May 31st, 2010 Did you Write?
Another week has arrived. Many of us have difficulty writing more than a few days a year. Those are the ones this note is designed for. The idea is to give a short term goal to aim for. Write SOMETHING sometime during the week. what you write or how much you write is unimportant. What is important is that you announce your activities, whether you write or not.
The hope is that you see this note coming and realize you don't want to report that nothing happened, so you open some work and get some words done, or at least some thought of words done. If you write the RIGHT WORD, then you succeeded in something.
Word count is not what is important. In my work in progress, I actually lost 88 words this week. I zapped a couple sections while adding more. I did write, though.
along with any new words you write, editing is an important part of writing. I write garbage first, just to get the story told. I then edit the work into a more finished product.
Poetry, article writing, blogging, writing assignment, are also writing. World and character creation is also writing. We even count E-mails as writing, as long as they are wordy and pertain to story or writing. Anything else you might think is writing, is. If you have to ask if it is, the answer is yes.
As mentioned above, my word count went down. A couple weeks ago, I split a section of the story in two, so I could write two points of view out completely, before combining them in an interlaced fashion. I dug into the second point of view and removed some sections and added more, causing a word count loss. I improved what I have so I wrote.
On the story idea front, I was running a story idea behind because of a meeting the week before On Friday morning, I wrote a story idea to get caught up. that evening, I wrote a second story idea for that day. I then saw I had time so I wrote a third story idea. I then remembered there was a forth story idea that was similar to the third, and wrote that.
I wrote and posted four story ideas that day. Saturday, we had a family gathering and I did not have time to write a story idea.
tonight, I posted story idea 32, which is one above what was needed for the month. I AM NOW TWO STORY IDEAS AHEAD FOR THE YEAR!!!!
For the month, I wrote 32 story ideas, ending on Page 52, with a total of 31,574 words of pure drivel.
I have come up with loads of new story ideas. Many I wrote, did not live up to my expectations. time, initiative, or the core of the story, caused the presentation to fall short. there were a few I felt quite comfortable about.
New story ideas have been flowing like mad lately. it is fun. Today I came up with four ideas and wrote one of them tonight.
Including what I posted tonight, I now have 60 story ideas in my compost pile. I likely have twenty great story ideas buried in the stack. Another twenty that will do in a pinch, and another twenty that really don't need to see the light of day. Even with the eight story ideas I wrote this week, I gained a story idea, going from 59 last week to 60 this week. they are flowing.
AS to the question of the week,
I can say
YES, I DID WRITE
DID YOU WRITE?
Monday, May 31, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Week 542 Wood working
year 10, Week 20, Day Two (week 542)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
05-30-10 Saturday
95 degrees, good breeze, blue sky followed the sun all day. Humidity made it a little less comfortable compared to last week. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
Friday
I had planned on dropping off some wood working at the Dania Beach Water Gardens but the person I needed to talk to was out of town. I went and visited, took some pictures, and left. I checked at the Antique shop. By the beginning of the next month, he is moving across the street. They will be tearing down the buildings he is in now.
Using a felt pen and some high-lighters, I created a birthday card for my brother. I really did not have a good design but what I did was not too bad. I would rather have painted it, but did not have time. Paint is a lot more work.
Saturday
I knew this was not a day to get woodworking done. After breakfast, we went yard sailing. I spent a whole lot of money. I got some cooking trays for a toaster oven for a whole, wallet busting quarter!!!
The beast of the back yard lived a little closer to his reputation. I could not seem to find how he wanted to be petted. Even compared to this time last year, he was a very nice kitty.
The local Woodcrafts was having a set of demonstrations. I went there late. Had some free hotdogs, talked to some friends. My brother showed up and handed me my birthday present while I was there. He handed me the cash rather than a gift card.
I picked up a bowl gouge. I also had a certificate from my club membership so I used that also. I cannot seam to find my last AAW magazine so I picked one up.
Bowl gouges are essentially a rod with a gully cut out of them called the flute. What was pointed out is that the bowl gouge I got has a V shaped flute. A round bottom flute tends to be better. My problem was that I did not have the money to get a better bowl gouge.
Now the end of the gouge can be ground in many ways. A standard grind is where the gouge is simply rotated against the grinder with a single angle all the way around.
This bowl gouge came with what is a called a fingernail profile. The sides are at a flat angle aiming toward the handle, and the very end is rounded. This is an aggressive grind. I seam to remember my old gouges came with this grind and I simply ground them into standard grinds at the first opportunity.
The standard grind is not good when reaching deep into a vase. the angle of the tip is better more straight in, rather than working the sides. The fingernail grind is very good for working the sides of the work
After I left here, I went to my brother's house for a family get-together. My brother's birthday was last week, mine is next week. We combine them as a one day celebration. I had already decided I was not going to do any woodworking, so I fought with my crochet. It requires a whole lot more focus than carving does, and it is a little easier on the hands.
I got money and gift certificates as presents.
Sunday
Once I arrived at Mom's house, I had to feed and pet the cats. both were on good terms, though scarface let me know he does not like his tummy rubbed when he is laying down. I gave both of them good petting the first session. Scarface left and the beast of the back yard got more. He was busy pretending to be a cat. Later in the day, there seamed to be little I could do, based on how I am normally allowed to handle him, to bother him. He would have been happy if I just sat there all day, petting him once in a while.
I found that I left the face vase at home. I was sure I had left it at Mom's house last week. I did not see it around the house. I got there and could not find it anywhere. when I got home later in the day, I found it, right where I put it, right in plain sight..
Without the face vase to work on, I decided I would try out the new bowl gouge. I took a platter I had started and had problems with. I still had problems.
I got it mounted and spinning, and after some touch-ups on the side I had already finished, I worked on the inside.
The fingernail gouge has to be brought to the wood in a way that is different from the standard grind. using tape to hold wood in place, is not good for when you get catches. this fingernail grind is great for catches, until I get used to it. There is a learning curve to them.
I went in around noon and sat before the TV and cooled down, napped for a few minutes. WE then had lunch. My brother was sidetracked by other family so they were going to show up later.
After lunch, I took a piece of sea grape and started turning it between centers. I had the ends spinning around. I made a tenon, then mounted it in the chuck. I had it shaped fairly well, then started on the inside. I got a catch and broke a piece of wood on the edge (not used to the new gouge). I started to cut the broken part off and got a catch on the outside and the thing flew off the lathe. I later saw that the tenon broke. I tossed it. It was just playing around.
After some playing around and petting the beast, I decided I had done enough for the day.
I don't know if I will be doing any woodworking tomorrow. I am going to Mom's house in the morning and we will be going to one of the national cemeteries here in Florida, where my dad is buried, for the memorial day services they are holding. I do not know if I will have the time or mood to work wood when I get back. Will see.
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
05-30-10 Saturday
95 degrees, good breeze, blue sky followed the sun all day. Humidity made it a little less comfortable compared to last week. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
Friday
I had planned on dropping off some wood working at the Dania Beach Water Gardens but the person I needed to talk to was out of town. I went and visited, took some pictures, and left. I checked at the Antique shop. By the beginning of the next month, he is moving across the street. They will be tearing down the buildings he is in now.
Using a felt pen and some high-lighters, I created a birthday card for my brother. I really did not have a good design but what I did was not too bad. I would rather have painted it, but did not have time. Paint is a lot more work.
Saturday
I knew this was not a day to get woodworking done. After breakfast, we went yard sailing. I spent a whole lot of money. I got some cooking trays for a toaster oven for a whole, wallet busting quarter!!!
The beast of the back yard lived a little closer to his reputation. I could not seem to find how he wanted to be petted. Even compared to this time last year, he was a very nice kitty.
The local Woodcrafts was having a set of demonstrations. I went there late. Had some free hotdogs, talked to some friends. My brother showed up and handed me my birthday present while I was there. He handed me the cash rather than a gift card.
I picked up a bowl gouge. I also had a certificate from my club membership so I used that also. I cannot seam to find my last AAW magazine so I picked one up.
Bowl gouges are essentially a rod with a gully cut out of them called the flute. What was pointed out is that the bowl gouge I got has a V shaped flute. A round bottom flute tends to be better. My problem was that I did not have the money to get a better bowl gouge.
Now the end of the gouge can be ground in many ways. A standard grind is where the gouge is simply rotated against the grinder with a single angle all the way around.
This bowl gouge came with what is a called a fingernail profile. The sides are at a flat angle aiming toward the handle, and the very end is rounded. This is an aggressive grind. I seam to remember my old gouges came with this grind and I simply ground them into standard grinds at the first opportunity.
The standard grind is not good when reaching deep into a vase. the angle of the tip is better more straight in, rather than working the sides. The fingernail grind is very good for working the sides of the work
After I left here, I went to my brother's house for a family get-together. My brother's birthday was last week, mine is next week. We combine them as a one day celebration. I had already decided I was not going to do any woodworking, so I fought with my crochet. It requires a whole lot more focus than carving does, and it is a little easier on the hands.
I got money and gift certificates as presents.
Sunday
Once I arrived at Mom's house, I had to feed and pet the cats. both were on good terms, though scarface let me know he does not like his tummy rubbed when he is laying down. I gave both of them good petting the first session. Scarface left and the beast of the back yard got more. He was busy pretending to be a cat. Later in the day, there seamed to be little I could do, based on how I am normally allowed to handle him, to bother him. He would have been happy if I just sat there all day, petting him once in a while.
I found that I left the face vase at home. I was sure I had left it at Mom's house last week. I did not see it around the house. I got there and could not find it anywhere. when I got home later in the day, I found it, right where I put it, right in plain sight..
Without the face vase to work on, I decided I would try out the new bowl gouge. I took a platter I had started and had problems with. I still had problems.
I got it mounted and spinning, and after some touch-ups on the side I had already finished, I worked on the inside.
The fingernail gouge has to be brought to the wood in a way that is different from the standard grind. using tape to hold wood in place, is not good for when you get catches. this fingernail grind is great for catches, until I get used to it. There is a learning curve to them.
I went in around noon and sat before the TV and cooled down, napped for a few minutes. WE then had lunch. My brother was sidetracked by other family so they were going to show up later.
