen which says that man is insofar as he dwells, this word bauen however also means at the same time to cherish and protect, to preserve and care for, specially to till the soil, to cultivate the vine. Such building only takes care—it tends the growth that ripens its fruit of its own accord.

Garden-related book you return to time and again:

Above: Japanese Gardens Today is no longer in print, but you can find used versions online. It was published in 1959.

Japanese Gardens for Today by David Engel—one of my favorite books that talks about the philosophies of Japanese gardens. Specifically, this book discusses the four human principles of design that ORCA uses in our work: economic unity, logical unity, aesthetic unity, and spiritual unity.

Instagram account that inspires you:

@for.the.wild It’s a podcast and Instagram account that is focused on land-based protection, co-liberation, and intersectional storytelling. They feature some really wonderful subjects, and I find myself awaiting their posts.

Plant that makes you swoon:

Eriogonum fasciculatum. California’s native buckwheat gives the garden year-round magic. My favorite time for this plant is in fall when it turns a rusty red color. We use it abundantly in our gardens—clients and pollinators love it.

Plant that makes you want to run the other way:

Dracaena trifasciata. I’ve always had a hard time with this plant as it is very structured. I’m a fan of movement and texture that evolves. The snake plant seems to be stuck in its way, without much flexibility.

Favorite go-to plant:

Above: A small packet of Desert Globemallow seeds is $3 at Native Seeds Search.

Sphaeralcea ambigua. Desert globemallow is such a carefree, colorful texture to add to any garden. It’s great for pollinators and its pale silvery blue leaf adds a bit of brightness. I like using it at the edges or bases of hedges to brighten the garden. There’s a large variety of mallows, too, so if the orangey color isn’t right for the space, chances are there’s another color that will work.

Most dreaded gardening chore:

Weeding nettle! Ouch.

Unpopular gardening opinion:

Let wood rot.

The one thing you wish gardeners would stop doing:

Above: No plastic here! ORCA prioritizes the use of natural, sustainable materials.

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March 3, 2024
The Bug Snug: An Easy DIY Insect Habitat by OmVed Gardens

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Every so often a DIY project comes across our Instagram feed that stops us in our tracks–as was the case when Omved Gardens shared a video tutorial on building a “bug snug” for hibernating insects. Here was a truly easy to do-it-yourself project that uses materials gardeners likely have on hand (sticks and twine) and solves a common problem (what to do with extra cuttings and slow-to-compost twigs), all while supporting wildlife. We bookmarked it straightaway, but what was even more intriguing was that within a few weeks, we saw other gardeners recreating the bug snug or reposting OmVed’s video on their own feed: This humble garden DIY had gone about as viral as a garden post could go.

Founded in 2017 on a formally tarmacked piece of land in north London’s Highgate Village, Omved Gardens is an educational garden and community space with a focus on biodiversity and permaculture. John Gaffney, the landscape gardener at Omved, says inspiration for the bug snug came from a visit to the Royal Horticultural Society’s Wisley Garden last fall. “When leaving the gardens I noticed these pyramidal structures dotted around the car park,” says Gaffney. “There were signs posted explaining the purpose of these interesting structures and how they were made.” The towers of sticks support insects and invertebrates by providing a safe place to hibernate, and the hollow stems of dead plants, in particular, make excellent little hideaways.

So when Gaffney was left with piles of sticks and hollow stems after preparing Omved’s wildflower beds for winter, he decided to make a smaller-scale version of the pyramids he’d seen at Wisley. “As gardeners, it’s very easy to want to get in the garden and clean up all the mess and the cuttings off the floor. But actually what wildlife wants is a bit of mess,” Gaffney says. And not only are the structures functional and attractive, he notes, they have made for great conversation starters about how to “prepare” for winter and the need to leave a bit of untidiness around for wildlife.

Here’s how to create your own bug snug.

Photography by Will Hearle, courtesy of OmVed Gardens, unless otherwise noted.

