Love is in the air...

With a new year comes new changes and new opportunities. Although change can be a hard thing to go through (yes, heartbreaking at times) I keep trying to remind myself that it's all part of this bigger road to becoming. 
Becoming wiser
Becoming stronger
Becoming more confidant
More understanding
More patient
More aware
More grateful
More sincere
More forgiving
A better daughter
A better son
A better mother
A better father
A better friend
A better listener
A dreamer
A leader
A learner 
A believer....
And most importantly becoming who you are.
A tangent, I know... 

Bottom line:

Whether this year brings new change in your personal life, business life, in the world, or in your heart... Stay Focused, Stay Positive, and Keep BELIEVING!

Change can bring rad things into this world... check out the change that's happened with MapleXO in the past 5 years... humbling to say the least:

We love you. Happy New Year and thanks for the continued support. 
Many more exciting things happening with MapleXO this year. 
Check back soon to see what's next!

xo

Lindsay Jo

Come visit us this weekend at the Crafty Wonderland Super Colossal Holiday Sale! It's at the convention center. Free admission. Best deals on handmade products right before the holidays. Come, come come! Hang out with us and check out our SUPER rad booth furnished with the most bad-ass mid-century furniture from The Good Mod. 

It's becoming more and more rare to mention Radish Underground to Portland peep's with out them knowing and bragging about how amazing of a boutique it is. Forget about it being one of Portland's best kept secrets, Radish Underground has become a flagship of fashion and trendsetting in this town and soon, they might just take over the fashion world! It's no surprise how this store turned out so awesome once you meet the gals behind the curtain. Owners, Gina and Celeste have to be two of the most down to earth, and inspired people I know (not to mention, both of them are total babes)! I'm so proud to sell MapleXO products in this shop and soon we will offer limited Radish Edition pieces available at Radish Underground ONLY!

About The Shop

Shop Name: Radish Underground

City, State: Portland, OR

Cool fact about the city: Voted city with the best drivers (drivers in other cities must be horrible!)

How Long in Business: 2 years

Favorite Brands you carry: MapleXO doi. and Varnish Clothing and Preloved

What’s the message you wish to spread through your store: "Artists and craftspeople, we love you and are here to help.  Customers, we want to you feel a connection to where the things you consume come from.  We want you to know all about the darling and creative men and women who make all these beautiful things." 

Owners/ Employee(s)

Names: Celestial Sipes and Gina Morris

Interesting fact: We've been friends since we were tweens and we always talked about how we would grow up, live in the same city, and own a business together.

Alter Ego: backup dancers 

5 good bands: Weinland (some of our BFFs from home), Sera Cahoone, Dolly (Parton obviously!), Bon Iver, The Swell Season

5 good books: Hitchhiker's Guide, Skinny Legs and All, Dolly Parton's Biography (that's not actually a very good book, but we both love Dolly),  Akkk I have a million and Gina has a million, but very few crossover -it's like the only thing we argue about. 

What is your prized possession: Radish (is that a total copout?) 2nd place: Gina's audition number (framed) from when I made her audition for So You Think You Can Dance -she might argue this point, but it's rad and I'm writing this.  

What’s the worst: Doing something lame (when you totally know better) and then feeling all shameful.

What’s the best: Having friends who completely love and support each other for decades. 

Skateboarding to you… three words: A Broken Tailbone

MapleXO <3's you Radish! Keep up the good work! xoxo

Collaborations are one of my favorite concepts in the world of business and art. A good friend of mine who taught me everything I know about woodworking, Paul Sykes, owns his own company making wooden bicycle fenders. Sykes Wood Fenders definitely sets the mark with the highest quality wooden fenders on the market, no doubt. They're legit!

Being a part-time-bike commuter myself and a fascinated by the bike community as a whole, I really wanted to create a piece that could cross into that culture. I twisted Paul's rubber arm, and got him to team up with me to create these amazing Recycled Skateboard Bicycle Fenders. 

Even having my hand in every part of the process of making these fenders, I still look at them and think, "how in the world did we do that!?"And since I'm guessing you're thinking along those same lines, check out the photos below to see all the steps.

First we started with a pile of broken skateboards

We cut, sanded, glued, planed, jointed, and sliced until we had these incredible looking skateboard veneers. I guess they're really skateboard veneer-vereers if you think about it! (Did I lose ya there?)

Once we had the veneers cut to size, we layered them with epoxy and a couple reinforcing layers of recycled maple veneers for strength.