After lunch, I took a piece of sea grape and started turning it between centers. I had the ends spinning around. I made a tenon, then mounted it in the chuck. I had it shaped fairly well, then started on the inside. I got a catch and broke a piece of wood on the edge (not used to the new gouge). I started to cut the broken part off and got a catch on the outside and the thing flew off the lathe. I later saw that the tenon broke. I tossed it. It was just playing around.
After some playing around and petting the beast, I decided I had done enough for the day.
I don't know if I will be doing any woodworking tomorrow. I am going to Mom's house in the morning and we will be going to one of the national cemeteries here in Florida, where my dad is buried, for the memorial day services they are holding. I do not know if I will have the time or mood to work wood when I get back. Will see.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Did You Write? 05-24-10
Did You Write? 05-24-10
In an effort to help many of us slackers to write, this note is to be used as a prompt to get us to write more than once a month or so. by regularly reporting whether we write or not, we can keep ourselves honest, to try to write sometime during the week, just so we can say we wrote.
We all know that new writing is writing. Some might not realize that editing is writing, even if it is the work of others, or critiquing the works of others. I tend to write by editing. I will get some slop on the page, then expand it up to something better. I will do many passes, concentrating on different parts of the work to improve.
Poetry, technical writing, blogging, writing assignments, world or character development, and even E-mails can be writing as long as they are wordy and pertain to story or writing. Other things are writing too, but you must decide that it is writing.
there is no limit to how much you need to write to have written. If you wrote the RIGHT WORD, then you have written. Most of us look for a good increase in words, though.
As for me, I can say I wrote. It was not a lot, but I did write. I am writing by editing right now. I wrote my story plot out in my story idea style, and am now adding details. Early in the week, I removed a couple sections I missed when I split the story in half by the character's point of view. I added some additional words after that. In total, my final word count came out ten words shorter than last week's report.
I have had a busy week, with several projects getting in the way. I did not have very much time to write on my story.
I fell a story idea behind this week. I had a meeting on Thursday and fell an idea behind. I made up for it Friday morning, then fell behind because the day went way too long. The weekend never let me catch up either.
Including what I am posting tonight, I now have 59 story ideas. most of the top twenty look like they will be fun to write. While counting the ideas, I noticed quite a few that are deeper in the list are ones where I noted a concept, but had nothing to go with it, nothing to make it workable. It might be a situation, but no WHY to it. those tend to be the ones that don't get written. They are futile examples of story ideas.
I had to renew my driver's license this weekend. They had changed the rules for getting a license and it is taking longer than expected. I did not make an appointment, and just showed up in line. The appointments have priority. the line started fairly fast at first, then stopped. I spent hours outside in line, then got inside and spent hours inside. they had twelve stations in the place, and my estimate of one person being called each minute, now appears wrong because the place never had that many people in there. that was why the lines were going so slow. they only allowed a certain number of people inside at a time.
It will be a while before I will have to suffer that again. I did work on teaching myself crochet. Unlike writing, this takes all my concentration. time goes fast.
Using the above as a story idea,
He practiced magic for decades. He was now wealthy enough to concentrate on his own studies without having to be bothered by clients. He had nearly a dozen lesser magicians working for him, keeping the clients away from him. One can never totally escape from some clients, but the staff he had was competent enough to do what his clients wanted him to do.
He was studying far seeing, past seeing, and other realm seeing. When looking into the past, he found he could see books that were open in the very distant past. He would sit and write down the words in the books he saw. Most of the time, he never saw the whole spells as they covered many pages, but there were some rather interesting bits and pieces he could work with.
One day he was looking into a book of the past. someone would change the pages one at a time and let it sit long enough for him to see. Mid way through the book, he saw a comment about when heaven reached a critical number of souls, the whole human race would join the god and be as him. He never saw the number it was supposed to be, He searched texts for more on that, but never saw a number. that failed so he decided he had to see if he could far see the realm of heaven and see how full it was.
He searched many worlds, and then found what he knew was heaven. It was quite empty. He knew there should be more people there. time had gone so long. A spirit saw him and addressed him. He could not escape and had to speak to it. he asked why so few people. the spirit said getting in was hard. One must find the gates to know. the spirit released him. He knew he had to go to heaven It was so wonderful.
For about a month, he sort of walked around, thinking of heaven, wondering if he should speed his journey there. He then decided to find the gates of heaven.
He got back to work, and first searched texts for word of heaven. he found some bits and pieces. he then used that to far see other realms.
It took some time. He finally found the gates of heaven. He knew nothing about what it meant, approval to enter heaven was run by the driver's license bureau. the spirits stood in a very long line, going on beyond view. The clerks worked slowly, hitting buttons and shuffling papers. Every once in a while a number would be called out. A spirit wold come forward. Spirits would have to go to another place and be served by a clerk then return back. Most of the spirits had to head back toward the end of the line. he realized that those sent to the back of the line, did not have all the information they needed to pass. Watching them, he then realized that all of the spirits were being sent back. One was sent through the gate but he could feel that was rare.
He came awake back in his castle. He immediately changed his studies to finding out how to live forever. there was no way he was going to get stuck in line if he could help it.
As to the question of the day,
I can honestly say
YES I DID WRITE
DID YOU WRITE?
In an effort to help many of us slackers to write, this note is to be used as a prompt to get us to write more than once a month or so. by regularly reporting whether we write or not, we can keep ourselves honest, to try to write sometime during the week, just so we can say we wrote.
We all know that new writing is writing. Some might not realize that editing is writing, even if it is the work of others, or critiquing the works of others. I tend to write by editing. I will get some slop on the page, then expand it up to something better. I will do many passes, concentrating on different parts of the work to improve.
Poetry, technical writing, blogging, writing assignments, world or character development, and even E-mails can be writing as long as they are wordy and pertain to story or writing. Other things are writing too, but you must decide that it is writing.
there is no limit to how much you need to write to have written. If you wrote the RIGHT WORD, then you have written. Most of us look for a good increase in words, though.
As for me, I can say I wrote. It was not a lot, but I did write. I am writing by editing right now. I wrote my story plot out in my story idea style, and am now adding details. Early in the week, I removed a couple sections I missed when I split the story in half by the character's point of view. I added some additional words after that. In total, my final word count came out ten words shorter than last week's report.
I have had a busy week, with several projects getting in the way. I did not have very much time to write on my story.
I fell a story idea behind this week. I had a meeting on Thursday and fell an idea behind. I made up for it Friday morning, then fell behind because the day went way too long. The weekend never let me catch up either.
Including what I am posting tonight, I now have 59 story ideas. most of the top twenty look like they will be fun to write. While counting the ideas, I noticed quite a few that are deeper in the list are ones where I noted a concept, but had nothing to go with it, nothing to make it workable. It might be a situation, but no WHY to it. those tend to be the ones that don't get written. They are futile examples of story ideas.
I had to renew my driver's license this weekend. They had changed the rules for getting a license and it is taking longer than expected. I did not make an appointment, and just showed up in line. The appointments have priority. the line started fairly fast at first, then stopped. I spent hours outside in line, then got inside and spent hours inside. they had twelve stations in the place, and my estimate of one person being called each minute, now appears wrong because the place never had that many people in there. that was why the lines were going so slow. they only allowed a certain number of people inside at a time.
It will be a while before I will have to suffer that again. I did work on teaching myself crochet. Unlike writing, this takes all my concentration. time goes fast.
Using the above as a story idea,
He practiced magic for decades. He was now wealthy enough to concentrate on his own studies without having to be bothered by clients. He had nearly a dozen lesser magicians working for him, keeping the clients away from him. One can never totally escape from some clients, but the staff he had was competent enough to do what his clients wanted him to do.
He was studying far seeing, past seeing, and other realm seeing. When looking into the past, he found he could see books that were open in the very distant past. He would sit and write down the words in the books he saw. Most of the time, he never saw the whole spells as they covered many pages, but there were some rather interesting bits and pieces he could work with.
One day he was looking into a book of the past. someone would change the pages one at a time and let it sit long enough for him to see. Mid way through the book, he saw a comment about when heaven reached a critical number of souls, the whole human race would join the god and be as him. He never saw the number it was supposed to be, He searched texts for more on that, but never saw a number. that failed so he decided he had to see if he could far see the realm of heaven and see how full it was.
He searched many worlds, and then found what he knew was heaven. It was quite empty. He knew there should be more people there. time had gone so long. A spirit saw him and addressed him. He could not escape and had to speak to it. he asked why so few people. the spirit said getting in was hard. One must find the gates to know. the spirit released him. He knew he had to go to heaven It was so wonderful.
For about a month, he sort of walked around, thinking of heaven, wondering if he should speed his journey there. He then decided to find the gates of heaven.
He got back to work, and first searched texts for word of heaven. he found some bits and pieces. he then used that to far see other realms.
It took some time. He finally found the gates of heaven. He knew nothing about what it meant, approval to enter heaven was run by the driver's license bureau. the spirits stood in a very long line, going on beyond view. The clerks worked slowly, hitting buttons and shuffling papers. Every once in a while a number would be called out. A spirit wold come forward. Spirits would have to go to another place and be served by a clerk then return back. Most of the spirits had to head back toward the end of the line. he realized that those sent to the back of the line, did not have all the information they needed to pass. Watching them, he then realized that all of the spirits were being sent back. One was sent through the gate but he could feel that was rare.
He came awake back in his castle. He immediately changed his studies to finding out how to live forever. there was no way he was going to get stuck in line if he could help it.
As to the question of the day,
I can honestly say
YES I DID WRITE
DID YOU WRITE?
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Week 451 woodworking
year 10, Week 19, Day One (week 541)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
05-22-10 Saturday
94 degrees under the awning, 88 officially, cool (comparatively) dry breeze, mix of half clouds and half blue sky, limited fading of the sun at any time. This Weather report is Brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
I spent the early week sanding and varnishing my mice, painting my lady bugs. Eyes added as beads, this time with the holes acting like the pupal of the eyes. I had drilled larger holes for the ears and tails, and added a bit of skewer to help hold the ears in and folded the tail a couple times before inserting them to give more glue surface to hold the tail in. I had difficulty finding the right color for the lady bugs so they ended up with three colors of red before I settled on a dark orange. the end result was pretty good. The mice are good enough, the lady bugs need a little work on the design. They are pretty good anyway.
My mice and lady bugs with the magazine I got the mice idea from
Thursday.
