62 degrees early morning, sunny with sparse light clouds. 73 in late morning. 71 after unbroken clouds came over the area. I worked in the morning shade until the sun got high enough to shine on a seating area, and then sat in the sun and read until I finished a section and had thawed out enough to go back to work.
This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
I finished most of my Christmas cards on Wednesday. I had some cards that needed some items on them, but enough were done to be said to be done.
I had painted the picture on the card. which was a palm tree with lights, and presents around the base. I had three types.
On small card stock, I had the lights up in the fronds.
IN the large card stock, I had eight where I had drawn lines with a marker, then painted the lights on them.
I then did another batch of cards where the lights were on the trunk of the tree. I got a lot of compliments on the quality of the cards.
For the lettering on the inside and on the back, I tried using the printer. That turned out to be almost as much work as doing it by hand. It is hard to hide some colored inks. The hardest part is getting the card orientation right. ON the small cards, which I did first, I drew what I wanted to be in a drawing program I had. I took one card and printed it twice over the drawing by accident before I got the back lettering in the right place. I printed the inside twice, once upside down on the wrong side.
The key to printing, is to figure out the orientation. With most printers, the side you want printed goes down in the paper tray. Then you have to make sure the graphic is in the right place in the page.
it would have been easier to print lettering first, then do the painting. Using the printer was a afterthought.
I gave out most of my newest ornaments as presents this year. I would have not given out quite as many if I had more money or if there were more people getting something. As it was, I have my selection in my ornament archives I can refer to when making new. I do plan to make more.
Other than the ornaments I make new, I am pretty much done with all my ornaments. Owls are my main concentration of making more of, and I will make some Christmas trees. Of course, I have some swan blanks that need to be carved. the main carving will be when I want to sit and relax rather than wood turn, or when I am not in the mood to do much, or if I cannot use the lathe. One can essentially sit anywhere and remove wood.
I got a compliment on how I painted the hobby horse. It came out pretty good. I intend to make more, but they won't be painted. I am told I can sell them easier.
We have the tradition of opening our presents Christmas eve, so the kids can spend all Christmas morning, playing with the toys from the moment they wake. This really worked well as we always met at my Mom's house. We would then get together again on Christmas day for a big, Thanksgiving style dinner.
I gave well and I got well. We were very meager on what we gave, no one went crazy. I had received, and had given a few bigger presents earlier because they were needed then.
I enjoyed making the cards, even though I should have started a while lot earlier. I knew I needed to make them last month. I knew I needed to start the ornaments two months earlier than I started. I could have made the last couple weeks a whole lot easier if I had started on time.
Saturday
I started the morning by dropping my printer. It is shorting out at the plug. Not good.
I petted Beggar during seven different sessions today. each time he got closer and closer to acting like a real cat. Much of the time, he was more interested in just having company than being petted. I am slow to get a clue. Part of that is that It was my petting him that lead him away from being an attitude in a cat's body. I tend to want to keep that up, to tame him even more.
My first project was to make more owl ornaments. I got a lot of corner chip out, but got them made to a point I can work with them. I use the corners in the design. The wings and tail are on each corner, so is the beak. These also have the college miter cap on them and those corners are not supposed to be broken out. That can be fixed though. The main thing was to get the blanks made. I will need more.
My next project was to sort out some stuff I have moved around all over the place the past few weeks. I separated them by content, and projects. that has helped quite a bit.
I got a great idea. I would make some small bowls and add duckling heads to them. I cut some pieces from Dade County Slash Pine branches I have, and tried making the bowls. My first attempt was working pretty good. I was getting down to the bottom of the bowl, after shaping the outside first, and got a catch. The tenon which the chuck hangs onto, broke. I set it to the side and started again. This second piece had some shrinkage cracks in it. I was cutting down, stopped for a quick glance and saw a bit of chippage on the edge. I got going again. The tool slipped and the thin edge was gone in an instant.
Looking at the project, I realized that the wood I am using, two and one quarter inch diameter, is just too small for this project. I really need four inch wood to make it work right. I do have a 4x4 cedar that would work. I would have to round it a little before I got to making the bodies. not a problem though. It might work pretty good, but I would rather use a stronger wood with a lighter color.
I also was making a goblet. I misjudged how deep I went inside the bowl as I was cutting the outside, working my way to the stem. I cut in some more to round the outside of the bowl and saw a color change of the wood. I stopped and looked. I had some holes. I had made the wood at that point so thing it started breaking. I removed what was left of the bowl and removed the wood from the lathe.
Today did not go right, but I enjoyed myself anyway. I do have some key projects I am going to have to start working on.
From now to March, I have to concentrate on the art show I am always in. Now for a listing of the projects I have in process or plan to do between now and then. If I get all of them finished, I will have done great.
I have to go through all my existing pieces and see if I can improve the quality of the finish on the items I hope to have on display.
I have a flower vase started and I need to sit down and continue carving on that. This is in Norfolk Island Pine and the ring of knots will be the centers of the flowers.
I need to make some more of some ornaments I am short on, finish the ones I have blanks for. I should start looking for new ornaments to make.
I need to make a fruit plate or two. I have some apples started, but need to make more fruit and finish the ones I have started. wooden fruit is high in fiber and low in calories. They also strengthen your jaw.
If I make a bunch of those hobby horses, unpainted, I have an outlet to sell them. they would not be hard to make and might sell in several locations.
I would like to make some decorative platters again. If I c0ould come up with one for the art show, that would be a fun gift to the director of the show. A few other carved platters would make for extra interest.
I would love to carve another fairy. A new fairy would be a nice addition to my collection.
There are other projects, but these are what I am looking at. My problem is that I have about eleven weeks to do this and the smallest of these projects would take about two weekends to finish if I am efficient. Many take a couple months to finish.
