Year 21, Week 02, Day one (week 1096) 01-23-21 Saturday

  Year 21, Week 02, Day one (week 1096) 

 (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)

01-23-21 Saturday

Temps starting with a 56 low and rising to  77 high. 66 when I went outside to work. Mostly blue skies with some clouds. It was sunny all day long. This weather report is brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism. 

I am making hearts for Valentine’s Day and needed to do some hand painting on them. I painted a white heart in the middle of the red painted hearts. I found that the gloss spray paint I painted them with last weekend did not let the acrylic paint I was using to stick easily. I had lots of touch up where the almost dried paint would touch something and leave a hole. Also, my paint was not the best and the white heart has ridges and blobs. I did figure out that if you have streaks on the first coat, brush across the streaks to cover. There tends to be light ridges that will scrape the paint off into the streaked area. 

On the Camphor hearts, I painted pink around the edges, leaving the center bare. After that paint dried, I wrote on the edges to “lightly sand the center to release the smell”. 

I had to do some corrections and used my knife to scrape the new paint from the area that was not supposed to be painted. Not great but did the job. 

I noticed that some of the lights on my Christmas tree have gone out. There appears to be three strings of lights and the top and bottom strings are out. I now have the choice to either buy a new tree or spend the time to find the dead light. New trees are not available now. I will have to see if I remember, and have the money, next year. I am planning on taking off my ornaments and putting up the hearts. I might make some paper hearts also. 

I get all sorts of crochet and cooking emails in one of my E-mail accounts. I saw one tonight about Valentine’s Day, and looked at it. I found and followed a link and learned how to make simple hearts. I dug some pink type yarns out of my lifetime supply of yarn in my stash and will make a bunch of hearts in crochet. They look pretty good. I have made some operator errors, but they will be passable. 

Years ago, I sold some turned pieces to my boss. He got remarried and moved in with his wife, and gave me some of the pieces back. Many of them had seen better times. I took a yellow pine platter I made,  that now some had paint on it, and sanded it. I tried to power sand it with a small 40 grit sanding disk on the dremmel and it really scored the wood. It removed the paint but scored the wood. I then spent much of the day sanding out the scratches. I sanded it with different grits up to 240 grit and it really looks nice. When I made it, it was not sanded that well. It had a really good patina, then I remembered I likely gave it an oil coat. Add mineral oil or vegetable oil and you can use it for foods. The oil acts like a protective coating, like used on the cutting boards. That will be for a later time. 

I worked on my tea pot. I did it wrong, of course, but I dug out a piece of mahogany and turned it on the lathe, half on one side since I could not reach inside the lathe chuck, then half on the other with a bit of the square in the middle. I then bore out the inside until the lid just fit. Then I made my mistake. I should have left it at that for now. And cut just a portion of it off. And then fit the back side of the slice to fit the tea pot. Instead, I bore the back side out more, and then cut a thin rim to fit the pot. In the end, my “sleeve” was way too thick. I guess I could cut it off and do it right. I will decide later. 

I used  the lathe to shape a piece of wood for the knob. It was too short to shape the waist on the lathe. The jaws, when closed, has a tiny hole in the center where they meet. When you open it up some, you can grab something of small diameter into it. On the knob, I could cut straight in, but to shape the waist would have the cutting tool too close to the spinning jaws. I made the sides straight.  

I cut a handle to fit the pot. With the handle, I needed it to follow the curve and shape of the tea pot so I held some sandpaper against the pot and worked the handle up and down, side to side to get it to match the curves. The body of the tea pot is not round, but has some shallow where the wood was depressed. I ground quite a bit to correct some of it but it still has a lot of unevenness, and a thin, flexible, sandpaper and moving the handle just a little slowly is working it to match the curve of the pot. I think I still have more to do. 

I have made so many mistakes with this tea pot you cannot believe it. I am just trying to save it and make it look halfway nice. The next one I do will be better, I know, but still I am going to rescue this in some way. I will learn all I can from this project.

See what I do tomorrow.

Year 21, Week 02, Day Two (week 1096) 

 (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)

01-24-21 Saturday

79 high, 64 low, clear in the morning, thin puff cloud build up after ten. Sun showed most all day in spite the clouds.  Light breeze, not enough to move a piece of paper,  kept it nice.  This weather report is brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism. 

A couple weeks ago, I picked up another pack of rotary rasps. I had machined one ball style rotary rasp so it would fit the dremel, but was dissatisfied with the results. The shaft I machined  was way too short for my comfort. Last night, I had the idea of fitting the head into a round piece of wood where it is drilled to fit the head, the burrs are fitted so they do not hold the head off center and hold it firmly. Well, that was the idea. In practice, I could not figure out how to hold the other end in place so the piece would be held straight. I needed to pock the end so the point of the tail stock had something to hold onto. I could not quite figure out how to do that and get is centered. 

As usually happens, I broke something. I had a face plate with a lathe dog. I did not understand how it was used. I over tightened it with the idea of keeping the piece held in place, and the lathe dog broke. It was likely made of pot metal, like most of the lathe. Talking to my brother, I learned that the purpose of the lathe dog is mainly to force something to rotate that would be difficult to otherwise rotate. My brother suggests that I make a new lathe dog, but this time out of steel.

To do what I want to do on that rotary rasp, and on some other projects I gave though about, I would have to make some parts to do it. 

