The Midnight Carver

More Origami Bugs

2010-01-06T20:09:00.000-08:00

Some more bugs to blog about. these Arbies wrappers are great for insect designs because the paper is so thin and yet pretty strong. Strong in that it won't tear, but not strong in that it will support the sculpture. That is why I have not been making any animal designs with them. ( I have, but they have not been very nice to look at) So enjoy the rhino beetle and the wasp. The rhino beetle is a mix between the Japanese and the Indonesian. But, then again, it's just paper! Oh! And to add a little to the mix, Here's the latest Anime that I have been hooked to. Pumpkin scissors! Strange name. but Cool anime. Takes place in a time similar to World War 1 Era. Enjoy the openning.

Origami because I can't carve

2010-01-05T21:22:00.001-08:00

I'm still banned from my workshop today, so to pass the time I've been working on some origami. This stupid cough just does not want to go away! The models today are a new horse with new paper. And a couple of long ear beetles. This first one was folded using a pattern and the second one is using My own folding. I think I like the second one better, although I think that the folding pattern has to be worked out a bit. ( there were some visually difficult folds in there.) I think mine was easier in the end however. the pattern was only 27 steps originally. Give it a try at this sight! The cats are feeling better. They are hungry again, and seem to be back to their old selves. Rashi still is pretty skinny though. Makes me wonder how much weight she lost during this little episode.

Sashi the Drama Queen!

2010-01-04T15:34:00.000-08:00

As you may know, Rashi has been fighting a serious cold for almost a week now. We thought she was getting better, after taking her to the vet and getting some medicine. She was eating ( not much, but some) she was drinking ( again, not much!) and she seemed to be over the coughing and breathing through her mouth. Then last night she decided to her "swan song". She stopped eating, drinking, and holed up in a closet for most of the day! Apparently...she is old ( 10 years or older according to the vet) and she always has been thin. Well, she was acting like a previous cat just before she died ( hanging out in the bath tub, kitchen sink, etc. ) Then Cheryl stepped in..... Cheryl filled the the medicine dropper with water and forced it down her. Then she ate and now she seems to be doing fine. I'll be very happy when she is back to her piglet self, eating all the food put out for all three cats! As for me, I've been fighting a similar cold since before Christmas! No sinus, just a nagging cough that simply won't go away. For this reason, Cheryl has banned me from the workshop ( the cold and dust is not helpful) So I'm researching wooden hinges for my box idea, along with some origami with a new paper. I have found a couple of really great ideas and resources on line. Wisdom of the hands, Fine woodworking, and Woodcraft. I really like the fine woodworking model and that was the most similar to what I had in mind. I want to use a finishing nail as the pin. It looks like it may be as big a challenge to get it down as the bushing template. But in the end, I want to figure this out and make some nice boxes that I will have 100% control over. ( see toilet seat supply issues in previous posts)

You still have to learn by "DOING"

2010-01-03T19:29:00.000-08:00

So I've watched countless episodes of the Router Workshop and WoodWorks, but in the end, I still have to figure it out myself....I'm talking about my template and router/bushing combination. So I trace on the design I want, cut it out with the scroll saw, then make sure that small imperfections are smoothed out. I even make the template slightly larger than the eventual material that will be routed out. But in the end, my results are not as perfect as I would have liked. A couple of things I "figured out" in the process. ONE my template is NOT 1/4 inch in depth like they told me at the store! It is actually slightly ( really slightly!) thinner. This causes the bushing to rub on the work piece instead of gently gliding along the edge of the template like it is supposed to do. SECOND is that my template is just not very straight. There simply MUST be a way to create a template that does NOT require me to use "Kentucky windage" in its design. That is the whole reason for making the template in the first place! So after about 2 hours of "fussing" with the template, and making multiple test cuts on scrap, I still have a slightly strange looking gift card sized hole! Well, I'm done wrestling with it at the moment, I"m off to see if the web has any ideas that I have not yet explored. As for other things. I have been working on some Origami ideas. Basically exploring certain papers and their thicknesses. This horse may look OK, but his back split open on the final folds. The thick paper, when wet folded, was not strong enough to take the stress of folding so many layers. Next I'll try folding slightly finer paper. We'll see how it goes.

