Year 17, Week 15, Day One (week 901)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
04-22-17 Saturday
Cloudy all day, 73 early morning, 79 late afternoon. The weather looked threatening early morning but that disappeared before we finished breakfast. Late evening, a front was approaching so tomorrow is expected to be filled with singing plants that have been thirsty for a long time. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
THURSDAY
We had a good turnout with the club, though the instant gallery was light in the number of things on display. I had nothing to show for the month.
The main demonstration was on carving grooves in your turned vases, or making swirls as he called it. He showed a simple layout method. He simply rotated the piece on the lathe and drew a line at about the center, and one near the top and bottom of the piece. He said that pieces get weak if you go to the very top. He then drew two or three lines between those lines.
He had taken a piece of cereal box and cut a circle and marked it with evenly spaced lines. He found that twelve lines was way too much work. He found five lines works nice at least for the size of piece he was working. The linens radiated from the center. He then cut a hole in the center to fit over the shaft of your lathe and he simply screwed the chuck on and that held the cardboard in place. He matched the line to something on the lathe and used his tool rest to draw a line down the length of the piece at each mark on the cardboard.
Finally, he decided, usually on the spot, to plot lines between the places two lines met. He aimed to have the beginning and the end of the groove to not be seen at the same time.
The great way he was doing it, was accuracy is not essential because of the style of the swirls he made. He could make each groove different, some of the spaces in between were concave, some convex, some would flare out in some places, some have pointed edges on one side. We tend to try to make engineered accurate grooves that match all the way around. With this, method, a mistake disappears into a design opportunity.
He would sometimes use a power tool to get the groove started, but a lot of his work is simply with a set of varying shaped open rasps. One can get a lot of work done quickly. We tend to want to use power to do this kind of work, but the way the rasp sweeps and follows, it is a powerful design tool.
One thing he had that was useful was an artist’s mount where he can attach his chuck onto it and the mount would allow him to turn it in any direction and angle needed for the cut he was after.
He suggested that you should buy your tools from artists, rather than the big corporations. They need your money more.
One guy makes a lot of bottle stoppers that have an insert on the top end. The inserts come in different sizes, both metric and standard diameters. What he did was to use forsner bits to drill metic holes on one side, and standard on the other side. When he gets an insert, he simply finds the hole that it fits into and that is the size he works with.
Another guy showed a piece he had pierced. He said that he paints the inside with black acrylic paint. That way when he adds dyes on the outside, it won’t bleed through the interior paint and not be seen. He said he learned that adding dye to the inside of the piece sometimes bleeds through the wood to be seen on the outside. The black also highlights the piercing.
We have one more meeting before our meeting sight will be closed for several months.
- - - - - -
A few weeks ago, I went to the dentist. I have only one cavity, and I keep filling it three times a day plus snacks. They give you floss, tooth paste, tooth brush and a few other items. I finally decided to replace my old tooth brush and dug out the one they gave me. I got excited. The tooth brush has the clear plastic neck.
I have made many crochet hooks from tooth brush handles. They work pretty good and are referred to as having “comfort handles”. Most tooth brushes is made with a rubbery white plastic. That does not make good crochet hooks as the rubbery plastic does not sand well and is hard to work with. It is also a little sticky to the yarn.
When I saw the tooth brush from the dentist, I got excited as it is the hard clear plastic neck. That plastic sand well, shapes well, and is relatively slick to the yarn. I can’t wait to wear this tooth brush out so I can make it into a crochet hook....
SATURDAY
Right after breakfast, we headed to a church that has regular sales. It was pretty good this time. It is hard to avoid items you really like. They had a meat grinder there for a pittance. I had it in my hands three times, before I forced myself to forget about it. I have two really good ones. This one was smaller than my two and I considered it as being in “Antique condition” where it needed a lot of clean-up to make it useable. About five minutes later, it was gone.
Those meat grinders are actually a good thing. Pork is usually about $1.50 a pound. Beef is usually around $3.20 a pound. Hamburger is usually $2.20 a pound but ground pork is about $3.50 a pound. Making your own ground pork ends up being a good deal. The same with ground chicken or turkey. Food processors and blenders will also do it, but there is something about the old methods that are kind of nice.
