Did you write? 03-29-10
Many among us have the irritating habit of writing every day, many thousand words a week. The rest of us wish we could do that. Many of us struggle to write each month, let alone every week or every day.
This note is to prompt the rest of us to write at least once during the week, with the penalty of having to publically admit we did not write. Of course, we get to brag that we did write, too.
We don't make judgements as to how much is written, or what is written. The fact that you put words to "paper" is all that counts. The more that is done, the better, but anything counts.
Most weeks, I list things that could pass as writing. there are more, but many would stay some are not. As long as you decide it is writing, is all that is important. I will skip the list today.
I did not write this week. I never even opened any of my stories. the one time I had the chance, I wrote an extra story idea so I would not fall behind because of my Sunday art show (more on that below). Because of this, I have backslid and the dark and stormy weather we are having has to be punishment for my dragging the world into the stone ages...
I am up to date on my story ideas. I have had some very good ones. I have come up with a good number of useable concepts, that have been added to my compost pile. The compost pile has 48 story ideas in it, and the top ten or so are likely quite usable. I don't look until I need to grab one. next week I will tell how I did for the month.
I had my art show yesterday. Not a lot of people came, and while there were a lot of art show people there that I recognized, there was no one from outside the art show I would have known. One friend said he was coming, then his granddaughter chose not to go. So he did not come.
There were a few sales, but not all that much. they gave us a T-shirt with the art show logo. They then had a brunch that was out of this world. I over-ate and hated the fact that I was on the low volume diet I am on (could not eat enough to get my money's worth). My sales was low, about half the entry fee. there were not a lot of people coming through. if you take the other things in, I guess I broke even.
I also broke several pieces. some can be easily repaired, usually a dab of glue and no one will ever know anything happened to them.
Earlier in the weekend, while practicing the display for the show, I bumped one thing, that knocked another, and one of my favorite pieces hit the ground, breaking into several pieces. This was a bowl I carved into a swirl of leaves. It was also one of my most expensive pieces.
I picked up the pieces I could find and looked at re-assembling it. there appears to be one piece missing but could not find it. it is lost among real leaves.
I have decided to create a new work of art using the remains of this bowl, since it is excellent carving. while man possibilities have crossed my mind, having the leaves hung in a spider web would be interesting.
Anyway, I am sure what I create will be a lot better than the bowl was.
I was glad I did the practice displays this weekend. I realized I have a style. simply put, I looked at my work and realized what my best work were, and what seamed dull. I now have to simply make my work with the style in mind.
Now that the art show is over, I can now concentrate on making real pieces and create some projects I have really wanted to do, but did not have the time to work on.
To use the above in a story idea, He made magic amplifiers. The gods let deposits of resinous materials wherever they spent time. some people said it was their poop, others said it was tears. the people who made magic amplifiers knew it was simply an interaction with the world, where waste energy sloughed off their bodies. Energy becomes solid.
The energy amplifiers are created by carefully removing waste materials from the actual energy bearing deposits. Most remove all the waste material and just have little grains of magical amplification. He, and others of his school of thought, left the grains in place and removed the waste material until they had something that used all the grains to amplify the energies. The form as pretty to look at, and also had great potential. they could be tuned by how much waste was left on and how much was removed, and where.
One day, he had created a piece that was extremely delicate, and the grains amplified on several levels of magic. master magic users could do vastly different kinds of magic with something like this.
He declared it done and had several trusted magic users check it out. They were impressed.
A few months later, he drops it. It breaks into several pieces. the flash of light said that one or more of the grains were destroyed in the fall. he picked up the pieces and looked over the results.
He found he could change the amplification by moving the pieces in and out from each other. This was something no one had explored.
He puts the pieces away. He now knows he will make a device that will allow the magic user to tune the amplifier to the exact magic they want to do.
As to the question of the week.
I am sorry to say, "No, I did not write."
DID YOU WRITE?
Monday, March 29, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Week 533 woodworking
year 10, Week 11, Day One (week 533) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 03-26-10 Friday
80 degrees, windy, fast moving pregnant clouds, a moment of real sun. A wave of a front passed early morning. there was a break, then a second wave of the front passed in the afternoon right after I had packed up and was about to go home. It is sunny after the second wave passed. This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
Surprise, surprise, I did woodworking on a Friday. I had some stuff I wanted to do in preparation for the art show. I handled today like a Sunday, leaving a bit later than I would on a Saturday. I got to sleep in a little.
One project I had was I wanted pictures of everything on a sheet, so I could write the prices, and then mark what was sold. I started pulling the pictures into my drawing program, then realized this was going to be a big project. I then remembered that my printer will do "contact sheets" of all the pictures. That works. I have to remove some pictures from the sheet as they are from the club or not woodworking related. it will work, though.
I also had taken the time to take pictures of everything so with just a few exceptions, I have everything that will be on display.
I have worked on painting the baby dragon. I am getting close to where I can say it is presentable. I planned only having three colors on it white it was painted over all, a red that I covered much of it, then blue. Well the blue came out really dark and seamed to ruin it, so I added yellow so the blue became a thin line of color. It helped. It is about the best it has been painted so far. I am at the stage where I am correcting corrections. I am not careful with the brush and the paint will go where it does not belong, so I will touch up those parts. it will be right soon. This is a carving I want to make several of. Other than the color, I like the way this carving looks compared to the candle it is based on. I know I can do better too. it helps to have something to go by. I did not want the candle where it can become damaged, so I had to go by guess and by golly a on a few features.
Baby dragon before final touch up painting
I brought all my pieces to be displayed, along with some racks to help display them with me. I saw we were dealing with a front, so I chose not to bring extra boxes for the larger carvings.
After checking the radar after arriving, I set up the tables to practice with my display. Mom had a quarter inch sheet of plywood that I laid on the tables. This was better than the board system I was using as it was more stable and bigger. I got my full eight food by three foot size to practice with. One change I made was I brought a stainless steel dish drainer and silverware basket with me. My wooden silverware went into the basket, and the saucers and a natural edged bowl and a few plates went in the drainer. this freed up space for me to display some of my relief carvings I have.
I did not bring out my big carvings, and I left my small stuff in their baggies. Part of this was because I had no way to really judge when the weather would appear, and partly due to laziness. I did have the rest of the stuff on the table. I don't like my display much. I will work on it some more tomorrow. it will be a full display and I will work to get it right. I will then work out the best way to put things away to speed the project of getting them out quickly on Sunday.
Satisfied with what I had, I then packed things up and took down the tables.
I had been looking all over for my beer stein. I wanted to sand and varnish it. Well, I found it today. It was on a gardening table next to the woodworking shed. It had been outside all week long, in the wind, sun and rain. Some of the glue got a little wet. I let it dry for a few hours, then took time and sanded it really good. I got rid of some problems it had. The handle feels better too.
Once I got home, I stuck that in boiled linseed oil and will soak it for at least three days, likely longer, then let it dry for at least a month before I do any finishing on it. Since the cup of the stein is Norfolk Island Pine, the oil will make it translucent. One will be able to put a light in it and see the light through it.
I had nearly all my knives with me and I took the time to sharpen them. One knife had a few little chips on the edge, so I flattened the edge past the chips, then sharpened it all over again. I tested them out on some yellow pine. they are all nice and sharp now.
This is a practice I do every year before the show. I make sure all my knives are shaving sharp. I carve during the show and have had the knives chip or get dull while working. If I hold off on sharpening too long, it becomes a long process to correct the dullness of the blade. it is faster to just grab another knife and continue carving. Usually, though, I will simply strop the blade when I stop for a moment to do something.
I took some pencil head blanks and worked on them a little. I used one for the knife test and trimmed corners off a couple others. I will do more on them tomorrow so they will be ready to work with.
It was about one, I put everything away and got ready to go. That was when some drops started falling. There was a fairly light drizzle the entire time that the remains of the front passed over us.
I had forgotten some projects at home that I wanted to work on. that will be the main thing for tomorrow. I will work on those projects after I set up my display and work out some details. it will be a full dress rehearsal and I will make sure everything is satisfactory, then will try to put things away so it will make for a quick setup the morning of the show. The sooner things are on the table, the longer time I have to make sure it is presentable.
During the next week, I will sort through my stuff, get them put away, and also get a bin ready of stuff I want to take to the antique shop for display on Friday.
I do know that on Sunday, I will be wore out when I get home.
I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
year 10, Week 11, Day two (week 533) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 03-27-10 Saturday
60 degrees AM when I got to Mom's house, 80 degrees by noon. Light breeze that just moved the light leaves, blue skies, a bit of white puffs over the everglades most of the day. This Weather report was brought to you by the City of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
The beast came to me in the form of a cat, about five times during the day. He ate each time, but what he really wanted was attention. I sat and petted him for long periods each time, but several times cut the attention short. One problem is that I would sit down and start petting him, then remember several things I needed to get up to do. Even at his worst today, he was a nice kitty. He now PRETENDS to have an attitude.
I got out the tables and set up my display. I examined it as I was setting things up. I looked at it from different sides moved things around. it took a couple hours to have everything on the table. I did not like the way it looked, so I changed it. I did this several times. items swapped, I would line some things up going back, then change them to line on an angle, I would then make an arc around something.
I took stuff off the wire racks I had to prop things up, and put some table covers over the racks. I had picked up white plastic party table covers at the dollar store. Some I cut in half, others I used whole. I would drape the sheet over the table set the racks on top the edge, then pull the sheet over the racks to dangle behind the table. Since I unfolded it the minimum to cover, it did not dangle much. it did improve the appearance.
I had an arrangement that was passable but did not like it. It was all one elevation. I took a couple boxes and did the cover thing on them too. that raised several pieces up above the rest. that was also an improvement.
I have some stepped racks, where they give two or three levels to set things I covered them too. Rather than looking at wire racks, they are a slightly bit more elegant set up. I needed to add a bit more time on them but it showed what can be done to hide the underpinnings.
