Vlog: Pumpkin Patch Trip & Small Business Setbacks

October 13, 2021 by Thea Starr in Videos, Process, Stockists

Hello!

Apologies for the lack of updates all around here and on IG. We have been busy with keeping our Roots plant stand in stock. We sold out of them briefly, but they are back in stock now! We are so thankful that the response to that design has been well received. (Thank YOU!)

A few have asked if any local retailers carry our Roots plant stand and in two weeks I will announce one that is in Renton! I am also updating our new stockist list today.

While we’ve been busy with keeping those in stock, I haven’t been able to release some new items that I had hoped to. I talk about it in the vlog video below.

With John working full time and I being the only half of our once full time maker team, we’ve had to streamline, adjust our methods and schedules. We’re doing well and can call in back up when needed from our daughters. It’s the design process that takes a bit more work for new items. I will have a small update of a couple of new items that we did very soon.

That’s all for now and thanks so much for your continued support!

Thea

Our Annual Engraved Spooky Pumpkin

October 19, 2020 by Thea Starr in Process, Videos

Although we’ve been in spooky mode since mid August. Time is weird anyways this year so who cares. But pumpkins unfortunately tend to mold here the PNW after they are cut. So we waited a bit longer to do our annual engraved pumpkin.

We made a little video with a little insight on our process of what we do to engrave a pumpkin.

I hope you’ll check it out.

Lasers and love, Thea

It's Pajamuary! Time For Personal Projects!

January 08, 2020 by Thea Starr in Videos, Process

Pajamuary - the month post holiday craziness. A time to relax a little in some pajamas.

I vaguely recall the fellow maker you said that to me almost 20 years ago. However, I do my best in sharing/spreading the word though!

So this is the time of the year where we get to personal projects. They’re always custom of course and that takes some design time. This year we started off easy but it’s a functional necessity of mine - my 2020 planner.

I’ve long wanted to try some engraving on leather notebooks and to potentially offer some up with our own designs. Seizing the opportunity to do so, I decide upon adding a personal graphic as the trial image. (I’m a little maxed out on star stuff right now and I wanted something distinctly me.) Full disclaimer: this is NOT my favorite tattoo of mine. However, like all of my tattoos (I only have four) it’s meaningful to me. I chose this one, because as you’ll see in the video below, it’s on the back of my neck and I forget that it’s there until someone points it out.

Check out the quickie video below and let us know if you would be interested in an engraved leather journal/notebook/planner.

Lasers and love -Thea

“We Are Made Of Star Stuff” - Carl Sagan

We Hate Acrylic.

April 22, 2018 by Thea Starr in Process

How's that to start off a Monday. Yesterday was Earth Day. While it is a special day to John and I, because we were engaged on Earth Day, it is a perfect opportunity to talk about acrylic while the thought of Earth love is on everyone's mind.

Admittedly, when we first opened shop we had a couple products that were made from acrylic. Acrylic products is a standard material for laser cutters. They look really nice and are often well received by customers.

When we had a large custom project that was made from acrylic in our first year of business. I was excited about it because things were starting to get going with jobs for us. About a quarter way into the job, it really stank. Cutting acrylic with the laser smelled so bad it grossed us out. We have proper ventilation and everything, acrylic simply stinks. Why is that?

Acrylic plastics manufacturing involves highly toxic substances which require careful storage, handling, and disposal. It also causes toxic fumes and it isn't easily recyclable. Acrylic is a group 7 plastic. Which means it basically ends up in a landfill if thrown away.

After reflecting on the process of our work and what we are about as people, we choose to not take jobs that ask for acrylic components. While they might look really nice for a short time, they are really here forever and not in a good way. We do not want to be contributing to harming the Earth for a quick buck. I should also mention that the cost of acrylic often exceeds the price of wood. By A LOT. When we started backing away from acrylic jobs we often quoted the same jobs with wood as an alternative. The prices were less and our clients were just as mindful as we are about the materials.

We've become very familiar and comfortable with some selected wood types that we often use for our work. We have the skills to create colorful palettes with paints. Wood is a renewable material. When it cuts on the laser, it smells like a campfire. Many of our products have that sweet smell. Many people actually pick up our pieces at shows to smell. It's not weird and we encourage it.

