This is how the teddy bears are crocheed, both sides connected by an arm
This is what it looks like once it is stitched up
This is how the teddy bear looks when it is turned inside out.
Two Teddy bears completed. Yellow teddy is my very first one. Red teddy is number two. I intend to make clothing for them and the red teddy's tie will likely change dramatically or be replaced.
Year 16, Week 05, Day One (week 751)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
02-21-15 Saturday
62 degrees early morning, 74 in afternoon, broken clouds early morning, light puffs here and there in the afternoon. A strong breeze with good gusts periodically to blow lightly filled bags around. We had a couple days the coldest this winter. Traffic was tied up everywhere with a combination of icy roads and Wooly Mammoths walking along the roads. Luckily, the canals were all frozen solid and they were used by a lot of people to get around the traffic jams, lessening the extent of the jams.I slipped out one day a week to go Ice fishing. I caught four whopper pieces of ice. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
Thursday
The wood turning club meeting was a lot of fun this week. The demonstration was on how to make threaded lids on your work. In wood turning, anything with a lid is considered a box. The first key is to have a lathe that will work at a slow enough speed. He was working between 300 and 400 rpm (rotations per minute). My lathe has the lowest speed of a thousand rpm. A bit too fast.
Tools are available to cut in the threads. Basically they are set of two metal tools with a saw tooth. There is a slight angle to the teeth that aids in causing the spiral of the cut. The one for working the outside is on the end of the tool, while the one for the inside is on the side of the tool. Threads for these are generally different than used for metal.
The wood you are adding threads to have to be absolutely dry. Wet wood moves as it dries and becomes out of round, messing up fit of the threads. He makes his pieces so the threads are a loose fit because even when dry, wood will move. Some wood workers make lids that are a suction fit, where it takes a little effort to pull the lid off (I have never been that accurate a wood turner). If you threaded that, the threads would bind if the wood moved at all. I have seen suction fit lids suddenly get stuck in place.
After making sure the shoulder of the thread surface is square and there is a slight groove at the base of the shoulder, He would have the piece of wood spinning and then, with the tool moving ever-so-slightly first, he touched the work with the tool sliding across it. He was always light with this. He would then do it again. The spiral he created the first time, catches on the teeth and carries him across it again, this time a little deeper. He does this until he has several threads going around. For his work, he only needs two or three good threads. The ones on the end tend to be kind of bad. Once he had a some good threads, He cut the end, removing the damaged threads. He only needs a turn or two to hold the lid on. He said some people would make a dozen threads and one has to stand there, turning and turning the lid to get it off.
I did not have any turnings to show, but I put my first and half-finished second teddy bears out to be seen, saying that they were made with a metal hook that had a turned handle on it.
There were a lot of beginner works on display. One guy recently got a dental drill and was piercing some of his bowls in decorative designs. One guy is experimenting with cast resin, making turned jewelry. One cool piece was a pendant. He said that it was a palm seed and when he had leftover resin, he would dribble it onto the palm seed. It was a cool effect, a drip texture over the entire thing. I would never have guessed that was what he did.
Saturday
After breakfast, we stopped at a few yard sales. One couple was moving to California. In a basket of kitchen utensils, I found some folding diamond sharpening stones, a kitchen knife sharpener (you run your knife across a set of steel wheels set to form a V). I have never seen the diamond stone sharpeners of that design. They are thin, with a different grit on each side, and the plastic covers unfold and form a handle. These are going into my glove box.
At another yard sale, she did not have much, but I found three Quilting books and a cook book. I wasn’t going to take the cook book, but the four books were the only books on display. The Quilting books is going to be a birthday present for one of my sisters. She has dabbled in quilting over the years.
We went to a Condo yard sale. The stuff was interesting, but not exactly what I was after. I met a fellow artist from the Light House Point Yacht Club there. We talked for a bit about art while mom kept looking.
We were going to go to a church yard sale, but we were out of time and headed home instead.
We went to a meeting where the speaker discussed the history of some of the Mediterranean peoples. Off and on over my life I have read historical works of the periods he covered. His discussion filled in some gaps in my knowledge and brought to memory other things I had not given thought to in years. This speaker is one we love to see whenever possible, no matter what subject it might be.
We got home and had lunch. I considered taking a nap, but since the day was almost gone, I went outside. A plastic fitting on my heater line of my truck had developed a leak this week. A repair shop said it would be $350 for them to replace it. I was told of a patch that might work at least until I am ready to replace the hose.
I experimented with the patch, basically adding sand (as a binder) to some goop (a sealant not intended for this purpose) and apply it over the hole. I would add some, then go do something else after cleaning my hands. I figured out that it was best to mix the goop on a plastic zipper bag (I accumulated some used ones just for this kind of purpose. No longer food safe but good for something else.) with a skewer and then apply it with the plastic bag. I will know tomorrow morning if it works as planned or more has to be applied.
I removed the loose stitching I had on the head of the second teddy bear, removed all the head filling, took a little bit of stuffing out of the body as it was over-stuffed. I sewed the eyes, nose and mouth in place, then stitched it so the ears were formed, stuffed the head and sewed it up. Finishing up the ears. I crocheted a tie that made it look good. I can still see mistakes, but this teddy bear came out pretty good.
I unstitched the first teddy bear I made, did some more work on the eyes and nose, tried to stuff it even more, then stitched it up using some things I learned on the second teddy bear.
The first teddy bear was made in Acrylic yarn, and did not stretch much. The second teddy bear was in wool yarn and stretched out to allow it to become a more pleasing design.
It was getting late and time to close up shop. The cat was irritated at me that I did not give her the attention she thought she deserved.
I do plan to do some wood working tomorrow. I will see how my repair worked on the heater hose fitting.
I will see what I actually do tomorrow.
Year 16, Week 05, Day Two (week 751)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
02-22-15 Sunday
64 degrees early morning, 85 in the afternoon, Some low puffs over the Everglades but blue sky overhead all day long. After the week we had, this was a perfect day. A brisk breeze, not as bad as yesterday kept the air fresh. There was no humidity to speak of so this was a perfect day to be out. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
I have a couple of cheap steak knives where plastic handles broke. The blades came out of the handles. I tossed the handles and kept the blades. I decided to try making new handles for the knives.
