(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
12-11-10 Saturday
54 degrees early morning, 75 degrees in the afternoon, light breeze, lots of sun but lots of high plate clouds which got heavier to the west as the day went on. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach department of Tourism.
The starter we replaced last week is working nicely. There is a few times where it does not start, but we think it is a module on the steering wheel. That is fifty bucks. It is starting nicely right now so that is not something that must be dealt with right now.
During the week, I had my ornaments on display at work. No one was showed interest in buying anything. That is expected. I am about to pick some items out for gifting.
My ornaments all on display
Someone was throwing out a brief case. I took it and found that it was locked. I figured out that they had no idea what the combination was. I sat down and systematically tried the numbers on the three dials. Because of the number combo they used, I picked it in fifteen minutes. A different combination would have taken a couple hours.
The red velvet box I have used for my ornaments over the years have taken a beating. To help the display of my ornaments, I had used an old brief case I used for Drafting tools ages ago. This morning I was going to replace the brief case as the imitation leather trim was pealing off. I opened both brief cases and as I was telling mom what I was about to do, the loop that locks the velvet case came loose. In that instant, Instead of saying I was replacing the brief case, I said I was replacing the velvet box.
that velvet box was a display case for perfume, I think. It had a cardboard insert with form fitting holes and a velvet cloth that went over the cardboard. I seem to think I got it in the second or third year of displaying my ornaments. I do remember I had more ornaments than easily fit in the box with the cloth separating layers.
For something that was designed to be used just a few times, I got a lot of years out of it. It can be repaired, but I have to decide whether it is worth my efforts. Not this Christmas, anyway.
I laid out all my ornaments and photographed them, then re-stacked them in the two brief cases.
We Yard sailed after breakfast. I picked up a whole bunch of beads at a good price. I was after some stone beads to make inlays, but the rest of them are quite useable in some ways for decorating something. I had considered several times in some stores to pick up some beads, but always held off. This saves me there.
I got a few other items, but that was my big haul.
Beads I got.
The beast of the back yard and Scarface was in back early morning. In the afternoon, The beast came to me several times for attention. I have a feeling that I was not doing it right, because he seemed to be disappointed when he left me. He did lay in the warm sun for long periods during the day.
One project was to work with some knitting needles and crochet hooks I am making. I had a piece of cut-off wood still in the chuck of the lathe. I put a small hole in it and used that to drive the hooks and needles while I sanded them more. I have more work to do but that was a good start on them. I need to go to finer and finer sandpaper, but that will be done by hand.
I had started a dress vase a couple months ago. I made the mistake of making it out of oak. I found that drilling it out was harder than I ever expected. I never got deep enough when I finally gave up. Last week, I remove the tenons to hold it on the lathe and decided to finish it up.
Today, I shaped the top where I had drilled the arm holes a while ago, and then ground away most of the ring that ended up being the breasts. I originally made ti with the bark still on the lower dress but the bark took a beating. I removed the last vestiges of the bark today. I have more sanding on it to polish it up but it looks pretty good. I will try to make another one, but with a different wood. The porcelain dress vases I am basing this on, had several strap styles and I might copy them in the next designs.
Dress vase. Notice belly button.
I repaired several Sea urchin ornaments I have. One was missing the piece that had the eye hook, another the dangling final was on a bad angle and another had a piece missing that needed fixing. they all look better now. One still needs work, though.
I worked on two goblets I made last week. They were both slightly tipped because of the way I made them parts. I sanded the bases on a slight angle and that straightened them out. I also sanded them some. They need more sanding and varnishing to complete them.
I emptied out my drill kit box and res-tacked it. I have more room in there. I found a fabric strap which I used in a later project. I condensed a number of things so they MIGHT be easier to find when I need them.
I took Mom's old water heater to my brother's house. He might make it into a forge, which would be easy to do. It could also end up in the garbage too. We will see. I keep forgetting that tall stuff must go on the driver's side so they don't interfere with viewing on the passenger side. This was, though, one of the reasons I got the truck.
