Grease and Grace Celebrates *8* Years on Etsy with a Sale! (Plus: The Story Behind our Logo)

THE STORY OF OUR LOGO

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☘︎ THE BEGINNING ☘︎

On a pleasant but hot day in August of 2012, I was sitting outside in the shade with my stepmom and my dad, Cindy and Dean. We were brainstorming, probably having a beer or two, and some snacks. I’d been telling them about my plan to start an online shop for my art, I was trying to coerce them to join in.

For years, I had been trying to get my dad to sell art similar to the amazing pieces he made for family friends. He was making things like frames, and wall hangings out of horseshoes and other repurposed bits of metal. Since the 1970’s he’s had commissioned jobs for pinstriping and flame work, & lettering, but I wanted him to know these were things folks would like, too.
Whether it was welding horseshoes into banners or mini-sculptures, (a horseshoe wreath for my grandma, adorable!), or pinstriping unique antiques, his work was always cool, and got “wow” responses. I wanted him to be able to share it with the world.

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On my own I had been selling my children’s book, “Buffalo on the Ridge“. This was an independent project I began as a portfolio piece, and then wound up selling in retail stores and at art shows, & gallery events, alongside prints.

Cynthia (Cindy) came seasoned with experience having sold her fine art in retail stores and as a vendor at art shows. Her style really embraces nature and wildlife. Cindy is to thank that I attended art school. As the first member of her family to attend college, she made sure I did as well.

Between the three of us, it seemed like a good amount of variety in what was created, yet enough similarity to keep it cohesive in a shop together.

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☘︎ WHAT’S ON THE HORSESHOE? ☘︎

Dean has a real affinity for horseshoes, and is on a constant (oft humorous) personal pursuit for good/better luck. He collects horseshoes and creates amazing art with them. That made a horseshoe seem an obvious fit for our official representation.

The wrench iconography across the horseshoe in our logo, represents his trade as a mechanic & his automotive-influenced art style.

 

The hibiscus flowers alongside a paintbrush & calligraphy pen – those things are representative of Cindy and me (Deanna). Our art styles both utilize paint and ink, and the botanicals are a nod to a shared love of nature & gardening, in keeping with the vintage tattoo look.

The three of us really dig retro fashion, music, and art. So, to wrap it all up in a not-so-tidy bow is an early twentieth century, tattoo-style swallow.

The original is a pencil sketch drawn by each of us. Passing it among ourselves, each artist added to the paper. The finished sketch was then digitized and cleaned up to black and white line art. Then color was added. Digital color gave us the freedom of trying out color schemes without permanent commitment. Later on, the color image was added to other design elements to create the circle logo used on Grease and Grace marketing, and merch (like these rad Grease and Grace T SHIRTS!)

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☘︎ WHAT’S THE NAME ALL ABOUT? ☘︎

If memory serves me correctly it was Cindy who thought up the name “Grease and Grace.” We tossed around various not-so-worthy monikers for a bit.

To be honest I can’t recall any of those names not chosen. “Grease and Grace” just seemed perfect when she said it, and after that moment we were Grease and Grace.

GREASE

“Grease” as in greaser lifestyle, and also as in greasy, like a mechanic. That describes my pop, and his artistic influences. He’s been emulating the mid-century pompadour, plain white T, and jeans style, far long before it resurfaced with the rockabilly revival in the 1980s/90s. He’s an OG, if you will.

GRACE

As for Cindy and me, it’s “GRACE,” as in the mythological graces. Unlike the myth, there is only two of us ladies (Cindy and myself), but I do believe my daughter will be the third, as she’s coming into her own quite well as an artist.

So we had a name, we had a logo. I crafted a rough looking Grease and Grace website, not so pretty, but it worked (it has undergone many incarnations since then, I am never satisfied). Finally, on January 25th of 2013, our Etsy shop opened! Time has flown by, for sure.

 

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☘︎ 8 YEARS LATER! ☘︎

 

I’m excited to see Etsy considers us a “TOP SHOP FOR GIFTS“:

 

That is just beyond cool. Top Shop! Five Star Rating! And my heart is always warmed when I get customer emails, photos, and reviews. I love to show them to Cindy and Dad.

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☘︎ The 8 ☘︎

“8” has been a running joke between my dad and I since, well, I can’t count how long now. There was/is a foam, number eight, it was once part of my daughter’s toddler ABC/123 bath set. Since then, my cat ( #shmooptheofficecat ) has tried to eat it, and my dad and I keep hiding back and forth in each others houses, cars, etc. Once I mailed it to him. It shows up in holiday gifts, and houseplants.

It’s missing as of this moment, and I think he has deposited it here somewhere, since he was by recently. And I should mention that he’s mental and sort of sawed the little foam 8 in half, so it’s now two 8’s. So, two blue foam eights are likely somewhere on my property.

 

Anyway. There is a very nice STOREWIDE SALE at our ETSY shop until midnight on my birthday, February 2nd ( Flippin’ Groundhog’s day here in the USA). Honestly every day has felt like Groundhog’s Day since this pandemic. (Keep maskin’ up, ya’ll so we can end this!)

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These are the faces of happy people. This is why we do what we do.
Thanks for
EIGHT GREAT YEARS ON ETSY!

 

— Deanna,
with Cindy & Dean
* GREASE AND GRACE *