Week 635 Wood working

Year 12, Week 9, Day One (week 635) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 03-10-12 Saturday

83 degrees, mostly blue sky with sun, though there were some boiling clouds here and there during the day. The light breeze made it comfortable. There was reports of showers in the county north of us, but we had perfect weather all day long. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.


YARD SAILING


We went yard sailing today. One big yard sail turns out to be next weekend, not this one. that did not matter. There were several condo yard sales we got to go to.

At one condo, I picked up some jewelry. I was about fifteen seconds from getting a griddle set. It had interchangeable plates and a woman was already looking at it. My mom did get a wonderful compliment. The guy selling it said "you and your wife can come for dinner." Mom was all grins.

Jewelry collection. I like the style.

At the next condo sale, I got a machining depth gauge. I paid more than I really should, but they were firm on the price. I also got some stainless steel mixing bowls, some trivets, a turkey basket, a wood cutting board and a graphing calculator.


graphing calculator


mixing bowl sets


The small trivets goes with a larger trivet I already had. I have a very large cutting board but sometimes I don't want to use that and a medium sized one is just right. When I got home I sanded it so it had a good surface to start with. I will have to explore to figure out how to use the graphing calculator. It might end up a present.

trivets - place hot pans on them.

It took some figuring to understand how to use the depth gauge. The flat surface is parallel to the bottom. You set the depth and then bring your tool to touch that surface for your depth. I am not sure what the other pieces are for. I will get with my brother on them.

depth gauge and parts. The cutting board is beneath them

The mixing bowls are going to be quite useful. I have some plastic ones and realize that I could use more different sizes. these were available so I got them.
I kept looking at the turkey basket. I could see how I could turn the body and then carve the head and tail. The design was kind of nice. I walked past it twice before I picked it up.

Turkey basket

Another yard sale we went to, I got some glitter glue with brushes, some jewelry, and some stamps.

Glitter glue and brushes



stamp set with cup

I do have some uses for the glitter glue in my art work. Not as much as I could, but do have uses. There are seven different kinds of stamps, with repeats of everything except the butterfly. They were a Christmas cup.

I liked the style of most of the jewelry I picked up. The green heart was just with the bunch and I got that anyway.



SATURDAY


The beast of the back yard got some food and attention between yard sales as we dropped some stuff off. He also got some in the afternoon when I went back to get to work. He had every intention to hang around until I started pulling the tables out. He decided to get going to his favorite hiding place.


I had two projects to work on today. Mom got a wire rack and it needed another shelf. She stuck wire shelving into it but it was not quite right. I took the shelf out, and after some playing around with some ideas, I found a way to stick the shelf in to fit right. I then tightened all the screws so the rack was nice and tight. Mom was happy with that.


My other project was to practice my display for the art show. I needed to find out what I had, how much room I had to put my stuff on it, and to set it up to look like something.
I see I could fill up however much space I have available. I chose to concentrate on my big carvings first and foremost. I pulled things out of the box and set them on the table, then moved them around. I found things I forgot all about.
The big problem is that if people don't see it, it is unlikely to be sold. It is only if they ask if you have more that you can pull it out. As long as I am picky, I can keep my display from being too overbearing.

practice table display

Another thing I was after was, once I had everything arranged, to pack things up so I can bring them out quickly at the show. I did see I forgot two things and will bring them with me when I go tomorrow.
I would love to have been able to practice this twice. It does make a difference. I have a general idea of where things are going, but not exactly. I did not practice the covering of boxes and racks. It would make a difference to get the fabric trimmed to the right length ahead of time.
Once I had everything set up, I took a couple pictures and then boxed them up. I will have everything there, but it just won't be on the table. It will be quite covered with my work and not show anything. I only hope I have the right stuff on display.

Practice table display

After everything was put away, I examined my yard sale finds a bit more, and sanded the cutting board.