I touched up the baby dragon carving's paint job. I finally have it acceptable. It is not perfect, but is acceptable. I had the multi color on the top of the muzzle, and it looked like she was wearing a mask. I ended up removing the multi color so that there is color on the side of her head, and the stripes on her bak stop on her eye brows. Big improvement. I won't make any more changes. I have had enough. I will make a new one and paint on that
I had a leaf bowl, where it looks like it was just leaves stitched together to make a bowl. I bumped one thing, that bumped another and it and something else fell to the ground. the bowl, which I was careful with all along, broke into several pieces. I picked them up, compared where they are supposed to go and there appears to be a piece missing. I looked all over and could not see it.
leaf bowl before I broke it
I doubt I can assemble it again, but I will figure out how to make use of it anyway. I might make it part of something else. It was good carving.
Leaf bowl after I broke it.
I finally packed things up. I started at one end of the table and set them in the bin, piece by piece, or for the small stuff, bag by bag. when that bin was full, I then filled the second bin. Finally, my large carvings went into a few boxes.
I have less boxes than I usually take to the art show, but it will still be a big load.
It will take about four trips from the truck to the table to be loaded up.
I painted the ends of the bananas, adding black paint to represent the darkening on the ends. I started adding streaks of black down the side on two, but did not like the effect, so I sanded that off and sprayed it freshly with varnish. After the varnish dried, I did just the ends like I did on the first couple.
When I set up tomorrow, I will make some changes I thought of after I was done. I won't be satisfied with my display, but it won't be horrible. It was better than my first attempt last week.
Tomorrow is the show. I will carve on pencil heads and talk to visitors. I know from experience that I will be wore out when the show is over. I tend not to take breaks.
A perfect show is where you leave with empty boxes and a full wallet.
I will see what happens tomorrow
year 10, Week 11, Day three (week 533) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 03-28-10 Sunday
Mid 60s in morning, 80 as the high, high humidity, clouds looked pregnant all day long, really brisk breeze. Several people placed outside had to change their arrangements because of the wind. Beyond the threat and the breeze, it as a very good day. Last year, they were complaining about it being so hot.
This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Lighthouse Point Department Of Tourism.
Today was the art show. I started by getting to Mom's house after seven, and loading up the truck. I had every thing set up so loading was easy.
I then gave the beast thing, that resembles a cat, a lot of attention. That was what he needed. He was in a very good mood.
I left and arrived at the art show, about two miles a way, by eight and they were already going in. Three trips, one where I moved the truck where it needed to park for the show, and I had everything at my table.
I use a wooden children's wagon to move things. it works perfectly for moving a lot of stuff safely.
I had my display set up by about ten. I looked around at the other art. some brilliant ideas. it was fun to see that kind of art. I should have taken pictures but for some reason did not. I did not even take enough pictures of my display.
My table display at the art show
We had a brunch which was excellent. I over ate. they had it where I could have gone for a whole lot more, but I just did not have any room for it. Several people mentioned my weight loss. twenty pounds in the past year.
I returned to my table and had to mess with the stuff behind my table before I could settle down and start carving pencil heads.
I ended up carving three pencil heads, these are wood heads on top a pencil. all three were designed to be carved with beards, but I carved one with long hair instead, by placing the beared part in back. I sold one of the new heads a while after I set it out on display.
Children loved the pencil heads, and also the shaving flowers.
The shaving flowers were where you shave down a piece of wood, but you leave the wood attached. you keep shaving around and around until you run out of wood. What you have left resembles a dandelion. We sometimes add color and other times leave them wood.
I also sold a couple ornaments. also to kids.
I had a lot of comments on my work, even by people who know my work. detailed an imaginative were the most common comments. I got a chuckle from most women by lifting the lid on one of my pies and asking them if they wanted some empty calories. The pies are hollow.
Things thinned out, so I took one last glance at the artwork. when I came in, this was about three, everybody was packing up.
It took me a bit to get my act together, but I went and got my truck and pulled it closer, then brought the wagon in. it took a bit to disassemble everything and pack them up. I was able to get everything out of the spot in only two trips.
when I got home, I took out the big carvings first, I found that a couple need repairs. they are minor and will take a few minutes to do once I get set up.
My carving tools went out back. I bothered the cat a while, before heading out to go home.
With the T-shirt I got, the nice meal, and the $33 worth of stuff I sold, I guess I broke even on the entry fee.
These shows are something wonderful to do... once a year.
Me and my table display
For this week, I have to sort through my work and pick out what will be going down to the antique shop to go back on display. I will deliver them Friday.
I have a beer stein soaking in linseed oil. I will take it out about mid week. I will then let that sit and dry for about a month. Unless I made a mistake somewhere in the process, this should look pretty good.
Next weekend, I will make the quick repairs on the big carvings. I will then work on some project that has been on hold the past two months because of the show. I have existing projects I need to finish up.
I will see what I actually do next week.
80 degrees, windy, fast moving pregnant clouds, a moment of real sun. A wave of a front passed early morning. there was a break, then a second wave of the front passed in the afternoon right after I had packed up and was about to go home. It is sunny after the second wave passed. This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
Surprise, surprise, I did woodworking on a Friday. I had some stuff I wanted to do in preparation for the art show. I handled today like a Sunday, leaving a bit later than I would on a Saturday. I got to sleep in a little.
One project I had was I wanted pictures of everything on a sheet, so I could write the prices, and then mark what was sold. I started pulling the pictures into my drawing program, then realized this was going to be a big project. I then remembered that my printer will do "contact sheets" of all the pictures. That works. I have to remove some pictures from the sheet as they are from the club or not woodworking related. it will work, though.
I also had taken the time to take pictures of everything so with just a few exceptions, I have everything that will be on display.
I have worked on painting the baby dragon. I am getting close to where I can say it is presentable. I planned only having three colors on it white it was painted over all, a red that I covered much of it, then blue. Well the blue came out really dark and seamed to ruin it, so I added yellow so the blue became a thin line of color. It helped. It is about the best it has been painted so far. I am at the stage where I am correcting corrections. I am not careful with the brush and the paint will go where it does not belong, so I will touch up those parts. it will be right soon. This is a carving I want to make several of. Other than the color, I like the way this carving looks compared to the candle it is based on. I know I can do better too. it helps to have something to go by. I did not want the candle where it can become damaged, so I had to go by guess and by golly a on a few features.
Baby dragon before final touch up painting
I brought all my pieces to be displayed, along with some racks to help display them with me. I saw we were dealing with a front, so I chose not to bring extra boxes for the larger carvings.
After checking the radar after arriving, I set up the tables to practice with my display. Mom had a quarter inch sheet of plywood that I laid on the tables. This was better than the board system I was using as it was more stable and bigger. I got my full eight food by three foot size to practice with. One change I made was I brought a stainless steel dish drainer and silverware basket with me. My wooden silverware went into the basket, and the saucers and a natural edged bowl and a few plates went in the drainer. this freed up space for me to display some of my relief carvings I have.
I did not bring out my big carvings, and I left my small stuff in their baggies. Part of this was because I had no way to really judge when the weather would appear, and partly due to laziness. I did have the rest of the stuff on the table. I don't like my display much. I will work on it some more tomorrow. it will be a full display and I will work to get it right. I will then work out the best way to put things away to speed the project of getting them out quickly on Sunday.
Satisfied with what I had, I then packed things up and took down the tables.
I had been looking all over for my beer stein. I wanted to sand and varnish it. Well, I found it today. It was on a gardening table next to the woodworking shed. It had been outside all week long, in the wind, sun and rain. Some of the glue got a little wet. I let it dry for a few hours, then took time and sanded it really good. I got rid of some problems it had. The handle feels better too.
Once I got home, I stuck that in boiled linseed oil and will soak it for at least three days, likely longer, then let it dry for at least a month before I do any finishing on it. Since the cup of the stein is Norfolk Island Pine, the oil will make it translucent. One will be able to put a light in it and see the light through it.
I had nearly all my knives with me and I took the time to sharpen them. One knife had a few little chips on the edge, so I flattened the edge past the chips, then sharpened it all over again. I tested them out on some yellow pine. they are all nice and sharp now.
This is a practice I do every year before the show. I make sure all my knives are shaving sharp. I carve during the show and have had the knives chip or get dull while working. If I hold off on sharpening too long, it becomes a long process to correct the dullness of the blade. it is faster to just grab another knife and continue carving. Usually, though, I will simply strop the blade when I stop for a moment to do something.
I took some pencil head blanks and worked on them a little. I used one for the knife test and trimmed corners off a couple others. I will do more on them tomorrow so they will be ready to work with.
It was about one, I put everything away and got ready to go. That was when some drops started falling. There was a fairly light drizzle the entire time that the remains of the front passed over us.
I had forgotten some projects at home that I wanted to work on. that will be the main thing for tomorrow. I will work on those projects after I set up my display and work out some details. it will be a full dress rehearsal and I will make sure everything is satisfactory, then will try to put things away so it will make for a quick setup the morning of the show. The sooner things are on the table, the longer time I have to make sure it is presentable.
During the next week, I will sort through my stuff, get them put away, and also get a bin ready of stuff I want to take to the antique shop for display on Friday.
I do know that on Sunday, I will be wore out when I get home.
I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
year 10, Week 11, Day two (week 533) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 03-27-10 Saturday
60 degrees AM when I got to Mom's house, 80 degrees by noon. Light breeze that just moved the light leaves, blue skies, a bit of white puffs over the everglades most of the day. This Weather report was brought to you by the City of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
The beast came to me in the form of a cat, about five times during the day. He ate each time, but what he really wanted was attention. I sat and petted him for long periods each time, but several times cut the attention short. One problem is that I would sit down and start petting him, then remember several things I needed to get up to do. Even at his worst today, he was a nice kitty. He now PRETENDS to have an attitude.
I got out the tables and set up my display. I examined it as I was setting things up. I looked at it from different sides moved things around. it took a couple hours to have everything on the table. I did not like the way it looked, so I changed it. I did this several times. items swapped, I would line some things up going back, then change them to line on an angle, I would then make an arc around something.
I took stuff off the wire racks I had to prop things up, and put some table covers over the racks. I had picked up white plastic party table covers at the dollar store. Some I cut in half, others I used whole. I would drape the sheet over the table set the racks on top the edge, then pull the sheet over the racks to dangle behind the table. Since I unfolded it the minimum to cover, it did not dangle much. it did improve the appearance.
I had an arrangement that was passable but did not like it. It was all one elevation. I took a couple boxes and did the cover thing on them too. that raised several pieces up above the rest. that was also an improvement.
