WOOD ON WEDNESDAY

I used a small branch to make a little pot with a lid.  As is my style, I like to leave some of the bark on for interest!

A very cute little piece---6" tall and 3' at its widest.  

Sycamore wood.

 

A BIT OF LATHE FUN

A small branch of crepe myrtle drew my interest for a quick project to produce a vase.

I always try to leave a bit of bark on for interest--this one was fun because the are is indented so it was very cool.

7" tall and about 3" wide.

 

YOU HAVE TO BE BRAVE!

So, to the delight of my heart, my grandson called and asked me to make him a mallet that he needs for his job.  He gave me a rough idea of what he wanted and a YouTube link so I could make one for him. He had brought me a large fallen branch from his home a few years ago, so I knew it would be a perfect choice because it was Red Oak, a hard wood.  The turning happened without too much drama. (it was very cold in the garage and I could've used mittens to keep my hands warm but I didn't want them filled with wood chips! lol)

And since the wood was very dry, there were a lot of dusty sawdust that made a right good mess!

After sanding and a good rub with oil, I left it until the next day. 

 I took it off the lathe and sanded down the ends, signed it and oiled the ends for the big ta-da moment.

When I was getting ready to wrap and box it up to mail to him, 

I noticed someone peeking out at me!  I almost asked Bill to remove it but decided I needed to be brave and pull it out myself!  I was very afraid it would break in half--it didn't!  

He came out in one piece, I wrapped him in a tissue and squished him.  Ughhhhh!  I then dropped some CA glue down the hole to be sure there wasn't another one! lol

And here is the first of its kind from my lathe, 

a 10 1/4" oak mallet!  

I was very excited to be asked to make this for #1 grandson, 

but also to be able to fill the request! 

 Love does stretch your abilities!

 

THINGS THAT DELIGHT

Binding happened! 

 I have the quilt all ready to hand in now to my QOV group!  

67" x 76"

I played around with this idea but broke the bottom point off when I got too thin!  It is going to be partially painted--in case you miss what this is at this stage, it is a snowman ornament that has an ice sickle at the bottom.  I went out back and cut a branch from one of the many live oaks 

so there are plenty off wood to perfect my 'idea'!

Don't you love to come home

 to your home all lit up during Christmas season?  

 

BECAUSE I COULD

I spent several hours hollowing out this chunk of wood

 to make a bowl!

I have the sanding sealer on now so I needs one more coat of shellac.  The bowl is very rustic and big!

This is almost all of the sawdust from the center of the bowl.  There is a lot of mess when you play with wood! Behind the lathe in the center close-up photo, you can see a large garbage can.  That is where all of the sweepings go and when it is full, Bill takes it out and places it around his plants out back!  

The wood gets returned to the soil that way!  

And look at those berries to the clerodendron trichotomum ! 

 They are turning blue!  Soon I will be able to give some wool a dye bath with these berries! 

SOFT AND HARD

I will do another two rows 

and then arrange these blocks for their final stitching. 

 I am hoping to finish the blocks 

and start to do some rows today!  

The backing fabric for the last quilt top came in the mail yesterday and I want to get that loaded on the frame to quilt.

In between those projects, I hope to wrestle this large piece; 

 a Sycamore tree crotch bowl! 

WOOD ON WEDNESDAY

The second Black Walnut bowl is completed! 

 It's about 5" across the top.

I had originally thought it was done when it looked like this but it didn't please me so I remounted it on the lathe and I like it so much more now!  Sometimes an idea just doesn't work; gratefully this time I could remove more wood and find what I liked after all!

 

WOOD AND WOUND!

Now this is a wooden bowl! 

 I am thrilled with the way this turned out!  

It weighs 7-8lbs, is made from a Live Oak Burl, 

16" long and 8" wide, and 5-6" high.  

This is a back  side of the bowl.  I think it needs a permanent place of honor on the shelf so I will need to do some rearranging to give it a proper spot!  It is too heavy to put on the table where I would have to move it for meals! lol  What an adventure!  

Here is how my ankle looks now--I have no pain or discomfort,

 I am very happy to report!  I have to change the bandage around noon;  I am very interested to see how it looks compared to the crater on my forearm, which is healing beautifully.  

Mary and I had a great day yesterday, shopping and then lunch at Applebee's then more shops-we even included a stop at a local quilt shop!  A perfect day!

 

HAPPY FOURTH!

Appropriately, this plant is called a firecracker fern!

(Cuphea Ignea)  We have two healthy plants that are

 a riot of colorful pops right now!   

I completed hollowing out the bowl portion of this project 

and I even finished the sanding! I also have most of the outside sanded and today, I am going to begin the wood finish which is going to be shellack. I can't wait to see how the grain appears when I apply the finish! The wood is so dry now and looks so pale, but afterwards it will be darker and richer in color!

