Oak Myth + Environment & Animal Awareness

Working with leather has been, for the most part, a positive experience for us. However, every so often we find ourselves having to defend our craft from people of varying view points regarding animal rights and the environment. There is a lot of incorrect, inaccurate, and biased information floating around, so tracking down all of this was difficult much of the time. We have done a whole lot of research and want to be as transparent as possible. This is going to be a long blog post, so please bear with me!

To note: We are not trying to convince anyone who is morally/ethically against animal parts in art to change their views. If you have questions, comments, or if you disagree with our choices please feel free to comment. Our only request is that you are respectful as you do so.

Leather

Our leather comes from Wickett & Craig. W&C is a family owned tannery on the east coast of the US. All of our leather is vegetable tanned tooling leather (which you can read more about below). W&C have received The Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence for establishing near zero solid waste disposal among other accomplishments (source).  

Wickett & Craig of America only uses 100% unbranded hides from cattle raised in Ontario and Quebec. All cattle hides are carefully selected and supplied by their parent company Bank Bros & Son Ltd, Toronto, Canada. In Ontario, the typical meat cow farm keeps only 300-400 cows, as opposed to meat cow farms in the US that keep upwards of 80,000-100,000 cows. Canadian cows can be tended to individually to make sure their quality of life is good. (source)
You can read more about the Ontario cattle farmers and the cows' quality of life here: Link -- these animals are not tortured and they live wonderful lives outside in the fresh air.We never use animal parts from illegal or endangered species.
All unused leather and scrap is used to create keychains and hair accessories, or donated to our local community college sculpture room. We also recycle garment leather from old coats and bags that have been donated to us.

Vegetable-tanned leather is tanned using tannin and other ingredients found in vegetable matter, such as tree bark prepared in bark mills, and other similar sources. Historically, it was occasionally used as armor after hardening, and it has also been used for book binding. (source) 

We never use leather tanned with chemicals like chrome,  aldehyde, or aluminum.

Why Leather?

It is our belief that in creating artwork out of leather we are respecting the animal's life. If animals were to be only used for meat, the hides would be discarded to rot in a landfill. This way, we feel that we are honoring the animal. It is largely a spiritual choice. We are very much aware that our medium of choice once belonged to a living, breathing animal and we are as conscious and respectful of that as we can be. 

Coloring

We use Eco-Flo water based dyes and acrylic paints to add color to our leather items. Both of these mediums are surface only. Water based dyes and acrylic paints do not soak into the leather (which you can test by simply slicing into a piece that has been painted and dried). To achieve a full soak through the leather, we would have to use alcohol based dyes, which we won't do. Certain pigments of acrylic paint do have toxic minerals in them, however these substances are only harmful when the paint is wet. The only danger posed is to the painter (me), if I happen to ingest, inhale, or absorb the paint through the pores in the skin.  Most acrylic paints are non-toxic because they are water based. (source) "The acrylic colors that contain toxic chemicals will have it marked on the label - these include cadmium, cobalt, magnesium, chromium, and lead. They only become toxic when used for airbrushing, or when sanded, or if large amounts are accidentally ingested. For the most part, when you use them for typical acrylic painting purposes (applying them with a brush to the canvas), then they won't be harmful to you." - (source)

Halloween Orders 2012

It's mid August and the orders are already flying in! We're going to keep our etsy shop as stocked as possible, however we have some general guidelines and shipping deadlines for custom orders. Even if an item is marked as in stock, it would be a good idea to read this. :)

Custom Orders:

This applies to pre-existing (marked as "made-to-order" on our etsy) designs and brand new designs.

The LAST day to contact us and put a down payment on a custom order for Halloween is Friday, September 21st, 11:59PM Pacific Standard Time. If you place an order after that, we will do our very best to make it on time, but we cannot guarantee it. Custom orders pile up super quick during this season, and it can take up to 4-5 weeks to get an order finished and shipped.

In Stock Orders:

We will be shipping as quickly as possible, as each order comes in. The last day for standard domestic shipping guaranteed to arrive by Halloween is Wednesday, October 24th, 3:00PM Pacific Standard Time. It usually only takes 2 days for domestic shipments, however it can take up to 7 days. If you order after that date and need the mask by Halloween, contact us and we can upgrade your shipping.

International Orders:

It typically takes one week to arrive outside the US, however since customs could potentially hang onto the item, we cannot guarantee arrival dates. Upgraded faster shipping is available upon request, however there's still no definite way to be sure that custom's won't hold the item for many weeks. We have never had that happen, though it's still a possibility. Always, we provide customs declaration numbers with every order so you can contact them to get everything sorted. My best advice would be to order as quickly as possible.


That's all for now! Expect another one like this once the winter holiday season picks up.

IndieGoGo Campaign for the use of a laser cutter!

Hi! So, short post. BUT we've started a campaign to raise the necessary funds to access a laser cutter for 1 year. All the information is in that link. Or, if you could help spread the word, it would be much appreciated!

FaerieWorlds 2012

What a crazy wild weekend that was! I'm still in the process of sobering up from the high that is FaerieWorlds.

For starters, I've uploaded a n00b video montage of my experience there:



I can't even really properly word all of everything that happened. So, I'll keep this fairly short.

It was absolutely incredible to see so many hordes of people, characters, musicians, and others all wearing Oak Myth Masks. Very quickly, I had lost count of every sighting of past and new creations that were wandering around out there, in the wild. Old customers would even wander in from time to time to tell us stories of all the adventures they had gone on with their masks and crowns. I think that's probably what I love the most... the stories and journeys that people embark upon with these wearable art pieces Eve and I create.

