August 16, 2021
Brandy Wayne is a woodworker and artists based in Long Beach, California. She conceptualizes and fabricates a variety of custom cutting boards and other artistic creations through her online store BrandyWayne.
She's an alum of Cal State Long Beach who has been working with her hands as long as she can remember.
"My dad gave me the name Handy Dandy Brandy when I was young and building stuff," says Brandy. "I went to school for design and focused on furniture design, but no surprise, I ended up liking the building part more so I just started collecting tools and creating."
There are a few different styles of boards on her store, with different shapes for her customers. There's even the Happy Susan, a smiling face made of poplar for its yellow hue and sometimes trippy grains with dark walnut for the contagiously happy features. This is the kind of piece that will make a wonderful centerpiece on any table. The boards are finished with a blend of coconut oil, mineral oil, vitamin E and beeswax. "My boards are higher end, so I wanted to include little extras for my customers, like a sticker sheet," Wayne says. "I like to put my head inside a shopper, and I love fun little extras, so I give extra oil for re-oiling the boards after six months."
The kiss cut sticker sheet that Brandy uses to add value to her shipments features 13 different peel off designs that mimic the designs of her cutting boards and other custom wood pieces. In an effort to give back to her community, Brandy worked with the Long Beach Rescue Mission to create a promotion whereby a portion of sales of the sticker sheet went back to the Rescue Mission. You can see the Alien, the Yin-Yang, the Rainbow and the rest of her custom-shaped board designs reflected on this sheet.
