90 degrees, high humidity, mostly sunny all day long, though clouds started building up in the afternoon. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
After petting and feeding both kitty cats, mom asked me to help her. We transplanted several plants, un-potted one plant that got waterlogged when the holes in the pot clogged up, and worked hard to get the dirt out of the mass of roots. Dirt is valuable.
We later put a different plant in that pot and put it in the same location. It was good hard work. We were both soaked.
I settled down after petting and feeding the beast one more time. I dug out some projects.
I had the platter I made last week. It needed work I had the center stubs, there were ripples in the surface and it was just really bad. I started grinding with my strip sander and the strip broke and went flying. I did not look for it, but I think I know where it is, beneath the work bench among stuff I have to move out to get to it.
I replaced the sanding strip, 60 grit. It ate through the wood nicely. I got rid of the nubs, then got rid of the worst of the ripples. Of course the strip sander leaves its own marks that have to be worked out. It is better than it was.
I then started working on the face vase. I made big headway. You can now see exactly what it is supposed to look like. I have loads of details I have to do, but it really looks like something. I had ground a while before it dawned on me that I was getting sawdust all through my beard. After I dusted myself off, I got out my face mask that I use for my turning, and closed it so it stuck in my chest while I worked. Surprising how much dust that keeps out of my face. I can even take my glasses off safely to work close to my face if needed.
Three views of the face vase. The left face will have a bare face
middle face is supposed to have just a mustache
Right face will have a beard.
In yard sailing, I got a GAME BOY POCKET with six games, and a duffle bag with plastic trays. the guy said it was a tackle box. I am thinking of placing my decorations (beads, hooks, ribbons, etc.) for my wood projects in there. it will separate them out so I can see what I have at a glance.
Game boy case and games.
Tomorrow, I will work more on the face vase. Getting the eyes right will be tough. The eyes are the knots of the Norfolk Island Pine. They are not perfectly located so I am working with what I have.
I might work more on the platter and do have the option to turn a few items while I am at it.
Laundry allowed me to add to my crochet.
I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
year 10, Week 21, Day Two (week 543) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 06-06-10 Sunday
Officially 93 degrees, 42 percent humidity. 99 under the awning. blue sky with a light haze in the morning, high filaments and ripples a bit later. Puffs built quickly as noon approached. It appears as if the clouds have stayed over the everglades long after I left. this weather report is brought to you by the City of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
Yesterday was my birthday. We had celebrated it last week. Other than the goodies, I would not bother remembering how old I am. Everybody knows I am only sixteen years old, where is the importance of reminding me about it???
After petting and feeding the beast, I was in the mood to do some light, easy turning.
I had a piece of wood, four three-quarter inch pine boards glued together. I cut two pieces the same length as the width. I mounted the first one on the lathe so the boards were shown around the parameter. that one went pretty good other than breaking a tenon before I had hollowed it out. I made a new tenon and finished it up. to do the bottom, I fit it over the chuck and expanded it inside the mouth of the piece. I then finished up the tail end.
One thing I had to do was to fix the screws on the jaws. I had gotten replacement screws for the jaws and the heads were larger than what I was replacing. they did not fit into the hole properly. There are four jaws, and there are screws inside the jaw, and outside the jaw to hold them in place. The screws outside the jaw was where the larger screws were, and they were side by side.
When I put the piece on backwards, it had a bad wobble. what I did was to swap one of the screws with one of the real screws. the big ones were now opposite the chuck of each other. I was able to center the piece the lip balanced on the screws, and was able to finish up the bottom of the piece.
I then made a second cup with the boards running up and down in the piece. The bottom of both pieces are set in with a rim around the outside. their sides, inside and out, are straight. I used my skew chisel as a scraper, running the point to lead the cut down the side of the piece, using the edges of the whole tool to guide it straight in. Because these were shallow, I was able to use the skew to flatten the inside bottom.
Both pieces need heavy sanding and varnishing, but they won't get them soon. I am right now using them as pencil cups.
After I was finished turning these pieces, I decided I had enough turning for the day, cleaned up and put that stuff away. My plan was to carve on the face vase. I went in as I ran out of drink and when I got in, at eleven thirty, I decided I would cool down a while. then it was lunch time.
After lunch, I planned on at least sitting down and drawing on the faces of the face vase to mark out where I needed to carve next. I took pictures and saw one face has a nose that is well off center. Oh well...
The urge to get covered in dust had left me. I then ended up cleaning up, getting everything away, calling it a day. I did get something done, just not what I really should have worked on.
I had hoped to have the face vase done for the seventeenth, which is the turning club meeting, but now realize I could never accomplish the carving in that amount of time. The faces need a lot of work and even if I worked the best I could, I could not finish it in just two weekends.
Next week, I plan to carve on the faces. I have some projects at Mom's house that need rebuilding, placing them back on the lathe to correct beginner mistakes.
I have other stuff at home that needs heavy sanding, removing the varnish and applying new, better, finishes after the surface underneath is made perfect.
I have a bowl I would love to carve up. I am now questioning whether it will be leaves It might be something else. I might leave the inside like a normal bowl and carve the outside.
I might make something new, also.
I will see what I actually do next week.
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