Some butterfly carvings

2010-01-03T00:21:00.000-08:00

I carved up a couple of box lids tonight for my next project. One Peacock Butterfly and one Hawk Moth. After this I'm going to be out of maple, so I'll have to get some more. And I'll work on the bottom half with my new router bushings! As for tonight, it was fairly straight forward. And everything was going well until I snapped off the antennae of the butterfly. I have not decided what I'm going to do just yet. I may just leave it or carve the other one to match. They were coming out so well as it was, Baa! Ah well. Live and learn. Rash seems to be better tonight. Though she still is sniffing and not eating much. I'm hoping in a couple more days she will be back to her old sel

Avalanche victim in our driveway?

2010-01-01T21:33:00.000-08:00

I have been rearranging my shop area and basically trying to figure out where things are going to go and what will be thrown out. I happened upon this carved hand (see the bold link) I made for Cheryl so she could display her jewelry items, but she later gave it up. So with it having no use, and just taking up space in my area, I decided to have a little fun with it instead of simply burning it up with my other "reject" carvings. Maybe I'll scare the garbage man on Monday. In other news, Rashi seems to be doing better, though it's still by baby steps. She mostly breaths through her nose now and does not cough as much as before. She even stretches and nuzzles like her old self, but she has yet to eat anything ( I'm not to concerned about that, but I would like her to drink some water) We have been giving her numerous "steam treatments" in our bathroom with the vaporizer and I'm thinking she likes them.

UPDATE! Hey hey! Rashi finally ate something. I'm estatic! She is also looking a lot better. Go Rashi, GO!

Chisel Cabinet part 2 Finished! Oh! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2009-12-31T23:53:00.000-08:00

I just finished the cabinet, and no it's not going to win any prizes for design or beauty. The doors close, and if I had used better lumber, taken the time to square things up, etc. It may have turned out fancier, but it still functions and I'm happy with that. Besides, at a later date, I can always rebuild it with better materials now that I have the design down. Case in point of the "oh crap!" moments was when I assembled the doors upside down. I decided that, other than the cosmetic imperfection, it should function well enough and I didn't need to take it apart. Aside from that, I now have a nice safe and out of the way place to store my chisels where they are easy to get at. Tomorrow will be spent rearranging my shop stuff that was displaced. Oh! And as of the writing of this post, the new year is officially been new for 3 full hours! ( eastern time) Happy new YEAR! May 2010 bring you all the best! By the way, A Cat update...Rashi seems to be doing better though she is not out of the woods yet. At least she can sleep without looking like she is going to die. Hopefully the antibiotics that she frequently spits out at us are making it inside and doing their job. We'll keep you updated!

Chisel Cabinet.. part one!

2009-12-31T00:28:00.000-08:00

Well, life sometimes throws you a curve. I was going to make this a one day project, but our cat has come down with a serious cold and we went to the Vet today. So I got a late start on the cabinet, and I under estimated the materials a bit so there was a good chance I was not going to finish it anyway. So I basically worked on the back part and hammered out any design flaws. I would like to thank Cheryl for showing me this awesome piece of foam rubber we had lying around. It works AWESOME now! I can fit small chisels next to the larger ones and even my paint scraper. Cheryl's suggestion saved me from making a bunch of little slots for each individual chisel, but it did require me to use the wood that was meant for the doors. So the doors will be built later but for now...things are looking pretty good! Oh! and about the cat, the vet sounded positive. She has a chest cold and can't cough up the crap. ( I've been fighting a the same thing for several days now) Se we have been giving her antibiotics and keeping her in the bathroom with the vaporizer on full blast. It seems to be working. In case you are wondering. Sasha is the cat in the middle.

Sharpening the fun

2009-12-30T00:13:00.000-08:00

Tonight was spent sharpening my chisels, including the new ones I just got for Christmas. As previously posted, I just LOVE sharpening.....( sarcasm hint here) I have been putting it off since the tree carving was complete, and several of my favorite chisels had some serious damage that had to be reground and resharpened. After finally finishing that, I came to the conclusion that I need to make a better storage area for them if I want to keep them sharp and stop having them roll around in a cloth carry case. So tomorrow, I plan on starting my next project to make a wall case that will hold all my chisels safely and out of harms way. I can't wait to get started... Oh and to top it off. Westminster with the Way you Look Tonight. Enjoy!