I have some stepped racks, where they give two or three levels to set things I covered them too. Rather than looking at wire racks, they are a slightly bit more elegant set up. I needed to add a bit more time on them but it showed what can be done to hide the underpinnings.
I touched up the baby dragon carving's paint job. I finally have it acceptable. It is not perfect, but is acceptable. I had the multi color on the top of the muzzle, and it looked like she was wearing a mask. I ended up removing the multi color so that there is color on the side of her head, and the stripes on her bak stop on her eye brows. Big improvement. I won't make any more changes. I have had enough. I will make a new one and paint on that
I had a leaf bowl, where it looks like it was just leaves stitched together to make a bowl. I bumped one thing, that bumped another and it and something else fell to the ground. the bowl, which I was careful with all along, broke into several pieces. I picked them up, compared where they are supposed to go and there appears to be a piece missing. I looked all over and could not see it.
leaf bowl before I broke it
I doubt I can assemble it again, but I will figure out how to make use of it anyway. I might make it part of something else. It was good carving.
Leaf bowl after I broke it.
I finally packed things up. I started at one end of the table and set them in the bin, piece by piece, or for the small stuff, bag by bag. when that bin was full, I then filled the second bin. Finally, my large carvings went into a few boxes.
I have less boxes than I usually take to the art show, but it will still be a big load.
It will take about four trips from the truck to the table to be loaded up.
I painted the ends of the bananas, adding black paint to represent the darkening on the ends. I started adding streaks of black down the side on two, but did not like the effect, so I sanded that off and sprayed it freshly with varnish. After the varnish dried, I did just the ends like I did on the first couple.
When I set up tomorrow, I will make some changes I thought of after I was done. I won't be satisfied with my display, but it won't be horrible. It was better than my first attempt last week.
Tomorrow is the show. I will carve on pencil heads and talk to visitors. I know from experience that I will be wore out when the show is over. I tend not to take breaks.
A perfect show is where you leave with empty boxes and a full wallet.
I will see what happens tomorrow
year 10, Week 11, Day three (week 533) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 03-28-10 Sunday
Mid 60s in morning, 80 as the high, high humidity, clouds looked pregnant all day long, really brisk breeze. Several people placed outside had to change their arrangements because of the wind. Beyond the threat and the breeze, it as a very good day. Last year, they were complaining about it being so hot.
This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Lighthouse Point Department Of Tourism.
Today was the art show. I started by getting to Mom's house after seven, and loading up the truck. I had every thing set up so loading was easy.
I then gave the beast thing, that resembles a cat, a lot of attention. That was what he needed. He was in a very good mood.
I left and arrived at the art show, about two miles a way, by eight and they were already going in. Three trips, one where I moved the truck where it needed to park for the show, and I had everything at my table.
I use a wooden children's wagon to move things. it works perfectly for moving a lot of stuff safely.
I had my display set up by about ten. I looked around at the other art. some brilliant ideas. it was fun to see that kind of art. I should have taken pictures but for some reason did not. I did not even take enough pictures of my display.
My table display at the art show
We had a brunch which was excellent. I over ate. they had it where I could have gone for a whole lot more, but I just did not have any room for it. Several people mentioned my weight loss. twenty pounds in the past year.
I returned to my table and had to mess with the stuff behind my table before I could settle down and start carving pencil heads.
I ended up carving three pencil heads, these are wood heads on top a pencil. all three were designed to be carved with beards, but I carved one with long hair instead, by placing the beared part in back. I sold one of the new heads a while after I set it out on display.
Children loved the pencil heads, and also the shaving flowers.
The shaving flowers were where you shave down a piece of wood, but you leave the wood attached. you keep shaving around and around until you run out of wood. What you have left resembles a dandelion. We sometimes add color and other times leave them wood.
I also sold a couple ornaments. also to kids.
I had a lot of comments on my work, even by people who know my work. detailed an imaginative were the most common comments. I got a chuckle from most women by lifting the lid on one of my pies and asking them if they wanted some empty calories. The pies are hollow.
Things thinned out, so I took one last glance at the artwork. when I came in, this was about three, everybody was packing up.
It took me a bit to get my act together, but I went and got my truck and pulled it closer, then brought the wagon in. it took a bit to disassemble everything and pack them up. I was able to get everything out of the spot in only two trips.
when I got home, I took out the big carvings first, I found that a couple need repairs. they are minor and will take a few minutes to do once I get set up.
My carving tools went out back. I bothered the cat a while, before heading out to go home.
With the T-shirt I got, the nice meal, and the $33 worth of stuff I sold, I guess I broke even on the entry fee.
These shows are something wonderful to do... once a year.
Me and my table display
For this week, I have to sort through my work and pick out what will be going down to the antique shop to go back on display. I will deliver them Friday.
I have a beer stein soaking in linseed oil. I will take it out about mid week. I will then let that sit and dry for about a month. Unless I made a mistake somewhere in the process, this should look pretty good.
Next weekend, I will make the quick repairs on the big carvings. I will then work on some project that has been on hold the past two months because of the show. I have existing projects I need to finish up.
I will see what I actually do next week.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Springing Forth...
This spring interlude, at the time of the equinox, is brought to you by Mischief, who hopes you got a chance to go out and tiptoe through the daffodils, like he did this past weekend. We had lovely weather, 50s & 60s and even some 70s Thursday through Sunday. All the cats, the two dogs, and I were out as much as possible. As you can see, the daffs up back are popping up.
It's good to see green growing things again, especially since the trees are all still bare and not too much else has budded up. A couple of weeks ago, we still had ground covered with snow. But we've had American robins for a week and a half now, and the dark eyed juncos (AKA snowbirds) have been twittering and flocking together, awaiting ice out up north of us so they can fly into their breeding grounds. Mourning doves are starting to stake out territories in the white pines up back, and I heard a barred owl in the deep woods calling its mate in the afternoon the other day. Life is stirring again.
I have a new toy! On our last trip out, I saw this greenhouse plant stand at one of the big box home improvement places, and knew I would make use of it, though I didn't want to spend the $40. I finally broke down on Thursday, and gave Lee the money, and sent him out to buy it for me while I was trying to get some work done around the house. He set it up for me on Friday, and I immediately moved plants out there that were taking up space under the lights downstairs. This is how it looks from the side...
This is a front shot. The 'door' in the plastic unzips on two sides and rolls up, and it gets secured with velcro strips sewn into the top. There are also velcro strips at the base that hold each of the corners in place on a leg of the tubular frame. It has little casters too, but I wouldn't move it. They only included two mid-shelf bar supports but Frank was able to cut some 1/2" copper tubing to length so we could support the other two. I got all the plants I wanted to get outdoors on that, with room to spare, and have since added to it.
This is how it looks with the top zipped down. I do that late every afternoon once the sun is off that area and the air has started to cool down. That helps trap the heat inside. Our nights right now are still quite cold, often below freezing, so I have been bungy-cording a couple of large tarps over it, making sure they reach the ground so that there is no air seepage that would allow frost in. We peg the tarps down with bricks and whatever else I have at hand. I like this shelf setup because my tall plants are able to stand up inside, and they get more sun than the coldframe does. The plastic around the sides keeps out the wind and rain. Later in the season, when the nights are warmer, the plastic can be removed. I'd really like to get another one, and I have a birthday coming up next month, hint, hint, hint...
Indoors I did some rearranging because I now have more space under the lights. Even after I moved everything out of the growhut that needed to be moved, I still had plenty of shelf space left. Good because I'm going to need that space soon! As you can probably tell, those onions seedlings I started back in February are getting pretty tall. I need to clip them back, which puts their energy into increasing leaf space and stalk size. Up north here we mostly grow long-day onions, which are leafy and stalky until midsummer, and then they start bulbing. Southern onions are short-day plants, which get grown in the months following the fall equinox, and bulb as spring approaches. There are now day-neutral onions that will grow about anywhere, but for us, the best keepers are always the long-day type. Just a little onion-cation for you.
The main season tomatoes inside the growhut are not only all up, but they have grown quite a bit. I will have a lot of transplanting to do. I have the dome off them now because they were already touching the inside of the top. Next to them on the left are some things that haven't come up yet, and some cuttings rooting under their own personal domes.
As the weekend went on, I saw that my sweet peppers are coming up. It is a mixture of bell peppers of various colors as well as thin walled fryers and small, sweet conical shapes. I like variety. In that square container is the celeriac, and it is also up. So things are growing well!
I put the dome back over those sweet peppers, and then had room to start some hot peppers. I have mostly jalapeños and habaneros, with some oddballs thrown in. We make our own salsa and freeze it, and I have a dehydrator so I can either freeze or dry the hot peppers I don't use. I like to dry some to grind them up later for custom spice mixes. I also make a killer hot pepper sauce from fresh peppers and white vinegar (and no salt) that I freeze in tiny containers. A few drops of that and you will be on the floor gasping and honking like a goose. Man is it potent! If anyone tells you you can't grow really hot peppers here in CT, I challenge them to sample mine. Even my habanero plants were loaded last fall, and we had a cold, wet summer. I will admit that not many of them ripened and turned color though. I have the standard orange habanero/scotch bonnets this year along with the Carribean Reds (the hottest) and the chocolate colored ones, which are supposed to be richer tasting. I give away a lot of plants, keeping just the best for my own garden, so not all of them will be grown here, though I will keep at least one plant of each.
Also this weekend, I got those early tomatoes separated at last. Yep, that's them on the top shelf. There are actually two small trays of them. The bigger plants went into old yogurt cups, the small ones back into pudding cups. All will grow and bear well. Those are fairly large plants for March, I am pleased.
Below is a more closeup picture of the early tomatoes. One of the varieties is called Fourth of July and as much as I would love to have some to pick by then, it is not easy to pull that off in this climate. We keep trying though. But this year at least I have some seedlings larger than I have in the past, so there is hope. I have often bought large, individually potted tomato seedlings to be my early tomatoes, but they have never done as well as expected. My main crop always catches up with them within a week or so. So we will see if it is strictly climate or how the seedlings are handled. Other than Fourth of July, I chose Early Girl, Ultimate Opener, and a large Cherry tomato called Sapho as my four tomato season early birds. To name the main crop varieties would take too long, but I could list them if someone is curious.
Mischief is asking that we come back outdoors again for a stretch and see what is up in the natural world...