I grabbed a large roaster pan, with thoughts that while it can be used for roasting, there are other things it can be used for both within the kitchen and without. I grabbed some fabric folding storage containers. Space tends to be important. I like these as when stored flat, they take no space, but they make more space when opened up. A couple other items joined what I had.
At another yard sale, I found platters are about sixteen inches in diameter. Two are made of wood, the other is plastic. The wood platter are one of those things I have the skills to make, but never will, and never this good. They might not get much use, but I will have them when I need them. If I get tired of them, they could go beneath a potted plant outside, but I much doubt that.
One yard sale had little I was interested in, but ran across a file and a metal compass. I have several of each but decided they can still be useful. The compass is well made. Actually it is a divider as it does not take pencils. You use it for measuring. Being solid metal makes it durable.
One guy had a bunch of furniture and appliances. He had a fire a the house. Since he had insurance, he was replacing everything and decided not to spend the money to store the stuff. He showed me how the fire started in one of those lights that come on with movement that caught fire to his shed, and apparently, a nearby motorcycle caught fire and the tank set the house on fire. Most of the interior damage was from water.
I considered his refrigerator for the house, but there is no place to put it until some work is completed there.
Three were at the end of a cul-de-sac with a fourth at the start of the street. One of the yard sales at the cul-de-sac was something about sending some group to Jamaica. I picked up some Jelly molds at the second of the yard sale and an easel at the first. The yard sale at the entrance had nothing I had to have.
I ended up finding ten yard sales, two more I could not find by the signs and two more I skipped because I knew exactly what they had and the last time they had nothing I needed.
I was wore out and uncomfortable when I got home. I almost immediately laid down and slept. It was only later that I got up and took care and photographing of my finds.
I also sorted my carry bag that has my tablet and check book and crochet supplies. I had forgotten about some of the stuff that was in there. I found a project I had been working on early this year and, after setting it to the side, forgot completely about it. This was to be a roll to hold my crochet hooks. It is about two fifths done. I will have to see if I get back to it. It was stitched with a fine hook and tight and that takes a long time to see any headway. I have learned long ago that I like projects where the beginning and end are close together. If I can do it in one session, even better. I will eventually pick this project up again, but not this minute. I decided to take it out of my carry bag as it was near busting at the seams.
I messed with a couple in-house projects before it was time to get ready to go.
A front, or some other storm system, is coming from the south looks like it is big enough to be a multi day event, so I don’t see doing anything tomorrow. I figure I will take the day easy and get ready for the week.
I really need to get some wood working done. Something has to give.
I will see what I do next weekend.
1530
File and compass
16" serving platters
Easter jello molds
a heart shaped jello mold, a splatter screen, some ceder plans for adding smoke flavor to fish in the Bar B Q. they may get used for something else.
Folding storage containers the two in front are folded.
Year 17, Week 14, Day One (week 900)(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
04-15-17 Saturday
72 low, 81 high, lots of clouds with a little sun. A breeze sent plastic bags flying. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of tourism.
Mom heard about a fund raiser for a nautical club I tried looking for it about the time it opened, and later in the day but could not find it. I heard it was a yard sale. Instead, it was inside the building. By the time I got there, after mom gave me detailed instructions the good stuff was gone, from what Mom said. I searched really hard and did not get any kitchen stuff. A Florida Marlin Baseball Beanie Baby and a small lobster stuffy crawled into my arms and I had to keep them. Mom had picked up a three piece set of the corn shaped cornbread molds. I have one somewhere but not sure where. Have yet to use one. I don’t make corn bread or much anything else like that very often.
At other yard sales, children's stuff and collectables were the most common items I saw today. One guy was trying to unload a bunch of sports collectables he had gotten from his uncle and was willing to load the truck up with all of it if I would have said I wanted the stuff. He said he would donate most of it. It looked like there were signed baseballs, jerseys, and toys for various sports.
I learned long ago that we as people, are not collectors. We store the stuff until the real collectors (the ones with big bucks) are ready for it.
Another yard sale was with a guy who has had them before. I had told him about my crocheting clothing for teddy bears. He had a friend there that did a little crochet. I brought out the teddy bear. I pointed out the technique I used on the skirt.
I had a good drive along the route. Because it was a holiday tomorrow, most people were not doing yard sales.
When I got home, I napped, and took care of some paper work, and napped some more.
I really need to get back to wood working.