As for tomorrow, I know I will make a few more owl blanks. More than likely, I will be using the dremmel to grind wood away. Of course, they are talking about 59 degrees tomorrow morning. It should be a lot warmer by the time I get there.
Will see what I actually do tomorrow.
year 9, Week 50, Day Two (week 520) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 12-27-09 Sunday
58 degrees in the morning, 71 degrees when I got to Mom's house, 78 as the high. Light breeze, blue sky with scattered thin puffs. Day after tomorrow looks like it is going to get real cold, Down to the 50s. I hate it when it gets that cold.
This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
As the day wore on, Beggar started acting more and more like a cat. The last time I saw him, he settled down between my feet in a perfect cat immitation. I was then called for lunch and had to disturb him.
I assembled my tools and projects first thing. I dug out my flower vase and started carving using the dremmel. I cleaned up the stems going into the flower pot at the base. Once I had that, I went to the flowers. The flower centers are the knots of the Norfolk Island Pine branches. They run as a ring around the vase near the top. Being knot-wood, it is harder than the wood surrounding it. I made the knots into shallow domes, then I carved at the petals radiating from there.
The main thing was to locate where they are. I have to cut deep around them and the leaves to have a really deep relief. I am going to have a whole lot of work to do. I am just "sketching" with the grinder right now. Some flowers will be tipped so half goes behind another flower. The leaves will be intertwined going over and under each other.
I will likely cut the weight of this vase in half when I am done.
I got an idea today. It is based on the duckling bowls I played around with yesterday. The idea is a napkin holder set. large duck I made would hold the bulk napkins, then the little ducklings would hold the individual napkins.
I have to work on the size of the saddle bowls that the duckling heads would be attached to. I did check one design idea. Operator error and lower quality wood prevented the idea to work but the proof of the concept was there.
To do the ducklings properly, the heads need to be a whole lot higher than the tail. What I did was to take the six inch long piece of cedar post, and mount it between centers and knock off the corners. I then located the center around it. Since I had drew on the ends from corner to corner before I started, I used them to get a line going down the length of the piece on what I decided was the top and bottom. I first measured one inch off the center in opposite directions top and bottom but found that was too much. I went half an inch in opposite direction top and bottom. When I put the drive spur on one mark and the tail stock into the other spot, the wood was on a really sharp angle.
I turned the piece, flattening the tail stock side and then making a tenon. This is fun turning, but if you have never done anything like this before, it is very intimidating. All you see is the ghost of the wood ends flying around. One goes more by feel than anything. One knocks off the edges slowly flattening the bottom until you have a flat area that the chuck can grab onto. You set in outside that area so the chuck has an edge to grab. it is useful to turn the lathe off periodically to see what you are doing to the wood.
I also rounded the flying ends but knocking off the corners all the way across the flying area. Once the tenon is formed I flip the piece around and mount it into the chuck.
My bird bowls has what amounts to a saucer around the base when I am making them, that will become the feet. The bottom is flat, but the toes bend up, I set the bowl back, so the feet stick out. I use thin tools like parting tools, to cut the wood back from the top of the saucer, following the bottom of the saucer angles. I then do the body more rounded to meet the saucer at the base.
I shape the upper part of the wood. I am finding that having the top rim straight does make things easier on me in creating them. When I make the carved heads, it is easier to match one radius, the side to side radius, rather than also dealing with a top to bottom radius.
These being small pieces, a straight side also makes cutting the inside easier too. I remove some of the wood from the inside while the tail stock is holding the bowl against the chuck. It is sometimes a strange angle to work because the tail stock is in the way, but when you knock down the high spots some, there is less chance of the piece coming off the chuck by breaking the tenon. There is less banging going on. At this point, I am leaving the wood directly in front of the tail stock, sort of a post in the center of the piece.
I finally pull the tail stock away and get right in from the center of the piece. the post disappears and I can cut the sides right to the proper thickness. As you are cutting, you can see the tool in the gaps and see a ghost of the thickness of the wood you are cutting. Work the center along with the sides, always following the outside shape you created. Get down to the bottom of the bowl and flatten in, clean it up and you are essentially done turning. sanding and finishing comes next.
The one I did as described above was working well, then the tool slipped and sliced off the high bowl wall, nice and clean. It is still higher than the lower wall. On another one, I did pretty good but not spectacular, that one was done level. Both of these need to be shorter so the saddle shape is more pronounced.
I took the one I tried to make yesterday where I broke the tenon, and mounted it backwards. It just fit over the chuck. The tail stock was set hard in the post that still existed when I made the tenon while it was between centers and I created a new tenon.
When I started turning the inside again, I was doing well. then the took caught and went sideways. The thin walls were suddenly gone. That is now in the trash.
I took the cedar apples I made a while back and cleaned them up with the dremmel. I drilled partway through the base of the apples and then cut in the bumps on the bottom with the dremmel. I did some sanding to get rid of the dremmel marks. I have some more sanding to do, with finer grit, to make them ready to finish.
I took some pine and shaped it into stems for the apples. With an apple I had from before, I now have three apples in my fruit plate. I need to make pears and bananas for a simple fruit plate. I always consider making grapes but that is too much work.
I made headway today on my projects. Each requires more work. My off center bowl test will work nicely. Having decided that my ducklings will be napkin holders makes it easy to use some existing stock. I used cedar as it was about the right diameter, I thought, and was available. All I had to do was remove the corners. My Dade County Slash Pine branch I have is a smaller diameter, but that will work nicely.
I have loads of projects for next week. What I actually do will depend on what comes up, what mood I am in, and what materials are available.
I will see what I actually do next week.
No comments:
Post a Comment