Carmen, our dearest and beloved model, came with us again for this ride (and drove the car most of the way... god, I love that woman). She performed magically! It's thanks to her that Oak Myth Masks will be appearing in a documentary.
Yeah.
She attracted the attention of a film crew, who invited her (wearing the white wolf mask) to be in their documentary titled: "A Journey Through Transformation Festivals." Later, they came into our booth to film and photograph lots of our creations. We're going to be in the credits!
You can watch the trailer here:



And visit their website / Facebook page!

So, I suppose to wrap this post up, I'll leave you all with some wonderful photographs I've collected from the festival:

Last work day

Well today is the last day to finish up the remaining 3 out of 54 masks going to FaerieWorlds, our most profitable festival. All that's left is some varnishing, ribboning, and basic finishing touches.

I'm thrilled to be working on my FOURTH big peacock mask. The more expensive ones don't sell as frequently... Naturally the demographic for mask lovers narrows when you get up into the $200 range. Still, four peacocks!
Our other big expensive one is the wolf... Dunno if I can count how many of those we've sold. Six I think? Whew!

Anywho, we'll have no shortage of masks and crowns for this big beautiful festival. Some tiny top hats and hair clips too. All leather delights :)

Also, our lovely friend, Carmen from FancyFoxHats on Etsy will be selling some of her creations with us!

I'm incredibly excited to go back to the realm. We leave Thursday at 6:00am :)

About Laser Cutting/Engraving

A few months ago, I posted on YouTube a video about the laser cutting process and how awesome it is to laser cut leather:

Since then, we've been getting a lot of emails and messages on Etsy from people looking for advice and information about laser cutters/engravers. So, I've written up this blog post to try and answer any and all questions as best as I can. 

1. What kind of laser cutter do you use? 

Laser cutter, epilog (Helix 60 Watt) 

2. How much did the machine cost? 
We didn't buy one. Currently we purchase day passes to TechShop in San Francisco ($25 for past members, $50 if you haven't been a member), and reserve the use of the Epilog Laser Cutter for 2 hours. This is much less expensive than buying a new laser cutter. High quality laser cutters can cost around $15,000. 

3. How can I use the laser cutter at my local TechShop? 
First you need to take the introductory and safety class ($60). You can find a list of upcoming classes to TechShop by visiting their website, clicking "Classes" on the left menu, selecting your nearest TechShop location, and then clicking on "Laser Cutter." This will pull up a calender displaying all upcoming laser cutting classes. Once you've taken the intro and safety class, you can call your local TechShop to reserve up to 2 hours per day, 6 hours per week on a machine.  

4. What settings do you use to cut through your leather? 
It should first be noted that the machines at TechShop SF aren't brand new, and are used frequently. So, the settings they recommend on the list of acceptable materials are a little off. You should always bring scrap material so that you can test the settings. It also should be noted that I typically don't do etching on my leather so these settings are for cutting out leather only. 

For 4 ounce leather: Speed 47, Power 98, Frequency 512, DPI 600 
For 8 ounce leather: Speed 40, Power 98, Frequency 518, DPI 600 

If you aren't sure if the laser has cut all the way through, just have it pass through again. You'll know the laser has passed all the way through the leather when it shines very bright, or when the leather starts to curl up around the edges that have been cut.  

5. I'm interested in cutting out X material with the laser! 
If you have your own machine then BE VERY CAREFUL experimenting with other materials. I know that lasers typically handle leather, acrylic, matte board, cardboard, paper, wood, chocolate, seaweed, (off the top of my head) very well... however certain metals and glass just will not work and can even break the machine. If you are using a laser cutter at TechShop, they have a list of materials that are absolutely not allowed. Always ask a staff member to get a material approved if it is not on the pre-approved list.  

6. How does the leather turn out when it is laser cut? 
As you can see in the video above, the laser does leave burn marks (the black lines), and it gets SUPER smelly. Hey, it's burned animal flesh after all, to put it bluntly. The burn marks can easily be painted over, and in some cases just rinsed away. Lightly washing the leather in warm water will combat the smell as well. After my second visit to TechShop, the smell didn't bother me too badly. It smells like funky burnt toast mixed with campfire and BBQ.  

Worth it? 
Yes. 

The cuts are incredibly even and don't leave any messy "fuzzies" behind. As I mentioned in the video, lasers can achieve precision that you just cannot do by hand. check out the center of this mask, just above the nose bridge. Those pieces would surely not even be attached if cut out by hand. It also saves a lot of painful labor and stress on your hands, arms, and back!

[a mask we sold at the Berkeley Pagan Festival 2012]

Hope that was helpful! Any further questions, just ask them and I'll try to include them in this FAQ. Happy crafting!

FaerieWorlds Crunch Time

Hi Friends,

So as it usually goes 3 weeks before a festival, we're busily working away on building inventory.

For my own sanity, I'm making a o-do list in order of priority:

- finish all masks that are currently cut out
- stock up on more tiny top hats & hair accessories
- template new design ideas
- Finalize prices on everything + new master price sheet
- finalize new booth accessories
- make master packing list

Our goal for this year's FaerieWorlds is to have 50 masks, minimum. At our current rate we may very well have 65. Or more!

Also, I've been getting a lot of messages regarding using a laser cutter on leather, so I plan on making a big blog post about that. It will cover all the settings I use, general TechShop info, how to template a mask for laser cutting etc.

We've also been getting lots of requests for "vegan masks" or pleather masks. I'll be making a post about that in the future as well.