We had a turning club meeting. I took pictures for the club. I was on my feet for most of the meeting. I took one of their magazines that had the mice I based my mice on, and had that next to the finished pieces. I heard few comments from the members, but a few people thought they were really cute.
The presentation was making a decorative natural edged vase. He first turned the piece end to end like it grew, making it round. He then decorated the surface, burning it with a wire, cutting on coves between the wire burns. Finally, he turned the piece sideways and made a conical vase where the decorated surface was the "natural" edge. the results are pretty good, unusual.
a couple classes did some projects using Purple Heart lumber. There were a whole lot of small cut-offs in the garbage can. A bunch of us raided the garbage can, by their suggestion, of some of the small pieces. I ended up coming home with more wood.
We have something called the BRING BACK PRIZE. this is where the winner this month, has to bring back something for next month's winner to get. I ended up winning it this month. they maker said that it is designed so you can take an actual "pinch" of salt. The lid rotates out of the way. It is nice. I think I have won four or five of these bring back prizes over the years. Some of my best art work was acquired this way.
Friday
This is not wood turning, but I had to renew my driver's license. They are verifying that everybody who gets a driver's license is the person they say they are. One has to bring a birth certificate, a social security card, and two bills mailed recently to your address.
I got there at ten, at the back of the walk up line. the line is likely 30 feet long. I got to the other end and inside at quarter to two! One guy in front of me ended up laying all his stuff out on the ground and I did not see him come in, so I think he was missing something. all that time and he did not have all his information.
I then sat inside. I figure they were calling people one a minute. they would call several, then there were a long period without anybody. I did not time it exactly. It was an impression of time that would be on the short side.
The actual driver's license work that I went through was about fifteen, maximum twenty minutes, which included the road sign test. I left there at Four o'clock!!! I have been learning crochet on my own. I was fighting with the third line of this piece. In the DL office, I lost track of how many lines after six and ended up with nearly three inches of crochet. I am still not good, but I am actually making headway. I will continue until I get to about nine inches, or until I run out of string. I will keep this since it is my very first piece.
Not woodworking, but crochet. The getting smaller at the top is a beginning error that I now understand how to solve. For a first project, this is not all that bad. I will run it a while before I decide it is finished, and will keep this as a reminder of my first attempt.
I was on my feet the entire time when I was outside. My feet did well. I went to several stores after the DL office and only at the last one did my feet let me know I was on them a bit much.
Saturday
Did some yard sailing in the morning. spent a whole five bucks. I almost purchased a sander, but am short on my funds as I paid the drivers license by cash rather than my check card. I had the money but when you are shorter than normal, you tend to be a little tight with your money.
At home, after petting and feeding the "cat", I dug my tools out and repaired a butler's tray (has legs like a small end table). the tray sides came off. I glued them back in place and drove the nails back in.
I then drug out my lathe and finished hollowing it. I had a devil of a time with the piece. My bowl gouges were too short to reach all the way in properly. the sides tapered in to the bottom, the walls becoming thicker the deeper you go. I could not get the right tool to work inside the vase, so I took my skew and pushed it straight in along the edge, cutting away the sides so they were straight. I need to make a bit just like that. Not hard. I have the materials to work from to make the bits out of.
I used a sanding disk at the end of the drill to do the bottom. This is Norfolk Island Pine and is nearly a year old so it is well dried. Dried Norfolk gets a lot of end grain tear out. I don't have the perfect tools for eliminating it so I have to use what works. the sanding disk made the bottom flat, also, and I had to cut away some under cut caused by the disk. That made the bottom more square.
I decided I wanted a hat for this vase, giving it a lid. I took some yellow pine and started making a hat. I did not like the results. I stopped and set that to the side. I might make it something else, but a hat is not it. I will have to look at the woods I have available to see what will work best for a hat, or whether I even will add one.
I took a piece of the purple heart I got and started turning it with the idea of making an ant's body. I failed to realize one little fact. the purple heart pieces were cut off the ends of the boards. The grain is running across the piece, not down the piece. That makes the piece weak.
I later realized I should be making a butterfly body, not an ant body. An ant is antenna and legs, while a butterfly would be good with just wings.
I want to work on the flower vase tomorrow. At minimum, I want to plan out how to do the faces on there. One thought is to make each eye be shared between two faces. Another is to have a space between the two faces like I did on the first one I did.
I will also give the leaf bowl another look. I think I know how to do the design. Start with small leaves in the center, and make them successively bigger coming out to the edge. The center leaves are the highest, and all the leaves going out will be beneath them, so you will only see the tops of tips of the leaves. I would leave the outside plain as it is now. Will see what I decide as I work with it. I first have to "erase" the lines I already have now.
I should note that I saw a piece of work at the club. the top was an ordinary plate. I turned it upside down to see who did it, and it was exquisitely carved underneath. I looked at that and felt that the bowl I was about to start, was not good enough, and I had done nothing on it yet.
I might make one or two butterfly bodies tomorrow too. I think they would be kind of nice. I can finish them at home.
I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
year 10, Week 19, Day Two (week 541)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
05-23-10 Sunday
90 degrees partly cloudy while mostly sunny. good breeze in the afternoon. There was some wet roads to the south when I was heading to mom's house.
I petted the kitty then dragged my equipment out. I decided my first project was to take a piece of Purple heart and make some butterfly bodies with them.
I quickly realized there was one little problem with this wood. These were cut off the ends of the boards. The grain runs across the wood, rather down the length. This means there is no strength in the wood.
Think of the grain of the wood like a bundle of straws. If you grab them at the end, they will be hard to separate. they are strong. If you grab them from the side, they are weak, and give way easily.
Purple heart is very hard but can be brittle. I was getting a lot of tear out from where the ends of the wood on the corners hit to the tool. It was bouncing really bad since it was not as stiff as a proper piece of wood could be.
I gave up on the bowl gouge and turned to the skew chisel to peal the wood off. I had the lathe at full speed, but it seamed like it was spinning slowly. each time a corner passed, the wood would bounce slightly.
I got the piece round after a lot of work, then started shaping the piece, The head was a ball, the Thorax of the butterfly was a oval and the tail part of the body was long. I had the body almost completed when the piece broke. I bandsawed the rest of the wood off and glued the body back together.
I then made a second one. the wood was shorter now and there was less bounce. This body went easy and I finished it up and removed it from the lathe. I took it to the bandsaw and was to bandsaw off the little bit of wood at the end of the head (I made them with the head next to the tail stock). the blade caught the wood and the head went flying. I have not seen it.
I had a little stub left of the wood, so I put that back into the lathe and turned a new head which I glued on.
Later in the day, I tried to cut slots for the wings. This is hard wood. I got a slot started with some cutting bits stacked together, but could not get it deep enough that way without the slot being too long. I tried many methods and found that a drill was best. I put in three holes, then put the drill on an angle and drilled until it broke through into the adjacent hole.
I then needed to add eyes. That wood is hard. I could barely mark it with a sharp point. I got the eyes located properly with the wings. I then decided these needed antenna. I will use fishing line for the antenna.
I am now sanding and varnishing them.
Butterfly bodies. holes for eyes, slots for the wings, and tiny holes or the antenna.
I messed with a platter I had started earlier. I ended up taking a wooden face plate I made to screw onto the lathe, and remove the hole to make room for a knob on the back of the platter. The front, where the face plate is supposed to attach, was all messed up. I needed to straighten and clean it. I had a bit of a problem all the way through the process and the platter did not stay on the face plate. I needed to correct the face plate slightly. I then dropped it and sawdust got on the tape. I decided to leave that for a later date.
I messed around with other projects during the day.
I talked to mom about the face vase. She said to do three faces, with separate eyes, rather than six faces sharing eyes with other faces. I committed myself by taking the band sander and removing the nose part of the shape between the faces.
I will finish the butterflies this week. I also need to paint a card before the weekend.
next weekend is going to be a whole lot of activity.
Friday, I plan on stopping at the antique shop and water gardens to see if I can drop anything off.
Saturday night, we are having a birthday party for my brother. that is what the card is for.
Mom and I are planning to visit Dad's grave on Monday.
I am not sure how much real work I will actually get done this weekend.
I will see what I actually do next weekend.
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
05-22-10 Saturday
94 degrees under the awning, 88 officially, cool (comparatively) dry breeze, mix of half clouds and half blue sky, limited fading of the sun at any time. This Weather report is Brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
I spent the early week sanding and varnishing my mice, painting my lady bugs. Eyes added as beads, this time with the holes acting like the pupal of the eyes. I had drilled larger holes for the ears and tails, and added a bit of skewer to help hold the ears in and folded the tail a couple times before inserting them to give more glue surface to hold the tail in. I had difficulty finding the right color for the lady bugs so they ended up with three colors of red before I settled on a dark orange. the end result was pretty good. The mice are good enough, the lady bugs need a little work on the design. They are pretty good anyway.
My mice and lady bugs with the magazine I got the mice idea from
Thursday.
We had a turning club meeting. I took pictures for the club. I was on my feet for most of the meeting. I took one of their magazines that had the mice I based my mice on, and had that next to the finished pieces. I heard few comments from the members, but a few people thought they were really cute.
The presentation was making a decorative natural edged vase. He first turned the piece end to end like it grew, making it round. He then decorated the surface, burning it with a wire, cutting on coves between the wire burns. Finally, he turned the piece sideways and made a conical vase where the decorated surface was the "natural" edge. the results are pretty good, unusual.
a couple classes did some projects using Purple Heart lumber. There were a whole lot of small cut-offs in the garbage can. A bunch of us raided the garbage can, by their suggestion, of some of the small pieces. I ended up coming home with more wood.
We have something called the BRING BACK PRIZE. this is where the winner this month, has to bring back something for next month's winner to get. I ended up winning it this month. they maker said that it is designed so you can take an actual "pinch" of salt. The lid rotates out of the way. It is nice. I think I have won four or five of these bring back prizes over the years. Some of my best art work was acquired this way.
Friday
This is not wood turning, but I had to renew my driver's license. They are verifying that everybody who gets a driver's license is the person they say they are. One has to bring a birth certificate, a social security card, and two bills mailed recently to your address.
I got there at ten, at the back of the walk up line. the line is likely 30 feet long. I got to the other end and inside at quarter to two! One guy in front of me ended up laying all his stuff out on the ground and I did not see him come in, so I think he was missing something. all that time and he did not have all his information.
