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Three Stone Steps

Metal Art for Mother’s Day

It’s almost Mother’s Day.   And you probably know this and maybe you’re starting to worry about a gift.  And you may be thinking of making brunch or dinner reservations and/or picking up a bouquet of flowers. If you want to do something a bit different, and a bit more long lasting, we’d suggest buying a piece of metal art or two.

Here are some options. Instead of a bouquet that needs care and watering and may last a week, why not a bouquet that sits on the wall and just looks great? Here’s an option for you:
bouquet with hummingbirdsYou can find this piece right here.

Looking for a grander option?  Here you go:

large-sunflowersYou can find this spectacular piece here. But hurry!  Currently there’s only one of these gorgeous pieces left in stock.

You could also go the recycled metal garden stake route.  I’ll just bet Mom wasn’t expecting these:

garden-stakes-with-circlesFind them right in our home and garden wares section.

There’s more,  of course, including adorable recycled jewelry including earrings and a fantastic, bad ass, but adult, cuff bracelet.

But, if you want these shipped, decide what you need soon.  Mother’s Day is less than two week away!

For those in the Baltimore-Washington area, you can see this stuff live at The Flower Mart in the Mt Vernon section of Baltimore on Friday and Saturday, and at The Baltimore Farmers Market & Bazaar this weekend and next.  And, there will be more to come.

 

The return of Friday Photo/s: Superbowl and Carnival Edition

It’s a big weekend both in the U.S. and in Haiti.  Here in the U.S., of course, there’s the Superbowl, sort of an unofficial national holiday.  In Haiti–or at least in the southern city of Jacmel–there’s Carnival.

When Three Stone Steps was in Jacmel about two weeks ago, we saw lots of  preparations for the big event this weekend.  Here are a few photos:

papier mache zebra masks jacmel haiti

girls and masks jacmel

But, let’s swing back to last where when, in a fit of local Baltimore pride, I decided to have a papier-mâché raven made, you know, because that’s the name of our football team that just so happens to to be in this weekend’s big football game.  (It’s like the Superbowl of football!)  It turns out  it’s far too expensive and cumbersome to ship, but I’m sharing it with you here because it’s a special piece for a special game.

raven papier mache

Whatever you do, enjoy your weekend and Go Ravens!

Friday Photo: Meet Brutus, the wreath man

 

These recycled metal wreaths made in Haiti are spectacular.  And, they’re a great addition to Three Stone Steps’ holiday line.

Meet the artist, Brutus:

wreaths, recycled wreaths, haitian metal artAs you can see, they’re fairly large, around 23″ diameter, and a bit of a challenge to ship.  And, because we only have have two left, these are currently only offered at our live events in the Baltimore-Washington area through the rest of the season.  (If you’re not in the area and really, really want one, we’ll try to work it out.)

For those further afield, don’t despair, soon we’ll try to offer easily shippable sizes online.  Stay tuned.

And, happy Friday!

Amazing recycled holiday products are now online. Finally.

File under:  Better late than never.  After missing Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Whatever Sunday, Cyber Monday, and Giving Back or Fair Trade Tuesday (I assume it’s both) Three Stone Steps‘ amazing, ethically sourced products for Christmas, Hanukkah, and beyond are finally available online.

This year we’ve added some great new ornaments from Haiti, including lively and colorful papier-mâché handcrafted and hand painted in the papier-mâché capital of the country, Jacmel.  (I don’t think it’s the official name of the city, but it has a nice ring to it.)

We also have lovely trumpeting angel recycled metal ornaments made exclusively for Three Stone Steps.

We’ve carried great, well loved recycled paper ornaments from Manila, the Philippines, from a women’s collective in the past and the tradition carries on to Holidays 2012.   As usual, they come in two sizes, and while most consist of paper “beads,” we’re partial to the paper “twine” made from recycled magazines.

And, what would the holidays be without our super special almost famous recycled dreidels? A fancy new style–with different color letters–is available for those eight crazy nights of Hanukkah.

These adorable little spinning tops generally sell out fast.  Remember, the first night of Hanukkah is a little more than a week away.  And, don’t forget, we have great, handmade, recycled menorahs, too.