I took the tea pot to the bandsaw and cut two slices off the mahogany I had added around the lip. I was thinking of using one ring to fit into the larger hole (it got bigger going down). Once I cut them off, I saw that would not work. I then found that the lid fit in the hole. I sanded it a lot and that became a dark rim at the joint. I also glued the other ring on the bottom of the tea pot. It seemed to be something that would help, make the one at the joint seem more logical. 

I decided to work on the knob I made yesterday. Spinning it in my finger, one side at a time, I had a drum-style grinding bit that I held about mid way and created a waist that flares to the roof of the lid and to the ball on top. With some sanding I glued it in place. After about 45 minutes, I dropped the lid and the knob came off, which was after I had thought it was set in place. So I glued it back on. I have not dropped it since so it should  stick well. I think I did not get the shape of the bottom of the knob to fit the cup at the top of the lid. Actually, I should have sanded the lid top flat and the bottom of the knob flat. Hindsight....

I finished shaping and sanding the handle, and after drilling holes in the handle itself, for securing it a little better, I glued it in place. After the glue held, I drilled through the holes into the body of the vase a little bit, not deep, and then glued skewers in place. Hopefully,  they are in deep enough to give the handle plenty of strength. I went by feel and might not have gone in much.

I was reminded that every tool does damage to the piece you are working on. Some, like drills, cause damage you want. Sometimes though, the damage is unwanted. I used a drum style grinding bit with long burs sticking out to remove wood and shape the tea pot. While it nicely removed wood, it left little scores all over the wood surface. I sat and sanded and sanded. For the worst spots, I used a sanding drum on the dremel, but most of it was by hand. Have I told you I hate sanding? I still have more to do, and have to clean up glue and such, but the vase is coming together. I should be able to finish it next weekend. 

I had made several hearts in crochet yesterday and made some more today. I saw one heart pattern where it is stuffed, and has wings attached. I experimented with making a wing. For one of my flat hearts. I have the concept but did not quite do it right. Yesterday I pulled out what I thought was pink yarn from my stash. I found out when I saw them in the sun, these were orange. I will use them anyway. I also dug out some white today and edged one heart. It looks good. While the hearts are not spectacular, they will do with what I have planned. They are fast to do so it won’t be a big chore to make a bunch of them. 

My brother and I talked about videos that we watched. It was nice to just sit and talk. He told about projects he is working on. He is in the process of making a rotary table accessories that will allow him to make gears for one of his lathes. With the right gears, he will be able to make all kinds of threads. This week, he had a learning experience. He followed the dimensions exactly on the plans he was following, and learned afterwards that the math was wrong. He made a new one with the right math. He is doing all the work he can do with the lathe on this project before he goes to the milling machine. There is like half an hour of setup to change from lathe to milling machine, which includes a lot of cleaning. The less swapping between the two processes, with the lathe spinning the part, while milling is spinning a cutting bit, the better his limited time will be served. 

If I make the lathe dog on my machine, I will have to put the lathe into milling mode, were the motor is facing downward on a shaft and the part is on a plate with all sorts of things to hold the metal in place. My brother replaced my motor with a freezer fan motor and it is a lot more powerful than the original one. It will be interesting to see how it machines. It might eat metal nicely.

Something else I need, for both my lathes, is a center rest. This is a device, sometimes with wheels, sometimes with just rods, to support a piece in the center so it does not wobble. This is really needed for really long pieces. On my big lathe, I often work on something that is either too long or not easy to hold with a chuck. I have worked on pieces that would bend as I tried to make my cuts. A steady rest would stop that from happening as it would be right near the place you are cutting, eliminating any bending. 

 

I still have loads of projects to work on for next weekend. My boss had given me some items I had sold to him that he could not keep once he moved in with a new wife. I cleaned up a plate he returned, yesterday. The thought that crossed my mind was to carve something into it he loves and also carve his name. I did that many years ago. I will have to see if that happens. 

I will have to see what happens next weekend. 

2337

This is what the lathe dog looks like. (I took the picture off the internet.)

It happens to be on the same brand lathe I have.

The wooden hearts. the wood centered are camphor.

the vase as it looks right now. I have lots of corrections and cleanups to do.

It is better than It was yesterday

Another view of the vase.

The dark near the bottom is natural indentations of the raw wood

Crochet projects. The blue fabric is a dish cloth (cotton yarn) I am playing with. I am using a skip stitch

The hearts (Acrylic yarn) are my first experiments. One I edged in white.

Projects for other holidays...

Going through my files, I found some odds and ends of crochet projects that I didn't get a chance to post here. I'm rectifying that now, though most of them are out of season. It really doesn't matter to me when I make something that will get used year after year. Creating them is half the fun, and when there's no holiday deadline looming, I can relax and take my time.

This first one is an older project, something I made around 10 years ago after posting pictures on Facebook of these cute little holiday elf/gnome figures I had made. Someone asked me if I could make a zombie gnome and I said, sure. So I did. I was supposed to give it to that person at a writer's conference but he didn't make it, and time has moved on. My 2 younger grandkids play with Mr. Zombie Gnome now, and his rather grim look doesn't seem to faze them. Of course they play Minecraft with their parents and older brother, so I suppose there's nothing too shocking in a soft-bodied zombie. His neck is a little wobbly but he's been keeping kids entertained for over 7 years now.

