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Showing posts with label unique. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unique. Show all posts

Steampunk Christmas Ornaments Are One Of A Kind Handmade Art For Your Tree.




Absolutely beautiful, one of a kind, handmade 'steampunk' style Christmas ornaments will turn your tree into a Victorian Wonderland that even Jules Verne, Tesla and The Doctor would envy.


above: detail of Christmas Poinsettia Ornament

These are crafted by Marianne from Montana's Dragon Tracks Studio using polymer clay over glass and look like real industrial metal. Beautifully painted with metallic paints and mica powders, they appear as bronze, brass, gold, copper and silver metal. And they are sealed with a protective finish so they are durable and can be used year after year.


above: detail of Airship ornament

Fine details such as ball chains, watch gears, grommets, faux rivets, tiny metal charms, metal beads, pieces of pipe, mini propellers and screw heads are added to the clay which has been imprinted or embossed with patterns that emulate everything from laces to gears.



These are truly pieces of art, stunning from every side. A few of them actually differ from front to back so it's like having two ornaments in one. The steampunk ornaments vary in price depending upon size and she's only made a few, so get them before they are long gone!

Steampunk Christmas Ornament/ Industrial Ornament - Red Poinsettia ($35.00 USD):




Steampunk Airship Ornament ($50.00 USD):




Steampunk Ornament/Industrial Style Ornament ($35.00 USD):




Steampunk Ornament/Industrial Style Ornament ($35.00 USD):




Steampunk Heart Ornament/Industrial Heart Ornament ($35.00 USD):




Steampunk Heart Ornament/Industrial Heart Ornament ($35.00 USD):




http://dragontracksstudio.etsy.com

Shop for these here

An Experience To Savor. Create and Name Your Own Personal Whiskey Stock.




Do you have an idea for a great whiskey? Want your own custom whiskey for your bar or restaurant? You and some buddies want your own label for the hunting camp? Want an amazing one-of-a-kind Father's Day, holiday, graduation or wedding gift? Here’s your chance.



The Mississippi River Distilling Company in LeClaire, Iowa will custom make a 30 gallon barrel of whiskey for you. You pick the grain bill, the yeast, the barrel, the age and the proof. You even get to name it. When it’s done, you get all the whiskey in the barrel and the empty barrel to display proudly.


above: Mississippi River Distilling Company Owner Ryan Burchett talks whiskey

Their inaugural “My Whiskey” program is a unique experience that will have your fingerprints on it from beginning to end. Below tells you, in their words, how they help you craft your unique creation.



So how does this all work? First of all, you must understand that we are responsible for following the very stringent federal and state laws regarding the manufacture and sale of distilled spirits. So while some of this may seem a bit convoluted, there is a strict system in place that your spirits will travel through between our distillery and your door.

First step is establishing the recipe. We have four grains at our disposal: corn, wheat, rye and barley. These grains are purchased directly from the local farmers who grew them. When your bottle is complete, we will be able to tell you the names of the farmers who grew every grain that went into your bottle.

THE MASH BILL
We will work with you to establish a mash bill appropriate to the flavor you are trying to achieve. Corn is rich and sweet. Wheat provides a light sweetness and fruity flavor. Rye is peppery and spicy. Barley is mild and takes on a significant portion of its flavor from the yeast.

BOURBON


If you wish to make a bourbon whiskey, you will use predominantly corn. By law it must be at least 50% corn. Typically, bourbon is 70%-80% corn. For a secondary grain, you can choose wheat or rye. Most bourbons use rye for the secondary grain. However, we use wheat in our Cody Road Bourbon which provides a sweeter flavor. The secondary grain usually accounts for 10%-15% of the mash bill. Finally, bourbon typically includes 5%-15% barley. But as long as you have 51% corn, you can call it bourbon and mix out any other combination of grains for the second 49%.

RYE WHISKEY


To be a rye whiskey, the mash bill must be at least 51% rye. Mash bills vary greatly from rye to rye. Some have as little as 55% rye. Others like Cody Road go all the way to 100% rye. We can do anything in between to suit your tastes.

MALT WHISKEY STYLE


Scotch and Irish Whisky is made from malted barley. The roasting or smoking of the barley accounts for much of the flavor in scotch. We do not have malted barley at our disposal from local farmers. So we use an unmalted barley. We do have a malt whiskey yeast that creates a very nice flavor similar to an Irish Whisky. But this would still be a unique American take on it.

MIX AND MATCH
Want to come up with a mash bill that is all yours? Feel free. You can mix and match the grains and yeasts in any way you choose.

YEAST SELECTION


Next we need to select your yeast. The yeast has a significant role to play in the flavor of your whiskey. We can help you choose an appropriate yeast for your project. Here are the three choices.