At my brother's house, he put me to work. He had pulled a muscle in his back and I helped him with several projects. He pulled the engine from a muscle car my nephew crashed. I helped him get it off the lift and out of the way. I also helped him move some stuff around.
That strap I found in my drill box had a ding in it so the clamp did not close properly. I took a file and got the distorted metal out of the way of the grip on the clamp. I had tried a punch but could not get things in the right position to work. It is soft metal, likely aluminum so it took little effort. I had used that strap to hold the water heater in place.
Today was more about piddling around with small projects. I haven't a clue what will happen tomorrow. I have a number of projects to work on, many need to be finished, some ideas on new projects.
I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
year 10, Week 48, Day Two (week 570)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
12-12-10 Sunday
76 degrees, strong blue sky, light breeze in the morning that got strong as the day wore on. It is supposed to get down into the 30s, either tonight or tomorrow night. I will have to drive out onto the ice shelf (The frost temperature here in South Florida is 56 degrees) to get around the glacier (coming off the highest natural point in the county of 29 feet above sea level) as it tries to the sea.
This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
Both cats were out to be fed. I did not give them enough attention while they ate as I was taking care of some stuff, going in and out of the house and front. The beast of the back yard got shorted during the day on attention as I was busy and he also spent a lot of time sleeping.
I went out to put something in the garbage can. It was empty except for something furry. I wondered why mom was throwing that out and wondered if it was something I should rescue for my use. I kicked the garbage can and the furry thing moved. It was a Opossum.
I told Mom about it who suggested I let it go. I was not going to let it go around the cats. Opossums have been known to kill cats. I took it out to the street and laid the garbage can down, took some more pictures, then kicked the bottom of the garbage can from behind, driving it out. It moved with good speed across the street and into a neighbor's yard.
The possum in the trash can
I decided I would start with something new. I cut a piece of Sea Grape that had a fork on the end, with the intention of making a natural edged vase. Measuring it and examining the slight bend of the wood, I cut it short. I then decided to do something with the cutoff first.
I made a pencil cup where part of the natural wood, with the bark removed, is still visible. Being green wood, it cut nicely. Everything went well with it, where the lathe did not fight me.
I was sanding the dress vase and realized there is the remains of a knot right in front that looks like a belly button. I checked with Mom and she agreed that making a belt around the waste and sticking a jewel or something right over the blemish would be a good idea.
I mounted the vase on the lathe using a stick, stuck in the chuck, to turn the piece. I did this because the straps are delicate. I broke one when carving it and glued it. The stick fit inside the space.
I quickly found that the arrangement was not going to work as even the slightest wobble, which I had, threw it off balance badly. I then turned the lathe off.
I planned to turn the belt but since nothing was working in that way, I dug out my dremmel. I first drew lines of where the belt would be, then mounted a grinding wheel on the dremmel. I turned the piece while grinding the wood down on each side of the belt. I was not as careful as I should have been, and the belt ended up a lot smaller than I wanted it by the time I evened things out.
I then spent a lot of time sanding and grinding away my mistakes, hiding the work I did so the areas above and below the belt looked like the rest of the wood.
I decided this one is done, at least for now. I picked up some beads and stuff yesterday and will add something as decoration for a buckle.
Dress vase with belt
I did little else during the day, My brother and I sat and talked, he glanced through my turning magazines. We have a lot of projects we would love to build. We discussed making a bowl or plate with lettering scroll sawed into it. We discussed how to go about it and figured we would have to experiment. While scroll sawing is a good way to do it, we likely would use a dremmel instead.
I dug out some of the cards I painted this weekend. A few stuck and ended up being totally destroyed. I guess they were not quite dried enough. I will paint the survivors starting this week. I will do a few colors on a bunch of cards, and then let that dry, then do a few more and continue until I complete the cards. this method can be done in quick moments between stuff. Doing one thing on all the cards at the same time will make them quite similar.
I have to dig out all the stuff I might be gifting and decide who gets what. some things changed as to who gets what and I have to make sure no body is left out.
I am about to turn my attention to the art show in March. I have several projects that I want to do. Another face vase, a fairy (may have to glue up wood), several more dress vases, just to name a few big projects I might do.
I will see what I actually do next weekend.
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