Holiday Events, St. Helens Before/After and Hawaii
Happy November! It’s been a few months since my last update, and I’m overdue on a few updates to share, including my holiday schedule, and a look at a few new maps in progress.
Washington Trails Association Partnership
Each season I partner with a new conservation-focused nonprofit to raise funds and spread awareness. Spring was the NW Avalanche Center, Summer was the Whatcom Mountain Biking Coalition, and for the holiday season, I’m excited to partner with the Washington Trails Association. I’ve used and supported WTA for years personally - they are an incredible resource and part of why the northwest public lands are so special.
All season long I’ll be donating 10% of my sales in person and online to support WTA’s efforts in trail and public land stewardship.
Holiday Event Schedule
Speaking of in-person events, I’ve got a packed holiday event schedule, with events in Whatcom, Skagit, and King County this month and next. If you’re local and able to make it to any of these, please stop by and say hello. These events are always so fun and loaded with so many talented craftspeople.
Valley Made (Nov 15-16) at the Hillcrest Lodge in Mt. Vernon
Urban Craft Uprising (Dec 5-7) at Seattle Center
Kulshan Holiday Maker’s Market (Dec 13) at Kulshan K2 in Bellingham
Bellingham Holiday Arts Market (Dec 20-21) at the Fairhaven Cruise Terminal
I’ll have a wide assortment of my maps and locations at these events, including last year’s crowd-favorite tree ornaments. Besides events, you can always order online for shipping or local pickup (Bellingham only).
A note on order cutoffs: As most of my collection is made-to-order, please order no later than Dec 10 to ensure delivery by Dec 25. And if you’re thinking of a custom order, I need a bit more time with those. Please place any custom orders no later than Thanksgiving (Nov 27) to ensure I have time to make you something truly special.
Saint Helens Pre/Post Eruption
One of the most common requests I get is for Mt. St. Helens before and after the 1980 eruption (which resulted in a 1,300 foot haircut). I tracked down pre-eruption elevation data from USGS that looked promising. But I had to source historical labels by hand from historical maps, and I traced the glacier footprints from historical glacier studies.
I then designed a before/after model that highlights the contour changes above 5,600’. I really love how the side by side looks - it’s amazing how different St. Helens now looks. Right now I’m only planning to offer this one in the 20x15 size, but may add other sizes in the future.
Hawaiian Islands
All the time I get requests to make maps outside of the PNW, but I haven’t gotten around to most of them, because designing them requires some tough editorial decisions on what features to include and exclude - and it helps to be familiar with the area already. So my first official foray outside of the PNW is an area I’m very familiar with, the Hawaiian islands.
I knew early on that this wouldn’t be just one map, so I’ve been heads down the past few weeks working on a five! map collection of the Hawaiian Islands, including a small scale map of the entire archipelago and individual island maps of O’ahu, Kaua’i, Maui (with Kaho’olawe), and Hawai’i. I’m trying a few new things on these maps, including a green color stain for the islands themselves that looks great and felt so right for this location. I’m also working on markings for intermediate underwater elevation contours which emphasize how these islands are really just the tops of a huge, mostly underwater mountain chain.
I’m still finishing up proofs for these and St. Helens for photos, but hope to have everything up on the site by next week, and I’ll send out a quick email once that happens.
Thank you as always for the support and interest in this work.