I usually sharpen all my knives before the show. I make sure they are in top condition. In an early art show, I found my knives were dull and had to swap between several knives to find a sharp one. I made it a tradition to gather every knife I have and sharpen them so they are all ready for working. Sharp knives cut wood, dull knives cut fingers. This gives me an excuse to get every knife up to their best condition at least once a year.
I did not prepare some wood for carving during the show. I do have some wood in one of the boxes from last year and will use that. It is just that I have some better wood and could have gotten them ready with about fifteen, twenty minutes of work.
I carve during the art show. people like to see work done. A few painters paint during the show. I usually carve pencil heads. I am charging a drill battery so I will have power to drill for the pencils to go into the heads.

I always forget something for the show. I don't remember what it was last time so I have no idea what I will forget this time. when I got home, I remembered one thing I had forgotten today, but it took me about an hour to remember the second thing.

I have many goals as to my sales. My first one is to get my entry fee back. When my dad and I had our sales, One of us would sell a hundred dollars and the other only fifty. One year, I sold two hundred plus. year before last, I ended up with only thirty for a sixty dollar entry fee. Last year I got ninety. All what I get tomorrow will go for tools and materials to do more woodworking.
In my best year of sales of my wood working, I think I made six hundred dollars over the entire year. This includes bowls and platters my boss purchased from me that I brought into work during the year. It includes the art show sales and my sales of Christmas ornaments. The past four or so years have not been anywhere near that good. My aim has always been to make enough to where my wood working does not cost me anything. I did well for most years but my wood working has cost me money over the past few years.

Tomorrow, I will have the art show. It is going to be a whole lot of work. I have two hours to get the display set up. We will have a brunch, and then the art show starts. I can make adjustments after it starts, but it is best to have it done first thing. I want to look around to see who all is there, and what they have. I HAVE to take pictures of the show. I have sent out notices for the art show to some local friends, but I doubt I will see anybody who is not involved in the art shows. I do hope to see some friends there.


I will see what actually happens tomorrow.


Year 12, Week 9, Day Two (week 635) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 03-11-12 Sunday


Temps in the 80s, mostly cloudy with some blue sky, some sun. There was a strong wind and early in the morning while we were setting up, the people outside got some good wetness. This is the first time in twelve years that we got some showers during this art show, and it did not shower during the show itself.
It did not last long. In the afternoon, as I was unloading the truck at home, there was also a tiny bit of wetness. Not enough for a umbrella but enough to make some cardboard boxes look wet.
This weather report is brought to you by the City of Lighthouse Point Department of Tourism.

When I practiced my table set up yesterday, I was able to get all my work nicely arranged for quick and easy loading. I had the truck loaded up in about ten, fifteen minutes.


The beast of the back yard was very irritated with me. I did not give him the attention he felt he deserved in the morning because I was more interested in loading the truck at that time.
In the afternoon, I did not give him the attention he felt he deserved because I would give him a little bit, then grab something else from the truck, then give him a little more. He was more than willing to just sit there for the rest of the afternoon with me attending to him. Before I was done, he left in a huff. If he had stayed, I would have giving him a whole lot more time.


Moving my artwork and materials from the truck to my table was fairly quick. I used the wagon where I could stack things up. I was reminded that one must make sure the boxes need to be firmly stacked. One box had two of my major carvings and a bunch of small ones. It fell off the wagon. Both major carvings broke. One, where the fairy is adding nectar to flowers for a butterfly has a broken wing that will require a bit of work to glue it back on.
The other carving has the fairy writing "what if people really existed" came apart in many pieces. it looks like I can just glue the parts back in place.


Setting up the table was fairly fast. I made changes in the arrangement I did yesterday. I brought several folding tables and had two between the table and the wall on the "public end" and had a white plastic covering them. I had cannons setting on the end tables, giving me a little bit of room.

At about ten thirty, I made my first quick look at the rest of the art show. I found a number of old friends. I am impressed with what I saw. The wind was strong and the people outside were having to "batten down" their stuff. One guy mentioned his worry about getting rained on.
I went in for the Brunch and ate well. While eating a down burst hit. I intended to go out and check on them outside, but got sidetracked and forgot about it.

The art show started I changed things around a little from the original set up. Mom was there and said that she could not see me behind the table. I took one of my folding tables to the end of the display to set my tools on and placed my chair at the corner so I could watch the people work.