The old white cedar swingset we put up for the boys when they were young finally collapsed last fall, so one of the projects this weekend was to clean that out of there. It was pretty rotted. I helped Frank with that on Saturday, and we saved the chains and some birdhouses I had on it and the rest went to the town transfer center. I don't like to leave old wood laying around, we have enough fire danger with the state forest full of that stuff behind us. I had a very vigorous wisteria vine and a red honeysuckle crawling on it. I still have to get in there, prune everything back, and stake the vines until I can get a new arbor of some kind in place. Then I can rake out the area.
I wanted to get to that clean-up this past weekend, but got busy potting up some roots and things I bought for the flower gardens. The peonies, lily-of-the-valley, and the Dutch Iris bulbs (Miss Saigon) I got my mother for her birthday are now all in pots on the greenhouse shelf. They will be easy to set into the garden later, and potting them up buys me some time. So it was a good thing to do.
These little spring bulbs are called snowflakes (leucojum) and they were growing wild on the property when we moved in here back in 1982. I moved them from along the house to up back on the shady east side, and they have spread quite a bit. They bloom very early, and I find them cheerful. They look like fairy chimes don't they? You can almost hear them tinkling.
A close-up shows their form. each petal has a little green dot at the base. I think they are the sweetest little things! I love bulbs that are carefree and naturalize readily.
In the pictures below are daylilies breaking through, mostly the orange ones you find growing wild (AKA ditch lilies). They were also growing wild on the property and I transplanted them here in a wide semicircle. They aren't anything special, but they bloom happily with no care a good part of the summer, and the bright green strappy foliage looks nice. One of Nature's gifts to me, so how could I refuse? If something does well, doesn't overwhelm the area it is in, and actually looks halfway decent, I am not going to turn up my nose at it.
Monday, March 22, 2010
March 22, 2010 Did You Write?
March 22, 2010 Did You Write?
If you are a writer, I ask you, DID YOU WRITE? That is the real question. For this note, the answer should be about some time during the past week. Saying no, is not a problem. few of us actually write a whole lot. Trying to write at least some time each week is a start to a good habit.
There are those of us who will go months without noting down our words and thoughts. We then write a whole bunch, only to let time pass before writing again. These are the type of writer this note is really about. It is good to hear from other authors who write regularly, but this note is to prompt the rest of us to think writing every week.
Everybody knows this note is coming each week. AS the week catches up to us, we start thinking about how we are going to report that we did not write this week. We get off our duff and actually write, even if it is a few words or sentences, or a whole chapter, we force ourselves to write something so we have something to brag about. that is what this note is about.
As to what is writing, that is a matter of opinion. You have our permission to say something is writing, even if you really don't think so. We all have to stretch it sometimes to save face.
All new writing, is writing. That is obvious. Editing, though, is also writing, even if it is someone else's. with editing, word count is not as important. We all have times where we will rip out entire passages and almost get to the same word count when we finish writing our changes. Poetry is writing. Blogging, writing assignments, articles, reports, are all writing. so is world and character creation. E-mails can also be writing if they are wordy and pertain to writing or story. There are others that can be writing. the only thing is that you must decide if it is writing. We are not picky.
As for me. I never opened any of my Waxy stories. I almost opened it today, but then realized I was a story idea behind because of Thursday. I wrote two story ideas today to catch up, rather than work on Waxy.
I did, though write a short article. In my wood turning club, I was asked to write a description of how I carved flowers on the side of a vase. I wrote two pages of about 816 words, and included eleven pictures of the vase in process. I E-mailed it to the guy who will handle it for the club newsletter but he is on vacation so it won't be a week before he gets back to let me know what he things. I told him to edit it as he sees fit, since he might not have much room, or to let me know what changes there might be.
The nice thing of sending something to someone who desperately needs to fill space, is that they are happy to get anything at all.
As mentioned above, I had to write two story ideas tonight to get caught up. Luckily, I had two easy story ideas to work with. Some story ideas are complex and require a lot of work to write, while others are stupidly simple. The worst thing is one never knows which it ends up being until done. I have had a super simple story idea go to four pages, and a really complex story idea become only one page.
I have had a week where a lot of story ideas have come in. Many have been pretty good, though there are a few duds that I need to write before they sink too far into my compost pile.
Including the two story ideas I wrote today, I have 51 story ideas. I love periods where I have story ideas coming at me every chance I can get. I have lost about five this past week because I was not in a position to write them down in time. That happens. The more the merrier. When you get more ideas than you can use, you have a better choice to work with.
I have spent the weekend getting ready for the art show. The art how is Sunday. I set up my display this weekend, twice, to see exactly what I have and how it might look. I spent most of the time fixing things. I had the problem where I don't have a table the right size so I have to add boards to make the tables wide enough. it is a challenge as things don't like to be on the edge of the boards, but the fake table helped on the layout.
Last year, I mistook the day of the show. the show was on Sunday and I went there with my stuff on Saturday. Since the day was wrong, I took the time to set up my display as practice. It really helped. I made a lot of decisions then, that did not have to be made at the show setup.
This year, I decided to set up well ahead of time and it has served me well. I see a pattern in my best work, which will hopefully guide my work from now on.
My more "normal" wood turning work is uninspiring. I have a problem with getting a really good finish. My best work though, fall into two categories. they are unusual, such as wood turned to include the natural edge of the wood, or the decorated, where I carve the piece, or add stuff to the piece such as my bird bowls where I add heads and tails.
I still have work to do to make sure my display is up to the level I want. I will pack pieces away in a way where I can set up faster, things grouped together so I can take them out and stack them.
I carve during the show. I will get my wood ready to carve and also, as a tradition before every art show, I sharpen every knife I have to make sure they are sharp enough to slice wood and not fingers. Blades can get chipped during the day and it is easier to grab another knife than to sharpen one. Of course, I will have fresh BandAids in hopes I never need them.
I also want to take pictures of my work and make a sheet that shows each piece and the prices. I can cross them off if anything sells. An easy way to tell what sold and for how much. I am where I was supposed to be at the beginning of the month. At least I have some time to get ready.
As to the question of the week. I will say YES, I WROTE
DID YOU WRITE?
If you are a writer, I ask you, DID YOU WRITE? That is the real question. For this note, the answer should be about some time during the past week. Saying no, is not a problem. few of us actually write a whole lot. Trying to write at least some time each week is a start to a good habit.
There are those of us who will go months without noting down our words and thoughts. We then write a whole bunch, only to let time pass before writing again. These are the type of writer this note is really about. It is good to hear from other authors who write regularly, but this note is to prompt the rest of us to think writing every week.
Everybody knows this note is coming each week. AS the week catches up to us, we start thinking about how we are going to report that we did not write this week. We get off our duff and actually write, even if it is a few words or sentences, or a whole chapter, we force ourselves to write something so we have something to brag about. that is what this note is about.
As to what is writing, that is a matter of opinion. You have our permission to say something is writing, even if you really don't think so. We all have to stretch it sometimes to save face.
All new writing, is writing. That is obvious. Editing, though, is also writing, even if it is someone else's. with editing, word count is not as important. We all have times where we will rip out entire passages and almost get to the same word count when we finish writing our changes. Poetry is writing. Blogging, writing assignments, articles, reports, are all writing. so is world and character creation. E-mails can also be writing if they are wordy and pertain to writing or story. There are others that can be writing. the only thing is that you must decide if it is writing. We are not picky.
As for me. I never opened any of my Waxy stories. I almost opened it today, but then realized I was a story idea behind because of Thursday. I wrote two story ideas today to catch up, rather than work on Waxy.
I did, though write a short article. In my wood turning club, I was asked to write a description of how I carved flowers on the side of a vase. I wrote two pages of about 816 words, and included eleven pictures of the vase in process. I E-mailed it to the guy who will handle it for the club newsletter but he is on vacation so it won't be a week before he gets back to let me know what he things. I told him to edit it as he sees fit, since he might not have much room, or to let me know what changes there might be.
The nice thing of sending something to someone who desperately needs to fill space, is that they are happy to get anything at all.
As mentioned above, I had to write two story ideas tonight to get caught up. Luckily, I had two easy story ideas to work with. Some story ideas are complex and require a lot of work to write, while others are stupidly simple. The worst thing is one never knows which it ends up being until done. I have had a super simple story idea go to four pages, and a really complex story idea become only one page.
I have had a week where a lot of story ideas have come in. Many have been pretty good, though there are a few duds that I need to write before they sink too far into my compost pile.
Including the two story ideas I wrote today, I have 51 story ideas. I love periods where I have story ideas coming at me every chance I can get. I have lost about five this past week because I was not in a position to write them down in time. That happens. The more the merrier. When you get more ideas than you can use, you have a better choice to work with.
I have spent the weekend getting ready for the art show. The art how is Sunday. I set up my display this weekend, twice, to see exactly what I have and how it might look. I spent most of the time fixing things. I had the problem where I don't have a table the right size so I have to add boards to make the tables wide enough. it is a challenge as things don't like to be on the edge of the boards, but the fake table helped on the layout.
Last year, I mistook the day of the show. the show was on Sunday and I went there with my stuff on Saturday. Since the day was wrong, I took the time to set up my display as practice. It really helped. I made a lot of decisions then, that did not have to be made at the show setup.
This year, I decided to set up well ahead of time and it has served me well. I see a pattern in my best work, which will hopefully guide my work from now on.
My more "normal" wood turning work is uninspiring. I have a problem with getting a really good finish. My best work though, fall into two categories. they are unusual, such as wood turned to include the natural edge of the wood, or the decorated, where I carve the piece, or add stuff to the piece such as my bird bowls where I add heads and tails.
I still have work to do to make sure my display is up to the level I want. I will pack pieces away in a way where I can set up faster, things grouped together so I can take them out and stack them.
I carve during the show. I will get my wood ready to carve and also, as a tradition before every art show, I sharpen every knife I have to make sure they are sharp enough to slice wood and not fingers. Blades can get chipped during the day and it is easier to grab another knife than to sharpen one. Of course, I will have fresh BandAids in hopes I never need them.
I also want to take pictures of my work and make a sheet that shows each piece and the prices. I can cross them off if anything sells. An easy way to tell what sold and for how much. I am where I was supposed to be at the beginning of the month. At least I have some time to get ready.
As to the question of the week. I will say YES, I WROTE
DID YOU WRITE?