Something to think about and consider what it means long term. We are actively looking into Earth friendly packaging. I am truly a plastic hater and I am doing what I can to avoid it.

Lasers and love - Thea

Inspired by nature.🌲

February 23, 2018 by Thea Starr in Process

We’ve posting on our Instagram about our new plant stand designs. If you happened to catch the sneak peek pictures, you can see that we took inspiration directly right out of our backyard.

We were trimming up the backyard and got an idea to create a new styles of our plant stands. We brought in some leaves and branches to create some original artwork.

Small Cedar Leaf plant stand.

We’ve designed three different sizes for this design. They’re not quite ready for sale just yet. The largest one has taken a bit more design work. They are all square in shape and made from walnut wood.

We’re pretty excited about them. So much so, that we’ve been talking about them nonstop for days.😂 I guess with the cold weather and growing cuttings from my "mom" plants, I've been motivated to handle plant care. I am embarrassed how many indoor plants I've murdered. My eldest daughter teases me about how I do that but everything thrives outside in my garden. Stay warm PNW! Keep your plants happy!

Thea

Prototyping Kind Of Day

March 30, 2017 by Thea Starr in Process

We've been contacted a lot in the past few weeks for custom company signs. Two of them have been small independent coffee companies. (My favorite.) We've been creating samples and prototypes. We're big on prototypes, because we want to make sure our clients are getting exactly what they are hoping for. Most of us are visually inclined. Having a sample makes all the difference.

Eyeballing this COFFEE engraving sample, it looked like it would fit nicely on top of our of Damn Fine Cup Of Coffee sign. (I do weird stuff in the office sometimes!) Sure enough it does.

We have a wide client base which gives us the opportunity to see all types of projects, logos and fonts. It's a fun little world to discover. Each one engraves and cuts uniquely on our selection of woods.

Lasers and love - Thea

At home with 6 by 6 - Domestics and product development.

October 18, 2016 by Thea Starr in About Us, Process

As you know, we work at home. Once upon a time when I worked at a corporate accounting firm I dreamed about being able to do this. No more long commutes, spilled coffee in my lap in the mornings and rushed lunch breaks.

Waking up and strolling down the hallway "to go to work". Having a fresh pot of coffee all to myself. (In our case, John and I share.) It all sounded like a dream and I have personally be so fortunate to work from home for the past few years with my other business.

View out of our kitchen window while we cook.

My fellow work at home self employed friends know that "dream" is not that simple. While our commute is just a few doors down the hall or down the stairs depending on what stage of production we're in, we do have a rigorous schedule to get things done.

When the shop is too cold for things to dry in we bring them indoors. Which usually means our dining room or kitchen room table.

I'm up bright and early before the sun (which is a huge challenge for me because I am very much a night owl) with my kids to usher them out the door every morning. I then guzzle down a cup of coffee, not out of tiredness but for comfort and begin the work day. Often I have to take domestic breaks during the day to do mom things. Then I pick back up after dinner or into the late evening.

During the late evenings I do a lot of design work. Lots of drawing and arranging ideas for product development. I doodle all day but late at night I've collected a lot ideas during the day and have time for them to resonate in my brain and I'll flush out ideas on paper. That way they'll be ready for John to critique and provide feedback on the following the day.

A vintage metal wire basket that I'll be repainting for a show display containing our small 8-bit heart magnets.

Our home also becomes one big workspace. Aside from the designated work areas when things are going, things spill all over into all sorts of areas around here. It can be a little frustrating at times, especially when the kids want to have company over. But we make due until we hit the next accolade - a designated shop.

I wanted to share a little insight on how we work at home, we've had a few friends ask us how we do it.

Lasers and love - Thea

Reclaimed wood  - 6 by 6 Arts — Reclaimed wood - 6 by 6 Arts

Reclaimed Wood Keychains

June 10, 2016 by Thea Starr in Process

When we first opened up shop, we gathered supplies like you normally would to get your business going. We happened upon a pile of wood from a demolished barn in Skagit County and thought it would be something that we could at least test on. It was dirty but not warped. Once it was sanded down a bit, it's natural beauty revealed itself from underneath years of damage from the elements. We just had to give it a new life.