During the show, I carved on a pencil head. In previous years, I would do three pencil heads during the show. One thing I forgot to do this morning was to cut some white-wood for the pencil heads that is softer than what I was working with. I also picked the end of the wood with a knot in it. I told people that this guy was going to be a knot-head.

The pencil head I mainly worked on. I broke the nose and had to wait for the glue to dry enough to finish it. The second one is a bearded man carving. It started life as a corner cut off a twelve by twelve board I was making into a platter.

My first sale was for a Black-olive pumpkin I had made. The guy was thinking about getting it, then was looking at other items, asking his wife if she would rather have this and that, then he went back to the pumpkin and picked it up.
A family came by and purchased a standing dragon I had, and a cat ornament. I sold the dragon at half price.
A man came by twice. On the second visit, he told me that after he is done with his tennis, he would pick a bouquet of flowers for his wife. He purchased my shaved wood flowers as the flowers he would bring home.
A woman purchased two pair of my wood earrings. they were wood rings I had made.
A young woman was looking at my goblets. I told her that there is a story where if a couple is given a two ringed goblet on their wedding, as long as the rings are intact, the wedding will last. She came back later and purchased one and one of my wooden wands. The story I tell about he wands is that they are magic wands, but you have to add your own magic.
My last sale was of one of my penguin ornaments. they wanted it as a pencil head. I had to drill it out for the pencil to fit into it. The drill bit was not cutting the way I expected it to. While I was drilling through the legs, there was not a lot of wood to drill into. The leg broke out and the bit cut my thumb. I carved off the remains of the leg and continued drilling. It did not drill straight and until I got the hole deep enough and enough of the hole to hold the pencil, it had a oval top hole. I added the glue and a few wood chips to hold it in place. I wiped it somewhat clean of glue and blood, but really needed to do more. they seemed happy when they left, though. I felt guilty that I did not do better.
In all, I got my entry fee and a bit more than half again. That is not bad for this art show. It is not known for a sales art show.


Me in front of my display


Two views of my show display Both look like they were taken at the beginning of the show. the crochet hooks were moved from the end to closer to the middle a bit later.


A bit later view of the table with a few things shifted around


Crochet hooks on display. the short piece on the right came off one of the long hooks. I am not really sure if a customer broke it or it broke while moving them around. I seem to remember setting them up with hooks going the same way so I don't think it was broke then.


the pumpkin I sold was much like this one shown here. I had originally made three of them.

I sold a dragon similar to this one. It had arms holding a golden globe. that and the color was the only difference.

I then had to load my boxes. My truck was parked quite a ways away. I decided to get the boxes mostly loaded before I got my truck. I parked it close and decided that using the side door that I was next to, would be less steps than towing the wagon up the ramp, around to the entrance of the room, and to my table. I would make more trips, but it was a third the distance. I carried the boxes and stuff out to the truck. It is surprising how much stuff I have.

At Mom's house I unloaded the carvings from the truck. My carvings belong to Mom unless I sell them or take them home.
I considered how I was going to move the rest of my stuff home. It took me a while to remember that the work that was in the antique shop was brought to Mom's house separately from the materials I left at home. I tied a tarp over the bed and that protected my work at highway speed going home.
I unloaded the truck in really three trips. I basically took my basket that had my camera stuff on the first trip as I needed a pit stop. My second trip took the easy to stack bins. My third trip was a bit of a problem. I had a stack of boxes and my folding tables. My first attempt to stack them did not work. I had the tables on the bottom and when I tipped the hand cart up, they would not tip, as there was more hanging out the front than under the toe of the handcart. I had cords attached but they were not tight enough. the weight of the stuff stacked on them was not enough either.
It started sprinkling so I hauled the tables under the cover, then worked the stack into place and brought them out. It was over before I really got started moving the hand cart.
there is a width limit on the door of the elevator. My big cannon was sticking out too far. It caught on the door and once inside, It was not going to let me out without doing something about it. Two young men got in with me and I had one of them pull the canon out. that was enough to allow me to get out of the elevator without problems. Once out I was able to get to my door with no problems.

