Gardnerville woman provides alternative to foreign-made toys

Massive recalls this year have plagued major toy companies like Mattel and Fisher-Price, some of whose foreign-made products have been found to contain dangerous levels of lead paint.

But here in Gardnerville, Evelyn Sizemore has been making her marble game boards using non-toxic materials.

Sizemore started Marbleous Creations five years ago while living in Yerington.

"My daughter started playing marbles, and I thought they were too beautiful to leave laying around," she said. "I used to paint a lot of murals and backgrounds and decided to make some boards for the marbles."

Sizemore cuts pieces of medium-density fiberboard and paints Old World backgrounds, creating boards for marble versions of solitaire, Chinese checkers and a game called aggravation.

"Aggravation is like a marble version of Sorry," she said.

She said she uses non-toxic, water-based acrylics and finishes on her boards and orders her marbles from Kansas.

"I also make soft bottoms on the boards to protect the furniture," she said. "I think the boards are heirloom quality. The kids will love playing on them, but the adults will want to keep them around as works of art."

Sizemore also makes boards for non-marble games, like backgammon and checkers.

"I hunt the local thrift stores to find wooden game pieces because all the new pieces are usually plastic," she said.

Sizemore sells her work at local craft fairs and can be reached at 783-7245.