I, like many others, have purchased toys and products which have labels that state, "hand crafted." yeah, right. whose hands? who's craft?
Introducing our FIRST hand crafted toy.
Crafted by: Grandpa Geoff.
his hands.
How do you know this is a hand crafted toy? Oh...let me tell you.
He made only 4 of them. How many Melissa and Doug puzzles are there out in the world? Trust me Melissa and Doug...your products are no where NEAR hand crafted.
Each barn is individually different. Ours has paint drips, screws and different cut windows than the other three. Becasue, of course, it's HAND crafted.
I also know it's hand crafted becasue other toy companies use the bare neccesseties to make a product. NOT so with Grandpa Geoff.
After screwing in 10 screws, my hands were hurting and sore and the barn seemed very stable. But, alas, it's HAND crafted by Grandpa Geoff. If the barn is sturdy with only 10 screws...we better add thirty more. I was screwing screws with my OWN hands until I couldn't screw strait. The SCREWS never ended. Trust me...this is HAND crafted. And it's not coming apart. EVER! I am NEVER screwing 40 screws into this barn again. Plus, I stripped a few. I'm not messin' with it!
How do you know it's hand crafted? There are pencil marks showing cutting lines, estimates and approximations. I have NEVER seen pencil marks showing the hand crafter where to cut on any of my other hand crafted products.
This HAND crafted product had to be hand crafted because it came with ABSOLUTELY no instructions on how to put it together. After getting a couple of walls sortof into place my six year old looks at it funny and says, "mom, you're doing it wrong. That's not how Grandpa Geoff does it." With the help of my child, I was able to recreate the hand crafted, no instruction project. Hands hurting, head aching, the barn is now done.
Back home, my dad's hands are covered in calluses. He has screwed, let's see, 40 X 4 maybe 10 different times during the HAND craftsmanship of these barns.
I would love to see Melissa and Doug's hands. The first thing I would ask is,
"where are your calluses?"
Well...you're aren't fooling this American anymore. How do you sleep at night? I can not believe that anyone selling anything would ever lie to me. It's just so Un-American.
9 comments:
I love it! You are so lucky! Your dad is for sure a craftsman!! I bet your kids love it too!! Love the posts, Jessie!!
Your dad is awesome, that barn is so cute!
oh my word how lucky are you! my boys would die for that. ya, "hand-crafted" my ____!
your dad is the best.
How are you? I miss you!
Yeah! You did it. I am so grateful your dad put mine together because I don't have the patience all you Orme's do. Now have fun painting it. Ours is bright blue. I LOVE IT!
Sam just called. Wanted to know how to put the barn together,. Said he had been screwing for hours. I told him I had the same phone call from you. Told Sam the red goes on the inside. Who would have quessed--it is handcrafted. Hope you all love your dad bcause he loves you. Mom
Ours is finally built with the red on the inside! The kids love it! I have to admit, I could not figure it out!!! Can't wait to paint ours...
I love our barn. But mine has to live at Papa Geoff's because he was too tired to make him one so I have to share since I am the only one who lives here. Cole says that Papa Geoff is very smart because he saves a lot of money by making his own toys. I didn't have the heart to tell Cole that the wood and supplies cost WAY more than it would if Papa Geoff were to go by a pre-made barn. But that is why we love it because no one in the world would make a barn unless he loved those kids a whole lot.
Love you all
Linds
jessie, you are NOT middle-aged!! that's like 40-ish!!! you are way to cute. miss you guys.
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