Bandsawing a log! What fun!

2009-12-28T23:27:00.000-08:00

Well, kinda anyways....So we took a trip to my brother-in-law's ( Andy) workshop because he has a 12 inch band saw and I had some maple logs I wanted to experiment on. The Goal was to cut them all into nice 3/4 inch boards. The previously posted YouTube videos made it look like it should take more more than a few minutes per log. Then.... reality struck! Well, on the positive side, I was able to see first hand how it was done, and we cut up one log with no major incidents. The down side was it took about an hour to do one log! I decided to spare Andy the trouble of cutting up all the logs I brought and just charted this one up as a "hands on" learning experience. It was kinda fun though and I now have a better idea of the type of band saw I want and the type of band saw blade we will probably need for a job like this. I'd like to thank Andy for his patients and the use of his shop. I doubt he would ever have attempted something like that on his own without my persistent nagging. My new goal is to get a band saw! I simply must have one and the only limit at this time is the price for the "right" one. We'll see how it goes!

Cheryls Shop...finished?

2009-12-27T22:39:00.000-08:00

Well I hope so for the moment anyway. I completed the last two tables for her tonight and had to get creative with the last one. It was made for the corner. I think they look OK by themselves, but when you marry them up to each other, the small 1/16th of an inch difference comes out. BAAA! Well at least a couple of them are close. and they are all dead level so really there shouldn't be any complaints. Cheryl for the most part, is happy and I'm actually pretty relieved to be done with them. Now I have to figure out what to do with all that mismatched furniture she had before ( because, of coarse! they are now all in my area) Also I feel pretty confident to take on my own table in the near future. Tomorrow is another Grand Rapids trip with, hopefully, some band saw work to be done! I'll try to capture some pics!

Day After Christmas...

2009-12-26T23:58:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post about what I was up to and how my Christmas went. Well, Pretty good! I got a couple of chisels and a new tool. You may remember the "frustration" I had when I tried to take change my oil ( having never done it by myself before, might I add..) Because I did not have a tool that would remove the old oil filter. Well, my brother-in-law ( the family mechanic) made sure that was not going to happen again. They went all out for the expensive one! As previously posted, I got my chisels from Woodcraft. A V-tool and a #5 gouge. I can't wait to use them. As for the rest of the night, I have been working on cleaning the house after the holidays, and building another two tables for Cheryl. I didn't get as far as I had hoped tonight, but tomorrow should go faster. Oh! And Monday I'm planning on turning a couple of Maple branches that fell during the October wind storm into some usable lumber! So Andy! If you are reading this....Here is my plan...

Christmas Eve!

2009-12-24T23:59:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone! Just thought I would post a quick blog to show off a finished work and show off the cats. The two card holders I stained up with a dark ebony stain then gave them a light coat of satin finish. I then finished them off with some minwax brushed to a dull shine. I was not impressed with the satin finish, but then again, the poly was rather old. As for the Cats...well, here they are unwrapping their presents! Rashi is the one in the background that does not like her picture taken. Hiro has been fighting a cold for the last couple of days, basically he sneezes all the time. Hope you are all haveing a great Christmas!

Making butter toffee

2009-12-23T20:30:00.000-08:00

Getting ready for the holidays? They are almost upon us! Our little salute to the season is to make something totally sugary and fattening then give it away to friends and family! It's our way to thanking them for fattening us up for Thanksgiving. Anyway, this year we decided to make butter toffee. Its pretty easy actually, just melt butter, add brown sugar, boil, then add goodies. However, our first experiment ended in disaster 50 % of the time! Looking back, I think we relied on the candy thermometer too much instead of just our"experience" This time was way better. No burned sugar, no bad smell no ruined candies. We might be getting the hang of it! Might as well throw in a barbershop song for the holidays! Enjoy WestMinster Chorus! Great Day!

Cheryl's second cutting table.

