a load off my shoulders

Monday I got the glossy clear acrylic, though it took me two stores to find it, apparently our Evil Empire is phasing out the Krylon brand in favor of Rustoleum but fortunately the Sherwin Williams paint store here had it and it was on sale, and tested it out and it's fine but I didn't get the aluminum coated. And I went by the frame shop to order my hangers and while I didn't get the plywood glued to the backs of the aluminum, I did finish lapping the backs of the two glass panels.

Tuesday, was also grocery store day and before that I went back over to the frame shop to take Margaret the screws that I know are the length I need since I forgot yesterday and spent way more time than I have visiting with her and so by the time I got back from the grocery store it was really too late to go over to the shop and get started on anything so I went over and turned on the AC so it would be already cool when I went back over after lunch. 

Well, it was a frustrating day. The Loctite glue I decided to use is not usable, at least not by me. I bought two small tubes, opened one to glue the wood to the back of the aluminum and I couldn't get it out of the tube! I'm squeezing with all the strength I can and managed to extrude about 1/2” but as soon as I relaxed my grip, most went back in the tube. OK, I told myself, must be an old tube so I opened the other one. Same deal, no way to squeeze out a line. So I ended up using the GE silicone (5X stronger!) for the wood to aluminum with one dot of the Locktite in each corner. I could probably use the GE for the glass to metal but I can't find any info on shear strength for the product, so I did some more research and decided on Liquid Nails FUZE-IT 'all surface, bonds almost everything' with it's 400 pound shear strength to hold up my 4 lb 6 oz piece of glass.

I did get the aluminum coated with the glossy acrylic.

So today, Wednesday, I made another trip to the Evil Empire, not expecting them to have the Liquid Nails because they hardly ever have what I'm looking for, and miracle upon miracle, they did have it. And now the glass is bonded to the aluminum and judging by how much effort it took to make minor adjustments to the position, that glass isn't going anywhere. I can't believe how much better, lighter, I feel! Still no pictures yet, waiting for it to set and need the hangers which I will pick up tomorrow.

The angel trumpet is out of the kiln, plaster removed, had its vinegar bath. It's very rough looking right now pre the finish work. Not enough color in the leaf and the shading didn't come out as smooth as I wanted. Hard to tell about the shading in the flower, some of the more subtle effects don't show up until the finish work is done but I'm not sure it shows up. I didn't have quite enough glass, a little dip on the backside and definitely not enough white as the very last layer as it contracted a bit and doesn't go edge to edge. This is what happens when two years go by without doing any casting. I consider this a warm-up, remembering.

Tuesday night I made a big salad for dinner...spinach, baby lettuces, celery, dried cranberries, pecans, mandarin oranges, granny smith apple, pasta, and feta cheese.

The really hot high 90˚s, maybe even triple digits, they were forecasting for this week has not materialized. High today is supposed to be 94˚ and after that the next 10 days range from 88˚ – 92˚. Late summer signs are appearing. The clump of pampas grass at the other end of the street is putting out its blooms, the snow-on-the-prairie is blooming in the pastures, the tallow trees have been dropping old leaves for weeks.

Well, it's very dark out there in the distance, and rumbly and the wind is picking up though the sun is still shining above my house. I hope we get some rain out of it.