Of course, Three Stone Steps isn’t the only game in town for buying these recycled Christmas and Hanukkah goods.  If you’re looking for one of our fine retail partners, perhaps near you, please let us know where you are and we’ll give you some options.  Or, if you’re in the Baltimore-Washington area, come see us live.  You can find our schedule of events here.

 

 

Friday Photo: Meet Jonas (again)

We blogged about Jonas back and July.  He makes many of Three Stone Steps’  most adored metal pieces, including the peace dove (great any time, but super special for the holidays) and our recycled dragonfly.  Soon we’ll be offering his lovely sunflower bouquet, which you can see by his left elbow.

We’re only blogging about Jonas again on because we took a much better photo of him during last month’s trip to Haiti and wanted to show it off.  (As an added bonus, there’s a mystery person in the background.)

Jonas

Have a good weekend.  If you’re in Frankenstorm/Hurricane Sandy’s path (as we are here) stay safe!

Friday Photo: Recycled metal cuff bracelet artists

When we were in Haiti last month, we photographed or re-photographed the artists with whom we work.  Here are Three Stone Steps new cuff bracelet artists, James and Romel.

recycled metal cuff bracelet artists

While, and yet again, we don’t have these cuff bracelets on our site, we do have other recycled metal cuff bracelets and other jewelry, including recycled earrings and recycled rings available right here.

If you’re wondering, yes, I requested that Wonder Woman pose.  It works quite well, yes?

Binders full of Haitian metal art

Here at Three Stone Steps we’re finally getting around to cataloging all the new pieces of recycled Haitian metal art we got on our list trip to Croix des Bouquets.

The first part of the process is photographing everything.  And, since it’ll take a while until these pieces make to the our website, here’s a sneak peek of some of the new pieces on offer.

recycled metal fish art

When I saw this I loved it, then I unloved it but bought it anyway. I love it again.

 

tree of life

put a bird on it!

recycled metal bouquet

Wilt-free.

For those thinking about Christmas decorations, some fantastic triptychs:

recycled metal triptych, three wise men

Wise men.

 

recycled metal art from Haiti, Crucifixion

Crucifixion

And, finally, we present a great rara band:

recycled metal art, rara band

Strike up the band!

 

Recycled Haitian metal art: new arrivals

Three Stone Steps picked up a lot of great new recycled metal art pieces on our trip to Haiti some weeks ago.  While we’re always looking for great pieces, we especially wanted new larger artwork.

Larger artwork is a challenge to photograph.  (And, is a hassle to ship.)  But, we decided to take advantage of the crisp, October weather to shoot a few pieces in Three Stone Steps’ worldwide headquarters rowhouse backyard.

And, here you have a really fantastic recycled metal wreath.

recycled metal wreath from Haiti

Really, it’s an evergreen, since you can use it to adorn your door Christmas after Christmas.

With less success, we tried to photograph a great sunflower piece.

sunflowers

There are more pieces.  But we needed more nails and we were too dejected from last night’s heartbreaking Orioles loss to walk down to our very neighborhood-y hardware store.

We hope to get more products photographed tomorrow, especially after a win by our beloved O’s.  Stay tuned and BuckleUp!

 

Friday Photo: Some (over exposed) kids in Jacmel

Three Stone Steps returned last week from a quickly arranged, whirlwind trip to Haiti.  We stopped in Jacmel to meet with some of the papier-mâché artists we’ve been working with.  Lots of neighborhood kids were hanging around, seeing what we were up to, and I took a horribly overexposed picture of them (which I like anyway) and is today’s Friday Photo.

children in jacmel haiti

Enjoy the weekend.

Friday Photo: Balance

Three Stone Steps is planning to go back to Haiti in the next two weeks or so.  We’ll be meeting with artisans, picking up some new pieces of recycled metal art, and begin working on new designs for 2013.

We’ve always been impressed by the arts there, but we’re equally impressed with the poise and balance by which people go about their daily lives.

Below is a serene scene from the beachfront artisans town of Jacmel:

woman walking in Jacmel

Here’s hoping you find balance, physical or otherwise, this weekend.