Bonapart the Skeleton was another one of those impromptu projects that I found online and just had to try. He doesn't quite look as well proportioned as I pictured him being, but he's recognizable and that's all that really matters. He comes out to hang around with us every October until Halloween is over. The grandkids seem to get a kick out of him.

You never know what you're going to find on my worktable. This head standing on a funnel was the start of a fall scarecrow doll project that I whipped up from scratch a couple years back. I used some basic doll proportions for it, but I actually winged it and just wrote stuff down as I went along. You have to sew on the buttons and embroider before you stuff it, and it's tough getting everything even. But it's a scarecrow, it's supposed to appear rustic, right?

Actually I made two of them, a boy and a girl. For some reason she came out a little larger than her partner. The clothing is actually part of the body, so to my granddaughter's dismay, she could not dress or undress them. But they are only supposed to be seasonal decorations that come out in September and disappear after Thanksgiving. I used sewn on felt patches to make the clothing appear timeworn. The straw for hair and hanging out of sleeves and cuffs is just a dark gold yarn that was attached and then had its plies unwound. The hats are sewn in place.

This year I made a turkey to go with the scarecrows, though I finished it after Thanksgiving. Once again I just made it up as I went along. I stuck with more traditional turkey colors rather than the rainbow tail feathers I often see. This used yarn I had on hand too. I know the beak is too long, but no matter. I just attached feet to the bottom to give it something to stand on. It does stand up on its own. The head and body are pretty much one unit, but the tail, wings, beak, snood, eyes, and feet were all sewn on afterward. The grandkids recognized it so I guess it looks enough like a turkey to be passable.

Some years back I made a couple witch dolls from a pattern I found online, but then we moved and they got packed away. I found them a couple years ago and have been wanting to revisit that pattern ever since. The problem was, I couldn't find it in my files! One of them had lost her hat along the way, so that's the first thing I made. Then in 2019, I found the notebook that had the pattern in it and started a new doll.

One thing that the original pattern did not call for was fingers. I wanted the dolls to have them, because it makes them appear as if they are conjuring something. Also in the boots part of the leg, there was something wrong that never seemed to come out right, so I had to try and recall how I fudged that with the other two. I think she came out pretty nicely though, and now she has been reunited with her two sisters. The hair is knotted to the scalp area and then the plies untwisted. She looks like a 1980s glam rocker!

The picture above is the witchy girls all together. I don't put them away for the season, I'm too fond of them. I bought 3 doll stands and they remain on display. The one on the right had lost her hat, and I couldn't find any of the other colors so she got a sage green one to match the stripes on her tights. I still want to make some witchy jewelry for the new gal.

This was the start of a special project I made in the winter of 2019-2020. Most of it was done by the time the pandemic became a thing. Since the gap between New Year's Day and Valentine's Day is so large, and winter can be a dark, quiet and solemn time, I wanted to create something that celebrated the Winter Solstice and the lengthening days as the new year progressed toward spring. So I started with this simple crocheted wintry backdrop and then began to add details to it as I went along. It is more rectangular than it looks in this crummy cell phone pic, but it does need some blocking as well.




These are all the crocheted components laid out before being sewn in place. That in itself took some time. Because the solstice is about the gradual return of longer sunlight hours, the sun had to appear in all its radient glory in such a stark landscape. Once these were all sewn down, I used the same yarns—often split into smaller plies—to add additional details via simple embroidery. Other than the crocheted framing border, everything that you see below that is not in the picture above this paragraph was embroided to it. It took several months until I was satisfied that I had it the way it should look.

And this was the end result. I added more trees in the backdrop, some animal life, and things like bird houses and bird feeders, along with many bare branches. This is similar to a primitive-style painting, as embroidery on crochet is a little fiddly at times. But I think it turned out well. The back of course is not terribly attractive, but nobody really sees that. I still need to make a hanger for this and get it up to display.

Yes this stuff does take time and effort, but there are far worse things I could be doing. Like sitting around worrying and fretting, or getting into political arguments online. Keeping my hands busy and my mind on making a project allows me to relax, unwind, and get my feet up in the evening. I generally work with something on TV in the background that I can occasionally glance up at over the reading glasses. That's a very soothing way to end my day after long hours of writing, because in these golden years, a day's work for me is simply adding to whatever books or short stories I can turn out to be published. Crochet and other crafts use a slightly different part of the brain than writing, and aren't nearly as intense. They also give me things I can show off. So who cares what holiday is looming next or how insane the world seems these days! Why focus on all the negatives when you can do something interesting and maybe learn something along the way as well? For me, crafting or other hobbies are a positive ways of using what I laughingly refer to as my 'spare time'.

~NANCY

(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.) 01-16-21 Saturday

  (January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)

01-16-21 Saturday

Temps starting with a 59 low and rising to  71 high. The sky filled with high feathers with pulled cotton. Periodic sun felt good. This weather report is brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism. 