I then sat inside. I figure they were calling people one a minute. they would call several, then there were a long period without anybody. I did not time it exactly. It was an impression of time that would be on the short side.
The actual driver's license work that I went through was about fifteen, maximum twenty minutes, which included the road sign test. I left there at Four o'clock!!! I have been learning crochet on my own. I was fighting with the third line of this piece. In the DL office, I lost track of how many lines after six and ended up with nearly three inches of crochet. I am still not good, but I am actually making headway. I will continue until I get to about nine inches, or until I run out of string. I will keep this since it is my very first piece.
Not woodworking, but crochet. The getting smaller at the top is a beginning error that I now understand how to solve. For a first project, this is not all that bad. I will run it a while before I decide it is finished, and will keep this as a reminder of my first attempt.
I was on my feet the entire time when I was outside. My feet did well. I went to several stores after the DL office and only at the last one did my feet let me know I was on them a bit much.
Saturday
Did some yard sailing in the morning. spent a whole five bucks. I almost purchased a sander, but am short on my funds as I paid the drivers license by cash rather than my check card. I had the money but when you are shorter than normal, you tend to be a little tight with your money.
At home, after petting and feeding the "cat", I dug my tools out and repaired a butler's tray (has legs like a small end table). the tray sides came off. I glued them back in place and drove the nails back in.
I then drug out my lathe and finished hollowing it. I had a devil of a time with the piece. My bowl gouges were too short to reach all the way in properly. the sides tapered in to the bottom, the walls becoming thicker the deeper you go. I could not get the right tool to work inside the vase, so I took my skew and pushed it straight in along the edge, cutting away the sides so they were straight. I need to make a bit just like that. Not hard. I have the materials to work from to make the bits out of.
I used a sanding disk at the end of the drill to do the bottom. This is Norfolk Island Pine and is nearly a year old so it is well dried. Dried Norfolk gets a lot of end grain tear out. I don't have the perfect tools for eliminating it so I have to use what works. the sanding disk made the bottom flat, also, and I had to cut away some under cut caused by the disk. That made the bottom more square.
I decided I wanted a hat for this vase, giving it a lid. I took some yellow pine and started making a hat. I did not like the results. I stopped and set that to the side. I might make it something else, but a hat is not it. I will have to look at the woods I have available to see what will work best for a hat, or whether I even will add one.
I took a piece of the purple heart I got and started turning it with the idea of making an ant's body. I failed to realize one little fact. the purple heart pieces were cut off the ends of the boards. The grain is running across the piece, not down the piece. That makes the piece weak.
I later realized I should be making a butterfly body, not an ant body. An ant is antenna and legs, while a butterfly would be good with just wings.
I want to work on the flower vase tomorrow. At minimum, I want to plan out how to do the faces on there. One thought is to make each eye be shared between two faces. Another is to have a space between the two faces like I did on the first one I did.
I will also give the leaf bowl another look. I think I know how to do the design. Start with small leaves in the center, and make them successively bigger coming out to the edge. The center leaves are the highest, and all the leaves going out will be beneath them, so you will only see the tops of tips of the leaves. I would leave the outside plain as it is now. Will see what I decide as I work with it. I first have to "erase" the lines I already have now.
I should note that I saw a piece of work at the club. the top was an ordinary plate. I turned it upside down to see who did it, and it was exquisitely carved underneath. I looked at that and felt that the bowl I was about to start, was not good enough, and I had done nothing on it yet.
I might make one or two butterfly bodies tomorrow too. I think they would be kind of nice. I can finish them at home.
I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
year 10, Week 19, Day Two (week 541)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
05-23-10 Sunday
90 degrees partly cloudy while mostly sunny. good breeze in the afternoon. There was some wet roads to the south when I was heading to mom's house.
I petted the kitty then dragged my equipment out. I decided my first project was to take a piece of Purple heart and make some butterfly bodies with them.
I quickly realized there was one little problem with this wood. These were cut off the ends of the boards. The grain runs across the wood, rather down the length. This means there is no strength in the wood.
Think of the grain of the wood like a bundle of straws. If you grab them at the end, they will be hard to separate. they are strong. If you grab them from the side, they are weak, and give way easily.
Purple heart is very hard but can be brittle. I was getting a lot of tear out from where the ends of the wood on the corners hit to the tool. It was bouncing really bad since it was not as stiff as a proper piece of wood could be.
I gave up on the bowl gouge and turned to the skew chisel to peal the wood off. I had the lathe at full speed, but it seamed like it was spinning slowly. each time a corner passed, the wood would bounce slightly.
I got the piece round after a lot of work, then started shaping the piece, The head was a ball, the Thorax of the butterfly was a oval and the tail part of the body was long. I had the body almost completed when the piece broke. I bandsawed the rest of the wood off and glued the body back together.
I then made a second one. the wood was shorter now and there was less bounce. This body went easy and I finished it up and removed it from the lathe. I took it to the bandsaw and was to bandsaw off the little bit of wood at the end of the head (I made them with the head next to the tail stock). the blade caught the wood and the head went flying. I have not seen it.
I had a little stub left of the wood, so I put that back into the lathe and turned a new head which I glued on.
Later in the day, I tried to cut slots for the wings. This is hard wood. I got a slot started with some cutting bits stacked together, but could not get it deep enough that way without the slot being too long. I tried many methods and found that a drill was best. I put in three holes, then put the drill on an angle and drilled until it broke through into the adjacent hole.
I then needed to add eyes. That wood is hard. I could barely mark it with a sharp point. I got the eyes located properly with the wings. I then decided these needed antenna. I will use fishing line for the antenna.
I am now sanding and varnishing them.
Butterfly bodies. holes for eyes, slots for the wings, and tiny holes or the antenna.
I messed with a platter I had started earlier. I ended up taking a wooden face plate I made to screw onto the lathe, and remove the hole to make room for a knob on the back of the platter. The front, where the face plate is supposed to attach, was all messed up. I needed to straighten and clean it. I had a bit of a problem all the way through the process and the platter did not stay on the face plate. I needed to correct the face plate slightly. I then dropped it and sawdust got on the tape. I decided to leave that for a later date.
I messed around with other projects during the day.
I talked to mom about the face vase. She said to do three faces, with separate eyes, rather than six faces sharing eyes with other faces. I committed myself by taking the band sander and removing the nose part of the shape between the faces.
I will finish the butterflies this week. I also need to paint a card before the weekend.
next weekend is going to be a whole lot of activity.
Friday, I plan on stopping at the antique shop and water gardens to see if I can drop anything off.
Saturday night, we are having a birthday party for my brother. that is what the card is for.
Mom and I are planning to visit Dad's grave on Monday.
I am not sure how much real work I will actually get done this weekend.
I will see what I actually do next weekend.
Monday, May 17, 2010
05-17-2010, Did You Write?
05-17-2010, Did You Write?
The question of the week, of course every week with this note, every week is, DID YOU WRITE any time this week? Many of us have problems opening our works in progress sometime during the month, let alone during the week. this note is to act as a prompt to get each of us to write SOMETHING during each week.
The idea of this note is for you to announce your writing progress, whether you wrote or not. During the following week, you think about having to announce your writing or lack of writing. In a way, it is to shame yourself into put down some words so you can say you wrote when you report.
I can speak from experience, that it does help, even just a little, to actually open a work in progress just so I can say I wrote. I also will work hard to come up with a viable excuse as to why I did not write. Rest assured, I know of no one keeping rack. this is really for YOU. It helps others who read the notes as to knowing that others are not writing, or others are writing, and how little or how much is written. Again, I know of no one keeping track of how much each person writes. One word, if it is the right word, would pass as writing, just as sixty pages would count.
WE all know that new writing, is writing. I know of no one who disagrees with that. Editing, though, is also writing, since few of us can write perfectly first time. I write many times by editing, getting the rough story in place and then expanding it as I edit, adding description, detail, dialog, action, as I go. Because of this, I consider editing as writing, even if it is the work of someone else. Even Crits are writing as it is a form of editing.
Poetry, technical writing, writing assignments, blogging, articles, are also writing. World and character building is also writing. E-mails can also be writing if there is a lot of words and they pertain to story or writing. In reality, if YOU think it is writing, we will accept that as writing.
AS for me, I can say, Yes, I did write. I am in an writing by editing. My actual word count has not changed too much.
I have a section where points of view are alternated, you see what one is doing, then what the other is doing, back and forth. It dawned on me I that I had some problems showing up with timing and spacing. They are introducing different parts of the world, so this foundation will be fully established for later stories.
To solve this problem of bad timing between actions, I copied each character's points of views into separate files. My plan is to write each point of view all the way through. I will combine them later at proper spacing points so their time lines will meet up properly.
On the story idea front, With tonight's post, I am up to date, I will fall behind later this week due to a meeting. I will have time to catch up later this month.
I am surprised with my production this week on adding to my compost pile. My count came up to 62 story ideas. I have been coming up with two and three ideas on some days this past week. I can tell you, this is fun. One good thing is when the ideas stop, I will have some good stuff to work with for quite a while.
So for the question of the week,
I can say
YES, I DID WRITE.
DID YOU WRITE?
The question of the week, of course every week with this note, every week is, DID YOU WRITE any time this week? Many of us have problems opening our works in progress sometime during the month, let alone during the week. this note is to act as a prompt to get each of us to write SOMETHING during each week.
The idea of this note is for you to announce your writing progress, whether you wrote or not. During the following week, you think about having to announce your writing or lack of writing. In a way, it is to shame yourself into put down some words so you can say you wrote when you report.
I can speak from experience, that it does help, even just a little, to actually open a work in progress just so I can say I wrote. I also will work hard to come up with a viable excuse as to why I did not write. Rest assured, I know of no one keeping rack. this is really for YOU. It helps others who read the notes as to knowing that others are not writing, or others are writing, and how little or how much is written. Again, I know of no one keeping track of how much each person writes. One word, if it is the right word, would pass as writing, just as sixty pages would count.
WE all know that new writing, is writing. I know of no one who disagrees with that. Editing, though, is also writing, since few of us can write perfectly first time. I write many times by editing, getting the rough story in place and then expanding it as I edit, adding description, detail, dialog, action, as I go. Because of this, I consider editing as writing, even if it is the work of someone else. Even Crits are writing as it is a form of editing.