In the morning I was on my feet from eight till ten thirty non-stop. One cannot arrange a table sitting down. The first time I really had time to sit was during the brunch. I did a whole lot of walking after the show in packing up, unloading stuff at Mom's house, and unloading at home. I have fallen arches and use doctor engineered inserts, Orthotics, in my shoes to help with the problem. My feet really bothered me by the end of the day, but nothing like I had expected. They did surprisingly well. I am actually writing this in the morning and while my feet were stiff, they were better than I ever expected them to be.

I found out that the Turning club meeting is not going to happen this month. We meet at a school and they are on Spring Break. That gives me time to get ready for the next meeting. I had a number of projects I wanted to do but the art show prevented me from even touching them.

I have a big stack of bins in my living room right now. I need to separate the contents, a couple bins will be emptied. I will be taking my woodworking back to the antique shop at the end of the month. I have some ideas on a way to display the work and might clear out a corner and practice my ideas to see if it will work.
I had borrowed some household items for the art show display and they will be put back in place. I also will put some stuff away that had been simply boxed since the last time I really dug into my stuff.

For next weekend, I want to make a new handle for my tea pot. I want to start assembly on the dream catcher. I can start carving on the dragon again or the face vase. I want to make a bunch more crochet hooks and that requires sitting at the mini lathe and rounding wood to specific sizes. The wood turning club had a turning challenge where you make a natural edged bowl. I now have time to work on that. It will be a quick project.

I will see what I actually do next weekend.

Did you write? March 05, 2012

Did you write? March 05, 2012

It is that time of the week again. We are in a new month but the week is more important for us. It is a small bite of time that one can look forward to, and it is a deadline that comes up really fast and forces you to react.
The concept of this note is for you to post what is going on in your life and because you are posting anyway, you can also tell about what is going on in your writing even if you don't write.

As to what is writing, it can be anything. We all know that new writing is writing, but editing is also writing. Critiquing is also a form of editing and that also counts. Synopsis, poetry, query letters, world and character creation, blogging, technical writing, writing assignments, are just a short list of what is writing. Bulletin board posts and E-mails can also be writing if they are very wordy and pertains to writing or story. Of course, you may choose not to count many of these as writing. it is strictly up to you. For us, if you have to ask if it is writing, our answer is yes.


As for me, I did write. One thing I did was to remove a whole set of scenes that just did not fit to the way the story is going and did not add to the approaching ending. I did toss it into a file named ORPHANED SCENES. It will likely become the core of a later story. It was originally a key set of scenes but a shift of the story made that go away.
With what I added and what was removed, I basically lost all of the previous week's writing. so in the past two weeks, I added 16 words. Of course, there was a whole bunch of writing, but, you know how word counts are....


On the story idea front, we just finished a 29 day month. I can proudly say that I posted 30 stories, one more than days of the week, for a total of 32 pages and 19048 words. That is pretty good. I am already two ideas ahead for the year. The more the merrier.
Including what I am posting tonight, there are 42 story ideas in my compost pile. Not bad. I posted two story ideas that never got to paper.
During the past week, I have posted two leap-day story ideas. That has become a copper mine of concepts. they both involved with the consequences of being born on a day that only comes once every four years. One idea set up other ideas that I can post later.



I have my art show next weekend. I love to have new stuff on display, especially pieces I made since Christmas. They feel like brand new works.
Last month, it dawned on me that there would be no way to finish my dragon carving or my vase with carved faces done in time. I then went to two simpler projects.
One of them, the dream catcher, is not likely going to get done either. I have all the parts but it will take some time and planning to work at it and writing tends to be more a critical project. I could get it done but doubt it.
I have "finished" my tea pot. I hate the handle and will replace it after the show. I had some assumptions on the design that turned out not to be correct when I finally added the handle. In spite of the ugly handle, it actually looks pretty good. That handle will do until later in the month or next month.
I learned that it is best to practice the set up of the display. I never have enough room for everything so I have to pick and choose what will be on display, what is too damaged to be displayed, and how best to show them off. I then pack them up in a way so that setting up the display will be faster and very little decision making is done at the time of the art show. This weekend, I planned on setting up my display for practice. The tail of that monster that hit the mid west was coming across the state. it was a nothing squall line but since I have to do my display out in the open, not under cover, I had to cut short my practice. I have small stepped racks to lift stuff off the table to give elevation to different works. I did test them out and worked out how to get the most out of my display. That helps. I then packed up and put everything away. The squall line passed about an hour later, lasting an hour. Just a little bit of yellow on the radar and that was it.