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Week 532 Woodworking.
year 10, Week 10, Day One (week 532)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
03-20-10 Saturday
54 degrees early morning, 78 under the awning very light breeze, blue sky, almost no clouds, mostly around the horizon. This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
Thursday was the turning club meeting. I brought my sea urchin ornaments, my face vase and flower vase. I asked the carving club director about it and she said that the face vase was so much better. She gave me a price on the flower vase about half that of the face vase. I trust her decision.
the flower vase
I asked about the Linseed oil finish. I was told that you should soak it for three days, which will make the wood more transparent. then let it sit and dry for about a month. I was also told that wipe-on poly varnish has driers so it will dry the piece faster.
I took pictures at the turning club and will drop off a CD of the club tomorrow at the WoodCrafts store we have our meeting at.
The demonstration was on hollowing deep pieces. I saw new tools I can make or get, and picked up a few points of technique.
Me holding my two vases.
Me holding the light house platter.
Friday, I gathered my finished pieces an took pictures of most of them. I then packed them up to take with me on Saturday.
Saturday, after breakfast and some yard sailing, went out back and bothered that beast that mom keeps in the back yard. it is really strange. he acted exactly like a temperamental cat. I mean he was a cat, not a Grinch. On Thursday, I had stopped at Mom's house and went out to feed him. I made the mistake of placing hy hands on his face from the front, and rubbing his chin a little with my thumb. He simply pulled his head out of my hands and turned away. Even six months ago, My hands would have been raw meat, or at least bleeding from a scratch, had I made that mistake then. He is letting me handle him more than he ever had before. He still has an attitude, but his claws stay on the ground and he simply pulls away. He does not look me off too often now.
I had loaded the truck up with all the turnings and small carvings worth looking at. At mom's house, when we got back from running around, I dragged everything into the back yard. I needed to set up a "mock up" of the table I would use at the club so I can see what will fit and what won't.
I first made the mistake of making the table ten feet long. I piled stuff on it, then was reminded it was eight feet long. That changed things. At ten feet, I had some boards spanning the to tables. One is four inches shorter than the other. At eight feet, the two tables are next to each other. Not easy to span the height difference. I had to dig out some four=bys to raise the lower table up till it was close enough.
the lower table is three feet across, but the other table is only two feet. I placed some boards along the back edge to give a little bit more width.
I had most of my turnings and small carvings on the table. I then picked out stuff that just do not need to be seen. I was fixing things as I was going. One of my female pixies is holding a flower. The flower disappeared. I made a new one, using a dremmel to shape the petals. I painted it in two colors so it was more flower like, and glued it onto the wire that was the stem. Not as good as the original flower which I actually turned to create, but not bad.
I dug out all my wooden ear rings and hung them on a wire and varnished them with spray varnish. They are better than they were.
I fixed a few other things. My apples and pears needed a blossom on the bottom. I picked up some cloves at the store. cloves have a little puff ball on the end. Remove that, and a four pointed "flower" appears. I drilled a hole in the bottom of the fruit and stuck the puff-less cloves into the hole. they look more like the fruit they are supposed to be. I gave them a bunch of varnish. These are not my worst fruit, but they are nothing near my best. For the show, they will be passable, and they will be cheap.
I laid everything out, changing arrangements changing the way things are displayed. I never got the large carvings out, but did well to get something that resembles a passable display. I have to do some changes to get the big carvings on the table but I have a good feeling for what I have shown.
I needed this practice to see what I had and what would work and won't work. With what I have, I could use three tables worth of space and not really be satisfied.
I have a four place setting -- saucers, wooden silverware, goblets. that I would love to set up as a display. I have pumpkins, pies, the fruit plate all would be a nice display together.
I decided when I got home, to varnish the flower vase and the beer stein. It changes some plans but I decided I needed them done. I should sand them tomorrow and varnish them again.
Tomorrow, I will set up the table again, this time with the large carvings. I will see what arrangement is best for them.
I need to sit down and work out the prices of my pieces. The way I price things, is that I know the price of a couple things, and then decide if I like something better or worse than the one I already know the price. the better I like something the higher the price. the less I like something, the lower the price. I want some cheep stuff to shove out the door.
I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
year 10, Week 10, Day Two (week 532)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
03-21-10 Sunday
Lows in the high 60s, high of 80 degrees. Strong, brisk wind, fast moving low clouds, some dark grey. We got a few drips during the day, maybe two or three drips a minute. We also got some sun now and then. It felt like 70 degrees.
The tail of a low is about to slap us again. According to the ten day weather forecast I saw yesterday, Saturday and Monday is supposed to be a bit weathered, but Sunday is supposed to be sunny. That is exactly what we need for the art show as some people will be outside.
This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
There is a cat in the back yard that resembles the beast. He still has an attitude, but he has not retaliated to anything I have done to him and he has really enjoyed my attention. Each time I go up there, he acts more cat like. Surprising what two and a half years of taming can do. when I started, he would swat at you after you petted him six times. I would give him a few mouthfuls of food, pet him his six times, then give him more and pet him again. Now he wants attention more than he wants food. I never expected him to get to this point.
I set up the tables again and laid out my work. this time I got the big carvings on display. Mom, my brother and his wife, all liked my work. My brother and I figured out that the unusual pieces, such as natural edged work, and the carved/decorated pieces are where I am at my best. I have very few "normal" pieces in my display.
I have enough room for all the pieces I have picked out, but it is not enough room to display it properly. I could easily use twice or three times the space.
I would love to set up a dinner table arrangement. I have candle sticks, saucer sized plates, wooden silverware, goblets, fruit plates, wooden pumpkins wooden pies, that would be a nice display all by themselves. I just don't have the room. Everything ends up being jumbled together, rather haphazardly. It cannot be helped.
I see that my turnings take up most of my space. that is not a problem as most of my turnings are carved anyway.
I did not have it exactly the way I wanted, and had not placed some items where they needed to be. I was still working on various projects while getting things set up. I saw some really dark clouds coming and decided to pack up the display. The clouds passed without notice and the sun came out soon after. By then, I was involved in another project.
All my turnings and small stuff fits into two bins. My large carvings will have to go into several boxes simply because they would break if stacked.
I had made two female pixies holding flowers. Yesterday, I ran across one without a flower. I took some time to make a flower from the remains of a turning I had. I simply cut off a disk at the end and did a little grinding to shape it like a flower.
I was shocked when I pulled out a female pixy today and she was missing a flower. I looked in the bin and the flower was not there. I then realized this was a second one I had made.
I took the end of the turning and made another flower. I had it painted and was attaching it to the wire that was the stem, when it split in half. I tried repairing it but the joint had not set long enough. I realized it was not going to hold even after it was glued I took the end of the turning, and with some grinding, shaped it to a flower and cut it off.
Always wear glasses or a face shield when working with cutoff wheels on dremmel. those things can really fly when the break. I as cutting off the flower. the piece came off, and the cut-off wheel shattered. A very hot piece hit my arm, then went down inside my shirt. I got it out of my shirt, and then found the flower and also turned th dremmel off. the piece actually left a tiny burn on the side of my upper arm. ouch!
I later took the dremmel with the square grinding bit and shaped my flower. It is conical shaped and has five petals. I painted it red, with pink on the ends, and a yellow center. I have no idea what it is but it looks pretty good in the pixy's hand.
I forgot to mention yesterday, that one project I did was to remove the date from the lighthouse platter. Mom said it did not look good and should not be on there anyway. I ground it off and then sanded it smooth, before adding varnish to make ti match the rest of the platter.
I dug out my paints and started painting the baby dragon. My results were not as I had hoped. I don't have that paint color at home so some corrections will be in a different shade of red. I think I can get it right this time. will see. She was painted white overall. I now have added red as a body color with some features still white. I will then add a blue or green as a second color and leave her like that. My main thing is to get the edges clean. Sitting here, looking at the candle she was based on, I see she was colored a bit differently than I am doing it, but since I need an air brush to match the candle, I am using a bit of logic in the color.
when flying, one would expect her to have her legs trailing behind her. Most creatures have a light underbelly and dark top. for land animals, it reduces contrast when in the sun. In the air, the white helps them blend with the sky when one is looking up, and the dark upper body blends with the ground below, I have her belly and insides of her front legs white, along with a stripe down the underside of the tail.
It is not exact but seams to be better than it was. It sure is easier to paint, that is for sure. I am not trying to reach between the tail and arms that are holding the tail, to paint.
I had decided not to exactly copy the candle since my painting skills are not that good.
When I got home last night, I soaked the flower vase and the beer stein I am making, in wipe-on varnish. I was going to give them another coat, today but forgot the varnish at home. I let them set out in the wind and sun to dry some more.
I have a bunch of sanding on both of them to do, then will give them more varnish.
I picked up some stickers on the way home today and now can lay my pieces out and decide exactly what price the pieces need to be, and add a sticker for that price. Little will remain the way they are marked. a number of items will be more expensive, while others will be a whole lot cheaper. essentially, the more normal a piece looks, the less likely I will want to hang onto it.
I also went to WoodCrafts picked up a few of their fliers. In previous shows, I have tried to tell about where they are to people who needed carvings or turnings, or wanting to learn. I will now be able to hand them a flier which has the map and address.
Next Sunday is the art show. During the week, I will be doing some finishing on selected pieces. Friday, I will be going to Mom's house and try to finish a few projects. I will also set up the tables again and see if I can come up with a better arrangement. I will also see if I can figure out the best way to pack things so they come out and be placed quickly.
Saturday, I will likely prepare pencil head blanks to speed the carving of them. I can do some pre-cutting and shaping so I have less wood to remove when I carve during the show.
One thing I do before every art show is to sharpen every knife I have. I have had art shows where I was dulling knives vaster than I was sharpening them. I might get a nick and have to go to another knife. I learned more about sharpening and more about knife usage, but getting every single knife sharp seams to be a good habit. I will also get my carving kit together, removing stuff I don't need and making sure I have things to make the show more enjoyable.
I also may work on projects that don't have to be done. I have plenty of projects in process that I can work on, to fill the day a little before it is time to leave.
during the week, I have to check over my ABOUT THE ARTIST paper and see if it needs updating and then print some more out.. I also need to print up some more cards.
I will see what I actually accomplish next weekend.
