(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
06-26-10 Saturday
94 degrees, some sun, fast moving tower puff clouds, heading from the southeast to the north west, a few dots of sprinkles sneaking along among them. nice breeze that refused to blow under the awning. We got a little dribble while I was working under the awning, and when I packed up and walked into the house for the day, the drops were loud on the roof for a few seconds. It was almost gone by the time I walked out the front door, about ten minutes later. This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
After a couple yard sales and breakfast, I went out and petted and fed the cats. The beast went back and forth several times from wanting attention and not wanting to be touched.
My main project was to work on the face vase. I got my tools out and worked more on the eyes. I think the eyes are pretty good. they are nothing like my imagination said they should be. they are not bad. I worked on more shaping of the faces.
I wear my wood turning face shield, I take off my glasses so I can hold the work real close, and I had a fan blowing on me, which also carried some of the dust beyond me.
I decided the brow ridge, created when first I turned the piece, was too dramatic. I mounted the vase on the lathe and cut that down. When I took it off, I did some grinding to remove places where the tools touched the bridge of the nose. I then took sandpaper to the entire piece, getting rid of tool marks, softening ridge and bumps. I have a lot more to do, but I feel I made a big difference on it.
While I was working, I hitched up my pant leg and the fabric tore on the thigh. I had that happen to a couple other pairs of pants. I dug out an clothes iron we have used in our woodworking. Our main use of the iron was to get a photocopy of something, lay it down on a piece of wood, then use the heat of the iron to melt the ink onto the wood.
Photocopies use an ink that is a combination of plastic, ink and a magnetic material. They use heated rollers to draw the ink onto the paper. If it is fresh, you can re-melt the ink from the paper onto something else. That was what that iron was for. I don't have an iron at home so I located and borrowed it.
I picked up some patching material and patched my pants with the iron on patch, on the inside. I have a few others than will get the treatment.
I also went to Woodcrafts, and after wandering the place for a while, picked up some proper colored filler. I had used white filler to fill some worm holes on the face vase and they stand out. I am going to remove the white filler and use the closer to proper color filler in the holes. I also picked up a couple bits of wood that were about two bucks each. they are pen blanks, but I have some ideas for them.
One thing I am thinking about is to add a tint to the face vase. I would add it over the entire surface, then sand away the highlights so that when I add my final finishes, it will stand out better. I have some tint, but have to stir it up and I am not sure it will mix. It had been settled out for several years. Mounting a piece of coat hanger on the drill should do the job.
Tomorrow, I will do more sanding and carving on the face vase. I have some small projects I can turn, but could also turn some larger projects. I could always turn a platter. Of course I have to pet and feed the cats.
Mom dug into a closet and found all sorts of craft stuff. she got rid of a bunch of it already, but will have some for me to pick through and dig out the stuff I think I can use.
I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
year 10, Week 24, Day One (week 546)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
06-26-10 Saturday
95 degrees under the awning, nice breeze, sunny all day long, clouds on the horizon. The low humidity made it quite comfortable when I had the fan on. When wood turning, the sun itself was hot, but a minute in the shade got me ready for another session at the lathe. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
I got to Mom's house early. She had dug into her craft closet and was going through a whole bunch of stuff. She got rid of a carload of items already.
Mom and dad used to go to carving seminars during the summers, driving there. Dad would take the classes, and Mom would set up craft classes for the non-carvers, supplying some of the materials they needed for their projects. When Dad stopped going to the seminars, all of Mom's craft stuff went into the closet.
Mom was looking for something that was buried deep in the closet, so she pulled all the stuff out of the closet, got to what she was after, then decided to sort through the stuff, see what she had. She did crochet, quilting, bead work, painting, among other crafts she was involved in. She also had her own carving stuff.
Mom had sorted out some stuff to dispose of, but then showed me some stuff she knew I might be interested in. Her intention was to let me know the stuff was available.