Step 1: Build the frame.

Above: Gaffney demonstrates how to create the frame for the bug snug. Stills from video by Will Hearle for OmVed Gardens.

Choose a position for your snug in a sunny spot if possible. Gather three sturdy wood poles of equal length; Gaffney used hazel, but says you can use any straight pieces of wood, including bamboo canes. You can make your snug any size (OmVed’s snugs stand about chest high). Gaffney tied the poles together informally; if you want to get fancy, you can use a clove hitch to create a proper tripod lashing. Once you’ve secured the poles, they should stand up by themselves, but you can knock them into the ground with a hammer or mallet to make the pyramid more secure.

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January 11, 2024
Whole Egg Planting, Seaweed Slug Repellent, A Bug Snug, and Other Trends to Try

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While I definitely don’t consider myself a trendsetter—or even a person who follows trends—my interest is always piqued when I learn of new gardening approaches and tricks. Here, I’ve rounded up a few of my favorites that I plan to try this coming year. (And if you’re ahead of the game and have already given these a go, let us know how it went in the Comments.)

1. Lay seaweed down to repel snails and slugs.

Above: Whole seaweed is purportedly a great soil amendment—and snail and slug repellent. Photograph by H Matthew Howarth via Flickr, from Seafood for the Garden: Make Your Own Organic Fertilizer.

Liquid seaweed is a well-known wonderful organic fertilizer, but how about whole seaweed as pest control? Researchers are experimenting with seaweed to fight various plant invaders, and so are gardeners. Some claim that this briny treasure from the sea works as an excellent snail and slug repellent. Plus, it benefits the soil with ready-to-use trace minerals and helps block out weeds—and it’s free if you live near a beach! The theory goes like this: Since seaweed holds a lot of salt, it will repel slugs and snails, which detest salt. Furthermore, when seaweed dries it becomes crackly and crisp, which soft-bodied slugs and snails also dislike.

I plan to gather some fresh seaweed and use it like a wet mulch around vulnerable plants, or place it around the perimeter of a garden bed. The recommendation is to layer it about 4-inches-high because it will shrink as it dries. If you’re planning to give this a try, I’d suggest keeping the seaweed away from stems and leaves (as they don’t enjoy the salt either) and collect only the seaweed you need (as seaweed provides shelter and food for various marine life).

2. Add edimentals to the garden.

Above: Chives, with their purple pompom flowers, are pretty and edible. Photograph by Clive Nichols, courtesy of Harry Holding Studio, from Edimentals Are Trending. Here’s Why You Should Include Them In Your Garden.

As you probably guessed, this is the joining of the words edible and ornamental, the idea being that a plant can be both tasty and decorative at the same time. As someone who loves to multitask, I’m drawn to plants that adopt the same behavior. Edimentals can be annuals, perennials, trees, or shrubs. Looking closer, options include edible leaves, berries, fruits, roots, or flowers.

What I appreciate about edimentals is that harvesting becomes more like foraging as the plants are dispersed around a garden instead of living in a designated patch or bed. The other positive aspect is that most edimentals also attract pollinators. Here are some plants I will add this year: Artichokes for their bold architectural leaves, perennial herbs like chives (which have charming pink flower heads), and Nasturiums whose flowers can be tossed in salads.

3. Crack an egg into a planting hole.

Above: Raw egg is said to be a cure for all sorts of ailments—including nutrient-weak soil. Photograph by Justine Hand, from Gardening 101: How to Use Eggshells in the Garden.

This idea came from a client of mine who swears by this technique, an old trick that has been passed down for generations of gardeners. I knew about adding crushed egg shells to compost bins and as a topdressing, but this method—in which you add a whole, unbroken raw egg to the bottom of your planting hole—is new to me. My client found that when she did this in a few pots, she discovered the egg-filled pots looked greener and grew larger than the egg-less pots (her controls).