Next we put the epoxy coated veneers into one of Paul's molds and clamped it tight to set over night (this is how the fenders get their shape!)

24 hours later, I got to come in to unclamp and unveil the beauty of the skateboard bike fenders! The colors just popped right out!

Paul did some trimming on the table saw, while I annoyed him with my over-excited giggles from across the table.

Then I sanded them smooth, giving them a consistent soft surface.

Paul gave them a flawless clear coat that really brought out those colors

I did some light buffing and polishing to get them perfect

We attached the stainless steal rivets

Then we put the mounting hardware into place

And the fenders we finished!

The first of set of Recycled Skateboard Bicycle Fenders by MapleXO and Sykes Wood Fenders!

MapleXO's girlfriend rings have been purchased for many fun occasions; birthday gifts, anniversary presents, Christmas gifts, and so on... but I was really excited when Breanne Kwatera emailed me wanting to get a ring to celebrate making it through 2 years of motherhood. I don't know why it seemed so special to me, but after emailing back and forth with this lovely lady and learning about how rad her little family was... I just had to share:

So basically, Breanne is this hot mom from Minnesota. Her boyfriend is this awesome skateboarder named Derek and their sweet little daughter, appropriately named Nollie, is just the cutest darn thing you've ever seen!

 (see, I told you so...)

Their family is really driven and inspired by skateboarding and I just love sharing that connection with people across the country. 

Watch out world... this little family has big plans... can't wait to see where their dreams take them!

Hope you love your ring, Breanne...

and thanks for inspiring my newest product: the BFF Bangle Set

::These 2 bangles were made from the same skateboard. I gave one to Breanne, and kept one for myself. BFF status, for sure!::

Earrings out of Recycled Skateboard Wheels?

That’s right! We’ve been making these earrings for a couple years now, but as the design has been perfected and the word has been spread, these hoops are really starting to make waves.

You might be asking yourself: “why the wheels? I thought MapleXO’s jewelry was all from the skateboard decks?”

The decks are definitely our main focus because there are SO many of them that need to be recycled. 

I couldn’t just ignore the wheels though. I couldn’t just ignore the fact that skateboard wheels are made from polyurethane; that polyurethane is made up of petroleum; that petroleum is part of the reason why we’re in a war; that it’s a virtually non-biodegradable material. I knew I needed to figure out a way to recycle these. 

Beyond just the material, it started driving me nuts to realize how most skateboarders I know (myself included) typically switch out all four wheels if they ruin just one. This means that perfectly good wheels were going straight to a landfill to sit for thousands of years. That was the last straw for me. The ideas started piling up and experiments began. When I first wanted to recycle skateboard wheels I knew nothing about the material and spent a full week trying to figure out how to melt it and re-mold it. These experiments included blow torching, boiling, micro-waving, and baking … none of which I would recommend trying. I guess I could say that my persistence forced my muses down another path. I finally I ditched the melting idea and began cutting into the wheels. After the first cut, I saw my earrings and knew exactly how I wanted them to look.

The final product is a very thin, light, wheel-shaped earring that comes in just about every color (we hand dye them in natural pigments) and hangs from sterling silver ear-wires. Since skateboard wheels come in many different sizes, the earrings range from 1.5” in circumference to almost 3". Retailing at just $24, these handmade pieces are inexpensive enough to be sold at independent skate shops as well as boutiques. 

One of the main reasons why I love skateboarding is because it lets you experience the environment around you and appreciate it.

When you appreciate something, you take care of it, give back to it, and just be kind to it… so maybe that’s why we made them: Recycled Skateboard Wheel Earrings… by MapleXO

So... even though I've made thousands of pieces of jewelry from old boards, there's just something about each skateboard that sticks in my head. Sometimes when I sell or give a piece of jewelry to someone, I catch myself telling them all about that piece's skateboard graphic, the company who made the board, the skateboarder who's pro-model it is... and so on and so on... until I realize, oh... this person doesn't really know anything about skateboarding... or care! haha. I guess I just spend so much time with each board in my hand that the details of the graphics really stick in my head. I think I get a little too attached! 

All that being said... I thought I'd extend this fun game of, "Guess Which Board this is From" to those of you who might enjoy it as much as I do.

First person to email, twitter, or facebook (Lindsay@MapleXO.com or @MapleXO) with the correct answer wins a 1 free item off the MapleXO website. (excluding rings).

Guess these things-

Skateboard Brand:

Who's Promodel:

Any additional fun facts about the boards you'd like to add (this is for a tie-breaker):

Good Luck! And have fun...

xo

Lindsay Jo