Thursday cram day!

Tonight I had to catch up all the carving for the week since tomorrow is Friday. 7 seats in all! Not a bad last couple of days. I'll be babysitting them all night tonight to make sure they get their second coat and are able to be shipped out tomorrow. Other than that, It has been raining all day today and most of the snow is melted. We have a wonderful "lake" in our front yard and I'm sure the small pond will soon be teaming with "life". (by life, I mean mosquitoes) It was warm enough for a moth to grace our window tonight. And I just had to capture the little maze the voles have been making under the snow this winter. The thaw has finally revealed them. Tomorrow, after our bookstore visit, Cheryl has authorized me to begin our next project. A modern cat post furniture. I can't wait!

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!)

Display case #2

This time I took a few pictures as I went along. I was able to finish it all in one day! It took less time now that I was knowing where I was going with each step. I think this one turned out better than the first one.
Here's a close up of the crosses, I had to cut them each individually so they would fit nice and tight.
Here's a close up of the notch cutting for the crosses.
They slipped into place and were able to be glued as is with out clamps.
Then I clamped on the back and screwed it into place. And that was it! I snapped a quick pic of it side by side with the first one. Cheryl painted it tonight and will put a second coat on tomorrow. I was also able to carve up 4 seats tonight. Some of the pictures will give you an idea of just how small my shop is. I have to move everything to one side or the other just to turn the case. What a fun experiment! Cheryl is thrilled with it and now has the confidence to conscript me into several new projects! (YEAH!) I'm glad I'm winning her trust. I still have to convince her to allow me to add a carving or two to the furniture. I might have a opening with the next project.

Weekend round up!

Caught up with the weekend seats tonight, leaving my Monday open for the second Display shelf construction. I know it might be hard to believe, But I just love carving. I procrastinate from time to time, but as soon as I start carving, it all floods back to me on why I'm doing this for a living. Oh! Just a small point that I thought I would show off. The wolf seats ( for some reason , the wolf seat seems to be a VERY popular design lately) are one of those designs that I will never make EXACTLY the same. it's just impossible to blend the whites, grays, and blacks to perfectly match the original every time. However, since there are no two wolves the same in the wild, I feel that this small difference is acceptable. I do try to get them at least close to the original. As for the shelves. Cheryl put on the second and hopefully last coat of paint on them tonight. I snapped a quick pic just to show it off. I really like the way it is turning out. Here is a picture of the original inspiration piece. Minus the bottom drawer, Cheryl did not want that part, and I was happy to comply.

Display shelf project

I have been working on a Display Shelf this weekend And over two days It is nearing completion! Yesterday, I was humming right along until I built one of the sides upside down. A minor problem but it messed up my "chi" and I had to finish it day. Cheryl is painting it black as I am writing this so hopefully, tomorrow, I will have a "finished" pic to show off on the blog. She also wants me to build a second one to match this and flank the Television. ( YEAH!) I don't know about other men, But my projects have a "time window" on them, where if I don't get them done by such and such a date, Cheryl will BUY it from the store! Either the project is 1: Expensive, 2: Ugly, or 3: Cheap cardboard furniture that is embarrassing to have in the house. So I do feel a bit of pressure to make things that do not take too much time. I have to carve up some seats tomorrow, so I may not get to the second shelving unit until Monday.

It was just ...one of those days!