GRAIN WHISKEY YEAST
This yeast is designed for bourbon and rye whiskey production. It imparts a robust flavor of the grain and will leave rich aromas and flavors from the grains. Expect the spice notes of the grains to be a bit stronger and the sweetness to be somewhat subdued compared to the sweet whiskey yeast.

MALT WHISKEY YEAST
This yeast is designed for a Scotch or Irish Whisky style. Expect the mild barley to be light and smooth with this yeast. Might be an interesting yeast to experiment with non-traditional mash bills.

SWEET WHISKEY YEAST
This is a very vigorous and flavorful yeast. We use this yeast in both Cody Road Rye and Cody Road Bourbon. Expect the sweet and fruity notes from the grain. Delicious for lighter whiskies and shorter aged whiskies.

AGING & PROOF
How you barrel the whiskey and for how long will have a great impact on your final product.



THE BARREL
Your whiskey will be age in a new 30 gallon charred oak barrel. These barrels are roughly half the size of a traditional whiskey barrel. That gives the whiskey more wood to interact with so it will grab the oak flavor faster than a traditional barrel. We suggest a minimum of 9-12 months in one of these barrels. You may want your whiskey to attain a much longer age. We suggest checking on your barrel periodically. While longer aged whiskey is always fun, in a smaller barrel the oak can take over. Whiskey has life cycles in the barrel. At first it may taste bitter and charred. In a few months, the sweetness can blossom. A few months later, the oak tannins start to increase. Also, the longer the whiskey is in the barrel, the more you will lose to the “Angels Share” which is what we call the whiskey that evaporates or soaks into the wood. You can expect to lose 2%-3% of the volume of your alcohol per year to the Angels Share. So before you automatically decide on aging your whiskey for eternity, understand that it might be a better whiskey at a younger age than you think. Our whiskies all age 1 year in these barrels. There are 5 char levels that we can put your barrel in. We have tried different char levels and find that a medium char (char level 3) seem to impart the most balanced oak flavor for these smaller barrels. We recommend going with a char 3 barrel, but will be happy to order a different char from the cooperage should you so choose.

THE PROOF
The proof at which you barrel and bottle your whiskey will dictate how many bottles you have at the end. If you bottle your whiskey at 80 proof, you can expect about 160 bottles. If you raise the proof, that will give you more alcohol in each bottle and will reduce the number of bottles that come out of your barrel. As a rule of thumb, for each 10 proof you increase the bottling, you’ll have about 20 fewer bottles. We recommend barreling your whiskey about 20 proof higher than you plan to bottle it with a maximum barreling proof of about 120 proof.

MAKING THE WHISKEY
Once you have your recipe all nailed down, you will contract the production with us. We will charge $3,000 for the production of your whiskey. This charge is simply for the manufacturing of the whiskey. For legal reasons, the whiskey remains in our possession for the duration of the aging. You will purchase the whiskey from a licensed retailer once it is finished aging and bottled. But during the aging, it is still owned by us and stored on our licensed premises at the distillery.

We will plan to put your whiskey into production within six weeks of your payment. You will receive notice of the mashing and distilling. We will send you pictures and updates of the production via e-mail. Once in aging, we will be able to allow you to periodically taste the whiskey to see if it is ready for bottling. We will need at least 48 hours notice if you want to come check on your barrel so we can pull it out of storage. Remember that the more you check on it, the less you’ll have at the end.

NAMING YOUR WHISKEY


All formulas and labels for spirits sold in America must be approved by the federal government. So while this is your whiskey, it will have to go into a bottle and label that has been pre-approved by the government. We will handle all of that paperwork and filing when the whiskey is produced. This process takes several months. So we will need to know what you want to call your whiskey when we produce it so the label approval can proceed while your whiskey is aging. It will go into a custom labeled bottle that will say, “Mississippi River Distilling Company presents: Joe’s Awesome Whiskey” or whatever you decide to call it. The bottles will have the legal government warning, barcode and batch notes included on each bottle detailing the grain used, the date distilled and who it was commissioned by. They will be hand signed by the distillers.

FINISHING AND RECEIVING YOUR WHISKEY
Once you determine that you would like to pull your whiskey from the barrel and have it bottled, we will schedule a blending and bottling. Your whiskey will all be bottled at the specified proof all at one time. We will not be able to accommodate multiple bottling from the same barrel.

Once the whiskey is bottled, it will be shipped to a licensed distributor who will then deliver it to a licensed retailer. We will set all of this up for your pickup. We prefer to have you pick up the whiskey in the Quad Cities. We do have retailers who would be able to ship your whiskey, but it will be a significant cost to do so.

To pick up your whiskey, you will be charged $3,000. That will be payable to the retailer, not to the distillery. You will receive your empty barrel along with your cases of whiskey. At this point the whiskey is your to do what you choose with.

