Is it me or does it feel like it’s been extra cold this Winter? Any chance I get I’m bundled up, listening to an audiobook on libby, drinking more than my share of tea, and doing LOTS of puzzles. I’ve completed four lovely jigsaws since Christmas. While helping a delighted (and delightful) customer pick out two new puzzles at our brick-and-mortar store recently, I realized I’m very proud of this😊 - Nancy, if you’re reading, you’re going to love that Cat Zodiac puzzle!
I’ve been helping a lot of customers pick out puzzles lately – one of my favorite things to do, especially at this time of year when people are shopping for themselves. (Don’t get me wrong, a puzzle makes a superb gift – but the puzzles I buy for myself are the ones I savor.)
Lately, I’ve had several customers express concern about our “naked” (shrink-wrap free) puzzles, an eco-friendlier step we took in manufacturing, last year. It’s easy to show customers how useless shrink-wrap is in person - the only thing shrink does is protect an already robust box, AND add to landfills - ew. But that’s not something I can easily demonstrate online.
And so, I blog.
We already make our puzzles with 100% PCW (post-consumer waste) backer board and box, natural non-toxic glues, and veggie-based inks. During production an automated process scans the image right off the die-cutter (to ensure all pieces are present), siphons the pieces into a plastic bag and seals it – all in one step! (So, we can’t get rid of that sealed plastic bag. Yet.) That bag of pieces is then placed, by hand, into our lovely, colorful boxes. They would then proceed to the shrink-wrap machine to be encased in another layer of plastic - EXCEPT we stopped and asked, why? Do we REALLY NEED two layers of plastic for one puzzle?
This caused a bit of a ruckus at the puzzle factory. When I asked them to stop shrinking the boxes, I was met with resistance. (Between you and me, I can tell you that look screamed “this crazy lady has no idea what she’s doing.” But I get that a lot, and was unphased.)
Manufacturing foreman: “Why would you even want them that way?”
Me: “To reduce plastic consumption. Obviously.”
Foreman: “But no one else does it that way. Your puzzle boxes will look naked ... and slapdash.”
Me: “I don’t think so. The colorful box is lovelier when not encased in shiny plastic anyway.”
Foreman: “It’s your funeral.”
So we forced them to NOT shrink our boxes. We don’t pay less for this (in fact, they wanted to charge us more for creating an “abnormal work flow”) but we DO have the satisfaction of knowing we’re reducing plastic consumption and offering avid puzzlers more options to do the same.
PS: most of our greeting cards are naked these days too, just the “bare” minimum still get sleeved. So yes, our birthday cards are delivered in their birthday suits.
We’ve faced an uphill battle getting down with sustainability for a lonnnnnnng time.
40 years ago, the people who make our paper didn’t want to increase PCW content over 10% or process the pulp chlorine-free. They were afraid the paper wouldn’t be “bright enough”. But we wanted to replace virgin wood pulp (coming straight from a forest) with more recycled paper pulp and use fewer chemicals. The resulting paper was fantastic – thick, white, crisp – and WAY better for the environment. Besides, super bright white paper isn’t the best canvas for our artistic cards anyway! Super bright is a little harder on the eye and a softer white works better with our vibrant colors. (But don’t even get me started on the surfeit of shades of white.)
PS: y’all, that “special” paper we made 40 years ago is now the industry standard. S/O Allport!
PPS: we’ve since upped our game, our two main papers have a PCW content of 30% and 100%!
20 years ago a lot of US printing moved to China and other countries where their larger printing presses print in much less time. That, combined with inexpensive labor, makes printing elsewhere far less costly. But when you don’t print locally you cannot control the color and vibrancy of the prints, a no-go if I’ve ever heard one. AND the most expensive part of printing elsewhere is the transportation cost to get it here, which has both an environmental AND physical effect – instead of supporting local printers and craftspeople, you’re paying for a boat and the diesel to get it here. At one point we felt a bit like a lone reed, “standing tall in the corrupt sands of commerce” – everyone we knew printed elsewhere. But we have always printed in Portland – we make our cards about two miles away from our Shop & Warehouse and we print images on our tea towels even closer to the source – about 20 feet from where we design and sell them!
Despite the push-backs to being eco-forward, we persevere. It IS possible to make beautiful works of art that are easily accessible and shareable - with a tiny environmental footprint. We do it daily because earth-friendly is who we want to be, and to get even one step more sustainable I’ll argue with anyone until I’m GREEN in the face. It’s not easy but It’s worth it.
So, if you’re looking for gorgeous cards, towels, and puzzles that provide maximum joy with minimal environmental impact, you’ve come to the right place! Try one of my favorite puzzles:
Feeling cozy this Winter? Winter Hens (Chickens + Knitwear!)
Looking forward to Spring? Hummingbird Flight
Puzzle I plan to do next: Wisdom & Whimsy (Puzzles + Books!)
Proudly puzzling on a green streak - Mackenzie 🐸