AS for me, I can honestly say that

YES, I DID WRITE.

DID YOU WRITE?

Week 634, Woodworking

Year 12, Week 8, Day One (week 634)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
03-03-12 Saturday

85 degrees, brisk wind that got stronger as the day wore on. Blue sky with a light haze and sun all day, clouds started building up over the Everglades later in the afternoon. This weather report is brought to you by the city of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.

During the week, I sanded and varnished at my tea pot parts and dream catcher parts. I now realize neither one will be ready for the art show. Sad, but that is reality.

I broke the handle of my coffee pot. I found out that these CORNING coffee pots were recalled because of handle breakage. I did not know that. I had seen a crack in the handle, but I thought that was part of the tightening method. the two parts move together as it is tightened. The band that has the pour spout was leaking ever so slightly.
I decided to tighten it. I located the screw at the handle and turned the screw about three times. The main part of the handle fell to the counter.
Looking at the handle, I think I could make something like that out of any number of materials. Wood could work if I find the right piece. I had a glance and have a couple pieces that might work. I might have to do extra engineering to make it strong enough. Plastic if I could find the right size plastic block, or metal could also be used. I will give it a thought. Electrically it works perfectly so it is worth saving. For now I located another pot to work with.


YARD SAILING.

Mom's neighbor had to move out. We rescued a nice mirrored medicine cabinet and some odds and ends that we have use for. Mom may give a friend the medicine cabinet. If not, it comes home.
There were some gaming and baseball cards, a couple of hats, and a book in the stuff we rescued. I later rescued a towel rack where the welds of the bottom rung broke.

skate board parts and hats with a bag


medicine cabinet and towel rack

baseball and game cards and a book

At another yard sale for the humane society, I picked up a small paper cutter, a drill bit measuring gauge for three bucks. Also in that three bucks were two doggy brushes. I am thinking they might work as carding combs for taking fiber and straightening it out for spinning. I have a couple projects where that would be an advantage. I also want to make a drop spinner but needed to have a way to card the fiber so I can test the spinning properties.

two doggy brushes, a drill bit gauge, and a paper cutter

I got a Sterno cook stove with two cans of heat. and a folding table at a dollar each. The table had been in the weather and needs some clean up. I glued on one of the edge bands that fell off. I use these tables at home all the time. A couple are where I do my varnishing and sanding to hold my stuff. Others are right now buried beneath stuff. this table will likely be used for dirty work where it might get messy from something or another.

Sterno stove as found in box and set up.


Folding table

SATURDAY


I gathered all my woodworking I had at home, and took them to Mom's house this morning. One hard part was finding a way to replace the pencil cups I had started using recently. I had to "discover" new containers for this.


After the morning was over, I went down to the antique shop and gathered all the pieces in my display. It took three boxes to bring that stuff back. I will bring my stuff back at the end of this month.


Front and side views of the antique shop display that is now taken away

Tomorrow I will, if the weather allows, set up a three foot wide and eight foot table and practice my display of my turnings and carvings. I don't have a table that size so I will have to build it up with boards and other tables.
What I will be doing is to see what arrangement will look best, and what is not in display condition. Then when I put things back, it will be separated to make for the quickest and easiest set up for the display.
I learned over the past couple years that it is much better to make even half the decisions at this time than when setting up at the show. it takes time to set up and deciding what to show adds to that time. There still will be decisions to make, but the less I do the better.

I Need to charge up all my batteries for my battery powered drills. I also need to prepare materials for carving at the show, which I do all the time. I have generally carved pencil heads, but might carve something else. People like to see demonstrations of the work in progress.
I need to print up some more business cards and my ABOUT THE AUTHOR sheets I display. I was having printer problems last time and they did not print well.

Tomorrow will be preparing for next week's art show.

I will see what actually happens tomorrow.