ANY QUESTIONS? 
Have questions that they haven’t answered here? Drop them a line. They’d be happy to discuss your vision for your very own whiskey. You can call the distillery at 563-484-4342 or e-mail info@mrdistilling.com.

Sincerely,
Ryan & Garrett Burchett Owners & Distillers
Mississippi River Distilling Company



Mississippi River Distilling Company

Funky Find Of The Week: Marcel Wander's "Swing With Plants"


Marcel Wander's Romantic Swing with Plants!
Want to feel like you're in a Fragonard or a Watteau painting? (If you don't know who fragonard or watteau are, google them).

Then get yourself this romantic swing with faux ivy wrapped around the chains.
The seat is cleverly designed to double as a planter, allowing the vines to grow directly up the ropes. Suspend outdoors to turn your garden into an enchanting, pastoral getaway ... or install indoors and add a bit of nature to your interior!

And guys? this would be a very romantic gift for the woman who likes the unusual.

Dimensions:
8.25"W x 29"L

A Head-Turning Idea (& gift!)



Talk about a unique custom personalized gift!

Turn Your Head created beautiful wooden "Piros" (as they call them...short for pirolettes) carved from an individual's profile image.

Just like the famous optical illusion of two vases or two profiles.

Who came up with this neat idea?

Tom Beshara aka Dad; Born in Deadwood, SD; Year of the Dragon; Aries

Lorie Beshara aka Mom; Born NY, NY; Year of the Tiger; Capricorn

Cortney Langenegger aka Cort; Born Denver, CO; Year of the Snake; Leo

Ryan Vera aka Ry; Born Denver, CO; Year of the Goat; Gemini



Below is taken directly from their site, www.turnyourhead.com.


Vis-age (N. the face or appearance of a person)

At Turn Your Head, we fill the space between two opposing profiles of your face. By spinning that space into a three dimensional “visage” that follows the outlined silhouettes of your two profiles, we create the "Pirolette".

Place the “Pirolette” to your face and it will match your profile. Locate it near a wall and the shadow of the "Pirolette” will be your silhouette.

Your profile captured forever in an object of art. An optical illusion of shadow and light, each one unique because it’s you!



The Keepsake Pirolette is an option you can add for $20.00. A hand made wooden bolt can be unscrewed to reveal a 2" to 2 1/2" deep hollow space to store your most precious keepsakes.

The Keepsake Pirolette includes a small black velvet draw string pouch and two small ziplock bags:



Also Available is a cherry wood base with glass dome for display as seen below:



How do they do it?

It Starts with a block of wood......



...which comes from the north and eastern part of the United States. Our suppliers cut, plane, and glue-up the blocks to our specifications. These blocks are about six inches square and nine inches long and weigh approximately six pounds.

The process of making a Pirolette begins with you and the images that you submit to our web site. Once an image is received, they are sized and enhanced to reveal only the outline that will later be used to turn your Pirolette on the lathe. Once an outline has been created, a paper cut out of your profile is used to determine the angle of the profile that will be cut into each Pirolette. We then transfer the profile to a metal template, which is cut by hand into a metal guide, and then used to create the Pirolette.

When setting up for the actual turning, each block must be sanded flat on both ends, the centers found and marked, then mounted into the lathe. Then template must also be mounted to the lathe to facilitate the accuracy of each piece. The cutting then begins.

We first do a rough cut, which removes about half the weight of the block. Next in the turning process is the shaping of the top of the Pirolette, which we make into a slightly peaked cap for the Elegant, or shape to the Chic and leave flat for the Earthy style. After the rough cut, the sanding begins. This process is done with eight steps. First we begin with an extremely coarse sand paper, depending on how the rough cut goes. Then we work our way down to 500 grit sandpaper. This process takes three quarters of an hour to complete. The sanding is followed by the oiling process. Your Pirolette, is removed from the lathe and mounted into the drill press where the center is drilled out for a plug to fill the hole where the block was mounted in the lathe. Then the top is rough sanded, finish sanded, buffed and the second coat of penetrating oil is applied. This must be allowed to dry for 24 hours. The next day the Pirolette is sanded again, this time with fine steel wool and oiled with an oil called tung oil and allowed to dry overnight. The Pirolette is now ready to be gift boxed, packaged and shipped.



Their Portrait's

The “Portrait” is hand crafted from American Black Walnut, Cherry or African Padauk 1/8" (est.) veneer and is hand polished to a natural luster.

Each Portrait is housed inside a Dark Cherry Stained, 10 X 13 inch frame. We have made it easy for you to transfer your "Pirolette Portrait" into another frame if that's what you desire.

*The Portrait to the left has been customed framed. Turn Your Head does not provide this service but we wanted to show you what is possible.*


In addition to the 3D version, you can have a wall mountable version (with or without the shadow, as seen below):



I just think this is such a great idea for a unique gift. And the prices are reasonable.

To learn more, or to order your own, click here.

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