Yep, it started out ok, packed up the seats and delivered them to UPS. Then, While parking at our usual lunch spot, Cheryl noticed a rather large "bulge" along the side of the tire. A couple of weeks ago, we hit a pothole and lost our hubcap. But the tire seemed intact so I just made sure the air was proper and called it a relatively harmless incident. Now, Cheryl is the kind of person that does not notice FLAMES coming from under the hood! So when she notices something and mentions it to me, I'm instantly panicked! SO... My bright idea: lets go home, and change the tire with the spare. In the light, near the tools, near the heat. Sounds good, right? You probably know the punch line! First, I could not find the handle to the jack. Then the spare tire is FROZEN to the car. ( I'm still baffled on how that much ice got in there to surround the spare) It snowed ( not much, but just enough) it got colder ( not much, but just enough) We still needed to go out for an elongated seat, So with the new spare on, we go out. 15 miles from home, the store does not have the seat, and the spare tire goes flat on the highway, in the dark, cold, snow! No problem, ( I'm in denial at this point) there is a gas station just next exit. We'll inflate the tire be good as new. Of coarse! the air hose is out of order! By this time I'm insane! The spare now has the tire popped off the rim and I end up putting the bulging old tire back on. In the cold, ( by now, very cold) windy ( now it's windy!) snow ( its REALLY snowing now) And it is dark! So the seat will have to wait till Monday and I will spend tomorrow getting the old tire AND the spare fixed. As for the rest of the night, I'm going to sit really still and try not to breath!

Another Odd ball day

I'm not complaining! I'm happy for the sales. I just needed a subject to write about. The "rare" seats tonight were the dolphin, manatee, and clown fish. They all sound like they should be common but alas they are not. I like the clown fish one but it seems to sell less often then the other two. ( even manatee!) The Shop Cats were all in good form this evening. Luckily, they bothered, er I mean "helped" Cheryl instead of me. Hope everyone has a great Thursday!

Odd ball Tuesday

Odd ball in that it is one of those days where there are no similar seats to carve and paint. I guess you just have to do it to know what I mean. Basically, all the seats and their color pallet are different and thus, I have to use every paint color at my disposal and wait for them to dry. It takes a long time to do fewer seats. This doesn't happen very often, but when it does, it means a late night for me. ( It's 6 am as I write this. And I still need to sleep!) Ah well, I'm off! I still have two more for tomorrow, And we are out of boxes! ( Yippee!) So only Mondays and one seat from tonight will be going out in the morning. ( err, afternoon, depending on how you look at it, Even I'm confused! Oh! And before I forget, I may have a project in the works for this weekend! Cheryl wants me to build a set of bookshelves. The fancy kind! I can't wait to take a crack at it.

Double mint Monday!

Remember those double mint gum commercials? ( am I showing my age?) Anyway, I had that jingle in my head as I was carving tonight. It almost sends up a red flag when I have this many double orders. Cheryl assured me that everything was in order, but still, this does not happen very often. I still have three seats left over for tomorrow too. ( yeah!) Hopefully, we will continue to get orders and my boxes will continue to be put on hold. Oh! And the "helpful" shop cat took over my chair for the entire painting process. I don't think I have added a picture of him in a while. Have a great Monday. ( or Tuesday, as of this writing)

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.

Carp a diem.

Only had one seat tonight so I started and finished another panel. This time it was going to be a fish, specifically, a Koi. But I didn't want ti looking as bright as I normally make them so I toned down the colors and ended up with them looking more like plain everyday carp. Even so, Cheryl says that simple "carp" designs are "in". I guess it will depend on if you like Japanese designs or not. Regardless, I think it turned out pretty good. I took several pictures along the way. I wanted to show off a little of the kind of cupboard door I'm usually dealing with. In this case, the people screwed in some paper towel holder on the inside. I had to chisel out and fill in the hole they made. In the end, you cant tell. You might recognise the pelican design from one of the boxes I carved up a couple of weeks ago. I always like it. Pelicans are a cool bird, as long as you are not fishing or a fish farmer.

Late night carving

Caught up the four seats tonight. I'm waiting to put a last coat of finish on them . I was also able to put a coat on the blue jays. The high gloss finish puts a whole new dimension on them!

Carved panel...day 2.

Finished painting the panel tonight. I'll have to apply poly tomorrow when I get a new brush. I'm hoping the paoly will bring a new dimension to it. Right now all I see are the flaws ( Cheryl says they are imaginary) So, I'm calling it done for now. I might put it up for sale on Etsy later in the week. Also I put the cupboard doors back on after a coat of black paint. I think they are now "more boring " than they were, but I don't have a "before" picture.