Tonya Gray had been working in clay, and making holiday ornaments for a dozen years when the creative urge to try something new took hold.
She initially began working with acrylics about 8 years ago, and though she loved just producing art paintings, they didn’t sell well at events. She realized she needed to combine something functional with her paintings, so she came up with the idea of magnetic chalkboards.
Gray’s magnetic chalkboards are sturdy, versatile, and functional while still being artistic creations. They hang on a wall from a wire, a refrigerator, or outside the home, always at the ready for the perfect short message, list, reminder, or greeting with a simple piece of chalk.
The basic hanging magnetic chalkboard design is made from furniture grade maple plywood, and a single sheet of metal shingle to form a magnetic holding surface.
Depending on the actual design, one type hangs on the wall by a curled “fencing wire” attached to the top of the board. The other type adheres magnetically on the back side to a metal surface. The board itself is cut to size, sanded, stained, and the metal attached to the wood using screws. Gray applies 3 coats of chalkboard paint to the metal chalkboard like surface. On the hanging magnetic chalkboards, the sizes are the same but they contain different words and design patterns on either the tops or bottoms of the boards.
“When I think about making a painting or a chalkboard I just think about life and love and family and people’s hearts, and being in the world…how can we share generosity and how can we be kind? ” That’s what Gray hopes people will be inspired to contemplate and the kind of emotion they will draw from her chalkboards.