Poetry, technical writing, writing assignments, blogging, articles, are also writing. World and character building is also writing. E-mails can also be writing if there is a lot of words and they pertain to story or writing. In reality, if YOU think it is writing, we will accept that as writing.
AS for me, I can say, Yes, I did write. I am in an writing by editing. My actual word count has not changed too much.
I have a section where points of view are alternated, you see what one is doing, then what the other is doing, back and forth. It dawned on me I that I had some problems showing up with timing and spacing. They are introducing different parts of the world, so this foundation will be fully established for later stories.
To solve this problem of bad timing between actions, I copied each character's points of views into separate files. My plan is to write each point of view all the way through. I will combine them later at proper spacing points so their time lines will meet up properly.
On the story idea front, With tonight's post, I am up to date, I will fall behind later this week due to a meeting. I will have time to catch up later this month.
I am surprised with my production this week on adding to my compost pile. My count came up to 62 story ideas. I have been coming up with two and three ideas on some days this past week. I can tell you, this is fun. One good thing is when the ideas stop, I will have some good stuff to work with for quite a while.
So for the question of the week,
I can say
YES, I DID WRITE.
DID YOU WRITE?
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Week 540 Wood Working
year 10, Week 18, Day Two (week 540)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
05-16-10 Sunday
90 degrees, good breeze, clouds varying from broken clouds, fixed clouds, open patch of blue sky, to full cover. There was a moment of a mist, but it was gone almost as fast as it was noticed. Temps did drop down to 88 degrees. Much of the day was sunny, in spite all the clouds. I am developing a good tan on the tops of my arms, about the only part exposed to the sun. After I left the area, I did drive through some rain, but that was not while working wood. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach department of Tourism.
The beast was so cat like. I did bother him where he had to turn his head at my hand and bite the air to tell me "stop" but he was still being a good kitty. He was in a head rubbing mood today. he really would have been happy if I just sat and petted him. I had work to do.
The last work I did was to place a forked trunk of Orange tree into the lathe. The idea is to use the fork to make an interesting pitcher. Orange is a hard wood, hard to hollow out, hard to work with. I got a different idea.
I dug out a piece of Norfolk Island Pine. I had a thirty inch long piece of the log with three sets of branches. I cut one section off.
I located the center (the pith is off center) and mounted into the lathe between the tail stock and drive center (mounted between centers). I flattened the top and bottom, and then turned a tenon on one end. I knew what I was making today, from the moment I decided on that type of wood.
Early in the year, I made a face vase, where the knots of the branches were the eyes of the faces. With that vase, I had made the vase first, then decided to carve the faces on it. This time, I knew what it would be. I turned it so there will be a nose sticking way out from the face, eye brow and mouth, all planned out.
I had sanded the outside well, but have to do some correction to the outside, shortening the nose to give more room for the mouth and chin.
I also started hollowing it but have a long way to go with that too.
My brother helped me make a boring bar a while back. I can fit different bits inside the bar for different cutting effects.
I had gotten some metal machining bits that have a triangle cutter on the end. One can rotate the cutter to have a fresh sharp edge. While turning today, using that bit in the boring bar, the cutter broke off. I noticed it a while after it happened. I took out the hone and flattened the top and the sides so I had some good cutting edges. Not as good as the cutter, but it worked fairly well. I have a long ways to go on the hollowing, but made good headway.
The Face Vase. long ridge is the nose.
I had picked some leaves off a plant out front for use with making another 'swirl of leaves', carved bowl. I have a bowl I made back in 2004 that was way too thick. a month or so back, I re-mounted it on the lathe and thinned it down, correcting some other errors. I want to carve on it, make it interesting. I traced several of the leaves on the surface. I am not satisfied with the effect, and may "erase" (sand) my lines off and start over.
The plant I am using for my leaves.
I have a sick one on my porch.
After I had cleaned up, I sat with my dremmel and drilled holes for the mice I made last week. I will have to make the holes bigger, but they locate where everything is. I will add eyes and ears to them later. I just realized I forgot to drill the tail holes. will have to do that this week.
I have a turning club meeting this Thursday. I want the mice to be ready for that. The face vase and leaf vase will each be a longer range project. At least a month away to finish.
I will see what I end up doing next weekend.
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
05-16-10 Sunday
90 degrees, good breeze, clouds varying from broken clouds, fixed clouds, open patch of blue sky, to full cover. There was a moment of a mist, but it was gone almost as fast as it was noticed. Temps did drop down to 88 degrees. Much of the day was sunny, in spite all the clouds. I am developing a good tan on the tops of my arms, about the only part exposed to the sun. After I left the area, I did drive through some rain, but that was not while working wood. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach department of Tourism.
The beast was so cat like. I did bother him where he had to turn his head at my hand and bite the air to tell me "stop" but he was still being a good kitty. He was in a head rubbing mood today. he really would have been happy if I just sat and petted him. I had work to do.
The last work I did was to place a forked trunk of Orange tree into the lathe. The idea is to use the fork to make an interesting pitcher. Orange is a hard wood, hard to hollow out, hard to work with. I got a different idea.
I dug out a piece of Norfolk Island Pine. I had a thirty inch long piece of the log with three sets of branches. I cut one section off.
I located the center (the pith is off center) and mounted into the lathe between the tail stock and drive center (mounted between centers). I flattened the top and bottom, and then turned a tenon on one end. I knew what I was making today, from the moment I decided on that type of wood.
Early in the year, I made a face vase, where the knots of the branches were the eyes of the faces. With that vase, I had made the vase first, then decided to carve the faces on it. This time, I knew what it would be. I turned it so there will be a nose sticking way out from the face, eye brow and mouth, all planned out.
I had sanded the outside well, but have to do some correction to the outside, shortening the nose to give more room for the mouth and chin.
I also started hollowing it but have a long way to go with that too.
My brother helped me make a boring bar a while back. I can fit different bits inside the bar for different cutting effects.
I had gotten some metal machining bits that have a triangle cutter on the end. One can rotate the cutter to have a fresh sharp edge. While turning today, using that bit in the boring bar, the cutter broke off. I noticed it a while after it happened. I took out the hone and flattened the top and the sides so I had some good cutting edges. Not as good as the cutter, but it worked fairly well. I have a long ways to go on the hollowing, but made good headway.
The Face Vase. long ridge is the nose.
I had picked some leaves off a plant out front for use with making another 'swirl of leaves', carved bowl. I have a bowl I made back in 2004 that was way too thick. a month or so back, I re-mounted it on the lathe and thinned it down, correcting some other errors. I want to carve on it, make it interesting. I traced several of the leaves on the surface. I am not satisfied with the effect, and may "erase" (sand) my lines off and start over.
The plant I am using for my leaves.
I have a sick one on my porch.
After I had cleaned up, I sat with my dremmel and drilled holes for the mice I made last week. I will have to make the holes bigger, but they locate where everything is. I will add eyes and ears to them later. I just realized I forgot to drill the tail holes. will have to do that this week.
I have a turning club meeting this Thursday. I want the mice to be ready for that. The face vase and leaf vase will each be a longer range project. At least a month away to finish.
I will see what I end up doing next weekend.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Did You Write? 05-10-10
Did You Write? 05-10-10
This is an attempt to embarrass myself, along with all others who reply to this note, into writing at last something during the week. We are not concerned with how much you write, or what you write, as long as you are adding words to the page. The more, the better, but even "the right word" will do the job.
I don't have time to list all that can be writing. Check previous notes for the list. Even if you are in question, if you think you might say yes, that is good enough for us.
I wish to congratulate those who have had success, in finishing or even submitting, over the past few months. I don't reply to this note very often after it is posted so I don't often get a chance to say, "I wish it was me......
AS for my writing, I can say yes. In my work in progress, I had added a page of text, about 680 words, and then stuck most of my outline to the end of my work and then added another 830 words. I had a set of really good writing sessions this week. I do see that there is a problem with my outline and what I already had written. This week I will have to sort out the difference and make the necessary changes. The main thing I am doing with the outline, is editing it into actual writing, filling in detail, making transitions, smoothing things out.
I do expect to actually go backwards on my total word count when I am done with the corrections.
On the story idea front, including what I posted tonight, I have 53 story ideas in my compost pile. I got three story ideas today, alone. There was a couple days where I did dig a little deeper into the compost pile, and actually moved a couple rather poor or difficult ideas down in the stack so good ideas were easier to find.
For this week, I can say
YES, I DID WRITE!!!
DID YOU WRITE?
This is an attempt to embarrass myself, along with all others who reply to this note, into writing at last something during the week. We are not concerned with how much you write, or what you write, as long as you are adding words to the page. The more, the better, but even "the right word" will do the job.
I don't have time to list all that can be writing. Check previous notes for the list. Even if you are in question, if you think you might say yes, that is good enough for us.
I wish to congratulate those who have had success, in finishing or even submitting, over the past few months. I don't reply to this note very often after it is posted so I don't often get a chance to say, "I wish it was me......
AS for my writing, I can say yes. In my work in progress, I had added a page of text, about 680 words, and then stuck most of my outline to the end of my work and then added another 830 words. I had a set of really good writing sessions this week. I do see that there is a problem with my outline and what I already had written. This week I will have to sort out the difference and make the necessary changes. The main thing I am doing with the outline, is editing it into actual writing, filling in detail, making transitions, smoothing things out.
I do expect to actually go backwards on my total word count when I am done with the corrections.
On the story idea front, including what I posted tonight, I have 53 story ideas in my compost pile. I got three story ideas today, alone. There was a couple days where I did dig a little deeper into the compost pile, and actually moved a couple rather poor or difficult ideas down in the stack so good ideas were easier to find.
For this week, I can say
YES, I DID WRITE!!!
DID YOU WRITE?
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Week 539 Woodworking
year 10, Week 17, Day One (week 539)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
05-08-10 Saturday
95 degrees in late morning, then clouds closed up some and temps dropped to 90 degrees. A nice breeze kept the temps from feeling hot. There was a point where a thin dark cloud leaked, but I was doing some measuring at the time and just pulled the equipment under cover until I was ready to go back to work. I knew at the time it was ignorable. After I had gotten home, in another city, there was a very good cloudburst, but I was inside at the time. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
Scar-face and the Beast was waiting for me when I went out into the back yard. they both got food and plenty of attention. The beast got a lot more attention and food over the day, but not as much as he wanted. he really wanted company, and I was more interested in my projects.