2009-12-21T02:38:00.000-08:00

I just finished another table for Cheryl's shop. I thought this one would take less time, However, there were a couple of challenges that made it take some time. One was it had to match the first one perfectly. Yeah right! I'm impressed that it was as close as it was. There is a bout a 1/4 inch variation . which I blame on the first one because the second one is dead level. Well we May just have to match it up when I make the other two. as for now, this will have to do. I took a few more pics this time to show the steps of making the legs. Pretty straight forward and this time they seemed to turn out a little better. My goal is to finish the remaining two before Christmas. but I don't know..this next week will be busy. Enjoy!

A cutting table for Cheryl

2009-12-20T00:35:00.000-08:00

I was quite excited tonight because Cheryl asked me to make her a cutting table for felt and button sorting. This is something Cheryl usually does not do because she is afraid I will mess it up. However, my last few projects must have instilled in her a comfortable level of confidence. Well I thought it would be great practice for me when I eventually make my ultimate woodworking bench that I read and drool over in all the wood working magazines. Anyway, the feet took the longest time, but after I chiseled out the "half mortise" or whatever you want to call them, things went pretty quickly. So fast in fact, that I forgot to take more pics along the way. Cheryl is now so excited that she is ordering me4 to make the next three tomorrow! I don't know about three, but at least one should be doable, and probably faster now that I know what I"m doing. I'll sign off with the cats, breaking in the new furniture. Have a great weekend!

Another Woodcraft visit.

2009-12-19T00:06:00.000-08:00

Today we went to woodcraft in GrandRapids for my Christmas present. I know it is not much of a surprise if you know the gift ahead of time. Then again we are old enough to just find something we want and buy it instead of having our loved one guess what it is we truly want. So I really needed a new #5 chisel to replace the old one I have been using ( it's one of my favorite chisels in my arsenal) As mentioned in a previous post, it must be made of a metal that does not like rough handling, because it keeps chipping. Pretty soon I won't have any of the chisel left to grind down and resharpen! IN addition to that, I got a 25mm V-tool. I have several smaller ones, but none of them help me much with larger carvings. I decided to go as big as I could and See where it takes me. I will probably start on a new project tomorrow. I can't wait! Oh and I have not posted any barbershop tunes lately! i found several new ones on YouTube. Enjoy!

Another small box

2009-12-16T22:26:00.001-08:00

Cheryl liked the one I did last night so much so, that she put in a request for her "secret Santa" So I followed the same procedure only this time I chose a squirrel. This time, the maple was less that friendly though. The grain was wavy in a bad way, the planing had a bunch of tear out, and my 1/8 th inch router bit was dull. However, I persevered. I think it turned out pretty good after all. and after doing a couple of them, I may just see if there is a market for these. After I get all the bugs out. I will also have to work on getting the price down. Maybe oak instead of maple, Maybe power carving instead of chisels. We'll see. Enjoy the pics!

Small box for Christmas

2009-12-15T22:30:00.000-08:00

Just thought I would whip up a small carving accent for the family Christmas this year. Ok, I know there is a risk that my brother in law might be reading this, but then again, maybe not. So I wanted to show off what I did. It's pretty much like my other relief carvings, I draw on the design, router around it, and then round it over with chisels. I used maple once again because it seems to be the most friendly with sharp chisels. My Dremel tool would just tear it up. After carving in the lizard, I outline the real gift and route out the silhouette, along with the placement for the hinges. Then simply put it all together! A small carved accent package for a gift card. A little nicer than the crap you get in the store. plus its fun practice for my carving. Need an excuse to carve a gift? Try it out! who knows, maybe they will even keep the box!

Final sanding and Paint!

2009-12-14T01:43:00.000-08:00

Finished the hair and sanding then stained her. I'm not really sure why I bothered to stain her other than just to see what oak would look like. I was planning on painting her all along. The stain settles the question since the nose looked dirty and the bondo obviously did not stain up. Anyway, I spent the rest of the night trying to get the colors right, but it is late now and she is starting to look "off" to me at this point. I was planning on touching her up a bit tomorrow after having some time to fully dry and then adding a coat or two of polyurethane. I was kinda happy with the way the cat turned out, even if the stripes do look a little bright at the moment. She's so close to being done, final pictures in a couple of days!