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
03-20-10 Saturday
54 degrees early morning, 78 under the awning very light breeze, blue sky, almost no clouds, mostly around the horizon. This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
Thursday was the turning club meeting. I brought my sea urchin ornaments, my face vase and flower vase. I asked the carving club director about it and she said that the face vase was so much better. She gave me a price on the flower vase about half that of the face vase. I trust her decision.
the flower vase
I asked about the Linseed oil finish. I was told that you should soak it for three days, which will make the wood more transparent. then let it sit and dry for about a month. I was also told that wipe-on poly varnish has driers so it will dry the piece faster.
I took pictures at the turning club and will drop off a CD of the club tomorrow at the WoodCrafts store we have our meeting at.
The demonstration was on hollowing deep pieces. I saw new tools I can make or get, and picked up a few points of technique.
Me holding my two vases.
Me holding the light house platter.
Friday, I gathered my finished pieces an took pictures of most of them. I then packed them up to take with me on Saturday.
Saturday, after breakfast and some yard sailing, went out back and bothered that beast that mom keeps in the back yard. it is really strange. he acted exactly like a temperamental cat. I mean he was a cat, not a Grinch. On Thursday, I had stopped at Mom's house and went out to feed him. I made the mistake of placing hy hands on his face from the front, and rubbing his chin a little with my thumb. He simply pulled his head out of my hands and turned away. Even six months ago, My hands would have been raw meat, or at least bleeding from a scratch, had I made that mistake then. He is letting me handle him more than he ever had before. He still has an attitude, but his claws stay on the ground and he simply pulls away. He does not look me off too often now.
I had loaded the truck up with all the turnings and small carvings worth looking at. At mom's house, when we got back from running around, I dragged everything into the back yard. I needed to set up a "mock up" of the table I would use at the club so I can see what will fit and what won't.
I first made the mistake of making the table ten feet long. I piled stuff on it, then was reminded it was eight feet long. That changed things. At ten feet, I had some boards spanning the to tables. One is four inches shorter than the other. At eight feet, the two tables are next to each other. Not easy to span the height difference. I had to dig out some four=bys to raise the lower table up till it was close enough.
the lower table is three feet across, but the other table is only two feet. I placed some boards along the back edge to give a little bit more width.
I had most of my turnings and small carvings on the table. I then picked out stuff that just do not need to be seen. I was fixing things as I was going. One of my female pixies is holding a flower. The flower disappeared. I made a new one, using a dremmel to shape the petals. I painted it in two colors so it was more flower like, and glued it onto the wire that was the stem. Not as good as the original flower which I actually turned to create, but not bad.
I dug out all my wooden ear rings and hung them on a wire and varnished them with spray varnish. They are better than they were.
I fixed a few other things. My apples and pears needed a blossom on the bottom. I picked up some cloves at the store. cloves have a little puff ball on the end. Remove that, and a four pointed "flower" appears. I drilled a hole in the bottom of the fruit and stuck the puff-less cloves into the hole. they look more like the fruit they are supposed to be. I gave them a bunch of varnish. These are not my worst fruit, but they are nothing near my best. For the show, they will be passable, and they will be cheap.
I laid everything out, changing arrangements changing the way things are displayed. I never got the large carvings out, but did well to get something that resembles a passable display. I have to do some changes to get the big carvings on the table but I have a good feeling for what I have shown.
I needed this practice to see what I had and what would work and won't work. With what I have, I could use three tables worth of space and not really be satisfied.
I have a four place setting -- saucers, wooden silverware, goblets. that I would love to set up as a display. I have pumpkins, pies, the fruit plate all would be a nice display together.
I decided when I got home, to varnish the flower vase and the beer stein. It changes some plans but I decided I needed them done. I should sand them tomorrow and varnish them again.
Tomorrow, I will set up the table again, this time with the large carvings. I will see what arrangement is best for them.
I need to sit down and work out the prices of my pieces. The way I price things, is that I know the price of a couple things, and then decide if I like something better or worse than the one I already know the price. the better I like something the higher the price. the less I like something, the lower the price. I want some cheep stuff to shove out the door.
I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
year 10, Week 10, Day Two (week 532)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
03-21-10 Sunday
Lows in the high 60s, high of 80 degrees. Strong, brisk wind, fast moving low clouds, some dark grey. We got a few drips during the day, maybe two or three drips a minute. We also got some sun now and then. It felt like 70 degrees.
The tail of a low is about to slap us again. According to the ten day weather forecast I saw yesterday, Saturday and Monday is supposed to be a bit weathered, but Sunday is supposed to be sunny. That is exactly what we need for the art show as some people will be outside.
This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
There is a cat in the back yard that resembles the beast. He still has an attitude, but he has not retaliated to anything I have done to him and he has really enjoyed my attention. Each time I go up there, he acts more cat like. Surprising what two and a half years of taming can do. when I started, he would swat at you after you petted him six times. I would give him a few mouthfuls of food, pet him his six times, then give him more and pet him again. Now he wants attention more than he wants food. I never expected him to get to this point.
I set up the tables again and laid out my work. this time I got the big carvings on display. Mom, my brother and his wife, all liked my work. My brother and I figured out that the unusual pieces, such as natural edged work, and the carved/decorated pieces are where I am at my best. I have very few "normal" pieces in my display.
I have enough room for all the pieces I have picked out, but it is not enough room to display it properly. I could easily use twice or three times the space.
I would love to set up a dinner table arrangement. I have candle sticks, saucer sized plates, wooden silverware, goblets, fruit plates, wooden pumpkins wooden pies, that would be a nice display all by themselves. I just don't have the room. Everything ends up being jumbled together, rather haphazardly. It cannot be helped.
I see that my turnings take up most of my space. that is not a problem as most of my turnings are carved anyway.
I did not have it exactly the way I wanted, and had not placed some items where they needed to be. I was still working on various projects while getting things set up. I saw some really dark clouds coming and decided to pack up the display. The clouds passed without notice and the sun came out soon after. By then, I was involved in another project.
All my turnings and small stuff fits into two bins. My large carvings will have to go into several boxes simply because they would break if stacked.
I had made two female pixies holding flowers. Yesterday, I ran across one without a flower. I took some time to make a flower from the remains of a turning I had. I simply cut off a disk at the end and did a little grinding to shape it like a flower.
I was shocked when I pulled out a female pixy today and she was missing a flower. I looked in the bin and the flower was not there. I then realized this was a second one I had made.
I took the end of the turning and made another flower. I had it painted and was attaching it to the wire that was the stem, when it split in half. I tried repairing it but the joint had not set long enough. I realized it was not going to hold even after it was glued I took the end of the turning, and with some grinding, shaped it to a flower and cut it off.
Always wear glasses or a face shield when working with cutoff wheels on dremmel. those things can really fly when the break. I as cutting off the flower. the piece came off, and the cut-off wheel shattered. A very hot piece hit my arm, then went down inside my shirt. I got it out of my shirt, and then found the flower and also turned th dremmel off. the piece actually left a tiny burn on the side of my upper arm. ouch!
I later took the dremmel with the square grinding bit and shaped my flower. It is conical shaped and has five petals. I painted it red, with pink on the ends, and a yellow center. I have no idea what it is but it looks pretty good in the pixy's hand.
I forgot to mention yesterday, that one project I did was to remove the date from the lighthouse platter. Mom said it did not look good and should not be on there anyway. I ground it off and then sanded it smooth, before adding varnish to make ti match the rest of the platter.
I dug out my paints and started painting the baby dragon. My results were not as I had hoped. I don't have that paint color at home so some corrections will be in a different shade of red. I think I can get it right this time. will see. She was painted white overall. I now have added red as a body color with some features still white. I will then add a blue or green as a second color and leave her like that. My main thing is to get the edges clean. Sitting here, looking at the candle she was based on, I see she was colored a bit differently than I am doing it, but since I need an air brush to match the candle, I am using a bit of logic in the color.
when flying, one would expect her to have her legs trailing behind her. Most creatures have a light underbelly and dark top. for land animals, it reduces contrast when in the sun. In the air, the white helps them blend with the sky when one is looking up, and the dark upper body blends with the ground below, I have her belly and insides of her front legs white, along with a stripe down the underside of the tail.
It is not exact but seams to be better than it was. It sure is easier to paint, that is for sure. I am not trying to reach between the tail and arms that are holding the tail, to paint.
I had decided not to exactly copy the candle since my painting skills are not that good.
When I got home last night, I soaked the flower vase and the beer stein I am making, in wipe-on varnish. I was going to give them another coat, today but forgot the varnish at home. I let them set out in the wind and sun to dry some more.
I have a bunch of sanding on both of them to do, then will give them more varnish.
I picked up some stickers on the way home today and now can lay my pieces out and decide exactly what price the pieces need to be, and add a sticker for that price. Little will remain the way they are marked. a number of items will be more expensive, while others will be a whole lot cheaper. essentially, the more normal a piece looks, the less likely I will want to hang onto it.
I also went to WoodCrafts picked up a few of their fliers. In previous shows, I have tried to tell about where they are to people who needed carvings or turnings, or wanting to learn. I will now be able to hand them a flier which has the map and address.
Next Sunday is the art show. During the week, I will be doing some finishing on selected pieces. Friday, I will be going to Mom's house and try to finish a few projects. I will also set up the tables again and see if I can come up with a better arrangement. I will also see if I can figure out the best way to pack things so they come out and be placed quickly.
Saturday, I will likely prepare pencil head blanks to speed the carving of them. I can do some pre-cutting and shaping so I have less wood to remove when I carve during the show.
One thing I do before every art show is to sharpen every knife I have. I have had art shows where I was dulling knives vaster than I was sharpening them. I might get a nick and have to go to another knife. I learned more about sharpening and more about knife usage, but getting every single knife sharp seams to be a good habit. I will also get my carving kit together, removing stuff I don't need and making sure I have things to make the show more enjoyable.
I also may work on projects that don't have to be done. I have plenty of projects in process that I can work on, to fill the day a little before it is time to leave.
during the week, I have to check over my ABOUT THE ARTIST paper and see if it needs updating and then print some more out.. I also need to print up some more cards.
I will see what I actually accomplish next weekend.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Did You Write? 03-15-10
Did You Write? 03-15-10
That is the question. it applies to any time in the past week. If you write at least once a week, you will have production over a year. It also develops something that could become a good habit. It is sad to go for months without writing. It is better to fit in even fifteen minutes of adding words to a page, every week, than to let your writing fade away.