This form of direct composting theoretically results in boosted soil nutrients, especially calcium and beneficial mycorrhizea. Some other sources say that buried eggs are excellent for tomatoes to prevent blossom end rot. I understand that this technique is not a quick solution as the decomposition process needs time to occur and that I could be encouraging raccoons or other curious creatures to investigate if they detect an odor, but I am willing to try. (Side note: As someone who is mildly allergic to eggs, I don’t feel bad repurposing them for the betterment of plants.)

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December 22, 2023
DIY Decorating with Dried Alliums, Your Garden's Readymade Baubles – Gardenista

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Alliums may well be the jewels of the summer garden, springing into flower from early in the season and then standing with their ornate seedheads for many months more. But harvest them before winter sets in, and you’ll have exquisite jewels to decorate for the holidays, too. We take a closer look at these mesmerizing forms and ways to use them.

Photography by Clare Coulson except where noted.

Above: In summer at just over a foot tall, Allium christophii is short enough to nestle in amongst low-growing perennials and grasses, and they look stunning with swaying tufts of Stipa tenuissima and spires of verbascums, as seen here at Beth Chatto’s dry garden in Essex, U.K.

The most familiar allium to many gardeners will be A. hollandicum ‘Purple Sensation’. The ever popular spring bulbs are often planted in swathes to produce a sea of rich color in midsummer. While these heads will dry well, they won’t have the impact of the supersize A. christophii, which produces huge heads with metallic mauve flowers.

Above: The allium’s star shaped seedheads are beautiful when left bare.

For many gardeners these seedheads provide useful structure in borders long after flowering. But ideally, to keep them in perfect form, remove them from the garden sometime in late summer and then stand or hang them to preserve their shape.

Above: In the my kitchen, heads of alliums are arranged through a framework of branches or in pots. The branches are illuminated with copper wired microlights, £4.99, Lights4Fun.

Once dried, the seedheads can be used in different ways. Create a structure using birch or hazel branches, perhaps arching around a window. Secure the main branches firmly to the wall (a hook will support the key branches) and then weave microlights around them. The featherlight allium balls can be placed carefully between branches where they won’t need any further support.

In his book The Flower Yard, Arthur Parkinson suggests cutting the stems down to a couple of inches and threading with wire, a delicate operation but one that results in giant baubles. “They can then be hung from the ceiling,” says Parkinson. “Golden stars floating in mid-air. They look especially beautiful en masse, hanging at different heights above a table.”

Above: Arthur Parkinson combines dried alliums with dried hydrangea, honesty and a colorful aviary of glass songbirds. Photograph by Arthur Parkinson.

Above: A bowl of paperwhite narcissi provide a scented contrast to branches and seedheads.

Above: Perfect seedheads sprayed gold can be stored and used for several years. Photograph by Arthur Parkinson.

See also:

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December 20, 2023
Naturalistic Permeable Driveways:Tips on Creating a Beautiful Place to Park Your Car

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What if your driveway were beautiful? If you have a typical American stretch of asphalt for a driveway, this question might come off as an absurd provocation, but Andrea Hurd, the founder of Mariposa Gardening & Design, has proven over and over that a beautiful place to park your car is possible. Her Bay Area firm uses their expertise in stonework and horticulture to create driveways that are an attractive addition to the landscape. Hurd’s interest in reimagining driveways doesn’t stem solely from aesthetic ambitions, though.

Trained in permaculture, Hurd worked with the San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners in the 1990s. There, she learned that the water that runs over your driveway picks up oil and gas that has leaked from cars. “That polluted water goes into storm drains that go straight to the Bay,” says Hurd. One solution to manage this problem is to replace conventional driveways with permeable ones, which allow stormwater to be filtered through the soil, keeping pollutants out of natural bodies of water.