Before the year of 2000, I was writing stories and building scale houses for a model railroad layout. Over about a year, Dad kept asking me to take up carving. At the time, I had no interest at the time. Finally one day I decided to try it. I borrowed one of his knives and a piece of wood (likely shaped to make shingles for some bird houses he was making) and carved a man with his arms down his side. The brim of the hat was supposed to go all the way around, but the brim kept breaking. It ended up looking like Charles De Gaulle, a famous French leader near that time. My second and third carvings were from boards so I could not really get full movement in the form. My fourth carving, I knelt to see how things were positioned. My carving came out pretty good except that I did the arms, across the knee, wrong. Also I started sanding it and realized I hate sanding. My forth carving was a copy of a famous painting. It was an angel sitting on a rock with her feet up. I attached wings and it came out well. While I could point out many carving errors, it was a very good carving, one I am still proud of (I had to replace to wings a few years back because I broke them).

Dad had gone through a period in learning to carve where you could see the shape of the block of wood he started with, as if he was doing relief carving on all surfaces rather than shaping. I had made the decision that I would dig deep into the wood with my carvings.

Dad did a carving style popular at the time where you have tall cowboys, their legs straight and arms at the side. The head was made separately and stuck on, turned to a different directions. I wanted the appearance of movement from the beginning, legs bent, arms crossing the body, in almost any position except standing straight.

Dad had a really good way to teach me carving. I would finish a carving and he would pat me on the head and tell me to do another, is the best way to describe it. Other than having his stuff as examples and showing me how to make my own knives, Dad really never taught me how to carve. I had a good feel for form.

It was not until the last couple years of his life that I saw how good a carver he really was. Every summer he and Mom would travel the country and visit national symposiums along their way. Dad had taken classes at national symposiums around the country from some of the best carvers in the world. I never saw how good he was as I was remembering his early stuff. 

He made some clay platters with 3D faces of my nieces and nephews. He had planned on using them to go-by for some carvings, though that never happened. The faces were instantly recognizable as to who they were. On the other hand, with my fairy carvings, I as lucky they looked female.

In 2000, Dad had a Craftsman mini lathe. I saw some ornaments in one of his carving books and decided to give it a try. Soon after I started turning, the lathe would die. I would have to wait a while and then try again. After several attempts, I decided I could carve these ornaments  by hand. Early summer, I decided I could do 12 of each ornament. By mid year, it dawned on me that I was making 48 pieces. I had bells, trees, snow men and sleighs. The sleighs were an interesting idea that turned out to be a lot of work. By December, I had the dozen of each ornament done. I took them to work and offered them for sale, which I do every year and then gifted some to friends and family. I always have some left for the next year.  By mid month, I had to make more Christmas trees and snow men. It happens that I sold my last sleigh last year and still have three bells left after 20 years.

In 2003, I got a used Harbor Freight Chicago Electric lathe and that took up a lot of my carving time. I would turn for many weeks, then carve for many weeks. Each time I swapped, it felt like I was returning to an old friend. In later years, I have done more turning that carving. I did a series of vases with faces carved into them, usually using the dremel for that carving. The last few years, I have carved only Christmas ornaments.

In my carving, I concentrated on the knife. I avoided chisels because you had to have so many of them to do anything and you also had to know when to use each one. I had no clue when to use each one.  I figured if I learned the knife I would  fully understand what it did and when it just would not do the job. I did find that in some cases a chisel would solve a few of my carving problems.

Dad was in a carving club for retirees and one guy would come in with a different, brand new, chisel every time they met. I later concluded that they had the belief that if they had the right chisel, it would allow the figure to come out of the wood, rather than the actual act of carving creating the figure. If you just had a couple chisels, you could do a whole lot of carving. The real need for all the different radius and shapes of chisels is if you were doing architectural design (scroll work), where you match the chisel to the curve you were creating. Most of the people in the carving club were there more for the social atmosphere than to do the work or learning. It later dawned on me that people accumulate all sorts of tools when beginning, then eventually concentrate on one kind of work where all those tools are unneeded. Concentrating on the knife allowed me to learn how to get results from one tool and only one tool and my type of work ended up fitting the knife anyway. 

I also use the dremel or band saw, sanders, and other power for some portions of my carvings. I have also used chisels on some projects. I am not a purist, where “all work must be by hand” or “Only use specific tools.” I have always worked from the idea that whatever gets the job done is to be used since the final project is what is important, though my first thought is to use the knife.

Wood working as a hobby has been satisfying, even when something was not going right. I am glad I learned how to do it. The cool thing about most crafts and hobbies is that at the end of the day, you have something to show for your efforts.

It was in the low 60s when I got outside at Mom’s house. A couple months ago, I purchased a couple black chef’s jackets from a restaurant supply store that offered to let the public come in for a short time. They normally only sell to businesses. I had been watching for the jackets at a place where membership is not required, but they only had sizes too small for me. I snapped these up just for my woodworking. I used them only a couple times during the hot part of the year. I decided I was going to do a lot of grinding with the dremel, so I put the jacket on. It helped with the cool weather too. 

I decided to make a bunch of valentine’s hearts. I searched my wood stock and in the shed, found a block that looked right. I marked it to make it square, then took it to the bandsaw. When I cut off the piece to square it up, I realized it was Camphor. That block I stuck in the shed to deter bugs for a while. I decided to go with it anyway. I will paint the edges, but leave the body of the hearts raw wood. I stuck the cuttings back in the shed. 

I then took a junk piece of wood that bugs got into portions of it years ago. I cut a piece off of it also for the hearts.