-PICT0060.jpg)
Beggar, The beast of the back yard
Pretending to be a cat.
I had a good look at the mice I made, and decided they needed to be designed better. I picked out some wood and made a little bit of sawdust. None of them are perfect, but they will be better than most of the ones I made last week. Even so, they will need corrections. One thing I must do is sand them before I do anything else to them other than drilling holes. I have to give thought to whiskers on them.
I need to try making frogs and lady bugs using the same method. That should be easy. I did make four mouse bodies today, which is not too bad. I had to prepare a few pieces of wood, which including measuring, cutting and re-measuring. Small bits can be used with this, these pieces were yellow pine cut from corners of platter blanks. I like the look on the mice.
I spent a lot of time trying to solve a problem with Mom's E-mail program in Windows 7, I hate Windows 7. Nothing is where it is supposed to be. files are hidden, buried, tricked around. You think you find the file you need to change and then it turns out not to be the right one. ARGH!
I am not totally sure what I will do tomorrow. I should do a couple platters, but could also work on something brand new. I also have a bowl I want to start carving. laying it out would help.
I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
year 10, Week 17, Day Two (week 539)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
05-09-10 Sunday
90 degrees, good breeze to take the heat away. Clear to the east all day long, thin, broken clouds over the Everglades to the West. After noon, there were several periods where clouds blocked the sun, but mostly sunny all day long.
My first project was to feed and pet the cat. Scar face was nowhere to be seen. Beggar was in a cat mood and I petted him quite a bit before I was ready to dig my equipment out.
I stopped and petted him several more times during the day. Later, after my brother had done some scroll sawing and had settled to read, Beggar sat ON TOP my foot for about half an hour. I was sanding at the time and I would reach down and rub his head every now and then. he finally got up and headed to bed, in hiding somewhere.
I decided to start with making some lady bug bodies. My results are pretty good. I have a lot of decisions to do after I finish sanding. I have to decide whether to and how much, I should paint these. I figure I won't add legs. I could add cartoon eyes or leave them a slightly bit more realistic. Will see.
I also made a frog body. I don't like what I came up with. It might be all right, but has problems. I am thinking that I should use the lathe to get the angles even and centered, then use the sander for the real design. I will think it over.
I dug out a platter I had started a couple weeks ago and remounted it on the lathe. I finished it up, sanding it quite a bit. It needs more. A lot of the sanding was while the beast lounged on top my foot.
I mounted another platter I had just barely gotten started with, on the lathe, but it wobbled when I turned the lathe on. I should have removed it, trued up the face plate, then got started again, but chose instead to pack up and do something else. I will deal with it next weekend.
The ten inch platter, with mouse at top, two lady bugs, mouse on bottom left, and a frog
I corrected one of the mice bodies I made yesterday. It is still not quite right, but better than it was. I really should have re-mounted it on the lathe, but decided to use the disk sander instead. More sanding and it will be ok.
The day was pretty good, more of a lazy day, but I did get a whole lot done, but got enough to feel like I did something.
I will have to see what I accomplish next week.
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
05-08-10 Saturday
95 degrees in late morning, then clouds closed up some and temps dropped to 90 degrees. A nice breeze kept the temps from feeling hot. There was a point where a thin dark cloud leaked, but I was doing some measuring at the time and just pulled the equipment under cover until I was ready to go back to work. I knew at the time it was ignorable. After I had gotten home, in another city, there was a very good cloudburst, but I was inside at the time. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
Scar-face and the Beast was waiting for me when I went out into the back yard. they both got food and plenty of attention. The beast got a lot more attention and food over the day, but not as much as he wanted. he really wanted company, and I was more interested in my projects.
-PICT0060.jpg)
Beggar, The beast of the back yard
Pretending to be a cat.
I had a good look at the mice I made, and decided they needed to be designed better. I picked out some wood and made a little bit of sawdust. None of them are perfect, but they will be better than most of the ones I made last week. Even so, they will need corrections. One thing I must do is sand them before I do anything else to them other than drilling holes. I have to give thought to whiskers on them.
I need to try making frogs and lady bugs using the same method. That should be easy. I did make four mouse bodies today, which is not too bad. I had to prepare a few pieces of wood, which including measuring, cutting and re-measuring. Small bits can be used with this, these pieces were yellow pine cut from corners of platter blanks. I like the look on the mice.
I spent a lot of time trying to solve a problem with Mom's E-mail program in Windows 7, I hate Windows 7. Nothing is where it is supposed to be. files are hidden, buried, tricked around. You think you find the file you need to change and then it turns out not to be the right one. ARGH!
I am not totally sure what I will do tomorrow. I should do a couple platters, but could also work on something brand new. I also have a bowl I want to start carving. laying it out would help.
I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
year 10, Week 17, Day Two (week 539)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
05-09-10 Sunday
90 degrees, good breeze to take the heat away. Clear to the east all day long, thin, broken clouds over the Everglades to the West. After noon, there were several periods where clouds blocked the sun, but mostly sunny all day long.
My first project was to feed and pet the cat. Scar face was nowhere to be seen. Beggar was in a cat mood and I petted him quite a bit before I was ready to dig my equipment out.
I stopped and petted him several more times during the day. Later, after my brother had done some scroll sawing and had settled to read, Beggar sat ON TOP my foot for about half an hour. I was sanding at the time and I would reach down and rub his head every now and then. he finally got up and headed to bed, in hiding somewhere.
I decided to start with making some lady bug bodies. My results are pretty good. I have a lot of decisions to do after I finish sanding. I have to decide whether to and how much, I should paint these. I figure I won't add legs. I could add cartoon eyes or leave them a slightly bit more realistic. Will see.
I also made a frog body. I don't like what I came up with. It might be all right, but has problems. I am thinking that I should use the lathe to get the angles even and centered, then use the sander for the real design. I will think it over.
I dug out a platter I had started a couple weeks ago and remounted it on the lathe. I finished it up, sanding it quite a bit. It needs more. A lot of the sanding was while the beast lounged on top my foot.
I mounted another platter I had just barely gotten started with, on the lathe, but it wobbled when I turned the lathe on. I should have removed it, trued up the face plate, then got started again, but chose instead to pack up and do something else. I will deal with it next weekend.
The ten inch platter, with mouse at top, two lady bugs, mouse on bottom left, and a frog
I corrected one of the mice bodies I made yesterday. It is still not quite right, but better than it was. I really should have re-mounted it on the lathe, but decided to use the disk sander instead. More sanding and it will be ok.
The day was pretty good, more of a lazy day, but I did get a whole lot done, but got enough to feel like I did something.
I will have to see what I accomplish next week.
Monday, May 3, 2010
May Third, Twenty Ten, Did you write?
May Third, Twenty Ten, Did you write?
That is the question of the day. DID YOU WRITE any time this week? For many among us, writing every day is not a problem. This note is not needed unless one wants to brag.
For others among us, just writing this month is a challenge. Having a prompt to get us to even think of writing at some time during the week, is a big thing. If one is honest, one will post a reply to this note, even if one did not write. That is where this note works best. One does not want to answer the question no, so writing is the only other option. It has worked many weeks the past year, for me.
As to what is writing, we all accept that anything new is writing. How much one writes is not important as opening the text up and having it even the slightest different when you close it.
Since few of us write perfectly the first time, Editing is also writing. This goes for editing someone else's work, or even critiquing the work of others. Measured word counts don't matter when editing, since many of us will zap entire sections of text in order to replace it with better writing or better story. One can go backwards in the word count and do a whole lot of writing to replace what was removed.
Poetry, blogging, technical writing, article writing are also writing. E-mails can also be writing, as long as they are wordy and pertain to story or writing.
what is actually writing, is a matter of opinion. there are things in my list that you might say "that is not writing" or "that is not enough writing." for others, you might come up with something else that might pass as writing. the key is that YOU think you wrote.
As for me, I did write. I had started a story-idea like writing of my work in progress to work out the plot, to get around details that was bogging me down. I finished the piece and fired it off to my writing partner. She sent me back a list of things hat needed correcting. I quickly realized that they were details, not plot problems, so I dug into the actual work. We have since worked out some extra details for the entire series. Since last week, I added two pages and 1772 words to the "outline" and then added two pages and 1300 words to the actual work in progress. Right now, I am correcting what I already have written. I will get through that soon, and then get into fresh, new writing. I feel like I can make real headway now.
On the story idea front, Ideas have been coming good and strong. I have, including what I am posting tonight, 56 story ideas in my compost pile. Not a lot of my recent ideas are good, but I will try to dig into them before they sink too deeply.
For this month, I am already a story idea behind, and it is only three days old. I have a good month to catch up so I am not worried at all.
I had finished last month and got my data out of the file. I had 31 story ideas for the month of 30 days. I had a point last week where I made a mistake on the numbers of a couple story ideas. I thought I was way behind so I wrote an extra story idea two nights in a row. I was posting the story ideas and just happened to scroll up. I saw 22 twice. I searched the numbers and found I repeated 22 and 23 twice. that was how I ended up an idea ahead for the month, and also for the year. As it was, I had 53 pages and 31,892 words of pure drivel.
I sent the file to a friend of mine who had never seen such things. when I saw her the next weekend. she had no words for how far out, strange, my imagination was. she rolled her eyes when I truthfully said I wished my work was more far out and wild.
I had a woodworking weekend where I did not have any pressing projects. I saw something in a magazine, instantly figured out how it was done, and tried to replicate what the article mentioned. the guy made some wooden mice. I made one and it looked pretty good. Later, I got a sheet of craft foam and beads and finished some of the mice I made. the craft foam became the ears and tail, the beads became eyes. I will say that some of these mice are really cute, but some are a bit "wrong" It is known as planning. I made eight of the mice, and my sister In Law wanted a mouse, she thought they were so cute, so I gave her the first one I made. I now have seven mice running around my desk, trying to look cute. I decided these are going to be one of the many Christmas ornaments I make this year. I like that they are quick to make an uses some wood I have a lot of.
For a story idea using the above, he is a genetic chemist. he has the facilities to make any kind of life from the test tube. He has done a number of microbes in learning his craft and a couple multicellular macroscopic creatures. What he really wanted to do was to make a real creature, one he could hold in his hand, to interact with.
