What comes next will be the flair to their custom woodworks.
The couple behind Rock Island Design Co. creates cutting boards, coasters and more with epoxy-made effects. Their final products are smooth woodworks with what looks like sea glass or swirling landscapes in purple, turquoise and peach frozen in hand-cut pieces.
In their Morley Heights backyard workshop, stacks of wood dry on a shelf near the ceiling. Ready-to-go pieces in maple, walnut and cherry are laid out under their workbench — easily accessible for unexpected projects.
“The last-minute mistakes turn into the coolest parts,” Vavrina said.
Partners Travis Demenge and Cheyenne Vavrina create custom cutting boards, coasters and more for their business Rock Island Design Co. Each piece has a river of colored epoxy running through it. The couple experiments with pigment powder and alcohol inks to create unique colors and effects in the epoxy and will add objects into the mixture like bullet shell casings, seashells and rocks. (Tyler Schank / tschank@duluthnews.com)
They get their wood from Ramsey, Minnesota. Then, they cut it, plane it and place it in their pre-made molds before they pour in their colored epoxy mixture. Much of their designs vary with each piece.
On a recent workday, Vavrina poured blue epoxy over a hollow spot of wood, which was likely a branch that got cut off or a knot that they sanded out.
“We have to take out any dead parts of the wood, or it won’t want to stick with the epoxy,” she said.
Cheyenne Vavrina and Travis Demenge mix epoxy and a hardening agent Wednesday, Jan. 13, before adding color pigment and pouring the mixture into a mold to create a Rock Island Design Co. cutting board. (Tyler Schank / tschank@duluthnews.com)
Their process is a combination of mixing epoxy, adding in color pigment, locking their wood pieces into a handmade mold and pouring. From there, the molds need to cure for three days in a temperature-controlled space.
For that, Demenge built a heat-controlled cabinet, which also keeps the pieces safe from wood shavings or other debris settling in.
After some trial and error, much of this is still an experiment, they said.
They don’t know exactly how each project they pour is going to look, and they can’t recreate the same color twice. And, because it takes three days to harden, there’s time to play.
A stream of shimmering epoxy, poured one day prior, encapsulates bullet shell casings in a Rock Island Design Co. cutting board, Wednesday, Jan. 13. Each creation takes three days to dry upon pouring in the plastic molds Travis Demenge built. (Tyler Schank / tschank@duluthnews.com)
In their workshop sat a board with shell casings frozen in epoxy with wisps of, what looks like, smoke.
To get this effect, Demenge waits until the poured epoxy hits the “honey and peanut butter” stage of curing. Then, he applies alcohol ink to a popsicle stick before dragging it through the epoxy.
Because it’s far enough along in its curing stage, it halts the chemical reaction and freezes the alcohol ink in place, he said.
The pair have cast bullet shells, seashells, rocks and fishing lures. They’re still working on setting flowers in their boards, and they have plans to use raw crystals.
Some of their projects are the result of happy accidents — mixing up too much epoxy, or an abundance of leftover wood. That’s often why they make coasters, Vavrina said.
Cheyenne Vavrina holds two Rock Island Design Co. cutting boards, made by herself and her partner Travis Demenge. (Submitted photo)
Being partners in business and at home is a good match for them. He has an engineering brain, and she has an artistic brain, and the way they approach processes together makes for fruitful brainstorming and problem-solving. Demenge often cuts and prepares the pieces, and she mixes and pours the epoxy.
Vavrina has gained more confidence with the power tools, she said, but her favorite part is still working with the chemicals and adding color.
“There’s no loud saw or loud planer. I like the quietness,” she said.
For Demenge, watching a project transform from raw materials to a finished product is the most gratifying. “Then, everything’s square and smooth and shiny,” he said.
A recently purchased wood laser burner allows Cheyenne Vavrina and Travis Demenge to add the Rock Island Design Co. logo to their pieces. (Tyler Schank / tschank@duluthnews.com)
Asked about their business name, Demenge talked of their first camping trip together. The couple stayed near Silver Island Lake and slept on what they found out was a big, solid rock of an island with ground hornets underneath. It was memorable and appropriate to mark the start of their business with a start to their relationship, he said.
Coming off a big holiday season, the couple said the reception has been great.
“We’re a little Podunk garage in Duluth, Minnesota, and we send stuff to Hawaii, Montana, Colorado, Louisiana, Missouri, Michigan,” said Demenge.
One order was for a man’s personal chef brother.
The products are 100% safe to use as a cutting board for food, but many of their customers report they’re displaying them instead.
“It can be art and functional at the same time,” Demenge said.
Rock Island Design Co. coasters. (Submitted photo)