And Then there were Boxes!

OK since I'm all over the place after the toilet seat, I decided to once gain list my boxes on Etsy. I did manage to sell a few of them before. but it took a long time and I guess I lost faith. But Cheryl says they have to move out and they make us nothing sitting on the shelf. I agree! It was a wonderful learning experience, but it is doubtful I will ever make these again for profit. Cheryl says I have been a bum since I have not had a "LARGE" project to keep me busy. It's funny because whe I was totally immersed in the wood elf, she complained that she never saw me! In other news, We found a couple more White Morals in our "secret' spot. it's been pretty dry and it still is rather early for them. A few more and We will have enough for that Puff Pastry Cheryl has been eager to try out. MMMmm Mmm!

Finished boxes. Yes! Totally finished!

So tonight I finally finished the boxes and now they will be ready for pictures and posting in my Etsy shop. IT took a while to get here, but who ever said learning was easy? Especially when you are teaching yourself and your teacher doesn't know anything! Looking back, the hinges were a challenge. And still have a few issues that need to be solved. The first two I used Ebony stain. I thought they looked better with a dark "royal" color. Unfortunately, the contrasting wood on the hinge does not show up much when everything is black. After staining, I used a simple furniture wax as the ultimate finish. ( not polyurethane this time) I love the luster that the wax gives the wood. Kind of an antique look. After spending three years in the Army, I got pretty good at polishing boots. Polishing books is like sharpening chisels: everyone has their own way of doing things that they think is the best. For me, A good boot brush can give you a pretty good shine and does not take long to do. For the next several boxes though, I tried natural stain. Cheryl likes this the best, and I though it was the best way to show off the spalding in the maple. It also allows for the oak hinge to be shown off a bit more. So there you have it. You can't get much easier than stain with a light furniture wax finish, Cheryl says they feel like the "exotic" woods at Woodcraft. ( they dip them in wax to avoid them from cracking) Hopefully I can sell a few and work on some more this coming week. Hope you're having a great weekend!

Finished carvings and an Origami Grasshopper

It's one of those days where I actually accomplished everything I set out to do for one day! I finished the carvings, installed the hinges, ( complete with the routering that was required) And even stained up the previous boxes with Ebony stain. I must say, even though the bugs are kinda cool to look at, they are rather challenging to get looking the way they should. Meaning, it's difficult to carve those little legs and antennae with what few chisels I have. All in all though, I think they turned out pretty good! Tomorrow I'll have to resharpen my chisels, and possibly regrind a couple ( grr) I should also have some pics of the finished stained boxes. Oh! And I saw this really cool bug made from Origami last night...so I thought I would give it a go and see how close to it I could get. Now...Granted...I did not have the pattern to this bug, so I just had to make up my own. I might try it again some time as there are possibly a few tricks I did not try on this flying grasshopper. Hope everyone is having a great week so far! Friday is coming fast!

Some butterfly carvings

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

Painted boxes.

Just took my time and worked on boxes tonight to finish them up. These pictures are them without the tung oil finish on them As it is, they are drying now. One of my air filter fans has been acting up lately, so I took it apart and I'm questioning what I should do with it next. I could reassemble it and set it back up as it was....OR...I could see about making a more permanent fixture/ air filter up on the ceiling. I have not made up my mind yet.

Bug!, Bees and Beetles

So the cat furniture is officially done now. I even put the computer on the lower shelves. The cats have not been hanging out on it much yet. But I'm sure that will change. At least red posed with it for a couple of publicity shots. I also worked on the boxes ( remember those...three weeks ago!) I cut out the inserts and glued them up. That is pretty much all. Waiting for glue to dry is not fun. So then I worked on a few more bugs using the blinzt bird base as my starting point. I even took a stab at a hornet/ bee. I should have picked a better color though.

I can't believe it's Mitvoch

Where is the week going? It's flying by! Tonight I took the time to finish painting the display case and cleaning up my workshop, which has been a disaster since the two projects. I Was able to fix a couple of clamps that I just recently bought that were slipping. Someone at the assembly plant put them together incorrectly. Rather than whining about it, I took them apart and fixed them myself. I just had to flip the two "catch" components and now they work fine. Hurray for self recovery! With a small caffeine buzz, I also carved up the last three boxes that I have been putting off for some time. Cheryl now says that I have to make a TV stand to match the two display stands. The snapped this picture and says that the TV stand is the one part that looks out of place. That might have to wait till this weekend though, Since I already have seven seats to carve up tomorrow. ( YEAH!)

Productive weekend.

Carved up a couple of seats and worked on some boxes. I only carved up three boxes tonight, and since we got a large order of seats for tomorrow, I doubt I will be able to finish them. At least I can always work on them during my "down" time. I surfed through my inspiration folder tonight and found a couple of designs I have filed away and never used What better time to try them out than on a box? I thought the "Jurassic park" one turned out pretty good. I can't wait to see how it finishes up.

Weekend boxes

Started a new round of boxes for this weekend. Pretty much only cut the peices and glued them up. With a little luck, I'll get the top and bottoms glued on and read for carving. Some good news is I got some more clamps tonight. Hopefully, They will come in handy and make the glue up go a little faster.