Year 12, Week 8, Day Two (week 634)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
03-04-12 Sunday

85 degrees, really strong breezes and gusts, blue sky with lots of feathers and plates in the air at ten o'clock. The tail of the monster that attacked the mid-west came through in about an hour and as the last drops fell, the temps were 68 degrees. The wet air and wind and having walked through the wetness a tiny bit made it feel really cold. About an hour later, it went back up to 70 degrees, the breeze died down quite a bit and the sun came out and felt warm. I left at four and it was still 70 degrees light feathers plates, and scattered puffs, light breeze and lots of sun. it is supposed to drop down to 50 tonight. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.

I knew the monster's tail was coming so I measured my projects accordingly. I first dashed out to the ACE HARDWARE store that is about three blocks away and picked up some epoxy and something to hold screws in plasterboard.

I knew I did not have time to set up all my artwork to see how the display would look, so what I did was to set up a three foot by eight foot table mock-up, which required one of my portable tables to be set up on blocks. I then took some stepped wire racks I use and set them out on the table. With an empty box in the middle, I decided I had a good looking arraignment. I will cover them with some white material and then set art work on top of them so I have pieces raised above the others. I will have to wait until Saturday to actually set up my work to see what the actual arrangement will be.

My brother arrived before noon so we had dinner. That was when the worst of the beast hit. It was over completely a while after we went back outside. I doubt it was longer than an hour total.
My nephew arrived about half an hour after we ate.

My brother scroll sawed a piece for the clock he is making. He does a part here, a part there, and over time, it adds up to a complete project.


I took the acorn I had made last weekend for my dream catcher and fitted a small bit on my dremmel. I pock-marked the cap of the acorn to give it a more textured look. I hit it with a blast of varnish so my pocks would blend in with the cap around them so I could show my nephew that I was not ruining it. He really liked it. I will hit it with sand paper and varnish it more. it did make the cap look better, though there should be a whole lot more holes, no spaces between them.


Finished acorn set in jaws of the vise


I measured as to where the spout and handle will go on my tea pot. I lined them up with the pattern of the wood of the body and drew around them. For the spout, I measured in on the mating surface of the spout itself and drilled a whole bunch of holes. They were supposed to be even and well spaced, but wandering and mis-aiming caused a few problems with alighment. When one looks carefully inside, it looks like a stylized S within the border holes and not a well designed one either.
I sanded around the mating surface of the hole and then applied epoxy to the spout and stuck it on. I had to hold it for a bit before it felt like it would not move.
A bit later, I attached the handle the same way. I did not have to drill holes and I visually lined it up on the spout and held it. At one point, I released it too soon and after a few minutes, it started pulling apart. I held it longer until I was sure it stayed in place.
A bit later, I found that the handle was on a sight angle. My nephew suggested that it was intentional as it tips the hand of a right-handed person away from the steam from the spout when pouring.
It happens that the handle looks really bad. The design is all wrong. For now, I don't have time to replace the handle. It will have to remain as is. I might later make a new handle, cut off the old one and, put the new on STRAIGHT. When I made this handle, I had some limitations of the wood I was using and I was guessing as to how it was actually going to work. I know more so making a new handle will be easier and will look better.

left and right view of the tea pot with spout and handle attached. I just realized it looks like someone practicing martial arts.

We cleaned up the back yard and my brother, nephew, and I went inside to sit and talk for a couple hours. That is something we have not done in a very long time. it was fun.

My original plan for the table was to take out all my pieces, both carvings and turnings, and see how the arrangement would look, what pieces would more likely be on display and what pieces would be more likely kept in the boxes until needed. I did test a concept on the wire rack arrangement which does help some. The wire racks and the box will have a fabric of some kind draped over top them to hide them while holding the pieces higher than those on the table surface itself.
Saturday, I will place the work on the tables so I can see what it is going to look like. I have far more work than can fit on even three tables.
During the week, I will try to finish the tea pot. I have epoxy to clean off, some light sanding and then varnish it. It might well be on the table, however it looks when done. How good it looks will determine the price.
I just noticed that while my art show is Sunday, I have a turning club meeting the following Thursday. A couple projects I wanted to make won't be even started. Darn.
One thing I see is that even if the art show was NEXT month, not this one, I would not have too much more done to show for the extra time. It is surprising how much time has been wasted the past couple months.

I will see what happens next weekend.