I draw the heart on the end, using one corner for the point, and making sure the heart touches the outside of the block. The radius went from the point to the side, repeated on the other side. Then I did a pair of circles at the corner opposite the point of the heart. I found that the circles half the width of the square worked best for the indent of the heart. These blocks were short enough that when I put them up on end, they fit my bandsaw when the top guide was held high. This allowed me to cut the heart shape out of the block. 

Once the block was shaped like a heart, sanded and corrected a little, I then laid it down and cut it into slices. The hearts from the Camphor did not cut straight. Operator error. The junk wood cut nicely.  I got 9 camphor hearts and 8 junk hearts, which was smaller than the camphor. 

I took out some tile adhesive and used it to plaster the flaws in the junk wood. I should have done another coat but it was not too bad. I then sprayed them with red paint. I cut some paper hearts and tried to use it as a mask and spray paint white hearts in the middle of the red hearts. I likely did not shake the paint can enough, but not only did the paint come out poor, it was sloppy. Before I left for the day, I sanded them on the sander, then sprayed them with two more coats of red. They look good. I will hand paint the white hearts in the middle. I know I should have painted them pink, but I did not have pink spray paint. 

I took the tea pot I worked on last week and took out the dremel. I ground on the inside to help clean it up and make it little bigger inside, It was hard to remove the slop as I had to go by feel rather than by sight. I also shaped the outside of the vase. I have more to do but it made a difference. This grinding covered me in dust. 

After rough sanding with the sanding disk, I hand sanded the camphor to get them cleaned up. Note, the this is very old camphor wood and the smell is not strong with it. Green camphor wood would have a strong scent. 

I have a lot of projects left to do, so I will see what I will do tomorrow.

Year 21, Week 1, Day two (week 1095)

(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)

01-17-21 Sunday

51 degrees low, light frost since it is below our area’s 56 degree frost temperature,  68 degrees was the high mostly cloudy to overcast with some blasts of sun. This weather report is brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism. 

I stopped at Harbor Freight tool store after gassing up. I had a couple grinding bits that looked like they would be great to use on the dremel. I decided to try to get another set so I would not care if I messed them up in making the shafts smaller. I could not find the ones I was really after. In the air power tools, I found a rotary rasp set and decided to get it. I half thought they were what I was looking for.  

When I got out back, I dug out the mini lathe and then found that I had a set of that rasp set. I also found the bits I was looking for were smaller, but still would not fit the dremel. I put one of that set (three bits) into the lathe and quickly found I don’t have cutting bits that could do more than remove dirt from the surface.  They are really hard metal. Talking with my brother, I would have to use a grindstone in the dremel to cut these shafts down to size. Maybe in the future. Other projects have priority. 

I took the rotary rasp that had a ball on the end. I tried to hold the ball in the lathe chuck to machine down the shaft. I quickly learned that the rasp points would not allow me to set the rasp center, nor would they let me hold the rasp in the chuck tightly. I ended up holding the shaft in the chuck and only machining a portion of the rotary rasp shaft. When I got it down to the right diameter, I cut it off using a file while it spun. The final shaft was half the length I was after. I tested it out on the bottom of the little vase and it did a very good job on evening up the bottom. 

There are some burr bits that you don’t use when they have a chance to slip and hit your hand. I have used quite a few of them last year. I would go to work on monday with sores on the backs of my fingers and scrapes on my finger nails where the burr dug in and then dashed across my hand. This new burr I created is going to be the worse of any of them as the teeth are comparatively big. Lots of surface to dig in and then run.

A couple weeks ago, I made it so some of the little stuff that was in the lathe box are now in cases. That turned out to be a really good move. I would never have been able to find anything without emptying the box each time. 

I had bought some router bits for machining aluminum. I have not used them yet as the project I was going to use it on first,  never happened. One router bit case had a lot of empty spots. I had an unopened package of router bits that was always in the way. I opened the package and was able to put them in that case, which made for more room in the cases. 

I am thinking I will try to machine another one of those rotary rasps to fit the dremel. Because I bought another set, I might try a different way of machining the ball rasp. Also there is another one of those that might work on the dremel. The other bits are too big. They would have to be used in the drill. 

My brother and I talked about some videos we watched on line, and when I packed up everything, it was near time for us to leave. 

I will see what I do next weekend.

My first three carvings. On the left my very first carving. the middle carving is from a cedar board and the third carving was from a larger board I found. 

wood hearts are in camphor. 

One side of  the little tea pot. I had to patch the top of the spout because of punky wood.

another side of the little tea pot. 

The machined rotary rasp next to the original one. I wanted a longer shaft but this was what I was able to get using the method I worked with. It works.

Year 20, Week 52, Day one (week 1094) 01-10-21 Saturday

   Year 20, Week 52, Day one (week 1094)

(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)

01-10-21 Saturday

53 lows, 64 as the high, fair all day. It was kind of fun to scrape the frost off my windshield since it was below our 56 degree frost temperature. It is supposed to get into the 40s tonight.  This weather report is brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach department Of tourism. 

I went to Lowes early and picked up a couple sheets (two by two) of thin plywood. I had a project and was not sure how I was going to address it. I wanted to unload the box the lathe is in, and wanted to put a drawer below it. I was thinking I might have to make it. 