I did have to quit working on it because of the

 '3 strikes and you're out!' policy! 

 I smacked the back of my hand trying to loosen the tool rest and immediately bruised it--one of the joys of aging is the ability to bruise superbly!  

Second, I pinched my last two fingers by not waiting for the bowl to stop turning completely before I reached in its way--

they are swollen and colorful, too!  

And thirdly, I caught my cord while making the last few passes with the amazing carving tool; I didn't get a shock or blow a circuit but I knew enough to quickly unplug it and lay it aside! 

 Splicing a new cord on will be a project for Bill, the electrician! 

 I know my limits! lol 

I think I am not as coordinated as I could be and am a bit out of practice again--I need to slow down but after TEN months of slow I am ready to MOVE!  

The next wood project will be a much simpler one.

Have a wonderful day;  ours will be a quiet one for us but the neighborhood will be living it up late into the night!

LEARNING

So way back in September when I got sick, I had this cool piece of wood loaded to turn into a bowl.  Ten months later, and I am finally getting back to it with some help from my grandson!

This is a knot of Live Oak and as hard as a rock!  It has cool grain and I could 'see' a very primitive bowl when I originally loaded it.  Unfortunately, it has languished.  Well, David helped me clean up the long unused lathe area but first-

he told me I needed a hand grinder with a carving wheel to help make this job possible!  Hooray for Amazon!

He carved out a lot of the unwanted wood and showed me how to use the tool.  I gained confidence as I worked and appreciated his strength to spell me as I tired a lot quicker than he did!

In no time, the bowl I envisioned began to emerge!

I then had the pleasure of teaching him the technique for using a bowl gouge to hollow out the bowl portion of the piece.  

He was used to working with a metal lathe and there was a little bit of a learning curve but he is a very handy young man and picked it up in no time--especially when this was such a bear of a piece to learn on!  I hope to have this finished for my post on Wednesday !  

Today we head to church and then will pick up some Chinese take-out on the way home!

 

THE DAY STRETCHED OUT

The seal went in the door on the right so I ordered some privacy film and put it up first thing in the morning.  it looks prettier than the foggy window and echos the bamboo that grows in our yard!

It even looks pretty from the pool side, too. 

 A nice bonus.

Next, I headed to the garage to tackle a bowl from the Brown Birch my son cut down in his yard.  It was so nice to work with green or fresh wood (it isn't so hard!) for a change! 

 I have it sanded and a coat of sanding sealer

 on after I took this picture. 

 The weather changed from hot and humid to rain

so I headed back inside.

With a good rain storm outside, I put on Vera 

and did some knitting!  Lena gave me some added love!

 

WOOD WORKS

I cleaned the wood shop area;  the tools and the floor, etc so that I could begin work on that burl we acquired a few weeks ago!  It felt so good to work in front of the lathe!!!!  I still have another hour of sanding and sealing this half of the bowl then I will be turning it around to hollow out the inside.

The burl bumps will be on the brim of the bowl. 

 I have no idea exactly how this will turn out 

but I can be sure it will be a unique piece!

FLAT AND FORM!

I will take this with me to quilting group today. 

 I hopt to finish the inner clamshells 

and then I can figure out the borders!  

(I'm thinking of applique four the outside but no promises!)

I have been distracted from the studio because of this wood! 

 It works up beautifully and it looks great

 for something that came from a chunk of fire wood! 

 (it is a piece of 8:" Maple!)

Another chunk of the same is now on the lathe wating for me!  

I only have to hollow it out and apply some finish! 

 It's been wonderful to work at the lathe regularly again!

 

TOUCHING BASES AGAIN

I puttered in the wood shop of the garage;  I had to replace the bandsaw blade--what a job!  I had to ask for Bill's help because I needed muscle! lol  We got it done.  As long as I was there, I decided to play at the lathe.  A friend has asked for some decorative birdhousses shaped like acorns to hang in his tree.  I had fun making this one but on the next, I will tweak the size.  This one is 5" long.  I have some eye hooks somewhere in this house but I couldn't find them anywhere!  Grrrr.  As soon as I find some or buy some more, I can't seal the wood ( I will hang it and paint it with spray polyurethane.)  It was very enjoyable to spend a few hours at the lathe-it was cool out and that was perfect weather for garage play!

In the house, I finished this month's Tunisian crocheted block.  Isn't it pretty?  This stitch is a lace pattern, obviously.  

Yesterday was blustery and only a bit of rain but things are supposed to change today.  I supported this flower shoot to the agave plant.  This is so exciting to see it growing BUT it is also a bit of a worry because the mother plant dies after flowering to make room for the baby plants growing around her.  It is a beautiful plant from my brother and I don't want it to die!  Nature in a nutshell, right?!  The stalk will reach about 20' tall--it is only 5' right now.  As long as the hurricane doesn't knock it down, it will have another few months to reach maturity.  Pretty cool.