We decided on something small for various reasons. While it was gorgeous underneath all the layers of damage, there were dings and chips in the boards. Which made it unusable for large projects. Simple keychains is what we settled on.

One instantly notable thing we saw was that cutting the blanks for our keychains was the beautiful charred look around the edges. It echoed an ancient Japanese wood burning/sealing technique called Shou Sugi Ban. Although, Shou Sugi Ban traditionally uses cedar wood in that technique and 99% of our reclaimed wood is oak. The extremely hot laser beam seals the edges much like how Shou Sugi Ban works. I used to be on my dad & brother's wood cutting crew when I was a young kid. I mostly knew what type of woods we were cutting and it was my job to just stack it nicely in the back of our work truck. I had to do quite a bit of research on wood types when we started in 2014. To educate myself on how certain woods cut and their appearance. It was fun to compare that traditional Japanese technique to our modern work when we analyzed our product.

One other thing to note about our keychains, due to the laser cutting and the sanding that we do, they have a beautiful aroma. We've had many customers and looky-loos pick them up and smell them. Everyone always asks if that's weird. It's totally not! They smell so good. I encourage everyone to smell them as well as some of our other products too.

We've had a quite a few of our retailers recently pick up our keychains. I mention to each buyer that they are made of reclaimed wood and they are always excited to learn that! We've sourced all of the wood from Skagit, Snohomish, King, Whatcom and Island Counties right here in Washington. Our garage and storage shed is a mess because of it, but we just can't pass it up! I really wanted to share that bit of information about our keychains since there's so much positivity about using reclaimed wood. :)

Lasers and love - Thea

Process

April 01, 2016 by Thea Starr in Process, Behind The Scenes

We've been up to ears with things as of late. Which is great! We're managing well, it takes me a little extra time to get to emails and invoices but I'm tackling it one by one.

We currently have a large custom manufacturing order on deck. So all new custom work requests have an extended turnaround time. 4-8 weeks depending on the complexity of the job. All retail orders are heading out as normal. So if you place an order from any of our shops, expect our normal delivery times.

It kinda sucks when I don't have anything to interesting to share. BUT! I can't wait to share what this mega project is! Meanwhile, don't forget to get your daily dose (almost daily) of us over on Instagram. @6by6arts

Lasers and love -Thea

New Stockist - The Space Needle

October 23, 2015 by Thea Starr in Process, Stockists

I'm not even sure how to begin this one because I have so many feels about it!

I'm a native Washingtonian that grew up on Whidbey Island during a time where there really wasn't much but trees and the Navy. My mom is Asian and we'd often make trips into the city for "Asian" food supplies long before there was any ethnic markets close by. I distinctly remember my dad driving, my mom singing off key to the current tunes of the early 80's and me peering out of my backseat window and seeing the Space Needle rise up on the horizon as we got closer to the International District.

Every time I saw the Space Needle I'd imagine one of two things - that Seattle was the land of The Jetson's or that Wheedle was sitting atop the Needle. Seattle was a magical land to this small town island girl and the Space Needle was and still is THE landmark of the city.

A page from a vintage coloring book I've had for years. I referred to this for inspiration during the design process.

When you think of city landmarks, you think tourists. When you think of tourists, you think of souvenirs. A lot of times they are cheap little magnets with a glossy photo enclosed in plastic, or something along those lines. When we were approached by the Space Needle people; A.) I don't think I've ever tried to act so cool and collected in my life. B.) They told me that they were interested in adding some new but different products for their gift shop. I think I actually looked around to see if I was the person who that question was being directed at. And C.) When they told me to "just see what I can come up with" and gave us permission to use their image and brand name, I went into full on panic.

Why would the great and awesome Space Needle people ask me and my extremely tiny company to do anything for them? They could ask anyone to do this sort of thing for them, but they asked us. A local mom and pop shop. Whoa.

While we can get down with some elaborate design work, I really felt that we should keep the products we pitched at them simple and functional.