I had a piece of old oak barrel-staves that I had cut thin sometime back. I am sure I had a plan for this piece of wood but could not remember what it was. When my dad was alive, we had a rule that whatever material was around, it was first-come first-serve on the wood. If you came up with a project for that kind of wood, we would use it. We always had more wood than we needed so it was never a problem. No piece of wood was just for a specific project. This slat was thin enough for the handles I needed and I had it at my finger tips within moments of looking for wood. I mainly selected oak because it was available. Other woods would have been prettier.
I should have sanded the wood before I cut it, to make it square and smooth, but I simply measured with my hand for how long each handle was going to need to be. I needed to have a piece on each side of the blade to make up the handle I decided that I should cut the width in thirds rather than quarters like I planned. I rough measured thirds along the end, and then cut. I cut length ways first, then cut the two sections, coming up with six pieces. I only need four, two for each blade.
I measured with the blades where a rivet hole would be, since the blades were designed so they could have one, and drilled the holes in the pieces.
It was only then that I decided I should sand the wood. I basically lightly-touched the wood to the sanding disk to even them out a little. It would have been easier to do this with the whole wood rather than the pieces.
The tang of the blades have a slight shape ot them to give them a little more hold. I used my knife on one half of the handle, to cut a little recess for the tang of the blades. I used a shaft of a dremmel bit that happened to be the right size to hold the pieces in place and glued the handles together.
We once had a damaged jumper cable. We cut the cord off and kept the jaws for clamps. I used them this time as they were handy. The surfaces of the handles will be ground away quite a bit to shape them so the teeth of these clamps were not a problem for this kind of work. They are not “finish work” clamps.
The patch I did on the fitting in the truck was not good. I had a feeling I did it wrong. I smeared the patch on. It needed to be applied as a glob instead. I added a glob to the fitting. I will have to add another glob, but the dribble I had when the truck was hot, is now a drip.
I packed up my tools with the idea of changing to a different type of project. Mom then suggested that we go out for lunch with a friend. I liked the idea. I was almost completely cleaned up. The knives would have to sit and dry anyway.
After lunch, I finished packing up. My not sanding properly showed in the handles. Next week I likely will pop them in half and do it right. Surfaces have to be absolutely flat for them to glue properly and basically become one wood. My inset for the blades were not deep enough either. I am sure I could do better at cutting them in so they will catch the blades better. I fell into the bad habit of just doing something, rather than doing it right. Doing it right would take only a bit longer, but I was remembering what I was supposed to do, AFTER I did it.
At least I had a nice time today and did mess a little with wood. Undoing what I did won’t take long and the results will be better.
I will see what I do next week.
Cook book and one of the quilt books.
two quilt books
Sharpeners and box cutter.
Year 16, Week 04, Day One (week 750)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
02-14-15 Saturday
46 degrees early morning with high feathers and fibers. 68 degrees in the afternoon with clear blue sky tinted with light haze. A solid breeze took away any heat one developed early morning. It seemed lighter in the afternoon. On the highest natural point in the county, which is 29 feet above sea level, is a glacier that the parks service has kept alive as an endangered species. Because the temperatures dropped well below the 56 degree frost temperatures, the glacier raced out of the top of the mountain and raced across the surrounding country side that is at 17 feet above sea level. When I headed to Mom’s house, I had to drive almost to the ocean to get around the end of the glacier. Going around the glacier was easy since all the canals are frozen and I used them as a short cut to get where I needed to be. Also because it was cold, I started a fire to warm the place up. The problem was that the flames froze. I started a second fire to thaw the first flames. Now both sets of flames are shivering beneath a blanket. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
We hit only one yard sale. It was really too cold for a lot of people to be out. The yard sale was a couple from Scandinavia. She has a wonderful accent. They have had several yard sales before. I did see something I gave thought to, but since I am already using one, I decided not to get it as I would have to store it (typical for most things you see at yard sales).
I started on my first teddy bear this week. I was given a pattern I liked and that was easy to follow and started on the crochet. Early Saturday, I started stitching the two halves of the teddy bear together and found that when I did the second half, I had turned it upside down. Legs of one was along the head of the other. I “Frogged” (from ‘ rip it, rip it, rip it’) the whole out to the first arm, and started over. I later figured out that I likely could well have just gone half way, where the legs separated, but I had already done it.
I finally re-stitched the second half of the body and started stitching it. I simply continued where the arm ended, and went down the arm, around each leg and the other arm to the end where the fabric was folded. I then used another segment of yarn to stitch both sides of the head. I then had the problem of turning the whole thing inside out so the stitches would be inside. This was stiff yarn stitched tight. It resisted every attempt to turn it inside out. I did a lot of cheating, which included using my teeth to pull on the inside. I really should have asked for needle nosed plyers but did not think of it at the moment as I was concentrating on what I was doing. Once it was turned inside out, it looked like a four finger glove for a cartoon character.
I used my fiber-fill to stuff the body of the bear. I quickly found that I was short of fill. The head was not packed near as much as I wanted it to be. Later in the day, I found I had more than enough fiber-fill available. I just did not remember where it was.
I stitched the head shut and it really did not have the effect I was after. It came out sloppy.
I added the eyes and nose, but did not quite get it right. It does have a face, though.
I spent time trying to add color to the ears, the sides of the head. Not one thing I tried, worked, let alone looked good. I finally gave up on that. I even broke a plastic yarn needle twice. I sharpened the point so I could work more, and then broke the eye. Mom ended up giving me a tapestry needle to finish my work.
Some of this early work was done out by the shed, in the sun, where the shed and fence reduced the wind quite a bit. It was comfortable until I was nice and warm.
I have good days and bad days physically. Today was a bad day for my leg. I practiced avoidance when it came to standing most of the day because of some discomfort. A couple wood working projects I had playing around in my mind was squelched as there would be too much walking around involved to get set up and packing up again.
I did not quite mind not working wood since I was working on the teddy bear project.
With the first teddy bear about as good as I could make it without a lot of work unstitching it, I instead started on a new teddy bear in bright red. I had the first half of the body done and the second half just started when I had to call it a day. I figured out a lot of things I did wrong and got ideas on how to do it differently.
I plan to work on the new teddy bear tomorrow, but hope to do some sort of wood working.
I will have to see what I actually do.
