getting there

For those of you interested in making the Israeli couscous pasta salad, do scoop the seeds out of the cucumber before you chop it up. I don't have a precise recipe, just eyeball the proportions.

Tuesday I drilled the holes in the sides of the shadow box frames and got two light coats of the flat black on the plywood backs. One more coat and then I'll start on the frames with the glossy black. I'm ready to get these two projects done, the luna moth in the kiln and the trumpet flowers mounted, so I can start on the next two models. That's my favorite part, making the models, turning those blocks and sheets of wax into a 3 dimensional or bas relief sculpture. There's a third one I need to make, a small botanical for a friend to fulfill my half of a trade. I've had the giclee print of her painting framed and hung for at least a year. Maybe longer.

Well, the pain in my rear is back (no, not the husband, he's here all the time), not my hip but on the right side of my butt near my tailbone but at least it's not the sharp pain it was before. Now it's more like a dull ache so I guess I pulled a muscle down there somehow though every day it's better.

The white glass I ordered came Tuesday so Wednesday, I got the last two layers of frit, clear then white, in the mold and it went in the kiln this morning.

I also finished painting the plywood backs and got the little risers nailed on that the glass will be glued to so that it floats in the frame and got two coats of the glossy black on the frames.

Here's one of the shadow boxes assembled and the next step is to nail the frame to the back piece, attach the hanger to the back, and finally glue the glass panels in place. 

weird font substitutions and more progress on the luna moth mold

Blog weirdness...I had a reader ask me to go back to the font I had been using before I switched to Skia because she had a hard time reading it. I'm happy to oblige so I switched back to Comic Sans. I changed the font on the reading list post and either changed or posted the next one in Comic Sans. The post about Jade I definitely composed in Comic Sans and published it. The mobile version on my phone is showing that post in the very flowery and hard to read font Zapfino. And that's how it shows on my sister's laptop as well. I have no idea what the fuck is going on but if you switch from the mobile version to the web version on your phone (there's a link at the bottom of the post) it still won't be in Comic Sans but it will be a much easier to read font. At least it is on my iPhone. And to make it even weirder, it showed up in the font Wingdings for another reader. So if this post shows up in weird fonts for you please let me know. I may have to find a new font though I have used Comic Sans with no trouble for many years.

Sunday morning the dog was going crazy barking. I let her out in the little backyard and she zeroed in on a spot under the house barking madly. Called her in and she sniffed along the exterior walls baseboard and then climbed up on the loveseat to look out the window and bark, hackles up. I looked out. It was one of the possums that live under the house or under the Wicked Bitch of the West's container. I guess this one lives under the container, an old boy slowly making his way back to his den.

Friday afternoon's progress on the luna moth.

Sunday I had an uninterrupted day to work and got all the color into the design areas so basically the fussy part is done. The only thing left to do is decide on the background color, fill that in, and then put in the clear and white layers.

Monday I got the background in. Now I have to weigh all the leftover colors to determine how much weight of glass is in the mold so I can know how much more I need to add as the clear and white layers. I may add more of the background color first though.

another mold in progress and misc. pictures

Sunday I unloaded the car and put away the display, rehung the work I had taken down to take, and in general put it all to bed til the next time. Monday, I selected the colors and color combinations from my samples for the luna moth mold and pulled all the frit out.

Tuesday, I measured out all the initial amounts of all the colors and color combinations, even sifting the frit of some of the colors to winnow out the smallest particles, in between powder and 'fine', for the small spaces. I don't usually do that. Usually I measure out a color when I'm ready to use it and I have never sifted out the finer particles before but I think it will be beneficial, in fact, I can't believe I never thought of doing this before now. So now I'm ready to actually start filling the mold. I hope that measuring out the initial amounts in advance will speed up the process.