Pages from my sketchbook: Although, the artwork is crude, we first spend a lot of time flushing out the concept before we laser cut the prototype. We decide if the layout works or in this case how usable would the writing area be. I often leave ques… — Pages from my sketchbook: Although, the artwork is crude, we first spend a lot of time flushing out the concept before we laser cut the prototype. We decide if the layout works or in this case how usable would the writing area be. I often leave question marks on the pages about various things.

I drew out a simple layout of a small chalkboard with the silhouette of the Space Needle cut out. Lots of usable space for love notes or reminders. I envisioned someone picking one up on New Year's Eve and someone writing a proposal on it. (Hey, I said I had the feels with this one!)

The second thing we pitched was a souvenir magnet. We really wanted it to be unique amongst the others. This was my opportunity to incorporate a small bit of my childhood imagination. The Jetson's shapes and sounds always made me think of the Space Needle. So I sketched out a mid century modern shape and John found an image of the Space Needle that included the architectural underground footings in their image archives that he liked. We selected a font similar to one on their website. Their website by the way, is AWESOME.

Pages from my sketchbook: I drew out many versions of the wood magnet. I had a mid century modern "Jetson's like shape in mind. Like always with my raw drawings John took an actual picture of my drawing and used it as a guide in Corel to fine t… — Pages from my sketchbook: I drew out many versions of the wood magnet. I had a mid century modern "Jetson's like shape in mind. Like always with my raw drawings John took an actual picture of my drawing and used it as a guide in Corel to fine tune it.

We did this as we do all of our original work, we both do crucial parts of the development. I depended on John to help me finalize the shapes I was hoping for. Sometimes I just can't draw the exact thing I had in mind. Also, I am far better at drawing freehand rather than in outlines. I initially spent a lot of time actually drawing the Space Needle in great detail. PAGES of drawings. The our final prototypes were approved on the first submission.

We rounded the edges from my original drawing.

Close up of the laser cut out Space Needle. We have a bunch of these cut outs now in the studio.

We were able to engrave the product details and pricing on the back. Which is so awesome in a retail environment.

The final shape was the shape I had envisioned. I want to publicly compliment John for being so great at figuring out what I was trying to get out. The architectural design with the footings looks so great! It's hard to tell here because this is a p… — The final shape was the shape I had envisioned. I want to publicly compliment John for being so great at figuring out what I was trying to get out. The architectural design with the footings looks so great! It's hard to tell here because this is a picture from my phone, but I was so excited to share this news I took a quick photo to share.

It's an honor to have been asked to do this for the Space Needle. We're continuing to develop more too! Next time you're at the Space Needle look for our work.

Lasers and love -Thea

Sneak Peek

September 21, 2015 by Thea Starr in Process, Shop Update

We are totally in the camp of stores not putting out a holiday's themed items way before the actual holiday. But in the retail game you are creating your items well ahead of time. Especially right before the end of the year. As a designer I get giddy about products that we develop months ahead of the their release time. Sometimes I share my original sketches or our Corel Draw work in progress shots on our Instagram. John and I have worked on this product for months. It will be our first kit product!

This is just a teaser of what is to come. We'll be launching it in October. But I have had the most fun with project!

Can you tell? John had to reign me and my imagination in a little bit on this. John is not only my partner in life and in business but also my voice of reason for my creative process.

Many of our buyers have asked us for kits. There are so many kits out there for various things, I wanted to make sure ours was something easy to do and fun.

I hope I'm making you curious.

Lasers and love - Thea

Process: Crowdsourcing input for our new Family Menu chalkboard

April 28, 2015 by Thea Starr in Process

When developing products it's so easy to default to your own likes and needs for something. Our rule for us, we only make it if we like it. Sounds easy enough right? Liking things is easy when it comes to something in your taste and style. But how about functionality? Personally, I tend to gravitate to things that serve a specific function(s). One of the most functional and necessary things we have in our home is our family menu chalkboard. Years ago I bought a blank piece of 12" x 12" chalkboard, some super strong magnets and a chalkboard pen from my favorite local craft store and created my own weekly menu board. My children are like robots when they come home after school and they automatically ask "What's for dinner?". Which would be fine to respond to if I only had one child or if I didn't work out of my home where my kids just burst into my workspaces (no matter what I am doing - usually on the phone or in the middle of a reply for custom work. I've actually typed in the word "chicken fried rice" to a custom order reply because my train of though got derailed.