Year 16, Week 04, Day Two (week 750)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
02-15-15 Sunday
46 degrees early morning and rising up to 68 late in the afternoon. Light breeze, blue skies. That glacier mentioned yesterday was real close to the ocean. It would have actually reached the ocean to release icebergs into the shipping lanes, except that there are a lot of bars along the beach and the “parrot heads” were busy chipping the ice off the end for their drinks. I had to drive out onto the great frozen ice sheet to get around the activities at the end of the glacier. In past years, I tried to drive to the Bahamas on the great ice sheet. Every time I got near the Gulf Stream, the Gulf balls would be flying so heavy that I had to turn back to prevent any damage to my ride. This time, I decided to go directly to Mom’s.
I made a few little adjustments on the teddy bear I made yesterday. I adjusted the ears slightly, though not enough, and I tied a ribbon around the neck. This was a plastic ribbon and I should have used a cloth ribbon. I really should crochet a tie for the bear. Maybe some other time. It does look a little better.
On the way to Mom’s I stopped at one yard sale. The most interesting thing was some live plants, mixed in with some silk plants. One silk flowering plant got a lot of attention, the people having to say “that one is fake.” I have no need to kill any more plants than I already have on my porch, so I decided not to get any plants.
At Mom’s I first set up out by the shed to crochet. It is difficult to crochet when you have a cat meowing around you, begging to be petted. She does not like to be held on your lap too often so you have to reach down and pet her as she walks around or sits next to you.
I made good headway on the red teddy bear. This yarn is easier to work with and I have had some experience on making the teddy bear. On checking the second half I was working on, I found that I modified the design of the legs. I made them shorter, and the body longer. I was glad I checked to make sure they matched.
Since I broke the plastic needle yesterday, and I had some pieces of Sea Grape wood that I had split, I decided to try making yarn needles using Sea Grape wood. Sea Grape is a fruit wood which is strong. I learned last year that I could easily split the wood which allow the piece to be as strong as possible.
I had a piece at hand that was triangular, so I split off the corners. I was after short pieces which was perfect as the corners were on slight tapers. I placed a hatchet to the wood and rapped on it with a hammer. I got about six small pieces. These were the size pieces usually thrown away for other projects.
I used my knife to shave off the corners of each piece. I made sure I worked with the grain to split it off so the shape was with the strength of the wood. I got them roughly round, which is all the knife can do. I set a couple pieces to the side for later.
When I wear down cutting disks, I hang onto them. I really had no reason for it until today, but it was just something I always did. I mounted one of those disks, about the diameter of your little fingernail, onto a shaft and used it to cut the eyes for each of the four needles I carved.
Each needle needed to be smoothed out, and polished. I accidentally bent one and it snapped in half. I then checked the other three and they bent way too easy and they broke easy too. One I know I went too thin. I made one more and cut the eye in it. I think the eye is too close to the end. I decided to work on that one some other time.
I am thinking these have to be much bigger to be of use. I will experiment some other time. I have plenty of wood.
Mom had a gift card for a restaurant we have never been to and headed off to lunch. Because of a long waiting list, that killed the rest of the afternoon. I ended up going out back when we got home, packed up everything and called it a day.
Year 16, Week 04, Day One (week 750)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
02-14-15 Saturday
46 degrees early morning with high feathers and fibers. 68 degrees in the afternoon with clear blue sky tinted with light haze. A solid breeze took away any heat one developed early morning. It seemed lighter in the afternoon. On the highest natural point in the county, which is 29 feet above sea level, is a glacier that the parks service has kept alive as an endangered species. Because the temperatures dropped well below the 56 degree frost temperatures, the glacier raced out of the top of the mountain and raced across the surrounding country side that is at 17 feet above sea level. When I headed to Mom’s house, I had to drive almost to the ocean to get around the end of the glacier. Going around the glacier was easy since all the canals are frozen and I used them as a short cut to get where I needed to be. Also because it was cold, I started a fire to warm the place up. The problem was that the flames froze. I started a second fire to thaw the first flames. Now both sets of flames are shivering beneath a blanket. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
We hit only one yard sale. It was really too cold for a lot of people to be out. The yard sale was a couple from Scandinavia. She has a wonderful accent. They have had several yard sales before. I did see something I gave thought to, but since I am already using one, I decided not to get it as I would have to store it (typical for most things you see at yard sales).
I started on my first teddy bear this week. I was given a pattern I liked and that was easy to follow and started on the crochet. Early Saturday, I started stitching the two halves of the teddy bear together and found that when I did the second half, I had turned it upside down. Legs of one was along the head of the other. I “Frogged” (from ‘ rip it, rip it, rip it’) the whole out to the first arm, and started over. I later figured out that I likely could well have just gone half way, where the legs separated, but I had already done it.
I finally re-stitched the second half of the body and started stitching it. I simply continued where the arm ended, and went down the arm, around each leg and the other arm to the end where the fabric was folded. I then used another segment of yarn to stitch both sides of the head. I then had the problem of turning the whole thing inside out so the stitches would be inside. This was stiff yarn stitched tight. It resisted every attempt to turn it inside out. I did a lot of cheating, which included using my teeth to pull on the inside. I really should have asked for needle nosed plyers but did not think of it at the moment as I was concentrating on what I was doing. Once it was turned inside out, it looked like a four finger glove for a cartoon character.
I used my fiber-fill to stuff the body of the bear. I quickly found that I was short of fill. The head was not packed near as much as I wanted it to be. Later in the day, I found I had more than enough fiber-fill available. I just did not remember where it was.
I stitched the head shut and it really did not have the effect I was after. It came out sloppy.
I added the eyes and nose, but did not quite get it right. It does have a face, though.
I spent time trying to add color to the ears, the sides of the head. Not one thing I tried, worked, let alone looked good. I finally gave up on that. I even broke a plastic yarn needle twice. I sharpened the point so I could work more, and then broke the eye. Mom ended up giving me a tapestry needle to finish my work.
Some of this early work was done out by the shed, in the sun, where the shed and fence reduced the wind quite a bit. It was comfortable until I was nice and warm.
With the first teddy bear about as good as I could make it without a lot of work unstitching it, I instead started on a new teddy bear in bright red. I had the first half of the body done and the second half just started when I had to call it a day. I figured out a lot of things I did wrong and got ideas on how to do it differently.
I plan to work on the new teddy bear tomorrow, but hope to do some sort of wood working.
