Elongated or Standard seat

One of the most frequently asked questions I receive is whether The seats are standard round or the elongated. In some cases, even the customer does not know what type he/ she has. So I wanted to write a little entry to try to show some of the differences in measurements and looks. As you can see from the pictures, the elongated are longer when measured from the hinge to the tip of the seat. The length is approximately 18.5 to 19 inches. On round seats the length is 16.5 to 17 inches.
The elongated sets are obviously shaped a little different from the round. A side by side comparison helps shows this.
The Big problem comes when people do not know their size and order the wrong one. Since each seat is custom, ( that is right, we carve them up as you order them) there is a certain amount of time and effort put into each one. More than just pulling it off a shelf and packing it up for shipment. Another problem is that the elongated seats cost more, and are not as readily available as the standard round. It may take as much as an additional week to send the order. For this reason, we do not offer elongated seats anymore in our normal listings. We do, however, reserve the right for special circumstances.

Oh boxes, where art thou?

Boxes did not come yet today, and Cheryl finally got the shipping E-mail that told her they should be delivered Jan 2! Ah the holidays landing in the middle of the week have proven to be quite a pain in the shipping department. It does not matter too much for me as I now have several days to "fine tune" my carving. As it was I was short one seat today. No matter! I have till Friday to get them all out. I only hope that the customers will realize that shipping has been screwed up these last two weeks and is slightly more patient. In other news, I was able to take pictures of some of Cheryl's new items for her shop. I think they will be a big hit. These new found days will also allow me to take better pictures of my seats. Most of the time I just pack them up straight from the shop. With the new website and image we are planning for the new year, we also wanted to take new pictures and perhaps, rethink some older designs for the seats. The new camera takes pictures four times better. I think you can tell the difference.

The two days of 50-60 degrees took most of the snow away. However, it is snowing now and we have regained about 2 inches. I would not mind it remaining mostly green for the rest of the winter. I'm rather fond of "global warming" if it means less snow and a longer growing time. But Michigan has a habit of dumping snow on ya at least several times each winter. Hopefully not as bad as last week.

More Carving

I finished catching up the seats. Mostly elongateds. I have now been put in charge of answering emails now. So I have to tell people that we don't offer elongateds anymore. I also added the video in case people wanted to see it. This post is a little short. But the holidays have been messing up my internal clock lately. I can't wait to get back to normal.

Carvin' Saturday.

Back to work. There were 10 seats to carve up. plus a couple more to prep for shipping. I carved up only 6 tonight though. We are running low on boxes and some of them are "replacement elongateds" so they might have to wait till Tuesday to ship. Its all good now that the holidays are past. We will assume our usual shipping regime once more. I carved up a couple of odd ones ( ones that do not sell often) The yellow lab I carved up for someone who never bought it. It languished in our inventory for months until someone finally bought it. I did not even know Cheryl re listed it, But finally someone bought it a second time. Coming this new year, I'm going to go through my catalog of designs and thin out the herd. Possibly adding a few new ones, and improving some old ones. Can't wait!

"Twas a Merry Christmas!

So Our Christmas was very good. The roads finally were clear enough to travel comfortably on. And the snow is melting now, causing some nasty fog, but at least it is war. So our cats had a good time opening their presents. Both Rasha and Hiro were the "kids" and had a good time with the presents as they were being opened. They had been playing with the presents well before Christmas. Nothing seems to be as fun to play in as a pile of wrapping paper. Later they all had a good time on the new cat pole, watching the birds come tot he window. I got the best gift this year. Something I could use and wanted for a while: a Scroll Saw! It was Cheryl's Grandfather's and I don't think he used it much. So he gate it to me! I warmed it up and made a few cuts tonight to get the hang of it. I don't plan on doing much "scroll work" but I was planning on using it for detail work on maybe some boxes I plan on making this coming year. I also found that it cuts nice dovetails, in case I ever want to use them. And last of all, the warm weather has brought out the possum to wish us some Christmas cheer. He's so cute and small. I tried to give him a little cat food but he scampered away before I could open the door. I'm sure he will be back though.

Red and Hiro's Vet visit during snow storm!

Yesterday, was the big vet visit to Grand Rapids and what better day to schedule it than during a huge snow storm. Its only 45 minutes away and yet we had to take 2 hours both ways two times!. ( total of 8 hours on the road!) I must admit that going only 30-45 mph on the highway is better than being pulled out of a ditch. It continues to snow even now and the warning is not set to expire till 1 am! It is now a sloppy wet heavy snow that is even worse than the white out fluffy of yesterday. According to the weatherman, We have gotten over 4.5 FT of snow thus far... and even more by the lake shore ( where we live) We currently have about 24 inches in our front yard, but it is melting a little now. On a brighter note, Red's teeth were just fine! He just needed a good cleaning, No cavities or tooth loss. Hiro was bouncing around so much on his pain medication that you would not even know he had gotten fixed. So both the cats are back to normal or even better.

Since I have been taking a small vacation from carving this week. ( this IS supposed to be a blog about carving after all..) I worked on my stag beetle and I'm actually impressed with how it turned out. First: It started out and ended looking pretty much like I wanted it too, (instead of starting out a grasshopper and ending up a butterfly) Second, It looks pretty good, not sloppy folding. I wanted to show off several angles so you can get the full effect. I still have to master the walking stick. ( my second attempt looks more like a scorpion! ) I'll show that off later. Other than that...MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! I hope everyone has a happy and safe Christmas day.

