Category: Products

Reimagining Tolt Avenue | A Carnation Story

May 28, 2023
Eve Hart
by Eve Hart

You would probably recognize the Carnation name off of a can of sweetened condensed milk. After all, that’s the origin of the town’s name. But some locals prefer the original name: Tolt.

Occupying just over one square mile with a population of 2,220, you wouldn’t be the first to dismiss Carnation as a blip on a map. For the past century, the main street of Tolt Avenue has been less of a Disneyland-kind-of main street and more of a rugged thoroughfare. But over the years, passionate Carnationites banded together to elevate Tolt Avenue to the charming main street it is today.

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Washington Rock Gift Cards Now Available

November 30, 2022
Eve Hart
by Eve Hart

We’re excited to announce that gift cards are available for purchase! They feature a beautiful new design by artist Zoe Radford. Our gift cards make the perfect stocking stuffer

Our new gift cards feature art by Zoe Radford.
gift card sitting on table top
Each gift card comes with a beautiful matching sleeve.
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Drawing the Story Out of Stone: Sculptor Tom Small

October 28, 2022
Eve Hart
by Eve Hart

In front of the community movie theater in Friday Harbor, a perch welcomes anyone who passes by. It’s not your everyday park bench: it’s sculpted granite, refined in its well-formed lines and polished surfaces, yet preserving a natural form in its organic waves and cu­rves. Like its creator Tom Small, it is solid, stable, and unpretentious. It invites viewers to pause and enjoy a few minutes’ rest and peace.

One of Tom’s sculptural benches sits in front of the movie theatre in Friday Harbor. Photo courtesy of Tom Small.

The bench is one of sculptor Tom Small’s first public pieces. Seeing people seated on it brings Tom a sense of fulfillment when he ventures into town, and it reminds him of his primary goal in stone carving. 

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How Do I Make a Gravel Surface Wheelchair-Accessible?

July 25, 2022
Eve Hart
by Eve Hart

Daniel Burnstein of Brooklyn, New York had a unique dilemma: his client wanted to be able to use the backyard with a wheelchair. Concrete work and pavers can be expensive, and Daniel liked the rustic charm of gravel.

His question: Can gravel surfaces be wheelchair accessible? The answer is yes—if they meet certain standards.

Washington Rock, with the help of landscape architect Clayton Beaudoin, researched the topic and came up with guidelines for making gravel surfaces wheelchair accessible.

Our goal is to make these guidelines as easy as possible to follow, so we created a simple guide below. Then we included additional resources, such as a Glossary of Terms and Research Notes.

Check out the companion piece to this article, “Designing for Diana: How We Made Gravel Wheelchair-Accessible in Brooklyn,” to read about how we used our guidelines to help Daniel create a gravel-accessible backyard. The project is summarized in the video below.

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How Many Cubic Yards Do I Need? | How to Calculate How Much Gravel, Sand, or Soil You Need

May 11, 2022
Eve Hart
by Eve Hart

Figuring out how much topsoil or gravel you need is a tricky business. Below I’ll take you through how our material calculator works and how much various trucks can carry. Be sure to check out our new video for step-by-step instructions on calculating how many cubic yards of material you need.

To visualize how many cubic yards or tons a pickup truck or dump truck can carry, check out our post, “What Does a Cubic Yard Look Like?”

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What Does a Cubic Yard Look Like? | Visualizing How Much Gravel, Sand, or Topsoil You Need

May 10, 2022
Washington Rock
by Washington Rock

Figuring out how much landscaping or construction material you need is a tricky business. Below are some diagrams to help you visualize how much product a pickup truck can carry. We also help you visualize how much various kinds of dump trucks can carry.

You can also learn how to calculate how many cubic yards of material you need in our article-video combo, “How Many Cubic Yards Do I Need?”

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