I got out back and set up both tables, and then started unloading the box. With the box empty, I looked at what it would take to put a drawer under it. I saw that the wood I added to the bottom of the box hung out at a few spots. I took out a grinding burr on the Dremel and ground the edges flush. I then saw that my previous repair on the corner of the lid did not work, so I cut a piece of wood and glued and brad-nailed it in place. It fought me tooth-and-nail as I tried to get the brad nails into it. I used clamps to hold the piece of wood and it did not keep the nail from driving the wood away from the inside of the lid. It took some work but I finally got it where it needed to be. 

I have small pieces of wood laying around. They were cut-offs from different projects. One was the right size in one dimension and I cut it to fit the corner of the lid. I did not have to cut a good piece of wood to do what needed to be done.

It just dawned on me that I have never had good luck with nails. When you pound on something, it moves. Also I am not accurate with a hammer. I am guessing that is why the brads were not helping much.

There were three holders that were supposed to be in the box. Two were wood U shaped pieces that sit on the floor with the ends against the wall. My last attempt to glue them failed. This time, I took them to the sanding disk and cleaned all surfaces. And then glued them down. One piece was a block with two plastic rods hanging out. I cannot remember what that was to hold but it had come off long ago. I pulled the plastic rods out, sanded all sides of the block, added glue, then ran a screw in the middle of it for physical holding until the glue dried. 

I upended the lathe cart, which was once a BBQ cart but they added wood to make three platforms. There were also shelving below where the cooker would normally go. 

On the bottom shelf was a case holding some wood and projects my dad had worked with. I have to look at it periodically to remind me of what is there. Nice blocks of Basswood. I have a project that might use them.

On the upper shelf was a tray with screws and nails. After I was completely done with the lathe and cart project, I sorted all of it. I found some stuff I wish I had known was there. I ended up buying something not quite as good for the project earlier this year.

With the lathe box in cooker shelf,  I checked to see how much space I had. It was just a smidgeon too big to fit into the space of the cooker. I had two-by-four pieces on edge beneath it. I checked my two plastic storage cases and I needed to gain just a little bit of height for the cases to slip in and out on top each other. I found a couple pieces of Half-by which I was cutting to be wings for a dragon carving, that I ended up having to toss because of bugs getting into it. I cut strips from the wings and put them beneath the two by fours and that helped with the cases. I really need another quarter to half an inch but that helped. The two cases fits under the lathe box. 

I sorted through the stuff that was in the lathe box and a few things could not fit in the small cases, but I made sure nearly everything of low importance was in them. I really need to swap things between them so things I will likely use in a while will be in one, and stuff I might never use will be in the other. It has made a difference in the lathe box.

At exactly 3:11, the sun suddenly shown beneath the awning onto my table. It helped with my sorting of screws and nails. I really needed a bunch of jars to put them in, but putting them back in the tray was the next best thing. 

I improved the lathe box, cleaned the lathe cart and got the “drawers” in place, sorted the nail/screw tray, and cleaned up. I had all sorts of other projects I wanted to address, but I felt I had accomplished something. 

I intend to tackle one of my many other projects. I have the stuff for a puppy bouquet, I have an idea for a carving based on something someone asked. I have some ideas for the next batch of Christmas ornaments. I have a little tea pot I started on the lathe and should try to finish it. I have some lower priority ideas I might also explore also. I will have to see how the morning and afternoon (different reasons they are in question) go. 

Will see what happens tomorrow. 

Year 20, Week 51, Day two (week 1094)

(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)

01-10-21 Sunday

45 lows, 69 as the high, fair all day.  Last night it was so cold (well below our 56 degree frost temperature) that I started a fire in the fireplace. I then noticed it had frozen, so I started another fire next to it. Then in the middle of the night, I had both of them bundled in a blanket to keep them from freezing to death). This morning, I intended to check out the great ice sheet on the ocean, but the glacier that comes from the highest natural point in the county (29 feet above sea level) blocked the way, so I took the highway. Sadly to say, I spun out on the ice that formed on two bridges. From what I was able to tell from the news and traffic reports, there were a lot of spin outs, but no contact between cars so that was good. This weather report is brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach department Of tourism. 

I hit a couple stores on the way to Mom’s. They did not have what I was after. (It seams that no store has piles of money for free.....).

I was late setting up out back. I took the little tea pot I had started and decided to drill out the inside some to make my hallowing it easier. I found my Fornser bits, and found the big one would not bite into the wood. I then dug out a small spade bit and with the pot between my feet (the Forsner bit would not fit in the portable drill press chuck and this small spade bit was two feet long so it would not work in the drill press either. I drilled about as deep as I felt necessary to get a start in the wood. I then used largest regular drill bit I had to enlarge the hole, then a medium Fornser bit, then tried using the big one and decided I was not gaining much. I also used the spade bit to drill out the spout. I got it to where I could blow out the sawdust with it. 

Finally, I mounted it in the lathe and after a few mis-starts I enlarged the hole and went deep, but I saw later I needed to go in another half an inch to reach the bottom of the spade bit hole. 

I touched the outside of the teapot to clean that up some, then turned the tea pot around and, after it coming off the lathe a few times because I was holding it only in the chuck, I brought the tail stock up and cleaned up the bottom and shaped the sides some. 

I had an angle on one side of the piece of wood I was going to use as my lid so I mounted it with that out of the chuck and flattened it. Then I tried to make a tight fit. My first attempt was too lose. I cut a little deeper, then started inching up to get the fit right, and at the last minute, I told myself “forget it” and cut the layer I was shaving off to the part I already have. The lid fits loose. 