He is glancing through magazines, looking for ideas. elephants are too big, lions are too big and dangerous, even a cat is bigger than he cares to bother with. They also fall under "too complicated" to make.
He is flipping through a magazine, and sees a picture of a cartoon mouse. He smiles. that is perfect. He is going to make some mice. they don't have to be perfect. their life spans will be short and he can eliminate a number of things the natural mice might have. In essence, his will be cartoons of the real thing. It will be a good challenge and test of his abilities.
He decides they won't need claws. A lot of their survival genetics such as anything more than a simple immune system won't be needed. A lot of the genetic based survival traits are eliminated. Based on charts he has, he designs them for cute. He also eliminates any mating systems. If they are good, he can clone them to replicate them, or he can modify the clones for improvements.
He starts his process with a couple thousand copies. As the develop in the test tube, different errors in replication kill the samples. In the end, he ends up with eight mice.
comparing the genetics with recorded real mice, his are mice in form only. they are cute, love to be held and petted, and last for several months. he uses the genetics from the longest lasting one for his clones, which he modifies.
two possible endings. One is that he makes a mistake and one, the one that escapes, has mating system and mates with native mice, creating a new form that is not easy to remove.
the other is for him to start mass producing his mice as the ultimate pet. they are safe to have around children and easy to care for. they also have a limited life span that requires continuous production, which makes him wealthy beyond his dreams.
As to the question of the week,
I can honestly say,
YES, I DID WRITE
DID YOU WRITE?
That is the question of the day. DID YOU WRITE any time this week? For many among us, writing every day is not a problem. This note is not needed unless one wants to brag.
For others among us, just writing this month is a challenge. Having a prompt to get us to even think of writing at some time during the week, is a big thing. If one is honest, one will post a reply to this note, even if one did not write. That is where this note works best. One does not want to answer the question no, so writing is the only other option. It has worked many weeks the past year, for me.
As to what is writing, we all accept that anything new is writing. How much one writes is not important as opening the text up and having it even the slightest different when you close it.
Since few of us write perfectly the first time, Editing is also writing. This goes for editing someone else's work, or even critiquing the work of others. Measured word counts don't matter when editing, since many of us will zap entire sections of text in order to replace it with better writing or better story. One can go backwards in the word count and do a whole lot of writing to replace what was removed.
Poetry, blogging, technical writing, article writing are also writing. E-mails can also be writing, as long as they are wordy and pertain to story or writing.
what is actually writing, is a matter of opinion. there are things in my list that you might say "that is not writing" or "that is not enough writing." for others, you might come up with something else that might pass as writing. the key is that YOU think you wrote.
As for me, I did write. I had started a story-idea like writing of my work in progress to work out the plot, to get around details that was bogging me down. I finished the piece and fired it off to my writing partner. She sent me back a list of things hat needed correcting. I quickly realized that they were details, not plot problems, so I dug into the actual work. We have since worked out some extra details for the entire series. Since last week, I added two pages and 1772 words to the "outline" and then added two pages and 1300 words to the actual work in progress. Right now, I am correcting what I already have written. I will get through that soon, and then get into fresh, new writing. I feel like I can make real headway now.
On the story idea front, Ideas have been coming good and strong. I have, including what I am posting tonight, 56 story ideas in my compost pile. Not a lot of my recent ideas are good, but I will try to dig into them before they sink too deeply.
For this month, I am already a story idea behind, and it is only three days old. I have a good month to catch up so I am not worried at all.
I had finished last month and got my data out of the file. I had 31 story ideas for the month of 30 days. I had a point last week where I made a mistake on the numbers of a couple story ideas. I thought I was way behind so I wrote an extra story idea two nights in a row. I was posting the story ideas and just happened to scroll up. I saw 22 twice. I searched the numbers and found I repeated 22 and 23 twice. that was how I ended up an idea ahead for the month, and also for the year. As it was, I had 53 pages and 31,892 words of pure drivel.
I sent the file to a friend of mine who had never seen such things. when I saw her the next weekend. she had no words for how far out, strange, my imagination was. she rolled her eyes when I truthfully said I wished my work was more far out and wild.
I had a woodworking weekend where I did not have any pressing projects. I saw something in a magazine, instantly figured out how it was done, and tried to replicate what the article mentioned. the guy made some wooden mice. I made one and it looked pretty good. Later, I got a sheet of craft foam and beads and finished some of the mice I made. the craft foam became the ears and tail, the beads became eyes. I will say that some of these mice are really cute, but some are a bit "wrong" It is known as planning. I made eight of the mice, and my sister In Law wanted a mouse, she thought they were so cute, so I gave her the first one I made. I now have seven mice running around my desk, trying to look cute. I decided these are going to be one of the many Christmas ornaments I make this year. I like that they are quick to make an uses some wood I have a lot of.
For a story idea using the above, he is a genetic chemist. he has the facilities to make any kind of life from the test tube. He has done a number of microbes in learning his craft and a couple multicellular macroscopic creatures. What he really wanted to do was to make a real creature, one he could hold in his hand, to interact with.
He is glancing through magazines, looking for ideas. elephants are too big, lions are too big and dangerous, even a cat is bigger than he cares to bother with. They also fall under "too complicated" to make.
He is flipping through a magazine, and sees a picture of a cartoon mouse. He smiles. that is perfect. He is going to make some mice. they don't have to be perfect. their life spans will be short and he can eliminate a number of things the natural mice might have. In essence, his will be cartoons of the real thing. It will be a good challenge and test of his abilities.
He decides they won't need claws. A lot of their survival genetics such as anything more than a simple immune system won't be needed. A lot of the genetic based survival traits are eliminated. Based on charts he has, he designs them for cute. He also eliminates any mating systems. If they are good, he can clone them to replicate them, or he can modify the clones for improvements.
He starts his process with a couple thousand copies. As the develop in the test tube, different errors in replication kill the samples. In the end, he ends up with eight mice.
comparing the genetics with recorded real mice, his are mice in form only. they are cute, love to be held and petted, and last for several months. he uses the genetics from the longest lasting one for his clones, which he modifies.
two possible endings. One is that he makes a mistake and one, the one that escapes, has mating system and mates with native mice, creating a new form that is not easy to remove.
the other is for him to start mass producing his mice as the ultimate pet. they are safe to have around children and easy to care for. they also have a limited life span that requires continuous production, which makes him wealthy beyond his dreams.
As to the question of the week,
I can honestly say,
YES, I DID WRITE
DID YOU WRITE?
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Week 538 woodworking
year 10, Week 16, Day One (week 538) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 05-01-10 Saturday
85 degrees, nice wind, fast moving clouds, some broken clouds in the morning, solid clouds in the afternoon, filtered sun a bit later, a light haze between the clouds disappeared to show lots of blue sky. This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
I have a calendar hanging near me where I write down the weeks of the year I have been wood turning. I have a file that I update each week with the weeks since the anniversary that I started woodworking. they did not agree. I first thought I missed a week. No, last week's posts were on line. I checked the week number and the days and they came out right.
The calendar seamed right. I started from January 17th, and counted the weeks again. Ah! found it. On months where the month ends before the end of the week, it shows the days of the next month with calendars and pictures. I will put the week number there, then transfer it to the next week. I found one spot where I wrote the next week when I flipped the page, rather than repeating it. Luckily, a month later, I skipped a week with a date and that mistake corrected the first one.
During the week, I sanded and varnished the platters I made last weekend. I was not satisfied with the finish, but did not have time to start over. they were acceptable, but not good.
Friday:
I went to the Dania water gardens to show my latest work. When I got there, only the help was there. I walked around, took a whole bunch of pictures. My stuff is on display really nice.
I went to the antique shop an talked. I dropped off the beer stein, and took pictures of the display. It looks good.
Display of my work at the Dania Water gardens
I went back to the Water Gardens and that was when I found out that they had gone on a delivery and were stuck on the job. I will have to go back there next weekend. I decided to take the opportunity and refinish some of the platters because they can be better.
Saturday:
I started the morning with feeding and petting the cats. The beast of the back yard is really no longer a beast. he is so much like a cat it is uncanny.
He has a friend cat that appears to have adopted Mom. She gave him food a few times, and he showed he loved attention. She realized she could feel his bones, so she started feeding him. His hair is looking healthy and he is looking better. He won't stop you from picking him up, but he really does not like being held for long. He has scars all over his body and head, and has been in some recent fights. I think mom is going to call him Scar Face.
Beggar liked a lot of attention. At one point, when I was about done, he laid down between my feet, with the food dish next to him, and laid there, napping a little, for a good fifteen minutes before I had to get up.
The cat Mom is now calling Scar face
In a turning magazine I just got, they had a review of a book on making toys. One is of mice the guy made. I glanced at the pictures and realize that they would be easy to make and might make good Christmas ornaments. I took some two by something wood. I found the center of the wide dimension, and went up about a quarter of the way up on one side, and turned the stick between center on the marks. What this does, is give me a flat bottom and the rest of the body is round. When I go to the nose or the tail, I get past the flat spot and have a nice round shaped ending. I got four bodies out of the piece of wood I had. They are smaller than I wanted them to be, but will work.
Magazine Picture of Mice I based my mice on.
I later went to Joanne's crafts and fabrics, and got some foam material that should do well for the ears and tail. The book had used leather, and I was going to use felt. I could not find the felt. this foam stuff appears to be strong enough. I just have to cut it right to work. If I do the cut right, I can get ears and tails out of the same cut. I also got some black beads for eyes. they don't have buttons small enough.
I decided to try turning a platter. I have a double sided foam tape that is not good. I decided to use it anyway. for some reason, I chose to skimp on the tape, and use little bits of tape rather than long pieces like I normally do. I mounted the work, trued up the edge and the two faces, when a catch caused the piece to spin off the tape. It was between both face plates so the movement of the work was controlled until I got the lathe turned off. I decided to stop there.
I did a lot of sanding on two platters but have a lot more to do on them. the varnish I put on them keeps gumming up the sand paper. I almost have the two, down to the wood.
I packed up near noon since Mom's homeowner's association was having a picnic. Mom had already gone to help them set up. Once I got there, I caught up with mom, and then headed to the food. I over ate by a long shot. I got a print out of the different native trees in the area. There was all sorts of planting instructions and problems with using them. I have not finished it but it is really good.