I will have to see what I actually do.
Year 16, Week 04, Day Two (week 750)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
02-15-15 Sunday
46 degrees early morning and rising up to 68 late in the afternoon. Light breeze, blue skies. That glacier mentioned yesterday was real close to the ocean. It would have actually reached the ocean to release icebergs into the shipping lanes, except that there are a lot of bars along the beach and the “parrot heads” were busy chipping the ice off the end for their drinks. I had to drive out onto the great frozen ice sheet to get around the activities at the end of the glacier. In past years, I tried to drive to the Bahamas on the great ice sheet. Every time I got near the Gulf Stream, the Gulf balls would be flying so heavy that I had to turn back to prevent any damage to my ride. This time, I decided to go directly to Mom’s.
I made a few little adjustments on the teddy bear I made yesterday. I adjusted the ears slightly, though not enough, and I tied a ribbon around the neck. This was a plastic ribbon and I should have used a cloth ribbon. I really should crochet a tie for the bear. Maybe some other time. It does look a little better.
On the way to Mom’s I stopped at one yard sale. The most interesting thing was some live plants, mixed in with some silk plants. One silk flowering plant got a lot of attention, the people having to say “that one is fake.” I have no need to kill any more plants than I already have on my porch, so I decided not to get any plants.
At Mom’s I first set up out by the shed to crochet. It is difficult to crochet when you have a cat meowing around you, begging to be petted. She does not like to be held on your lap too often so you have to reach down and pet her as she walks around or sits next to you.
I made good headway on the red teddy bear. This yarn is easier to work with and I have had some experience on making the teddy bear. On checking the second half I was working on, I found that I modified the design of the legs. I made them shorter, and the body longer. I was glad I checked to make sure they matched.
Since I broke the plastic needle yesterday, and I had some pieces of Sea Grape wood that I had split, I decided to try making yarn needles using Sea Grape wood. Sea Grape is a fruit wood which is strong. I learned last year that I could easily split the wood which allow the piece to be as strong as possible.
I had a piece at hand that was triangular, so I split off the corners. I was after short pieces which was perfect as the corners were on slight tapers. I placed a hatchet to the wood and rapped on it with a hammer. I got about six small pieces. These were the size pieces usually thrown away for other projects.
I used my knife to shave off the corners of each piece. I made sure I worked with the grain to split it off so the shape was with the strength of the wood. I got them roughly round, which is all the knife can do. I set a couple pieces to the side for later.
When I wear down cutting disks, I hang onto them. I really had no reason for it until today, but it was just something I always did. I mounted one of those disks, about the diameter of your little fingernail, onto a shaft and used it to cut the eyes for each of the four needles I carved.
Each needle needed to be smoothed out, and polished. I accidentally bent one and it snapped in half. I then checked the other three and they bent way too easy and they broke easy too. One I know I went too thin. I made one more and cut the eye in it. I think the eye is too close to the end. I decided to work on that one some other time.
I am thinking these have to be much bigger to be of use. I will experiment some other time. I have plenty of wood.
Mom had a gift card for a restaurant we have never been to and headed off to lunch. Because of a long waiting list, that killed the rest of the afternoon. I ended up going out back when we got home, packed up everything and called it a day.
I see several opportunities to work on the teddy bear this week. I may be able to finish it quickly. I don’t have far to go to finish the crochet and the stitching should be easy. I have figured out a number of tricks since I finished the first teddy bear and will give them a try when I get the chance.
We have a turning club meeting this week and I hope to go to it. I have nothing new to show off as the past few weeks have not gone as planned. It will be fun to get with friends and hopefully learn something. I do hope to do some real wood working next weekend.
I will see what actually happens next weekend.
I see several opportunities to work on the teddy bear this week. I may be able to finish it quickly. I don’t have far to go to finish the crochet and the stitching should be easy. I have figured out a number of tricks since I finished the first teddy bear and will give them a try when I get the chance.
We have a turning club meeting this week and I hope to go to it. I have nothing new to show off as the past few weeks have not gone as planned. It will be fun to get with friends and hopefully learn something. I do hope to do some real wood working next weekend.
I will see what actually happens next weekend.
Year 16, Week 04, Day One (week 749)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
02-07-15 Saturday
64 degrees early morning, 75 degrees late afternoon, a strong breeze with guest strong enough to knock wide brim hats off. Patchy clouds, maybe 50% blue sky, some sun but mostly cloudy because of the angle of the sun versus clouds in the early day. There was some nice sun in the afternoon for a while. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department of Tourism.
After Breakfast, we went to a small Walmart store. I guess it would be a medium sized one, actually. It is just that it has parking for a place half the size needed. Parking near the building because we were early and lucky, we took carts with us into the store. We split up fairly quickly. I walked about a quarter of the food isles looking for key items I was after. I then went to the kitchenware section and got some ideas.
I then went directly to the craft section. That was dangerous to say the least. The yarn was yelling for me to take them home. They looked so pretty in the display, I convinced them to stay there to delight people’s eyes. I looked at a large number of possible crafts and hobbies they have there (this is a small section compared to some of their stores), and considered ones I had been involved in previously and should get back into, and ones that would fun to dabble in. It was an effort to leave without anything
For a while now, I had noticed some discomfort near the base of my leg on the inside. While walking away from the craft section, I realized I was compensating for my brace with how I walk. The inside of the brace interferes with my other leg so I sort of swing my leg out a little with each step. I tried adjusting how I walk, which was easy to do while hanging onto the cart, and found the discomfort reduced. It was not as easy to walk that corrected way and would be even harder to make it a habit.
I went to the Pharmacy section where I expected to find mom and she was elsewhere. They had a bin of mesh scrubber balls and they were in all sorts of bright colors. While talking to a woman customer there, I mentioned about how they look so pretty mixed up in that bin, but not as pretty when you get them home. She agreed with me.
The Valentine’s day section was extremely dangerous for me. They had teddy bears and other stuffed animals galore. Some as small as your spread hand, others big enough to hug with both your whole arms. They were all asking me to take them home. I was lucky as store teddy bears know they will go home with someone eventually. I did rub the bellies of several teddy bears. They love that.