The benefits of a permeable driveway don’t end there. By keeping rainwater on a homeowner’s property, the water soaks into the ground to recharge the groundwater table. Ripping out concrete can also reduce the heat island effect, as concrete reflects the sun’s heat. And if you add plants to your new permeable driveway, you can create habitat for pollinators—not to mention improved curb appeal. Perhaps best of all? Your newly beautified driveway can be used as garden space when your car is not parked there.

Here’s what you need to know to create your own beautiful, permeable parking spot:

Photography by Saxon Holt, unless otherwise noted.

Remove the concrete.

Above: Before and after—Mariposa Gardening & Design replaced this concrete driveway in Berkeley with a permeable design that created room for many new plants, including a mixture of creeping thymes and native strawberries.

The first step to creating a permeable driveway is to remove non-permeable concrete or asphalt surfaces. Unless you’re handy with a jackhammer, this is probably a job for a pro. “Hopefully you have a driveway that was built to code, which means you’ve got a sufficient amount of base material underneath the concrete pour,” says Hurd. But if that is not the case, your contractors will need to regrade the driveway so that water slopes away from the foundation of the house.

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December 15, 2023
A Foraged Christmas Branch: A Charlie Brown-Inspired Christmas Tree by Amy Ilias

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We’ve been noting the slow rise of sparse-chic, Charlie Brown-style Christmas trees in the homes of trendsetters the past few years. But these versions—large, artful, completely foliage-free branches decorated with colorful ornaments and lights—may be the sparsest and chicest of all (not to mention most eco-conscious).

We spotted the festive branches on designer Amy Ilias’ Instagram account recently and reached out to learn the what, why, and how behind her arresting holiday decor. Read on to find out how to make your own.

Photography by Amy Ilias.

Above: Amy and her husband, artist Jim Denney, started the tradition of the holiday branch back in 2010. Their first “was a large branch that Jim C-clamped to our dining table in Brooklyn. It was very humble, kind of sad, and very much inspired by Charlie Brown’s tree. It was a way of re-entering festivity after a long and difficult personal stretch,” shares Amy. After moving into a large Victorian in the Hudson Valley (see the house tour here), they transitioned to much larger, free-standing branches.

Above: The branches are each secured to planks of wood with long screws. Large stones weigh down the planks. “During the Covid pandemic, we had a tradition: Jim would read to me while I did jigsaw puzzles at the coffee table. It was around the holidays, and he was reading Richard Power’s beautiful book The Overstory [a novel about trees and the interconnectedness of everything]. It was that reading, and listening to Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Fir Tree” for the millionth time on NPR that made my decision to commit to fallen branches,” says Amy.

Above: Amy decorates the branches with colorful ornaments, beads, and, of course, string lights.

Above: Pictured on the left are the branches they foraged for the 2021 holidays. Pictured on the right is where they found those branches that year: in a brush pile next to a parking lot near their home. “We have a very small car, so our parameter is that we need to be able to carry it home,” says Amy. “The other is that it needs to be fallen. We usually find the branches in brush piles on vacant lots. Maybe someday we will get an old pickup and our range will expand.”

Above: A few days after we connected with Amy about her branches, they came crashing down, likely from one of the couple’s three overzealous cats. Curiosity killed the Christmas branch. “A bunch of ornament and branch casualties. Practicing non attachment,” she wrote on Instagram.

Above: The suspects.

To see Amy and Jim’s inspiring home, check out The Lavender Ghost: In the Hudson Valley, a Creative Couple’s Victorian Home with an Old Soul.

To see their garden, go to Before & After: A Creative Couple’s Daring Garden Do-Over in Upstate New York.

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December 12, 2023
Sea Ranch Lodge Landscape Designed by Terremoto to Blend In

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To a certain sector of the design world, Sea Ranch is a legend—but many people have never heard of it. A planned community two hours north of San Francisco, Sea Ranch is a prime example of 1960s West Coast modernism. Its minimalist cedar-clad buildings sit on a seemingly untouched stretch of the Sonoma Coast, thanks to the original master plan by landscape architect Lawrence Halprin.

