04/27/2015

 I am Absolutely thrilled with my latest project!

This drawing is done in color pencil on a piece of scrap board a neighbor contributed.

In the past I disliked using color pencils and had pretty much disregarded them.  Until last Saturday morning.  I decided to give them another shot. I wanted to see how well they might work on a piece of wood. 

Now I think I am in love with them...and my results.

We start with a line drawing.

Then a start.

The picture below shows the point at which I decided to try the hairdryer. Redon and you will understand what happened.

So just a little FYI, I drew this with pencil and then inked it with an ink pen that is erasable.  Mind you I didn't even know that such a creature even existed as an erasable ink pen.   EURICA!  

And for those of you who may not know, the reason or the "science", behind erasable ink is friction... Friction produces heat and that erases the ink.  And, actually, on certain services like wood it will erace with the regular eraser, if you rub long enough, again producing heat.  

Also, you may or may not know, that color pencils have wax in them. So like the genius that I am I decided to hit the art with my hairdryer, thus melting the wax just a tiny bit and giving me even better blending.

Within 30 seconds POOF my entire line drawing was gone! Including the outlines on the color pencil work.  I just about cried. But it also turns out, that after the ink is gone there is some sort of residue left behind that makes it very hard to draw back over the top of it. So even though I got a little bit better blending, I had to redraw the entire piece and re-work the edges of the already completed color pencil work. 

NOT FUN!!!

The moral to the story? Don't afraid to try new things, but be cautious and prepared for dramatic learning experiences. LOLOL

Fortunately I was able to save it without having the sand it off the lumber and start over.

Now that the main design is completed I have to figure out what to do for The eye and the background.

Wish me luck.

11/05/2014

I have completed three projects today. The first one is another little red bracelet.

I also did another spatula/spreader, of 

course it's made out of Juniper/Cedar.

There's a tiny little spoon there also.

That makes six completed project so far this week and it's only Wednesday. I'm thinking I might need to do a basket here and there...

10/23/2014

New carvings!

10/20/2014

The wooden I played nice for the most part today. I did try and experiment carving against the grain and cracked it but that's okay… I still got four pieces completed.

Two little bowls and two necklaces.  I had in mind salt cellars when I made the bowls and of course the necklaces speak for themselves.

The bowl's could also be used as ring bowls on your sink.   That way you don't get your jewelry in the dish water.  I like to put my earrings and a little ball like this at the end of the day you decide.

I don't know why, but I really like the round hole against the more square edges.   I'm not real fixated on the bowl part being dead center either.  

I really don't want them to look like they were machine made and sold on the shelf at Walmart.  I want each piece to have its own character and personality.

Blue and Brown!

05/27/14

And then a beautiful day to sand wood.

Tomorrow the farmers market at St. Aug. Beach, FL at the pier.  See ya there!!!

Eenie, meanie, minie mo!

03/28/14

Which wood to use next.

And a closer look.

I love the organic sapes and color!

Number 3 for this week so far.

Makes me think of Mardi Gra!

Portable, collapsible warping board!

June 28, 2011

I made myself a portable warp board today.  I haven't used it yet, but I think it will work.  The four boards have holes their entire length and are infinitely adjustable.  The drinking straws are for protecting the yarn from the threads on the bolts.  The short bolts are only for stability.  When finished winding the warp...unscrew the bolts, take the 4 boards (which were cut to size) and they fit perfectly in the bottom of the tool box I will be carrying my weaving tools in.
 

I also got 2 more dowels cut so that I now have 3 full backstrap loom bars.  WoooHooo!  Got some small c clamps for holding the warp board steady and hooking up the loom as well.  When necessary.  

I am working hard at making my art very portable in preparing for the impending move.

Foot note:

For my portable warp board I bought bolts/screws that could be counter sunk into the wood.  Then instead of counter sinking them, I put a washer on both sides of the wood.  Then the screw goes right up into the washer closest to the wood and REALLY stabilizes it.  I also made sure that the guy at Home Depot who put the holes into the wood did not make the holes very much larger than the screw.  They fit kind of snug (no wallering around), also helping to avoid the leaning.  Each of the boards were stacked on top of each other so that all of the holes lined up as well as possible.  

Yesterday I did take a dremel and make the holes slightly larger as I was having trouble getting the screws in and out easily.  Basically I used a sanding bit and just smoothed the inside of the hole, making it every so slightly larger and less likely to catch on the sides of the screw as it goes through the hole.  

I have used it a couple of time so far and I am happy to report that it works like a charm.

I tend to wind very tight so I am very pleased that the bolts don’t lean. Especially since with backstrap weaving the warp is one long continuous thread. You don’t cut and tie on, which means if there is a loose spot the warp is basically unusable, unless you want to fight with it the entire time. I have ruined alot of warps trying to learn this consistency of tension. Fortunately I have learned to spot it before I put it onto the loom bars and I can just unwind it and rewind it. Lately it has been going better. I have found that one of the things that helped me was to stop switching back and forth between different looms. Now that I am mostly sticking to the backstrap, my skills are improving.