Mom and I met near the cash registers and we cashed out and got back to her car. I knew I had a very good walk. It was wonderful to walk around, looking at what was around me rather than watching my feet which is what I normally do outside. Have to be aware of what can trip me up. Those shopping carts make all the difference in the world. They are easier to walk with than a cane.
We visited several yard sales. Mom thinks that the storms last night scared some yard sales away. One yard sale was of the tools of a man that passed away recently. He had a lawn mower repair and sales store and his tools were on sale. I should have looked into his wrenches and stuff, but I could not remember what sizes I really needed.
I did get a little Mortar and pestle for grinding things grains or seasonings, and a travel iron. I don’t think this was ever used.
One technique for transferring a pattern onto a piece of wood is to photocopy (not print) your picture, lay it face down on the wood, and then run an iron over the paper. Photocopiers use a plastic based ink with a metal in it along with the pigment. When you make a photocopy, a charge is added to the drum based on the picture. The ink powder is given a charge and is attracted the opposite charge on the drum. Then is laid down on the paper, which goes through a heated roller to fuse the ink to the paper.
When you lay the paper down and run the iron over it, it re-melts the ink and transfers a little bit of it onto the wood so you can get a slight image of what it was.
I picked up a cast iron fry pan at a yard sale place that is almost a store. They have a bunch of collectibles. I learned years ago that when we get into collecting, we are actually storing the collectibles for the real collectors, the ones with the real money. Millions of something might be sold, but by the time they are really worth anything, there are only a few thousand. The rest was damaged in some way or another. Until that time, our job as collectors is to store them as well as we can. She happened to have a cast iron fry pan and the price she gave me was simply get rid of it. She said she wanted to sell some stuff to make room for some new stuff. What made it tough, was that she had a lot of the little TY Beany Baby teddy bears. They are sometimes looked on as collectibles. Unlike store teddy bears, yard sale teddy bears are not absolutely sure they will go home with anybody and they were very loud and persistent to get me to take them home. I was able to let them stay there where they were safe, for now.
At another yard sale, there was some good quality cameras at fire-sale prices. My brother used to use Topcon brand cameras. Over the decades they took a beating. The heat here is not good for lenses. Fungus eats into the coatings diffusing the image eventually. He got hold of a Nikon camera and then a few extra lenses and had messed with that for a while, and then got a Nikon digital camera. All Nikon cameras can use most all the lenses they have ever made. I decided to play mind tricks on my brother by buying a Nikon camera body and lens as almost a gag gift. It is a gag gift as film is harder to get, and is expensive to process. Digital all you need is access to some computer and you can shoot thousands a shots without any problems at all. At the moment, the camera does not have a battery in it, but gives you one shutter speed and “bulb” so it is usable. At the price, I figured it was worth the gag.
We stopped at home for a short break, and then we went to the DOLLAR TREE store. This is a real dollar store and has high quality products. Some dollar stores have pure junk. Some of the things they have are name brand. These stores are small. Having had a good rest after Walmart because of the time we drove between yard sales, I walked all the isles, examining everything. I am always impressed at the numbers of arts and crafts they have supplies for. Of course they have loads of decorations based on the upcoming holidays. Valentine’s day and Saint Patrick’s Day were on display. I am sorry, but I have far too much chocolate in my fridge already. I don’t need any more, as tempting as it is. I did get some ideas for some futures project to work on.
I was done long before my mom and dad were, so I sat outside in the warmed air on a bench they had out side and people-watched. I learned long ago that there are no ugly people. Long before you get to ugly, you run into character. It is something you notice when you learn to draw or paint people or you take the time to really look at people. Also, the way they carry themselves as they walk, and how they dress is fun to watch. Some people are in no hurry, others are deliberate on how they move. Some move painfully. Some wear sharply pressed clothing, others are slouchy, or simply comfortable. Some colors and patterns are nice to look at. I don’t really get a lot of opportunity to really people watch. I tend to be in a hurry to get to where I am going, or watching my feet to keep from tripping (a habit even on good ground or floors).
We had a choice of going home to and cook something or eating out. All I can say was that I over-ate at the Chinese buffet. We all did. When we got home, we all laid down and napped. We all deserved it. I knew I had done gotten a good amount of exercise for the day and needed to recover for a while.
I did go outside to pet the kitty cat, and give a glance over of mom’s garden (one of her Orchids was in bloom) but it was too late in the day to really do anything.
I have other plans for tomorrow so I won’t be doing any wood working tomorrow.
I will see how the day goes.
Year 16, Week 04, Day Two (week 749)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
02-08-15 Sunday
I did well this morning with only about four hours sleep. I met with some friends for coffee. When we finally left, I went directly home.
I gathered my clothes and went to do laundry. I finished one of my “handle gloves” which slips over the handles of my cast iron fry pans. I finally started on a teddy bear based on a pattern sent to me by a friend. It is made all at once, both sides attached at the arms, and then folded in half and stitched together. I’ve wanted to start this for several weeks but was not in a position to get to it. I have almost half of one side done while waiting for laundry. It is really easy to do and I was surprised at how small this bear will be. With the hook and stitch I am working with, it will be only 6 or 7 inches tall. If I used a heavier yarn, I could, without any changes, make it much bigger. Of course, doubling the size would not be too tough by doubling the number of stitches in each row, and doubling the rows. I fully intend to make several this size before I give thought of doing any other changes. This one would be much better if I was using one of the really soft yarns, like the yarns designed for babies. I don’t have any of that yarn with me and never gave softness a consideration when picking the yarn. This tan yarn was the color I liked best for my first one..
Once I got home, I decided to take care of some small work and projects that needed to be done while I have the opportunity, along with some napping to make up for last night.
I do hope to do some wood working next weekend.
I will have to see what next week will bring.
Three books I got at one yard sale.
Re-wound ball of yarn on a rod. I made the mistake of not leaving long enough tail to pull the yarn out the center like I planned. I cannot get a hold of it now.
The yarn I got at the yard sale. the two red yarn in front were being combined in some knitting. the big balls are wool.
The rest of the yarn stock I happened to have with me at the moment. cotton, Wool, Acrylic. Each for a different type of project.
Year 16, Week 03, Day One (week 748)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
01-31-15 Saturday
60 degrees early morning, 74 degrees afternoon, Partly cloudy getting heavier as the day went on. Brisk breeze that can blow hats off. During the week, we had temperatures below the 56 frost temperatures found here in the tropics, and her plants somehow survived well enough. This weather report is brought to you by the city Of Pompano Beach Department of tourism.