Halprin and the developers imagined Sea Ranch “living lightly on the land” and wrote strict rules about the landscaping to enforce this vision. Over time, though, the property surrounding the shared public buildings, including the Sea Ranch Lodge, lost its definition and become a hodgepodge of plants with confusing pathways.

When the Sea Ranch changed hands in 2018, the new owners hired Seattle architecture firm Mithun and interior designer Charles de Lisle to update the communal buildings, and California landscape architecture firm Terremoto to redesign the landscape surrounding them. While the building refresh received accolades in the design media, the landscape went mostly unmentioned. “People said, ‘It looks like it’s always been there,’” says David Godshall, a partner at Terremoto, “I say that’s hard!” In fact, the Terremoto team went to extraordinary lengths to make the new plantings meld seamlessly into the surrounding land. “The wildness is what makes Sea Ranch so wonderful,” says Story Wiggins, the lead designer on the project. “Our goal was to embed the buildings further into what is this existing epic landscape.”

Here’s how Terremoto achieved their subtle redesign.

Photography by Caitlin Atkinson, courtesy of Terremoto.

1. Read the fine print of the surrounding land.

Above: A photo of the nearby coast that the Terremoto team took as part of their research.

Before any sketches were drawn or plants chosen, the Terremoto team familiarized themselves with the Sea Ranch property and the surrounding area. “We would go on hikes to see what we really loved and what felt good,” says Wiggins. “We were trying to mimic what’s there in a very basic way, and not getting too fancy with it.” Terremoto didn’t just make a list of the plants they saw in nature, they noted the patterns in which they grew and even studied the way that rocks were scattered in the earth. Wiggins suggests that any home gardener could do the same by going to a piece of preserved wilderness near their own home and taking notes and photos.

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November 8, 2023
Warrie Price, On The Battery’s Sustainable Landscape Design

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This is part of a series with Perfect Earth Project, a nonprofit dedicated to toxic-free, nature-based gardening.

For two decades, The Battery has been a model for public parks and sustainable horticulture in New York City and beyond, proving that what we work toward at Perfect Earth Project is possible—and beautiful: You can plant drop-dead gorgeous landscapes for biodiversity. You can care for these perennial gardens without any toxic chemicals—and do it for decades. You can create and plant a playground to handle floods from ever-frequent storms. You can nurture old-growth trees. You can grow an organic farm right in the middle of downtown Manhattan and use it to teach and feed people. And, you can do all of this while welcoming millions of people 365 days of the year—for free.

Above: In 2004, Piet Oudolf, then relatively unknown, designed the master horticultural plan for The Battery.

The powerhouse behind The Battery is Warrie Price, the founder of the nonprofit Battery Conservancy, which “designs, builds, maintains, and activates” the park. It doesn’t surprise me at all when autocorrect changes “Warrie” to “warrior.” She’s been a beloved and fierce advocate for conservation and sustainable horticulture for decades. “I think we have done an extraordinary project that began so small, but then really took off because how can you not want to keep making things beautiful?” she says. “At The Battery Conservancy, we like to say we’re ‘devoted to wow.’ ”

Below, Price shares her thoughts about The Battery. [This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.]

Photography courtesy of The Battery Conservancy.

Q: How did The Battery Conservancy begin?

A: I was asked by Betsy Barlow Rogers [founder of the Central Park Conservancy] to create a nonprofit for The Battery. The park had a master plan created by landscape architect Philip Winslow, who sadly died before the project could begin…. But there was no horticulture, no horticulturist on the team at the time, no playground, no bikeway, no urban farm. Still, it provided the guidelines, and we review it every time we make a change in the park.

Above: Thanks to the efforts of Warrie Price and The Battery Conservancy, the promenade’s cracked, barren blacktop was transformed into a perennial haven planted for biodiversity and beauty—and always taken care of without toxic chemicals.