We are not picky as to what writing is, or how much writing one might do. We let you set the definition on both. As long as you believe you wrote, that is good enough for us.
I don't have time to list of suggestions of what is writing, this week. You can look back at others of these subjects to see the list.
Why shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
I did write, in two sessions. I added a page and 867 words. I really need to skip some scenes and write the exciting stuff, then go back and fill in. I think I can get more written that way.
My writing time is not going to be really great the next two weeks. I have a club meeting at the end of the month, an I have a lot of projects I need to work on to get ready. That will kill writing time. I cannot do both at the same time.
I am up to date on my story ideas, but I have a club meeting this week which will set me behind. Luckily I do have some time next week to fit in an extra story idea.
I did a three story idea set this month. I had a concept I wanted to present. The problem was I could not set it up in one story idea, so I wrote three of them to show the whole concept. that was interesting way to do something.
My compost pile count is at 41 ideas including what I am posting tonight. I have gotten a few good ones as of late. that is always fun.
As mentioned above, I am getting ready for the art show I have on the 28th. I spent the weekend getting several projects ready to be finished. I have yet to sit down and look at the stuff I had on display, and I have not sat down and looked at the other pieces I have that might go on display.
I already examined my large carvings, and have to go over my small carvings next. the hard part has always been on deciding what stays home. I never have enough room for everything I want to show. I intend to create a mock-up of the table a few times and see what display will look best. I learned last year that it is better to decide before you go to a show, rather than when you are there. Last year, I got the day wrong, was going to it on Saturday, rather than Sunday. I used the time to practice my set-up, to make a number of decisions that made the setup better.
Between now and the show, I will be working on some incomplete projects that don't have to be done. If something gets done enough for display, so much the better, especially if it turns out to be better than something else I planned on showing off.
As to the question of the day, I can say
YES, I DID WRITE
Did You Write?
That is the question. it applies to any time in the past week. If you write at least once a week, you will have production over a year. It also develops something that could become a good habit. It is sad to go for months without writing. It is better to fit in even fifteen minutes of adding words to a page, every week, than to let your writing fade away.
We are not picky as to what writing is, or how much writing one might do. We let you set the definition on both. As long as you believe you wrote, that is good enough for us.
I don't have time to list of suggestions of what is writing, this week. You can look back at others of these subjects to see the list.
Why shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
I did write, in two sessions. I added a page and 867 words. I really need to skip some scenes and write the exciting stuff, then go back and fill in. I think I can get more written that way.
My writing time is not going to be really great the next two weeks. I have a club meeting at the end of the month, an I have a lot of projects I need to work on to get ready. That will kill writing time. I cannot do both at the same time.
I am up to date on my story ideas, but I have a club meeting this week which will set me behind. Luckily I do have some time next week to fit in an extra story idea.
I did a three story idea set this month. I had a concept I wanted to present. The problem was I could not set it up in one story idea, so I wrote three of them to show the whole concept. that was interesting way to do something.
My compost pile count is at 41 ideas including what I am posting tonight. I have gotten a few good ones as of late. that is always fun.
As mentioned above, I am getting ready for the art show I have on the 28th. I spent the weekend getting several projects ready to be finished. I have yet to sit down and look at the stuff I had on display, and I have not sat down and looked at the other pieces I have that might go on display.
I already examined my large carvings, and have to go over my small carvings next. the hard part has always been on deciding what stays home. I never have enough room for everything I want to show. I intend to create a mock-up of the table a few times and see what display will look best. I learned last year that it is better to decide before you go to a show, rather than when you are there. Last year, I got the day wrong, was going to it on Saturday, rather than Sunday. I used the time to practice my set-up, to make a number of decisions that made the setup better.
Between now and the show, I will be working on some incomplete projects that don't have to be done. If something gets done enough for display, so much the better, especially if it turns out to be better than something else I planned on showing off.
As to the question of the day, I can say
YES, I DID WRITE
Did You Write?
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Week 531 Wood Working.
year 10, Week 9, Day One (week 531) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 03-13-10 Saturday
I almost had my ark built when the rain stopped yesterday. We got about two inches of rain in some places from the front that passed over us this week. There were even tornado warnings at a few times during the day yesterday.
69 degrees early morning, 74 degrees as the high. Fast moving low grey clouds with high pebbles early morning, blue sky with a few wispy puffs in the afternoon, Sunlight from late morning to evening. A steady breeze blew hard all day. this weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
We went to two rummage sales and two yard sales this morning. One is a higher class kind of sale we have been to many times called Auntie's Attic. Other than getting three servings of popcorn, and a little postal scale, I got out of there cheap.
The other rummage sale was in our neighborhood and I saw two things I gave a lot of thought about, but left without them. One I know was a dollar and the other might have been about that price too.
We went to two yard sales. I picked up a metal protractor with a long blade sticking out for the pointer, and at the other yard sale, I picked up a torque wrench.
My lathe has a nut beneath the head that is part of the locking system. It is best if it is set to a specific torque. I have not had access to a torque wrench so I have had to guess on the setting. If it is set tight, the head cannot be locked down, resists the tightening wrench. If too loose, it slides. I now have a wrench to set the torque. I now have to dig out my sockets and find one that fits and put it to use.
scale and torque wrench. The wrench has two different sockets built into it.
I got outside at a good time. Beggar was acting exactly like a cat. There were a few times where he would snap his head around to tell me to stop. I held my hand in place, he would look away and let me do what I was doing. An example was that when he gets onto his side, he never allowed us to pet his side. I started stroking him, from his cheek, down his neck and to his side. He gave my hand a sharp look, then let me do that for quite a while. He was hungry for attention today. I still have to watch him carefully, but he is becoming a cat.
I started out by cleaning the baby dragon carving, removing as much paint as would come off. I then spray painted it white. I am going to repaint it one more time. I will likely go with a simpler paint scheme so I can make it look good.
Baby dragon painted white. this is similar to a candle I have.
I have not been able to get the colors right.
I took a sea urchin shell that was dirty and painted it white. I then took two finials and made them fit the shell and glued them in place. To make it stronger, one finial goes right through the shell into a hole in the lower one. the upper one is just a little above the shell with the eye hook.
I had one shell where I added the foam to fill it, and the foam broke the shell. I took some filler and worked that into the bottom, shaping it to be fairly even, roughed up the surface with a tooth brush, and then spray painted that white. this one will also need a final that goes all the way through. I will work with that one tomorrow, I think.
sea urchin ornament
Painted white to hide a mess I made.
I worked with my flower vase. I decided there is no way I can finish the vase the way I want it in the time I have left, so I went with plan "B" where I will accept it as it is, and finish it up after the art show. It is pretty good. When I made the vase in the base, I had left in a little line before the vase flared out. I used some 80 grit sand paper to remove it so there is no sign that was ever there.
I worked on the light house platter. I filled in some holes where I made a mistake, and then corrected the top of the light house so it looks right. I fixed up the support structure a little. It is not right, but will be passable. I then lettered the message on the plate, using a really tiny engraving bit in the dremmel. My lettering could be a whole lot better, but that will do. I will use a fine tip stabillo to darken the lines of the letters and call that part done. I will touch the light house with color to make it stand out, and also do some background color while I am at it. I think the platter will be nice when done. I could have simply painted the platter but wanted to carve it to make it something else. it is not what I had hoped it to be, but it will impress people anyway. I might write who it is from on the bottom. will think about that.
light house platter with lettering.
Needs paint to fine tune detail and might get more lettering.
I filtered through my bags of stuff that I carry with me everywhere, and sorted out the stuff that I will never work with until after the art show.
I now have the projects that will take the most of my attention until the art show. There is a limited amount of items so I can make sure I get them done.
I took out my wise owls and finished them up. I used the dremmel to make the eyes, which are big circles, and then used a stabillo to add the dark details like filling in the groove around the eye, adding the pupal of the eye, and made the miter black. I still have to sign them, and varnish them to make them complete.
I still have several swan blanks that I need to carve. I do not know if I will get them done, but kept them out just in case.
Wise owl ornaments.
I have not decided whether I will take my finished stuff with me tomorrow. If I do, I will set them all out in the sunshine and examine them carefully as to what condition they are in. I might add tags as to what needs to be done.
Another project is to photograph all the pieces, then make a sheet with pictures of all the pieces, and their prices. that can, of course, be done during the week.
Another project I really should do tomorrow, is to pull out all my big carvings and examine them to see what needs to be done to them to get them ready for display.
If I bring my work, I can set up a table, three foot by eight foot, and see what room I have to fit on the table. Even if I don't have my small stuff, It will be a good view of what I am working with.
Thursday is my turning club meeting so I want the flower vase and the platter done, and might have the fruit plate done also. I plan to sand on the fruit tomorrow.
I have loads of plans as to what I want to do tomorrow. I will have to see what I actually do tomorrow.
year 10, Week 9, Day Two (week 531) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 03-14-10 Sunday
60s early morning, 78 degrees as a high, well spaced puffs of clouds separated by a light haze. It was mostly sunny, though I did see the sun dim a few times during the day. A good brisk breeze kept the trees waving and the clouds moving. During this week, we will have temps in the 70s as the highs, but low 50s or high 40s over night. This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
Beggar is still acting like a cat. he was no interested in heavy attention today, like he was yesterday. He would get enough and then leave to sleep.
It took a bit to get everything laid out. Since I had the torque wrench I got from yesterday, I dug out my sockets to set the nut holding the head of the lathe. I also had to dig out the instructions to the lathe to find out what the setting was. I set the book down, then picked it up again and everything was in Spanish. it took me a long moment to realize that they printed the booklet in two languages, and the other is turned around, starting from the back of the other.
I had to go out to the truck and get my sockets. Of course they were buried. I pulled most of the stuff out, got the tool boxes out, and decided to pack things differently. the tool boxes are next to the door now, and my drill and dremmel are on top of them. The box of turning books and all the other stuff are packed back out of the way.
I see a number of things I can pull out of there and never notice they were gone. I tend to gather things I had a use for, once, in decades of owning a vehicle, even if I never need them ever again. I struggle to get them out of there because of the "just in case" situation.