I had a tough time last night, not able to get comfortable, and got little sleep during half the night. Somehow, I was “bright eyed and bushy tailed” early but was fading as the morning went on.
During Breakfast, we saw in a local paper adds of a couple large sales. One was a condo yard sale and another was an estate sale. After checking our local sign posts near were we have breakfast, we took the long route to the big sales through the more exclusive area of town..
We hit quite a few yard sales along the way. Luckily, there would be two within a few doors of each other most times. It made for fun looking. It is always fun to have a lot to examine.
I figured out that my biggest problem with most yard sales is that I don’t entertain. The vast majority of the good stuff is for people who like to show off. They will have many different table settings, place mats, items for in the middle of the table. They will change what is on their display shelves after each party so that when people come back, the place is different. Even in the poorer areas, this is what I see the most, DECORATIONS. My problem is that while that stuff looks fantastic and desirous, I have no place for them and no use for them. You do see wonderful things that you absolutely never see in stores. You sometimes wonder where they were able to find those items.
After about six stops, Both Mom and I were weary of stopping and we skipped several signs. I just know those yard sales we skipped had something I was looking for. You always feel that way. At one small yard sale we stopped at and got some folding chairs, The woman said she was moving to one of the big retirement communities we have down here. The way she described it, it was going to be a wonderful place for her. I do hope it is everything she learned about it.
We finally made it to the Condo yard sale. We love them. There were a dozen or more tables there in a small area. I walked the tables twice before I noticed they had a couple in the middle. Instantly I got kidnaped by some heavy Wool yarn. As I was handing the woman the money for the yarn, she said that if they had not sold, she was going to adopt them. If I had known that, I would have convinced the yarn to stay with her. I am now kicking myself for not getting the clothes hamper last weekend. I could use it to consolidate my yarn a lot more. I have yarn in small boxes and zipped storage bags that could go into the hamper I did not get and make the area a bit more useable.
There was an electric knife-sharpener there. I have a cleaver I am having problems getting as sharp as I would like and I figured I would condition the knife with the sharpener and then pass it on to someone else. I usually use the stone to condition the knives and then the rod to touch them up periodically. The cleaver is nice hard metal, very thick and resistant to get in the shape I am after. If I, of course, took the time to make a jig for my grinder, I would be able to have it sharpened exactly the way I wanted it within a couple minutes of finishing the jig.
The church yard sale was fun to look at. It had lots of toys, books, an electric piano that was sold while I was there, and a small organ. I picked up a cheap styrofoam cooler with a bunch of Sterno cans and a couple of small folding Sterno stoves. I also found three books I wanted. One was a joke book, one was on knitting. The last is on sauces. I have always felt that most recipes I see fixing something with sauces, spend too much time on cooking the main thing, such as chicken or fish, and not enough on the sauces. Generally, the sauces is the only difference between many preparations. This book is just sauces. Most I will never even consider trying, but a few look quite useful, for the rare time I wish to do some real cooking.
We never looked for the estate sale. We had enough.
After sorting our stuff and putting some of it away, we talked a bit, relaxing.
Bending down to examine things on the ground, leaning over tables and a lot of walking and standing, all added up to do a number on me, even with the breaks between each yard sale. Mom was tired too.
Settled in, we all laid down and napped. I needed it desperately. I only got up when my body hurt too much. While the couch is soft and comfortable, one cannot roll properly to get into a good new position.
There was an event at a local park where it is sort of an appreciation day by the city. They have vendors giving out free food and drink, along with coupons as advertizing. I went there last year, but even without my being bad off today, I learned last year that the parking spot I would likely get would use up my walking distance ability, let alone the walking and standing around in the small area on the meandering pathway they have set up. Much as I would have loved to go as a nice outing, I stayed at Mom’s house and accepted the situation.
Last month, someone had E-mailed me a link to a very simple teddy bear pattern to make. I really want to make it since the real reason I am into Crochet is to make stuffed animals and dolls. I also have a bunch of “handle gloves” that fit over the metal handles of pans so you can pick them up without burning your hand or messing with a hot pad or oven mitt. I also have a couple special dish cloths I need to make.
I went outside and looked around for a project. Crochet decided to scream to me. I think being kidnaped by the yarn may had something to do with it. I then decided I needed to see exactly what yarns I had available. I got the yarn out of the space behind the seat of my truck, and the yarn I had recently added for projects I am planning to work on (near top of basket) and some spare yarn (bottom of basket) I always have. I keep in the truck that was there “just in case.” I laid out all the yarn to examine what I had and to sort it to see if some could return home. I did not realize I had all that yarn.
The yarn I purchased today is really thick wool yarn. One of the skeins was unraveling. The person who had it tried to pull the yarn out from the center and could not get the end to come out. The loop of yarn was messing up getting the yarn off it. I wound the yarn into a ball, the yarn sticking out made it a little tough until near the end when I was able to get past it. I then tried to make a new skein that would allow me to pull it out from the center. One runs the end down a rod or dowel and then wind around the rod until the whole ball is made. I made one tiny mistake. I did not leave enough of the end out to get hold of later and it disappeared. When I removed the rod, I could not get the end to come out. The space was too small for my fingers to grab the yarn. It will be worked from the outside now. I did not feel it was worth the effort of winding the yarn again but doing it right.
Being wool and being big, I can think of a few projects that this yarn would be fun to experiment with and would look good.
I am not exactly sure what kind yarn the thin yarn was that came with the purchase. It was fine and multi colored and has glitter in it. I believe it is acrylic. I will fire test it later. If it is acrylic, it will melt rather than burn. The person who had the yarn, was knitting something that used both yarns woven together. I feel the two yarns were too close in color to each other to get the effect they were looking for. I may unravel it since it would be hard to get the knitting needles into the loops to continue the project. Eventually, I will larn how to knit.
I to make my first teddy bear in bright red yarn. While looking at the yarns I had, there was a tan yarn with the truck stash so I decided that was going to be the first teddy bear color.
I re-sorted the yarn. The yarn kept in the truck is for that future rare event that I need a color or just some yarn of some kind. It is all acrylic. Once early last year, that yarn saved a project I was working on. I split up the yarns according to how soon I intend to use it.