I remedied that problem with my homemade menu board. My kids know to just go look at the board and see what's for dinner that night and the nights to follow for that matter. You know, in case they want to invite 20 of their friends over for dinner. There are a few flaws about my homemade menu board. First off, the days of the week are never evenly spaced because I'm not a robot. I often have to squish things in with tiny handwriting. This is not good for my OCD. Secondly, this is a petty one, I have to rewrite the days of the week. I would like to just clean off the board and have a blank template for the next week. Rather than recreating the whole thing over and over again. It's bad enough that I have to create weekly meal ideas, give me less tedious things to deal with! So we did. With the magic of a laser!

Look at that beautiful ready to go template!!! These are just work in progress samples. We're testing colors and font styles. One sample not pictured we did in a "gothic" font that says "Addams Family Menu". A very good friend of mine actually requested one too and we made one for them with their family name across the top. We will be adding that customization as an option once we list this item for sale.

Close up view of the engraving on the family menu chalkboard.

So here's where we need your input dear friends. For something like this would you want to hang it up in your kitchen up on a wall or cabinet? Or would you want to have magnets on the back so you can attach it to your refrigerator? The trouble with magnets is that many people have stainless steel refrigerators that magnets won't stick to. Also many of us already reserve the front of the fridge for other reminders and pizza coupons. So let us know what your preference is!

Lasers and love - Thea

Really late in the day weekend recap

April 20, 2015 by Thea Starr in Process, About Us

John & I headed north to my old hood to do a supply run and other business stuff this past weekend. Whenever we head north we make a pit stop at Skagit Building Salvage. It's a great resource for the random building supply. Everything from cast iron bathtubs, stained glass windows, doors and so much more.

We often find great pieces of reclaimed wood for our work. It's truly a treasure hunt. Sparks often start to fly and we end up walking away with a load of awesome random goodness.

Random find - old RC Cola cans with baseball players on them.

Skagit Salvage is also a little sentimental for me. Many moons ago my dad had a shared auto & engine repair shop directly across the street. I used to roam that area like every good tomboy would. That part of Mount Vernon, Washington has always had a industrial flavor to it. But in high contrast only a few miles away is the local famed Tulip Festival. Which we had a to make a pit stop at.

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival - 2015 (Roozengaarde)

We ended our day by leaving Whidbey Island (my home island). "Oddly" inspiration for new works seem to happen when I have a few moments on the rock. Expect more Pacific Northwest Lifer themed items in the very new future.

Lasers and love - Thea

Laser in action!

March 29, 2015 by Thea Starr in Process

Retro Mechanical Labs "dared" us to stick our iPhone in our laser so they could witness the process. Dare accepted! After a quick design and some custom laser cutting for a iPhone stand that is. Check out the power of our Epilog Laser in fast forward (we used Timelapse) action.

Lasers and love - Thea

Forever Or Whatever

January 12, 2015 by Thea Starr in Shop Update, Process

Yesterday, we quietly listed a sign with a wider appeal than our "We Hate Everything Together" signs.

Like all things we do, it starts with a doodle.

My doodles are often crazy and more elaborate than they should be. This one wasn't too bad. As you can see there are some changes/development notes that occurred with this. I was thinking of a classic and simple design. Something that could be multi purpose. Truth be told, I'm not a Valentine's Day girl. I'm also not a flowers and open the door for me girl. I'm a beer and ramen lady, hey it's hard to hate on someone who brings you food to eat. But I do like sweet little things like this. It could be for any day. After all it's appropriate to convey love for someone everyday.

"Forever & Ever Babe" was my original wording. John then morphed into "Forever or Whatever", which we all found hilarious but we get enough "evil side eyeing" about our "We Hate Everything Together" stuff. So we decided on "Forever". We hope others will too. Not just the sign but after you've lived a bit and grown into yourself we hope you all find someone to fill your heart up for forever. Lovers, friends, puppies, whatever floats your boat.

Love is good.

Lasers & Love - Thea