Some Hair and Repair

2009-12-13T11:01:00.000-08:00

Last night I worked on a few more details. Basically the hair. First I re sanded down so there were no tool marks from before. But before I started, I had to repair a large chunk of wood that was missing. Here's something you don't see or read about in many magazines. IF you do, The person usually cleans up the area and glues in a piece of replacement wood or wood shims to fix the crack. However, this area was the part that was eating my chisels. So to keep things easy, I used Bondo ( car repair stuff) I've used it before on taxidermy so I know the procedure ad results pretty well. After about 20 minutes, it is nice and hard. Then I moved on to the hair. I was going to keep it fairly simple, but then I got lost in the fun. Basically you make a series of "S" shapes and occasionally overlap them. After three hours...I got about half her head finished. I used a v-tool, veiner and a short bend v-tool for those difficult spots ( lucky I had the short bend or the area by the ears would be impossible!) When I get finished, I'll probably re sand off some of the lose shavings and flatten the Bondo area. then we will move on to the painting! I can't wait...

Some details: Hair cut, whiskers, and eyes

2009-12-11T23:17:00.001-08:00

Tonight I had a couple of hours to spend on the tree so I wanted to work on her hair a little more so she did not look like she had a French wig on. Cheryl says I took too much off and she liked the "windy" hair I had before. I'm not sure but after looking at the before and after pics, I think I will lay off taking more off the head. Then I worked on the cat a little, using a v-tool at first then stooping to use my Dremel, I put some texture in his body. I also worked on her eyes a bit. It's funny, while looking at her, her eyes look fine, but in the picture, you can see the small inconsistencies in her eye lids and eye shape. Ah well, no real human has a 100 % symmetrically shaped face. Why should my carving be any different? I'm not sure how much more I will mess with her carving wise. It seems that I may be doing more damage than improvement at this point. So next step will probably be a re sanding, clean up of the hair tips and dress, then paint. Oh! I might have to repair the shoulder as well. More on that later! Enjoy.

Back to carving.... a little.

2009-12-11T00:54:00.000-08:00

Cheryl and I are caught up at the moment on the stockings so I took this brief time out to mess around on the tree carving again. I was going to just spend 10 minutes on it but I ended up spending three hours! Where did all that time GO? Time flies when you are having fun. But to be brief, I worked on the eyes and hair some more. They have been bothering me every time I pass it by when we walk out the garage. So I spent time on her face, evening up the cheeks, smile, and making her jaw line smaller. I didn't get a finished shot of her hair yet, but at least it looks less like a bird nest and more line a head now. Perhaps I'll get a little time to work on her again tomorrow, but things are not looking that bright as the orders continue to pour in. Enjoy!

The longest day....for me anyway

2009-12-09T23:43:00.000-08:00

Cheryl and I have been working non stop for the last three days. Pretty much on only 6 hours of sleep each night. However! She is finally caught up with the stockings and we can now continue to list more. Talk about being unprepared for this holiday Rush! Normally I would have been carving toilet seats like this, but since Cheryl's stocking business is now become our primary means of income, we have to make as much as we can when the sun shines. Well, It is fun working for yourself, because we can play any music or listen to any show while we work. So here are a couple of our favorites. Sgt Frog and Shin Chan. See them at Funimation.com and you will laugh.

Crazy Christmas Rush!

2009-12-06T22:09:00.000-08:00

Ok, So it looks like i will not be posting much about carving for at least the next several days. You see, Cheryl's shop is completely overwhelmed at the moment and I have been trying to help as best I can with some of the orders. Unfortunately for her, I'm a carver, not a sew-er ( as in "one that sews" not a sewer as in"one that drains water off the road" Meaning that I can't help with the assembly of the stockings. Basically I fold the free gift and cut out the shapes, tend the Etsy store and sort buttons. I'm also in charge of snacks and entertainment for her so she does not get worn out sewing. Well, that's about it for now. As for Anime.. Here is Area 88. It's pretty good without all the bells and whistles of the usual anime. That is no mecha, magic, or monsters. Just really cool airplanes that are flying today. Enjoy the opening and if you get a chance, look it up and have fun with it.