All this took some time, especially the rewinding the yarn. I finally settled and worked on a two colored handle-glove that is using two tiny bits of yarn. I had finished it previously and found I made it too big around and too short, so I ripped most of it (often referred to as frogging, as you rip it, rip it out) and got a new start. I made good headway on it and now it looks like it is a much better diameter and because of that, will be long enough when done. I have another one in different colors that was also coming out too big and frogged part of it and decided to do another two color design with the second color a tiny ball of yarn also. I made this project under control so I can pick it up a bit later. These handle gloves are great for eliminating those stray bits of yarn laying around.
About that time, I decided it was time to end my day.
I am trying to decide whether to stay home tomorrow and work around the house or to go to Mom’s house. Much will likely depend on whether my brother is going to come up.
I will see what I do tomorrow.
Year 16, Week 03, Day Two (week 748)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
02-01-15 Sunday
60 degrees early morning, 73 late in the day, heavy clouds, slightly broken. Repair people were called to fix the clouds... Light breeze in the morning. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Sunrise Department of Tourism.
I decided to stay home and do some projects around the house. I started out by going grocery shopping. I needed something from the store’s pharmacy was reminded that it was not open yet. I had forgotten they open at noon on Sundays. I only got two of the things I needed to get there. Because of the Superbowl being played today, I got a few “snacks” for game night. I likely will be eating them all week since I can’t eat that much in one sitting.
I saw I needed to stock up my freezer with pre-cooked food. I would rather make it myself rather than buy frozen dinners. I decided I could make some lasagna, which has been good in the past, especially when taken to work for lunch. I went to a second grocery store, one I love to go to, that is near my house, and stocked up on other supplies I would need. I decided I was hurting too much to make my own pasta for lasagna so I got some commercial noodles. I tend to wait on making my own pasta until I forget how much I hurt after I make it. I still remember from the last time so commercial would have to do. I tend to not be able to tell the difference between commercial and my pasta once the sauce or other flavoring is added to them, except I tend to make my pasta thicker then the commercial stuff. I have not gotten into exotic pasta mixes yet so the really big advantage has not shown yet either.
Between work on the computer to rest, I ended up making four lasagna cooked in three cooking sessions, and a bunch of frozen raw hamburger patties. There is only one little problem with this. I now am going to have to empty my freezer and re-pack it so I can cut up the lasagna and freeze it in there. I am not up to that project today. I have done enough already.
The last two lasagna, smaller than the first two, was missing some ingredients that I used up on the first two, and won’t be near as good. Since I am going to be the one eating them, I don’t dare complain or the cook will be offended. Don’t want that to happen. He won’t cook for me and make me eat out.
Even without making my own noodles, it ended up being a big project and quite a mess. I intended to only make two lasagna pans (these are bread loaf pans) but I had so much fixings left, I decided to make use of them since they would not be as good for other uses. I intended to keep a bunch of the sauce I had made (filled my largest sauce pan), freezing the sauce in small baggies for quick meals, but the lasagna used the sauce faster than I ever expected. All the sauce was gone. I had forgotten how much filling those pans use.
Other planned projects are not happening today because I cooked.. I plan on getting loads of rest before the Superbowl starts, so I can stay up past half time for once, or else catch up on the sleep I missed this past week.
Next weekend, I do hope to do some wood working. I won’t have any excuse except possibly the weather. I am good at excuses. I am very imaginative....
I will see what happens next weekend.
These are what I am calling handle-gloves. They fit on the handles of your pans so you don't need hot pads or oven mitts.
My duckling bowl as seen at the turning club meeting.
The cat head. The cat body needs loads of work to get close to being finished. both of these are out of two by twos.
Year 16, Week 02, Day One (week 747)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
01-24-15 Saturday
60 degrees early morning 75 high at about eleven, 70 degrees around two. Heavy high clouds early morning that lead a front that was slowly passing across the state. Misty Liquid Sunshine started coming down around eleven, by three, sky was clear and nothing was on the radar over land. The wind in the morning was strong enough to blow my hat off once. It was lighter in the afternoon. This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Department Of Tourism.
THURSDAY
I went to the Gold Coast Wood Turning Club meeting. There was a problem where it was not the normal night, many of the people were at a symposium or convention somewhere, and The normal access door was not available. I think I saw someone pull out when I came in that may have thought it was not meeting night.
I could not figure out how to get in. I had to search for and find the calendar on my phone to make sure I had the right night. I then used my cane to reach through the chain link enclosure that is around the normal door entry and tap on the door, and then had to go around to the side of the building, not far and on pavement, to get in.
The demonstration was on sharpening tools. It reminded me that all my tools need to be sharpened, and cleaned up quite a bit. I also saw I have not quite sharpened my tools properly. There is a technique to it. I don’t think my sharpest tools were as sharp as his. Now all I have to do is to take the time to sharpen tools. It is that old problem, Do I take the time to sharpen tools or do I use the time to just do the project that needs to be done? Decisions, Decisions.......
The club has what is called the Instant Gallery. This is where you place your pieces on display. People can look the pieces over, examine them, develop questions about them. Later in the meeting, we then have a show-and-tell about what the piece is, how we made it and what treatments we did on them. The work, even by beginners, is excellent. Many times, you would not know they were beginners.
We had some wood carvers who just joined the club. Their carving work was excellent. I showed off my ducking bowl. It was something anyway. I did not hear any comments about it, but did not care. Was happy to show off something done since the last meeting I attended.
SATURDAY
The weather reports I read said rain in the morning, and more possible rain in the afternoon. I saw a heavy front crossing the state. It was slow and wide, but I figured it would come by noon and later.
The sky was covered with heavy clouds. It was not uplifting weather.
After Breakfast, we headed out to see if anybody had yard sales. We did find a few. One was a couple where they were moving back to Germany where the wife’s Mother is. They had beautiful furniture of the light yellow wood I like. I don’t have any place for it so I just enjoyed looking at it only there. Another yard sale was people who have had a yard sale before. I saw a clothes hamper that was interesting and forced myself to walk away. Later in the day, I was going for gas and drove by to see if the hamper was there, but they had already packed up. It is where, this is something you don’t really need it but could use it, but not exactly sure when. At least I am not kicking myself for not getting it.