My last step was to put the tea pot in the chuck, put the lid on the tea pot and shape the lid. I was after a dome shape. I matched the tea pot and dome so they were the same diameter.

When I started this tea pot. I had the lid part as part of the tea pot and tried to hollow it out, but the wood and the tea pot was fighting me at the time. I did not have the chuck quite tight enough and the tea pot moved. I had stopped at that time. Later I parted off a bunch of the wood that would become the lid. Because I tried to hollow it out, there was no center point for the tail stock to go into . 

My tail stock has replaceable points. I put one on that was a cup, a ring with a hollow on the interior. I put that up to the lid. I had enough flat for the edges of the point to hold the lid nicely. After a couple adjustments, was able to hold the lid firmly against the tea pot.

I shaped the lid and the tea pot together but stopped the dome at the rim of the point. When I took it off, I have big dimple in the center of the dome. I think I will make something to go in there and be the handle. Maybe a different color wood. I could also make a ring that fits the inside of the lid to make it a tighter fit. I will see how my moods are at the time. 

I am considering that part of the turning done. I had remove where the chuck was holding the tea pot firmly, so I cannot put it back in the lathe again to work more on the inside. Had I thought about it, there was a lot of stuff I would not have done on the original turning of the piece. I might not have even touched the outside after I fitted it to the chuck. This was a branch piece and the spout is the branch. I could have turned the inside and it would have been a whole lot better.

My next step is to sit with the Dremel and grind the rough parts to a smooth transition. I can picture what it will look like, but I am positive it will be nothing like that. This was a fun project to try anyway. I will carry it through to the finish or to destruction, whichever comes first. 

This tea pot was from a piece of mystery wood I got from work. It was growing too close to the building. They cut it down. I was going to take just one piece of wood, and then decided to take it all. There are a couple pieces that are hard to carry. This is a very dense, fine grain wood that is quite strong. I can split it fairly easy in the big pieces. My knife does not do well with it, though it carves better than Sea Grape, a wood I like turning. 

I still have a whole bunch of projects to work on. This tea pot took some time because my brother and I talked about videos we had seen. He showed me a couple on his phone. I might have spent a total of an hour and a half to get the tea pot where I have it now, which includes finding tools to do the job. 

Next week, I might tackle this tea pot more. I have a silk flower Puppy Bouquet to do. I have a couple medium sized carvings I have in mind, and a bunch of ornaments I am exploring in my mind (it will require research and printing images, but I am not read for that yet). 

I will see what I do next weekend.

2216

Here is the drill bits I had machined to fit the dremel, including a bit I broke..

These are bits that my brother machined to fit my hand drill

My lathe box before I emptied it.

All the "stuff" that was in the box. at the front is a two piece wood tool holder I made when exploring what it would take to machine it. I did it as I would have with aluminum or steel.

the lathe box with most of the "stuff" in the two plastic boxes below. What is in the lathe box are just a few large pieces. 

The tea pot after I drilled out the holes.

tea pot after I drilled out the holes.

tea pot with lid beside it after hole was enlarged.

tea pot with lid on it. Next step is grinding.

Special Projects!

I think those of us who have a hobby or craft that we avidly pursue want to use that skill to solve any problem we come across. It's no different for me. I crochet a lot, and it's generally the first thing I think of when someone's dolly needs a new dress or somebody needs a costume piece for Halloween that just can't be found. So the grandkids have often brought me projects and ask me if this too can be fixed with yarn and a crochet hook.

Grandma does not say 'NO' very often. Many times I will take a project home to work on it during the evenings, and return it the next time I visit. Sometimes the project gets brought over to me. I think it's a sign of trust that some beloved playthings have spent a week or so at my house getting fixed again. It's tough for young children to part with a toy and there's always some angst that it will not be fixable or won't be returned. Thankfully we live in the age of smartphones so that I can send a picture of the repair in progress or the end result. Such a case was Barney the Dog.

Barney was adopted from a Build A Bear shop. If I have the story right, my little granddaughter helped insert his heart through an incision in his upper back and sewed it shut. Unfortunately over play times and with lots of hugs, the stitches came out along with a little stuffing and Barney's heart, which got lost. When Terra came to me and showed me what happened, she was in tears. Could Grandma fix Barney and give him a new heart too?

Of course Grandma could! I asked Terra if it would be alright if Barney got a new crocheted heart, and she said that would be fine. But I'd have to take him home with me for that, because that's where all my materials and tools were. So rather late on a Friday evening, Barney went home in a bag, and I started working on him the next evening. First I had to make that heart, which Terra said was red and white cloth. I decided to make one in red yarn with white trim, and sent a picture, but had to wait to have that approved. She saw it on her Uncle Jason's phone and immediately loved it. Such a simple thing to make, but it brought so much joy...

Next the heart got inserted and pushed to the front of Barney's chest, where it can now be felt. Then I added a bit more fiberfill to make up for what was lost and keep the new heart in place, before sewing Barney's back shut. I used a small curved needle, you can find them in most sewing aisles on a card with other special needles for heavy hand sewing projects. That made it far easier to see what I was doing as I sewed through that fur fabric, trying to line up stitches to get a halfway decent looking seam. I have quite a collection of thread, so found a pale blond color that didn't stick out like a sore thumb. A little fiddly, but worth it for the smiles.