We started with the promenade. We hired Piet Oudolf, who was not well known here at the time. He created a master horticultural plan. I think his genius is bringing the natural world into this romantic environment. In 2003, Piet first designed the Garden of Remembrance after 9/11 to honor those we lost, those who made it home safe that day, and those who would come later. It was created by private funding and a whole lot of volunteer hands. We’ve been able to enjoy them for 20 years, but they’re now about to go through reconstruction with the changes to the park. [Oudolf’s other contributions include the Bosque gardens, woodland plantings, and the bikeway.]

I think from the beginning, I wanted to make the park its own destination, not just a passageway. It was important to me personally because of its rich heritage.

Q: Why are public parks and gardens important to city life?

A: Beauty never stops healing the soul, and gardens are beautiful: green gardens, multi-color gardens—all plant life. Also, public parks and gardens in cities are unexpected, so they’re cherished. They get people to stop because there is always something of interest happening, especially in a perennial garden. When you come to The Battery every week, you’ll see the gardens change and evolve.

Above: Above: “The gardens here are the essence of what the park is. We know everyone loves the bikeway gardens. We’ve been voted number one on the most beautiful part of the Manhattan bikeway,” says Price.

Our goal at The Battery is to enhance life mentally and physically. When you physically walk through the gardens, you interchange with nature. Mentally there’s a quiet sense of what beauty does to get your mind concentrating on something. That’s an additive to good health and a good feeling versus dealing with the stress and the problems that surround you in a very urban setting.

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October 20, 2023
Stitch Octopus Releases Signature Collection of Modern Cross Stitch Kits
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Vivid + modern cross stitch kits are ethically sourced using high-quality, sustainable materials for a stylish refresh of an age-old craft

Press Release
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updated: Jul 24, 2018
SEATTLE, July 24, 2018 (Newswire.com)
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Designer Rachel Alva from Stitch Octopus is releasing the brand new Signature Collection, and each product will be individually made by the designer herself. The Signature Collection will be released on July 24.

Stitch Octopus is known for helping new and experienced stitchers get to the fun, relaxing parts of cross stitching faster so they can live more creative, satisfying lives.

Feel the joy of the meditative process as well as the satisfaction of completing a piece of handcrafted art.

Rachel Alva, Owner/Designer

Thus, for the first time, Alva has created an entire product line of her favorite and most popular cross stitch kits. The new Signature Collection is scheduled to go live on July 24.

The collection will be sold on stitchoctopus.com and at select Seattle retailers where the limited products are scheduled to sell out by the end of the season.

The cross stitch kits are designed to showcase the natural and mathematical world with a mix of soothing and vibrant colors that make new and experienced stitchers feel the joy of the meditative process as well as the satisfaction of completing a piece of handcrafted art.

Several products include gold metallic thread and shades of teal to capitalize on today’s trends.

Some of the cross stitch kits are made from nontraditional stitching surfaces like notecards and wooden coasters, which allow makers to complete an entire project in a single evening that can be used right away.

Her collection also includes 100% compostable packaging, bamboo hoops, and cotton fabric to minimize environmental impact.

Each individual cross stitch kit design has its own name. A few examples are:
- Space Unicorn
- Alphabet
- Geode
- Bloom
- Stateside
The Signature Collection ranges in price from $32 to $95.

Alva is excited to welcome her fans to her the new handmade product line collection they’ve been requesting.

Contact Info

For more information about Signature Collection or for an interview with Rachel Alva, please write to stitchoctopus@gmail.com. Media high-res photos are available upon request.

About Stitch Octopus

Rachel Alva started designing cross stitch kits after she was faced with a very real problem. Although cross stitching is more needed than ever to unplug and unwind from our busy digital lives, most of the commercially available kits are stuck in the past. After many months of designing cross stitch kits pixel by pixel, Stitch Octopus products started gaining notoriety among the modern cross stitch industry.

stitchoctopus.com

Source: Stitch Octopus
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July 24, 2018