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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