Year 17, Week 14, Day One (week 900)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
04-15-17 Saturday
I barely noticed the weather as I was indoors all day.
I spent time with my niece working on a little laptop I have. Mom wants to run videos and she was having problems getting them to work. When it was all done, there still was problems.
At home,, I decided to make use of some kitchen gadgets I have accumulated. I had picked up a small roll of ham and used my meat slicer. It had been a lot of months since I touched it. The first slices were thin, but I then decided to try to cut thinner. I was told a while back that the blades that have no teeth will cut thinner than the thick ones. My blades have teeth. I still sliced the ham about deli-thin, which is thinner than I had done in years. It helps that between then and now, I had sharpened the blade.. I learned that the ultra thin meat has better flavor than the thick stuff.. You get more chew and less flavor on the thick meat. One thing I did was to make a couple cuts, then flip the ham over and make a few more, so the “skin on the trailing edge was not being pushed rather than cut.
I also have a couple of these grilling plates that fit over two burners of your stove. You are supposed to be able to do pancakes on one side, and grill meat on the other. I could have used this a few weeks ago when we had family over. At that time, while it was hidden, if it were alive, it would have bitten my arm off. Dug out a second one from storage and then found the first one as I was placing the second one almost exactly where the first one was.
I added ham see how it works then. I usually don’t do the type of cooking that would require that much surface to cook so it was kind of fun to play with.
I laid ham slices and bacon strips on it with both burners at the same temp. It worked, but I found that the smaller back burner has to be hotter to match the overall area heat of the bigger front burner. I also learned that the ham that I got is best eaten raw as it does not fry well. Next time I use this grilling plate, I will make adjustments on the burner settings.
I had more paper work to do and examine, in detail the inside of my eyelids so no real work got done.
I have a turning club meeting Thursday. Saturday weather looks good. I hope to get out back and make some sawdust.
Will see what I do next weekend.
Front view of two teddy bear dresses I've worked on. the red skirt is supposed to have an apron as the front.
Back side of the teddy bear dresses. I had to put a link from the collar and the waist of the red skirt as it kept sliding down too much. the skirts were made by doing a larger stitch toward the hem, stitching out and back from the waist.
This is not wood working, but it is a tiny bit of a craft. I did most of this while waiting for people.
Year 17, Week 13, Day One (week 899)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
04-08-17 Saturday
72 early morning, 81 late afternoon. Some sun but the sun was mostly behind clouds. A light breeze made it nice. This weather report is brought to you by The City of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
I followed the full circle of my big yard sale route. I hit several in the northern section and just got carried away in following the southern part of the route. I ended up stopping at 14 yard sales, which included a library book sale. I intended to stop by later at the book sale as they were going to have all the books that will fit in a bag for a dollar. We just never made it back.
One yard sale gave me some interesting ideas. They had some teddy bears where the faces and feet were of wood and the rest were stuffed. They were real cute. Their price was more than I wanted to go up to, and they were selling them for half price. I checked on line and it was true. I took pictures of just one off the six or seven others that they had. This one had the artist’s signature quite visible.
The idea I have is to make wooden faces, and crocheting bodies for them. It will never happen as I don’t have the time, but it is an interesting idea to try.
At different yard sales, I picked up some garbage cans, a wire paper-towel holder, a fish frying basket for the grill, a set of three nested glass bowls, and a grill pan set for the toaster oven. There was also a wooden rocking chair. I could not pass it up for that price.
At a yard sale for a church, they had mostly Christmas stuff. They had a bin of metal cookie cutters. I checked and there was about six designs, which I already have.
After I had gotten back, we all took a short nap, then went out to dinner. We went to a place we heard about, but had never been to. It was called Byrd’s Muddy Waters. It is all a nautical motif and the food was good. One neat thing was that the corridor to the bathroom was all painted black, then had underwater fish and critter scenes painted in glow-in-the-dark paint and they had black lights illuminating them. I do intend to go back there again.
I will have to see what to do tomorrow.