After Mom had gassed up, we checked the nearby area that sometimes have yard sales. One was at a home where a man had regular tool yard-sales. This time, his daughter was having a yard sale. She had moved from a house with a garage to a house without it. She brought a bunch of her stuff down to her father’s house for the sale. I saw several things that would be nice to have but I would never ever use. I did see something first off that was interesting to get, but walked around the sale to see everything else. When I got back to where I saw the interesting item, I had forgotten what it was and could not find it. I didn’t get anything.
Later in the morning, when I was coming home from the gas station, the front arrived with a light mist. I got home and took a nap to wait out the storm. The weather outside matched my mood.
I woke for lunch and then later went out side to pet the cat. The storm was over and the temps had dropped already. The cat ate a whole lot simply because I took the time to pet her the entire time she was eating. We both had enough, me giving her attention and her eating and getting attention, about the same time.
It was late enough to where I decided to go in and watch TV and crochet and basically call it a day.
Year 16, Week 02, Day \two (week 747)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
01-25-15 Sunday
46 degrees early morning. It was so far below the 56 degree tropical frost temperature of South Florida that I had to put a heater at the door to thaw it since it was frozen shut. Luckily the place was warm enough that the pipes didn’t threaten to freeze. It rose to about 60 degrees at about ten and 65 about one. The sky was as blue as I have seen it in a long time. There was no haze of any kind so the blue was richer than I remember seeing. There was a light breeze but not bad. This weather report was brought to you by the City Of Pompano Department Of Tourism.
I got to Mom’s house. It was brisk, at least for me. I fed and petted the cat a little bit, then remembered a project someone suggested to me this week, which was to do a carving of his cat. His cat is a calico cat, with splotches of many colors. Considering how cool it was, I decided to take a chair out by the sheds with my carving basket and sit in the sun and enjoy the deep and rich blue skies. In the sun, I didn’t need my sweater.
I cut two pieces of that really soft whitewood at the bandsaw and started carving. After several cuts, I glanced at the edge of my knife and noticed there were a few tiny points of light when looking at the edge of the knife. Those were nicks or chips. They make carving a bit harder and leave fine lines in the wood where you cut. These were not bad. I usually don’t grab a sharpening stone as that mainly is for removing metal. That is not actually sharpening. Grind stones are to shape the blades. Honing like with a leather stop, polishes the edge and straightens the “wire” or Burr, on the edge and that is actually what sharpening is. Because of the nicks, I grabbed the stone. It took me a bit to remember that with a sharpening stone, you move the knife edge as if you are trying to shave the stone. You do a few strokes, then flip the knife and do a few strokes. Part of what you are doing, is building the wire or bur edge. When you have removed any signs of the chips in the edge, then you do single stroke on each side a few times so the burr is as straight as possible.
The next stage is to go to the strop. A few years ago, I glued a piece of leather belt to a block of wood with a handle I had made. When you drag the knife on the leather with the back of the knife leading you start the process of honing. The idea is to polish the surface of the knife and to polish that burr, straightening it out to a fine wire that can shave hair. Once I had the knife where I wanted it, I started carving again.
The rule of thumb is that any time you stop carving for any reason, even if it is to get a little better view of what you are doing, you take a moment to strop the knife and it will stay sharp for several carvings as long as the edge does not get chipped.
Now there is a problem when carving any animal. What makes a figure a cat, rather than a dog, a bear, a cow, or a mouse? That is sometimes a hard thing to figure out. It is where some skill appears for the artist. My luck would have it that Momma kitty stayed away for much of the time I was carving, and when she did get near, she was always in the wrong position to give me a clear look at her for comparison. I had to go by memory and guess. It is not always easy to know what very slight changes to body shape dictates what animal is which at a glance.
My first carving was just the head of the cat. As I carved, I found myself getting closer and closer to what a cat looked like. There were several cuts I could not do because of my left wrist. I had to change the work’s position because the wrist could not take the pressure. I was able to get the cuts but not as easy as I would have liked.
I had the head and face quite close to what a cat looks like (a bit long) and had to do a little bit more on the ears. I accidentally popped off the tip of the ear. I found the tip among the wood chips (I was lucky to see where it went, along with the three times I did not get a good grip on it and dropped it again) and glued it on (Whitewood is prone to splitting easier than Basswood which is the preferred carving wood). I decided to leave the head as it was and let the glue dry over the weekend.
I took another block I had cut, and started the process of hogging off wood on it. I had only a slight concept of what this was to look like and developed an image as wood came off. This was a reclining cat. Part of the problem I ran into was with the sides of the head that was end-grain. It would have been nice to use the bandsaw to remove a bunch of the excess wood but I was not sure exactly what I wanted when I started and it is always worse to remove more wood than you intended with the saw, then to leave less.
The grain of a wood is in some ways like glued-together straws. Cut along the direction of the straws will split them apart. Cutting them on an angle will slice them easier, but is a bit tougher. It is when you cut across the ends that it is much tougher to cut. Much of the wood above where I wanted the body to start split off, using a deep slice across the piece ( a stop cut) to stop the splitting. The head, though, is facing the side of the wood. This means that the sides of the head (which was too wide at the start) is end grain and tough to cut. The muzzle, which is facing to the side, and can easily split off.
These pieces of wood were a two by two by about four or five inches. It is small so any mistakes add up quickly. When I stopped, from being sore of sitting and carving, I had the basic shape done. I have a long ways to go and do see some mistakes in the design. They are correctable.
I showed the cat head to my mom and brother and they thought it was pretty good. But. I got “is that a bear?” on the reclining cat. I have a ways to go on that, especially the head.
After dinner, I had to leave and visit a friend in the hospital. She was at a hospital I never knew was there, even though I had driven by there many times. I parked near an entrance and found I had to walk around the corner of the building to get to the emergency entrance. I then had to walk to her room with an elevator ride in between. This is a small hospital so that made it nicer. Some hospitals are humongous. Also she had been moved to another room as her neighbor was screaming and my friend could not sleep.
We uplifted each other’s spirits for a short time, while which I sat and rested, then had to walk back to the truck. Have you ever noticed that the trip back is always twice as far as the trip there? The knowledge that once at the truck, I could sit and rest, kept me going.
I have no idea what I will work on next weekend. I could paint the cat head during the week, but might wait for the weekend and work on it more. I might work on the other carving also. I could, though come up with something else.
I will see what I actually do next weekend.
