2012 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

CHRIS UNRUH IS EXPERIMENTING with

doll heads these days.

Some people don’t really get it, she says. But when she uses them to mold cement heads, which she then hollows out and plants succulents inside, some people love them.

Chris Unruh, One Fish Two Fish

Gift idea: potted plants

Price range: $12-$45 Where to find it: trulyunruhly. wordpress.com, craft shows

Unruh, who went to FIT and designed jewelry in New York for five years, discovered hypertufa, a porous material made of Portland cement, peat moss and either pearlite or aragonite, on a road trip in March 2010. She was on the way to her grandmother’s funeral and reading her stepmom’s Better Homes and Gardens magazine when she found a story about the stuff. The cement mixture is great for growing plants.

Aside from doll heads, Unruh uses yogurt cups and found Styrofoam forms to make hypertufa planters.

“I get excited about trash the way some people get excited about chandeliers,” she says, pulling pieces of Styrofoam from a bin.

Unruh’s company, One Fish Two Fish, sells online, and she is at craft fairs and shows at least two weekends a month. Some of her designs are smooth and geometric; others are rough and rustic. She uses found auto glass as sparkly mulch for the plants.

“This glass came from a wreck on Garland Road,” she says.

Unruh credits her husband, Steve Dickson, for hauling around untold hundreds of pounds of Portland cement. They were married two years ago, and Unruh works part-time for her husband’s structural engineering firm. She also sells her handmade jewelry at etsy.com/shop/trulyunruhly.

LAKEHILL PREPARATORY SCHOOL

Leading to Success. 2720 Hillside Dr., Dallas 75214 / 214.826.2931, lakehillprep. org

ST. JOHN’S EPISCOPAL SCHOOL

848 Harter Rd., Dallas 75218 / 214.328.9131 / stjohnsschool.org

6458

SCHOOL OF CONTEMPORARY BALLET DALLAS

1902 Abrams Pkwy., Dallas / 214.821.2066 / schoolofcbd.com

WHITE ROCK NORTH SCHOOL

9727 White Rock Trail Dallas / 214.348.7410 / WhiteRockNorthSchool. com.

SPANISH HOUSE

5740 Prospect Ave. Dallas / 214.826.4410 / DallasSpanishHouse.com

ZION LUTHERAN SCHOOL 6121 E. Lovers Ln. Dallas / 214.363.1630/ ziondallas. org

ST. BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX SCHOOL

1420 Old Gate Ln. Dallas / 214.321.2897 / stbernardccs.org of our readers say they want to know more about private schools.

2012/2013