Year 17, Week 13, Day One (week 899)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
04-09-17 Sunday
72 early morning, 79 late afternoon. Some sun but the sun was mostly behind clouds. A light breeze made it nice. The weather considered threatening early on, but held off until the afternoon. We got a “mist.” A cloud considered watering our plants but it mist. This weather report is brought to you by The City of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
I stopped at a yard sale on the way up. They were not fully set up. It was all I could do to not grab a bundle of knitting needles. I have more than I could ever use, even if I was knitting. She mentioned that she only did it a tiny bit and really did not know how to do it. I suggested that she get with one of the churches. Some of them have knitting and crochet groups that make things for hospitals, newborn babies and such. They teach how to do it right.
I felt lazy and lounged around, listening to the radio and napping.
Later in the day, Mom dragged me outside. She was trying to trim her Clearodendron tree and was having serious problems. Her sawsall had little guts, but now it had a stripped gear so it would run but the blade would not move. She said sh tried to use a handsaw but her shoulder told her not to do that. I took out a hand saw and cut the remaining branches. You can put your hand around the trunk as it is small.
This tree sends up branches straight up and then spreads out. We had trimmed this tree many times and there were nice balls where the branches kept coming out. We cut a few below the ball. I forced myself not to save any of the wood as it is not the best wood to carve or turn. It is a soft weak wood. We broke some branches with our hands to fit in the garbage can. It has a year to send up branches and set flower again..
I had to go home and take care of some work so that ended my day.
Will see what happens next weekend.
808
I saw this teddy bear with wooden face and feet. gives me ideas.
A bin full of cookie cutters.
yard sale finds, paper-towel holder, fish basket, garbage cans, glass bowls, and toaster oven pan set
Figuring in front of Byrd’s Muddy Waters in Pompano beach.
Year 17, Week 12, Day One (week 898)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
04-01-17 Saturday
64 early morning, 79 late afternoon, herds of clouds wandering by at various times. Light breeze took away any heat one might feel. Pockets of cloudiness was also nice for taking away the heat. This weather report was brought to you by The City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
I went yard sailing this morning and hit ten yard sales, skipped two that did not have anything at all that I would ever want to look at, and could not find two from the signs I had thought there was not going to be any yard sales, as I drove quite a distance before I found the first one, and there were areas where there were nothing. They tended to be close together with a drive between them..
It was a really good workout. While there are rest times between them,, it does wear you out to get in and out of the vehicle, walk to the places which many times one cannot park close due to all the other yard sailors that are parked close.
I picked up a bench for the front of the house. There were two designs, same price. Each had their advantages. One was said to be made of bamboo, had natural looking wood for the supports underneath and had boards for the seat and boards held by long pieces of “branches” for the back. The other was not as long, but made of commercial wood and was well built. It had legs underneath that were solid and actually holding the seat. It was unpainted.
I fought long and hard as to which would fit the situation best, and got the sturdy one. Afterwards, I began to think that the other one would have been better as three people could sit on it. this one seats only two. I sort of think I should have gotten both one for the back.
At another yard sale, I picked up a frame for holding four folding tables. I have a lot of tables scattered around and decided the frame would be put to good use.
I have no need for cookie cutters.. I have all I could ever need, if I needed any. I saw in a bag of cookie cutters a crimping wheel. I decided I wanted the crimping wheel so I bought the bag. Later in the day, I sorted all my cookie cutters according to their season. Christmas was the biggest, Easter-valentine's day was next, General types, which includes teddy bears, is next. Halloween was the smallest. Actually my metal, which I did not sort, was actually the biggest individual selection..
At one yard sale, I talked to a guy who had a restaurant. He has had several yard sales, but this was the first one where he was the only one out there. He is clearing out two warehouses. He was telling me he has a couple dozen of those individual-egg cast iron fry pans. I have three and decided I will give them a try this week. He said he has a 16 inch fry pan that he had gotten for himself. He said it is hard to lift. He has other cast iron pans too. They were not at the yard sale this time.
In my yard sale visits, I picked up some books, some bowls, some nick knacks, a teddy bear and a double edged bread knife. While I did not need more knives, this one looked like the right kind of bread knife. It has two cutting edges, for depending on what consistency of bread or cake you might be cutting.
It is rare to have the energy available when there are such a number of yard sales. It is also rare to have the money to feel like you can do more than just a few. Having them come together when there are so many yard sales is great.
I have a number of projects to work on. It will be interesting to see what I work on tomorrow
(I had a rough night so took the day off and rested.)
691
The bench, table rack and odds and ends I picked up in today's yard sale.
