90 degrees at nine, 96 degrees in the afternoon, air thick in the morning, drying out as the wind picked up in the afternoon. Blue skies with thin feathers up high, puffs on the horizon over the everglades, getting taller as the day wore on. sunny all day long.
This weather report is brought to you by the city of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
FRIDAY.
I had started working on a Stuffy, a stuffed animal. I was simply working in the round. After I had made a tube a given length, I decided to make this a head of something, the tube the muzzle. I was working it closed and stuffed it with fiber-fill, when I realized that some little errors showed big. I set some button eyes on it and took some pictures, then pulled it completely out. I will start over again with a smaller hook later.
Stuffy head with eyes set in place. This no longer exists.
I worked on my ODD BALL bag more. I got to a point where I decided will either be half way or a third of the way. I have a broad green band at that point. I will double the height and decide if it needs to be taller for the kind of bag and closure I am thinking of.
This is the Odd Ball bag. The bright green band that goes all the way around is half way.
SATURDAY
Our city has a program where they start different kinds of trees and have residents, proven with their driver's licences, come and pick up two free trees. the idea is to fill the city with trees over the next years. They will have it also next weekend.
When going to the restaurant, Mom was saying she saw a red blossomed Crape Myrtle somewhere and was talking about buying a couple should they become available at any of the plant departments of the stores.
We went to the plant program this morning and Mom got all excited. they had the red Crape Myrtle, so she got two of them.
The city sort of expects people to plant the trees in the ground so they become big. Mom keeps hers in pots so they stay small and works hard to make sure they do not go into the ground. When they do, she hacks up the wayward roots and puts something between them and the ground. She has trees many years old that are not too much bigger than they were when she got them.
After I fed and petted the beast of the back yard and Scar face,
Beggar, The beast of the back yard, pretending to be a cat
I cut a piece of Sea Grape and started making a goblet. I had the bowl done. I had the stem of the goblet well made, thicker than I normally do but quite acceptable. I took some sandpaper to clean up the stem one more time and the bowl fell off. I picked up the bowl and saw that a natural crack in the wood gave.
All right.
I finished the base of the goblet and was parting it off when another chunk came off the base. I took it out of the chuck and tossed the base. I then mounted the bowl of the goblet into the chuck and shaved off the remains of the stem with the idea of this now becoming a flower. I just have to carve the petals in it. I told mom about that and she said to give it a different colored stem and base. I have ideas. I will let them stew until I get around to working on it again. I might carve it like a flower and add a base to it too. Will see.
Later, I took a piece of Norfolk Island Pine. It was a section with the branches sticking out yet. I decided I would leave them and the bark for something strange. I cut the end flat, then hollowed it out for the bowl of the goblet. I then started working on the stem. While I was parting it off below the base, the base broke, sliding up the stem. It later broke into several pieces.
I then found that there was a crack just below the bowl. I have glued it but it was not glued well. There are some gaps. I will figure out the best way to deal with that tomorrow. I might add inlay. I will have to see.
Branch goblet
I went to Home depot and got a bunch of cans of varnish. I needed some at Mom's house and at home. It did a good dent in the gift card I am carrying.
I stopped at Jo Ann's cloth world and after walking half the isles, I picked up two tiny metal crochet hooks and a sewing thread cutter. I am thinking of coming up with something that can be carried on planes and not be taken away. I am going to test the thread cutter and I might make something on that idea using wood instead of plastic to contain the blade. It is something to explore anyway. Wear it on a necklace or just have it in your bag and it should pass through security.
Tomorrow I have plenty of projects to work on and lots of wood to humiliate. It will really all depend on what project I happen to get excited about. Some projects really need to be done and have been looking at me for months.
I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
Year 11, Week 27, Day Two (week 601) (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 07-17-11 Sunday
96 degrees, blue sky with feathers and cream real high, and puffs over the everglades that sometimes got kind of close during the day. Some towers developed late in the day. It was mostly sunny until towards noon when the feathers and cream got thick enough to block the sun. More towers developed over the Everglades and to the south. this weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
Yesterday, I got some tiny metal hooks for a crochet project and a thread cutter/ needle threader for sewing. This is a thumbnail sized piece of plastic with a tiny blade in it. I am thinking that I can make these out of wood. I can take some razor blades and break or cut off little bits of it, and then take two slices of wood that I shaped and glue them together over the blade so the blade shows. I can sand them thin and have a thread cutter that could be used on the plane. I can make the wood in all sorts of great designs that people would love to get. One thing I like about this concept is that it would use small trimmings of wood for the whole project.
I got to Mom's house at my normal early time. After I fed and petted the beast of the back yard, I dragged out my lathe. I re-mounted a natural branch goblet I made yesterday where the stem broke. I got it spinning and sanded it. I then found that the break in the stem had not healed so I re-glued it and used the lathe to clamp it in line. I let it set for an hour or so. I later sanded it again.
I tried to fix the sea grape goblet that I broke the stem and base on. I made a new stem out of Bougainvillea, which appears fairly dry, and then was touching up the bottom of the goblet when there was a very slight catch which sent it flying. There were two pieces on the ground when it stopped. I glued the two parts together. I can see where my tool had ran up the goblet bowl with a pretty score. It is going to take some effort to hide that.
I took the goblets I made last week and sanded them while on the lathe. I got rid of some bothersome fibers on the sea grape inlay goblet. the Norfolk goblet is still a little green and does not want to sand properly.
I put some wipe-on varnish in a baggy and soaked the torch, and the three goblets a couple times. After the goblets set for a day or so, I will sand them some more since the varnish will lock the fibers in place.
The torch needs to be sanded and varnished as I need that for the turning club meeting this week.
Pieces with first coat of varnish - branch goblet, torch, Norfolk goblet, Sea Grape Inlay goblet
I took a piece of Norfolk branch and started carving a pixy. I decided to leave bark as the brim of the hat. I have it too thick, but will deal with that when I get it mostly carved. I can always make it thinner, but cannot make it thicker. I got a good start on the face but that was all the farther I wanted to go today.
the start of a Pixy on a Norfolk Island Pine Branch
I was just about cleaned up when my brother arrived. We ate and then sat and talked for a while. He was worn out from several jobs he did so he was not in the mood to do anything besides talk either.
I realized that the reason I have not worked on my face vase is that I had not wanted to get as gritty as the grinding would get me. I have to try to get over that if I am to finish that project. I have a couple other projects that will also get me messy like this.
I have a turning club meeting Thursday. All I have to bring is my torch. My goblets are for next month. That will be good as it will take me that long to get them ready.
I have more than enough projects to work on. Not enough time to work on them.
I will see what all I do next week.
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