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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