I took the tool box with the sockets to the back. I am not sure if the torque wrench is good or not. I tightened the nut and it seams to lock the way it is supposed to, though it might actually be tighter than it should be. Of course, since the nut was beneath the motor, I turned it the wrong way at first.
I cut a piece of orange tree wood and then sliced it up. orange, like most fruit trees, are very hard and strong. I cut pieces of the orange to become stems for my wooden apples and pears. With a couple the previous stems broke. I used my knife to carve the wood to a stem shape.
I sanded some on the fruit, but have to do more to make them finished.
fruit plate before I added stems
I sanded quite a bit on the light house platter. I used a detail sander to remove some tool marks. It could use a whole lot more, but time is a problem.
I used a fine tip pen to darken the lines of the lettering. the end of the pen came out and that ended that project. My replacement pen was almost dry and had a shorter nib. I will work on that during the week. The darkening of the lines can hide some little errors in carving the letters into the wood where the bit wandered a bi.
I dug out all my large carvings. I examined them for damage or work they needed. I have one where I need to remove some paint that smeared when I painted the eyes I will do that next week. I had to repair a wing of the very first fairy carving. It broke in a few places. I glued them back in place, then painted over the glue repairs. It would have been better to replace the wing, but that was beyond the effort it would take.
all my large carvings.
I messed around with other projects during the day but that was the key points I accomplished. Not too bad.
During this week, I want to lay out my turning pieces, which I have at home, and see what I have and what would make the best display. I need to start finishing the pieces I have worked on the past few weeks. the flowers of the flower vase needs a coat of super glue so they will be lighter than the rest of the vase. I will finish the vase by soaking it in oil, then varnishing it. The vase does need some other work but that can happen after the art show.
I also need to drag out my small carvings, which I also have at home, and see what I want of them in the art show and what I can leave home.
I have a turning club meeting Thursday
One project for next weekend, is to set up a three foot by eight foot table, build it up with boards and stuff since I don't have that sized table and see what I can do for a good display. I will bring more than I need and whittle down what I need. I can also work on a few projects that have been started, but not likely to be in the show. It depends on what pieces need serious work.
I will see what I actually do next week.
I almost had my ark built when the rain stopped yesterday. We got about two inches of rain in some places from the front that passed over us this week. There were even tornado warnings at a few times during the day yesterday.
69 degrees early morning, 74 degrees as the high. Fast moving low grey clouds with high pebbles early morning, blue sky with a few wispy puffs in the afternoon, Sunlight from late morning to evening. A steady breeze blew hard all day. this weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
We went to two rummage sales and two yard sales this morning. One is a higher class kind of sale we have been to many times called Auntie's Attic. Other than getting three servings of popcorn, and a little postal scale, I got out of there cheap.
The other rummage sale was in our neighborhood and I saw two things I gave a lot of thought about, but left without them. One I know was a dollar and the other might have been about that price too.
We went to two yard sales. I picked up a metal protractor with a long blade sticking out for the pointer, and at the other yard sale, I picked up a torque wrench.
My lathe has a nut beneath the head that is part of the locking system. It is best if it is set to a specific torque. I have not had access to a torque wrench so I have had to guess on the setting. If it is set tight, the head cannot be locked down, resists the tightening wrench. If too loose, it slides. I now have a wrench to set the torque. I now have to dig out my sockets and find one that fits and put it to use.
scale and torque wrench. The wrench has two different sockets built into it.
I got outside at a good time. Beggar was acting exactly like a cat. There were a few times where he would snap his head around to tell me to stop. I held my hand in place, he would look away and let me do what I was doing. An example was that when he gets onto his side, he never allowed us to pet his side. I started stroking him, from his cheek, down his neck and to his side. He gave my hand a sharp look, then let me do that for quite a while. He was hungry for attention today. I still have to watch him carefully, but he is becoming a cat.
I started out by cleaning the baby dragon carving, removing as much paint as would come off. I then spray painted it white. I am going to repaint it one more time. I will likely go with a simpler paint scheme so I can make it look good.
Baby dragon painted white. this is similar to a candle I have.
I have not been able to get the colors right.
I took a sea urchin shell that was dirty and painted it white. I then took two finials and made them fit the shell and glued them in place. To make it stronger, one finial goes right through the shell into a hole in the lower one. the upper one is just a little above the shell with the eye hook.
I had one shell where I added the foam to fill it, and the foam broke the shell. I took some filler and worked that into the bottom, shaping it to be fairly even, roughed up the surface with a tooth brush, and then spray painted that white. this one will also need a final that goes all the way through. I will work with that one tomorrow, I think.
sea urchin ornament
Painted white to hide a mess I made.
I worked with my flower vase. I decided there is no way I can finish the vase the way I want it in the time I have left, so I went with plan "B" where I will accept it as it is, and finish it up after the art show. It is pretty good. When I made the vase in the base, I had left in a little line before the vase flared out. I used some 80 grit sand paper to remove it so there is no sign that was ever there.
I worked on the light house platter. I filled in some holes where I made a mistake, and then corrected the top of the light house so it looks right. I fixed up the support structure a little. It is not right, but will be passable. I then lettered the message on the plate, using a really tiny engraving bit in the dremmel. My lettering could be a whole lot better, but that will do. I will use a fine tip stabillo to darken the lines of the letters and call that part done. I will touch the light house with color to make it stand out, and also do some background color while I am at it. I think the platter will be nice when done. I could have simply painted the platter but wanted to carve it to make it something else. it is not what I had hoped it to be, but it will impress people anyway. I might write who it is from on the bottom. will think about that.
light house platter with lettering.
Needs paint to fine tune detail and might get more lettering.
I filtered through my bags of stuff that I carry with me everywhere, and sorted out the stuff that I will never work with until after the art show.
I now have the projects that will take the most of my attention until the art show. There is a limited amount of items so I can make sure I get them done.
I took out my wise owls and finished them up. I used the dremmel to make the eyes, which are big circles, and then used a stabillo to add the dark details like filling in the groove around the eye, adding the pupal of the eye, and made the miter black. I still have to sign them, and varnish them to make them complete.
I still have several swan blanks that I need to carve. I do not know if I will get them done, but kept them out just in case.
Wise owl ornaments.
I have not decided whether I will take my finished stuff with me tomorrow. If I do, I will set them all out in the sunshine and examine them carefully as to what condition they are in. I might add tags as to what needs to be done.
Another project is to photograph all the pieces, then make a sheet with pictures of all the pieces, and their prices. that can, of course, be done during the week.
Another project I really should do tomorrow, is to pull out all my big carvings and examine them to see what needs to be done to them to get them ready for display.
If I bring my work, I can set up a table, three foot by eight foot, and see what room I have to fit on the table. Even if I don't have my small stuff, It will be a good view of what I am working with.
Thursday is my turning club meeting so I want the flower vase and the platter done, and might have the fruit plate done also. I plan to sand on the fruit tomorrow.
I have loads of plans as to what I want to do tomorrow. I will have to see what I actually do tomorrow.
year 10, Week 9, Day Two (week 531) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 03-14-10 Sunday
60s early morning, 78 degrees as a high, well spaced puffs of clouds separated by a light haze. It was mostly sunny, though I did see the sun dim a few times during the day. A good brisk breeze kept the trees waving and the clouds moving. During this week, we will have temps in the 70s as the highs, but low 50s or high 40s over night. This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
Beggar is still acting like a cat. he was no interested in heavy attention today, like he was yesterday. He would get enough and then leave to sleep.
It took a bit to get everything laid out. Since I had the torque wrench I got from yesterday, I dug out my sockets to set the nut holding the head of the lathe. I also had to dig out the instructions to the lathe to find out what the setting was. I set the book down, then picked it up again and everything was in Spanish. it took me a long moment to realize that they printed the booklet in two languages, and the other is turned around, starting from the back of the other.
I had to go out to the truck and get my sockets. Of course they were buried. I pulled most of the stuff out, got the tool boxes out, and decided to pack things differently. the tool boxes are next to the door now, and my drill and dremmel are on top of them. The box of turning books and all the other stuff are packed back out of the way.
I see a number of things I can pull out of there and never notice they were gone. I tend to gather things I had a use for, once, in decades of owning a vehicle, even if I never need them ever again. I struggle to get them out of there because of the "just in case" situation.
I took the tool box with the sockets to the back. I am not sure if the torque wrench is good or not. I tightened the nut and it seams to lock the way it is supposed to, though it might actually be tighter than it should be. Of course, since the nut was beneath the motor, I turned it the wrong way at first.
I cut a piece of orange tree wood and then sliced it up. orange, like most fruit trees, are very hard and strong. I cut pieces of the orange to become stems for my wooden apples and pears. With a couple the previous stems broke. I used my knife to carve the wood to a stem shape.
I sanded some on the fruit, but have to do more to make them finished.
fruit plate before I added stems
I sanded quite a bit on the light house platter. I used a detail sander to remove some tool marks. It could use a whole lot more, but time is a problem.
I used a fine tip pen to darken the lines of the lettering. the end of the pen came out and that ended that project. My replacement pen was almost dry and had a shorter nib. I will work on that during the week. The darkening of the lines can hide some little errors in carving the letters into the wood where the bit wandered a bi.
I dug out all my large carvings. I examined them for damage or work they needed. I have one where I need to remove some paint that smeared when I painted the eyes I will do that next week. I had to repair a wing of the very first fairy carving. It broke in a few places. I glued them back in place, then painted over the glue repairs. It would have been better to replace the wing, but that was beyond the effort it would take.
all my large carvings.
I messed around with other projects during the day but that was the key points I accomplished. Not too bad.
During this week, I want to lay out my turning pieces, which I have at home, and see what I have and what would make the best display. I need to start finishing the pieces I have worked on the past few weeks. the flowers of the flower vase needs a coat of super glue so they will be lighter than the rest of the vase. I will finish the vase by soaking it in oil, then varnishing it. The vase does need some other work but that can happen after the art show.
I also need to drag out my small carvings, which I also have at home, and see what I want of them in the art show and what I can leave home.
I have a turning club meeting Thursday
One project for next weekend, is to set up a three foot by eight foot table, build it up with boards and stuff since I don't have that sized table and see what I can do for a good display. I will bring more than I need and whittle down what I need. I can also work on a few projects that have been started, but not likely to be in the show. It depends on what pieces need serious work.
I will see what I actually do next week.
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