Since Barney was spending the week with me, I decided he could use a nice new hand-crocherted collar and a leash. So Grandma got out the yarn and crochet hooks, and got to work. You can see the collar alone in the pictures above, the gold button (it's sewn on) fits into a loop so it can be taken off. Easier for little hands to do and undo. Below is the finished collar again with the new leash as well in bright red. That has a built in loop on one end to go over the arm, and the other end slips under the collar and also buttons shut. That was a big hit when Barney made his triumphant trip back to his own home. He got his first leash training lessons that evening.

Just a random dog leash I made for brother Zack's toy dog, who already had a collar. I brought that along with me when Barney got dropped off.

It doesn't take much to please a child sometimes. Just a little time, patience, and ingenuity. I figured while I was working on Barney's problems, I'd update his two little cousins that live at my house, so they'd have new collars too. These are rescue toys, meaning they were passed along from people who no longer wanted them. So they needed some love too. That was the surprise the next time the grandkids came over, and those little doggies got towed or toted everywhere! I was told that the bigger pup needed a leash, but the small one was too little for that, so he just gets carried. Those doggies had many adventures that day, providing plenty of imaginative playtime.

Pinky Penguin had a similar problem to Barney in that a seam had opened and some fiberfill had come out. I'm not sure where Pinky came from, but the stitching was with poor thread that easily snapped, and didn't hold up to child hugs and sleeping with her best friend. Again I had to take a stuffie home, and work on several areas, reinforcing the stitching. As I told Terra later on, Pinky was so well behaved I made her a pretty decorative collar. As far as I know, she's still wearing that.

Another problem we had was a dearth of blankets for the dolls that live at my house. They're all rescues as well, aged Barbies and other dress-me type dolls from flea markets. I have made some clothing for the naked ones, but blankets were a big deal. So I got out my scrap yarn and got busy.

I have several containers of bits and bobs of of fine yarn like the one above from a project that started out as a garbage bag full of granny squares sewn together by someone who had no clue what she was doing (and admitted that to me). I got it for a few dollars at a local flea market over 10 years ago. The yarn was somewhere between light and fine, and the squares were very loosely done so that the ends kept pulling free. I wound up unsewing the squares, pulling them all apart, cutting out knots, and redoing them on a smaller hook than the original person used. And when I was done, there was a lot of small rolls like what you see above. Good for small scrap yarn projects, like those doll blankets.

So this is what I did with some of it. Those are two different doll blankets, with random rows of whatever bits and bobs came up in the container. I had the white yarn sitting around so just used that as a quickie edging. You never saw such a happy bunch of dolls. They slept beneath them and went swimming with them spread out as beach towels. Sometimes it pays to be a scrap saver.

This is probably one of the ugliest things I've ever made. I saw this really interesting pattern online for join-as-you-go crocheted yo-yos called 'sea pennies' and was intrigued. Another good way to use those really small scraps. It turned out to be a lot more fiddly than it sounded. I couldn't imagine making an enire throw from this stuff, so I turned it into a dolly carpet. My granddaughter thought it was great. Wish all my fans were that accomodating!

For the grandkids once more, these soft, fiberfill stuffed swirly balls are safe for play indoors. When Zack was about two years old, he was watching a Red Sox baseball game with us at his house, and Rick Porcello was pitching. I told him to watch how the pitcher wound up and lifted his leg, and he caught on fast. Zack grabbed a plastic toy food lemon and for the next half hour, he practiced that windup and kick, pelting everything around him (including us) with that darn lemon! His windup, enthusiasm and velocity were great, but he needed more control to hit the strike zone... 😆 Sometime later I saw this pattern and printed it up, and made 'safe' baseballs to pitch with. They are still living at my house though, because mommy did not like the idea of pitching practice in her living room. These would make nice lightweight ornaments for the tree as well. At least when they hit something, they don't leave marks. 😨 The do get played with!

Not everything I make is for kids. This was supposed to be an easy care plant for a birthday present. The problem is the base (pot) needs some weight to keep it upright and the stem needs something inside besides fiberfill to make it stiff. Someday I will revisit it and do it right, because I do like the concept. Right now the kids play with it or it simply gets moved around my living room. The picture was taken in the single 10 minutes it actually stood upright.

The first flower I made for it is still hanging around as well. I didn't care for it, it reminded me too much of Henry Gibson on Laugh-In back in the late '60s, holding that huge flower and reciting some lame poem. Yeah, I'm showing my age here...

Now and then, I actually do a project just for me. I have several things around the house that would be a far sight handier if you could hang them up! So for the backscratcher here which is hung near my PC, the one by my bed, and the bath brush I use, I got out the cotton yarn and made little lanyards. Nothing much to look at, but they aren't always hitting the floor when you reach for them. In fact, they're right nearby, where they can be useful. Like when you're in the midst of writing a big fight scene and suddenly that itchy spot you can't reach is nagging you, taking your attention off the keyboard and the words that magically result from those pounding fingers. No more dropping the bath brush in the tub and not being able to bend down and pick it up. You get the idea. 

Sometimes it's the little projects that make life easier or more fun. That's another good reason to make whatever it is that you make, in your 'spare' time.

~Nancy