Dragonflies in winter?

So the last of the orders were sent out today and it looks highly unlikely that anything will go out before Christmas. First, there is ANOTHER winter storm warning tonight, second, almost everything will be closed early on the 23rd, totally closed the 24th and 25th. And last, we have to take two cats to the vet tomorrow. And it will take all day. So...to chill out and get my mind off of stressful holiday things. I worked on some origami Insects. I attempted a dragonfly using the traditional blintz bird base ( think that is what it is called) The green one is the results and I was not 100% satisfied with the results. ( I think it looks more like a locust/ Flying grasshopper) So the second attempt I used a slightly different version of the blintz base and got this yellow one. Again, I think it looks more like a Hawk Moth than a Dragon fly. Since I'm just making them up as I go along. I don't really know where I'm going wrong. perhaps spend more time of the wings. Each one took a little over an hour to fold. So next I tried to make a walking stick but ended up with a rather cool looking beetle. My second attempt looked more like a weevil, so I shortened the snout and called it another beetle version. So now, I'm making a large hot chocolate with marshmallows to help me combat the cold. Cheryl spent a small fortune on this pretty Christmas tin of cocoa mix only to find out it has only three small servings worth in the tin! What a RIP! Then she does not even like the flavor. So now it is up to me to finish off the evidence . At least the tins are pretty. Hope your holidays are going well, and any stress you might have will not be overwhelming. If so, just sit back, fold some paper, and drink a huge cup of hot cocoa. (Perferably with a cookie)

More snow! Say it ain't so!

We continue to get dumped on with the snow. I'm starting to think we are in the U.P. I remember bad snow days from my youth, but it has been a while since we got this much. Even here in Grand Haven, along the Big Lake, We have not been hit this hard since we moved here almost 7 years ago. To capture the depth of the snow. The neighbors dog came over to visit. She is a tall golden retriever and the snow was so deep you can not see her legs or lower half! I tried to snap a picture of her in the dark, but only one slightly turned out. ( Yes ! She is Standing!) Its now blowing and drifting and that helps so much. I'm happy we had the seats already done. If you look back at the mermaid, you can see that she now looks like a Malaysian Goddess instead of a Topless Gnome!

Here there be Dragons!

It continues to snow as I write this. Word has it we are about to get dumped on! We sold 5 seats today, Breaking the slump for a little bit. I made a couple of dragons tonight. Tried to explore a little but they still look a little too similar. Ah well. I hope the picture captures them well.

Satisfied customer!

I love hearing from satisfied customers! Someone who purchased a seat from us a few weeks ago blogged about it. http://www.caudata.org/forum/blog.php?b=126
I probably blogged about carving it! Check out her comments!

Snowy Friday! Origami time! (Warning! Nudity!)

It snowed a LOT last night. about 12 inches! Luckily the snow plow guy actually plowed our side for a change. My poor mermaid gives you a hint of the depth. ( I should have carved her up with some clothes on....Brrrr!)

So with the holiday season winding down. We did a little organizing. Cheryl put up her stockings since most people are clearancing theirs and any stocking sold now will most likely not make it before Christmas. Seat sales have also dropped. I only sold one tonight. ( boo!) So I worked on a few more origami animals. I actually make these all the time when we go to the book store. I just fold and leave them. Maybe someone will find them enchanting enough to actually keep them. Can you guess what they are? To be fair, they are 3-D and I'm taking a 2-D shot of them. But I didn't want to clog the blog with redundant pictures.

Owls, A cat dentist, and bird watching with red

I have noticed that Owls seem to be very "in" this year. Maybe they were even before, But I never seemed to notice much. I carved up an owl tonight, but that is rare that people want an owl toilet seat. Cheryl's store, however, seems to sell out of owls faster than any other item.

Yesterday we had to get up early and take Red to the vet. It was a long day. He does have a tooth problem and the vet seems rather confident that she can fix him up with a couple of "pulls." ( Meaning he's gonna lose some bad molars) We are going to take him and Hiro to the vet on the 23rd and pick them up on the 24th. Anyway, the timing is totally off now and Cheryl and I went to bed early ( 2am) and got up at the insane time of 12 noon today! I was able to catch a couple of birds with Red at our bedroom window. It is not as easy as I thought. The cat kept getting his head in the way and the birds were gone in a blink. I mostly caught a empty window sill. But I did manage to catch a couple worth posting. Red was sure to "help".

Another vet visit....

The day started with only one seat to carve up, then quickly became 5! YEAH! This morning, it snowed! The flakes were HUGE! so I tried to take a picture to attempt a capture them ( look closely, They were even bigger than that!) . It has been so cold the last couple of days, that the snow remains fluffy and your fingers stick to any bare metal ( contact frost bite) Ah...Memories of Alaska.

In other news, Red ( the shop cat) seems to have come down with a minor ( hopefully) case of gingivitis. He has been having trouble eating lately and his gums are swollen and red on one side of his mouth. It obviously hurts him. I'm hoping that it is not to serious, and from what we have read on line, it seems rather common. ( though, new to us!) Well, I hate to see my big cuddly suffer so hopefully we can get an appointment and get him back on the" road to Wellville."