Mom had two small motors for grinding, different brands than Dremmel. One thing I took was her dental grinding bits. these are really tiny cutting bits. They are great for fine shaping, getting into tiny places. Most of these are the size of a SHARPIE Ultra Fine Point pen point. Since they are designed to work on teeth, they are able to really get into places.
Mom had several knives that Dad made. I started making knives of his style, but found a design change made my knives a better design. His knives have a long point. they are great for sticking in between the fibers of your carving gloves. I got poked many times with my knives in the beginning.
While making some new knives, I had s short bit of file left and decided to make a knife out of it. I made it with a square, straight end and found I loved it. For one thing, you don't have a long point to go through your gloves. The wedge end acts like a chisel when it goes into the wood.
I decided instantly that I did not want to mess with her knives so she still has them.
A number of items she had was decorations for wood carvings and other things, like googly eyes, ribbons, bits and pieces.
I went outside and fed the creatures of the back yard. Beggar was acting just like a cat. I have no idea what got into him. Scar face was sweet and I petted him some, but he left after he ate.
I threw a couple bits of cat food to the curly tail lizards that are inhabiting mom's back yard. they were accidentally introduced in Palm beach county and have slowly been spreading. They appeared in the past few years in Mom's back yard. We found out that they eat some cat food bits that are left, so we have been giving them bits of food and have gotten within a few feet of them at times.
I started the day by digging into the shed. I had to pull a whole bunch of stuff out of the shed to get to a box of big bottles of wood dye. The solids had settled out. when I got them out, I took a piece of coat hanger and bent one end, and stuck the other into a drill. I tried to use the wire to stir the solids of the dye, to make it mix up. I spun it quite a bit, but when I pulled the coat hanger out, it had sludge coating it. I decided that reconstituting the die was not worth the effort so I tossed the box of big bottles.
A bit later, I put everything back in and found I had a whole lot more room in there, since I put some stuff that was on the floor, onto the shelf where the box was.
I sat and worked on the face vase most of the day. I used one of Mom's bits to remove the white filler I had used to fill some worm holes when I started, and used some more natural colored filler. I am thinking, as I am writing, that what I really should have done, though it was really not within my effort level, was to make a dowel out of the wood and worked that into the worm holes. When I finish the wood, It will finish similar to the wood itself. I could do that, but will see if I really want to. I have a week to think about it.
One of the bits I got from mom was coiled sand paper. it goes onto a special bit I am guessing that the sand paper grinds down to nothing on the outside, or when the sand paper runs out of grit, I cut the warn sandpaper off to expose the next layer of the spiral
My dremmel decided it did not want to go slow enough for that bit, but worked pretty good. I went over the inside of the piece to clean up some tool marks, and worked all over the outside. It smoothed the surface out pretty well.
I did a lot of sanding and grinding, making corrections here and there. I want to get the surface just right, then I will take my V tools and cut in hair on the faces that need it.
I have some tool marks left by the aggressive grinding tools to get rid of. The lighting was just not right to see them when I was working. I need to get rid of them, and some divots in the surface.
bare faced, mustached and bearded faces of the face vase.
I sorted through all my dremmel bits, mixing the ones I got from mom in with the ones I had in my kit. I was surprised that it all fit together in the dremmel case.
Next week, I plan to finish the grinding on the face vase. I have some little flaws to correct, like where bits I used, burned the wood. I need to sand the faces so the surfaces are even smooth, just right. I have some details to carve in to bring it to the level I can do. After that, I will be able to start my finishing process which includes soaking it in linseed oil for several days.
I am going down to Dania Beach Florida to check in on the antique shop and the Dania Water Gardens. The antique shop is supposed to be moved to the other side of the street. His building is going to be demolished and he did not want to buy the entire block.
I will see how my stuff is doing, re-arranging it if needed. I have some stuff to bring to the Dania Water Gardens and see how my stuff is doing there.
I will see what I actually do Next Week.
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