I left there and went to Jo-Anne’s and Woodcrafts. I cannot find my good double sided tape. I figured that if I get a new one, the old one will show up fast. I had a discount coupon so that brought down the price some. Tomorrow I can now do some platter turning or work fixing with little effort. the double sided tape will help me hold the work on the lathe.
I then went to my brother's house because a nephew was in town. Again we ate. My brother was still working and not there.
I had a good day. I knew I was not going to get a lot of work done, but doing the mice was kind of a nice, easy project. I might have done more sanding, but all three of my batteries for my drill set, which my sander is part of, were low on power. I have some charging to do.
For tomorrow, I will likely mount two platters I have started and complete them. I will also do some sanding. If my brother happens to show up, we will see what is wrong with my face plate system.
I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
year 10, Week 16, Day Two (week 538) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 05-02-10 Sunday
90 degrees, mostly clear, a very slight haze, small teased cotton puffs around the horizon all day long. Good breeze to make the temps perfect. This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
I cut some ears and tails for the mice I had made. I did one first, drilling straight in, then tipping the drill to spread the hole slightly. After the first mouse was finished, I showed it off. Mom liked it.
First mice I made.
My sister in law has this one.
I then got some mahogany and started making brown mice, rather than the yellow pine mice I made before. I got the idea to mark them while they were still on the lathe, and using an awl to mark where the holes will be drilled. Even with measuring, I got the face tipped to one side.
Now these mice are made where I center a rectangular piece of wood on the long side, but move the center toward one of the edges. This gives the mice a flat bottom, and as much width as possible.
For the mice that had the face out of center, I simply turned them till they were close to being right, and re-flattened the bottom on the disk sander. Not as good as if they were set there originally, but they are not bad.
with some care, I can make these mice a lot better, but these are not bad. The key is to make the mouse shape exactly right. A lot of variation is quite acceptable based on what I am looking at. The eye and ear placement does make a difference in how it looks, too.
I have to add eye hooks and these will be Christmas ornaments. I am doing one experiment right now. I sprayed one with varnish and I want to see how the foam for the ears and tails react to the varnish.
Other mice I made this weekend
I fed and petted the cats. both are acting so sweet and nice. One would never realize that one is really a beast. He is getting good at pretending to be a cat.
While we were at my brother's house for a family get together, he was at Mom's house adding a tow bar to his old truck. We did not know that though.
Today, he returned and did some welding and fitting, and got the tow bar mounted. he had gotten some magnetic trailer lights. he found out that they were wired wrong. the brake lights were on all the time. Rather than taking them back, he rewired them.
My truck towed his truck out of mom's driveway, positioning it so he could hitch up to it.
Later, I followed him home as he towed the truck. We found out that the front wheels turned as the truck was towed around corners. My plan was to see him pull into his neighborhood and I head on. part way there, he told me to follow him home. I had to steer the truck when he backed it up into the parking place.
I did not work on what I intended to work on, but had a lot of fun with the mice. Some care and planning, I can make them quickly and have them look great.
Friday, I need to go down to the Water gardens and see what has been going on, and show off my platters to them.
The weekend itself, I seam to remember something going on, but I don't remember what. I have no idea what I will be working on. it was suggested to make some frogs using this same system as the mice, but I have to plan them out, design them, to see how to go about it.
I will see what I actually do next weekend.
85 degrees, nice wind, fast moving clouds, some broken clouds in the morning, solid clouds in the afternoon, filtered sun a bit later, a light haze between the clouds disappeared to show lots of blue sky. This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
I have a calendar hanging near me where I write down the weeks of the year I have been wood turning. I have a file that I update each week with the weeks since the anniversary that I started woodworking. they did not agree. I first thought I missed a week. No, last week's posts were on line. I checked the week number and the days and they came out right.
The calendar seamed right. I started from January 17th, and counted the weeks again. Ah! found it. On months where the month ends before the end of the week, it shows the days of the next month with calendars and pictures. I will put the week number there, then transfer it to the next week. I found one spot where I wrote the next week when I flipped the page, rather than repeating it. Luckily, a month later, I skipped a week with a date and that mistake corrected the first one.
During the week, I sanded and varnished the platters I made last weekend. I was not satisfied with the finish, but did not have time to start over. they were acceptable, but not good.
Friday:
I went to the Dania water gardens to show my latest work. When I got there, only the help was there. I walked around, took a whole bunch of pictures. My stuff is on display really nice.
I went to the antique shop an talked. I dropped off the beer stein, and took pictures of the display. It looks good.
Display of my work at the Dania Water gardens
I went back to the Water Gardens and that was when I found out that they had gone on a delivery and were stuck on the job. I will have to go back there next weekend. I decided to take the opportunity and refinish some of the platters because they can be better.
Saturday:
I started the morning with feeding and petting the cats. The beast of the back yard is really no longer a beast. he is so much like a cat it is uncanny.
He has a friend cat that appears to have adopted Mom. She gave him food a few times, and he showed he loved attention. She realized she could feel his bones, so she started feeding him. His hair is looking healthy and he is looking better. He won't stop you from picking him up, but he really does not like being held for long. He has scars all over his body and head, and has been in some recent fights. I think mom is going to call him Scar Face.
Beggar liked a lot of attention. At one point, when I was about done, he laid down between my feet, with the food dish next to him, and laid there, napping a little, for a good fifteen minutes before I had to get up.
The cat Mom is now calling Scar face
In a turning magazine I just got, they had a review of a book on making toys. One is of mice the guy made. I glanced at the pictures and realize that they would be easy to make and might make good Christmas ornaments. I took some two by something wood. I found the center of the wide dimension, and went up about a quarter of the way up on one side, and turned the stick between center on the marks. What this does, is give me a flat bottom and the rest of the body is round. When I go to the nose or the tail, I get past the flat spot and have a nice round shaped ending. I got four bodies out of the piece of wood I had. They are smaller than I wanted them to be, but will work.
Magazine Picture of Mice I based my mice on.
I later went to Joanne's crafts and fabrics, and got some foam material that should do well for the ears and tail. The book had used leather, and I was going to use felt. I could not find the felt. this foam stuff appears to be strong enough. I just have to cut it right to work. If I do the cut right, I can get ears and tails out of the same cut. I also got some black beads for eyes. they don't have buttons small enough.
I decided to try turning a platter. I have a double sided foam tape that is not good. I decided to use it anyway. for some reason, I chose to skimp on the tape, and use little bits of tape rather than long pieces like I normally do. I mounted the work, trued up the edge and the two faces, when a catch caused the piece to spin off the tape. It was between both face plates so the movement of the work was controlled until I got the lathe turned off. I decided to stop there.
I did a lot of sanding on two platters but have a lot more to do on them. the varnish I put on them keeps gumming up the sand paper. I almost have the two, down to the wood.
I packed up near noon since Mom's homeowner's association was having a picnic. Mom had already gone to help them set up. Once I got there, I caught up with mom, and then headed to the food. I over ate by a long shot. I got a print out of the different native trees in the area. There was all sorts of planting instructions and problems with using them. I have not finished it but it is really good.
I left there and went to Jo-Anne’s and Woodcrafts. I cannot find my good double sided tape. I figured that if I get a new one, the old one will show up fast. I had a discount coupon so that brought down the price some. Tomorrow I can now do some platter turning or work fixing with little effort. the double sided tape will help me hold the work on the lathe.
I then went to my brother's house because a nephew was in town. Again we ate. My brother was still working and not there.
I had a good day. I knew I was not going to get a lot of work done, but doing the mice was kind of a nice, easy project. I might have done more sanding, but all three of my batteries for my drill set, which my sander is part of, were low on power. I have some charging to do.
For tomorrow, I will likely mount two platters I have started and complete them. I will also do some sanding. If my brother happens to show up, we will see what is wrong with my face plate system.
I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
year 10, Week 16, Day Two (week 538) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 05-02-10 Sunday
90 degrees, mostly clear, a very slight haze, small teased cotton puffs around the horizon all day long. Good breeze to make the temps perfect. This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
I cut some ears and tails for the mice I had made. I did one first, drilling straight in, then tipping the drill to spread the hole slightly. After the first mouse was finished, I showed it off. Mom liked it.
First mice I made.
My sister in law has this one.
I then got some mahogany and started making brown mice, rather than the yellow pine mice I made before. I got the idea to mark them while they were still on the lathe, and using an awl to mark where the holes will be drilled. Even with measuring, I got the face tipped to one side.
Now these mice are made where I center a rectangular piece of wood on the long side, but move the center toward one of the edges. This gives the mice a flat bottom, and as much width as possible.
For the mice that had the face out of center, I simply turned them till they were close to being right, and re-flattened the bottom on the disk sander. Not as good as if they were set there originally, but they are not bad.
with some care, I can make these mice a lot better, but these are not bad. The key is to make the mouse shape exactly right. A lot of variation is quite acceptable based on what I am looking at. The eye and ear placement does make a difference in how it looks, too.
I have to add eye hooks and these will be Christmas ornaments. I am doing one experiment right now. I sprayed one with varnish and I want to see how the foam for the ears and tails react to the varnish.
Other mice I made this weekend
I fed and petted the cats. both are acting so sweet and nice. One would never realize that one is really a beast. He is getting good at pretending to be a cat.
While we were at my brother's house for a family get together, he was at Mom's house adding a tow bar to his old truck. We did not know that though.
Today, he returned and did some welding and fitting, and got the tow bar mounted. he had gotten some magnetic trailer lights. he found out that they were wired wrong. the brake lights were on all the time. Rather than taking them back, he rewired them.
My truck towed his truck out of mom's driveway, positioning it so he could hitch up to it.
Later, I followed him home as he towed the truck. We found out that the front wheels turned as the truck was towed around corners. My plan was to see him pull into his neighborhood and I head on. part way there, he told me to follow him home. I had to steer the truck when he backed it up into the parking place.
I did not work on what I intended to work on, but had a lot of fun with the mice. Some care and planning, I can make them quickly and have them look great.
Friday, I need to go down to the Water gardens and see what has been going on, and show off my platters to them.
The weekend itself, I seam to remember something going on, but I don't remember what. I have no idea what I will be working on. it was suggested to make some frogs using this same system as the mice, but I have to plan them out, design them, to see how to go about it.
I will see what I actually do next weekend.
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