Wednesday I started filling the luna moth mold and right off the bat I messed up. Started with the moth body and got it all nice and tidy and then looked at the picture and realized I hadn't put the band of maroon in that goes from wing tip to wing tip and across the body. Sigh. Took it all back out and started over. I thought I had a check up this morning with the electrophysiologist but they never called to confirm and it turns out I don't have an appointment for today, Robin has a late shift so I basically have a free day today to make more progress.

Some miscellaneous pics...my confederate rose was very late to bloom and the first ones to open were stunted but it finally gave me some pretty blooms.

I have given volunteers to two of my neighbors and theirs bloomed fully before mine. A couple of weeks ago another neighbor knocked on the door after one of them told her I had given them the plant wondering if she could have one too. I happened to have a small one in a pot in my 'plant nursery' under the magnolia tree that I had dug up in the spring and happily gave it to her.

I guess we finally had some cold enough nights to finally trigger a color change in some of the trees and leaf drop over the weekend. The ginkgoes turned yellow and the tallows turned red and orange. Some of the other area trees also turned color like the sweet gum I pass by and the bradford pears.

With every gust of wind it rains leaves. There's a solid blanket on the ground now.

I popped in to see Miss Paisleigh yesterday when I took Robin home after work. She's two months old tomorrow.

My morning oatmeal loves me.

This morning's progress.

wasted days and wasted nights...

Wednesday...Right now I'm discouraged and not happy. The paint job looks like crap, too thick in some places, varying levels of shine, can't get the fucking spray paint in the corners which is why it's so thick in some places. Tomorrow I'm using acrylic to get into the corners and then I'm spraying the whole things with clear matte finish, fuck the glossy finish on the trim. I may just chuck them and start over or beg my brother to make them for me in time to get them to the gallery by Jan. 21^st and just not try and show one on Saturday.

And then Abby texted me to see if I would lead the yoga class tonight or she would have to cancel. She asked me on Monday too but I declined as I was glad to have the extra hours in the shop so no yoga. But today with my frustration I agreed. I needed to get out of the shop, away from the source of my discouragement, and focus on peace of mind and body. It was a small class, just three besides myself but they always enjoy it when I lead. So it did me good. Tomorrow, as they say, is another day. I'm letting go of the unnecessary anxiety.

Thursday...Got back from SHARE and went over to check on my shadow boxes and they didn't look that bad but I still didn't want them glossy. So I used the black acrylic paint to get in the corners, which was matte, and then sprayed one with the clear matte finish and it wrinkled the black paint in one corner where it was thick and left a cloudy surface in some places. Sprayed it again, cloudy surface gone but paint wrinkled in three corners. Sprayed the second one with the clear matte finish and it had areas that were cloudy when I closed the shop. Fuck it. I can't use these, don't have any more time to deal with them, I'm tossing them in the trash. I just wasted two weeks when I could have filled the luna moth mold.

But black was definitely the right choice. Here they are in place before I used the clear matte spray.

Came straight to the house and texted my brother, who lives in Washington state and who is an excellent woodworker with all the right tools, about making the shadow boxes for me like he did the ones for the feathers. They'll look much better, more professional, and he can do it for me in time to get them finished and off to the gallery for their botanical show in February.

I did decide on the arrangement for the pieces I'm taking which will hang on my display but I still have to move the hangers around (and switch the position of two of the feathers).

Friday...Big push today, last day to get prepared, put the display stand together (that's first on the agenda) and then dismantle it, figure out my pricing and get my tags made, get everything I need packed and preferably loaded in the car by end of day. 

deadline looming

It was sunny and not humid Monday which was helpful. Even so not everything went smoothly. Actually nothing went smoothly. First I spent about an hour and a half sanding down as much of the black paint off the shadow box as I could, all by hand, but getting into corners and the seams where the trim meets the plywood was difficult. I finally decided I had done as much as I could and sprayed it with the primer. It dried fairly quickly and looked OK so I sprayed on the first coat of black. In the meantime waiting for the primer to dry I decided to put the second shadow box together. First, second, and third sides went on, fourth side did not. It was too short and the third was too long. Had to quickly pull it all apart before the glue set and wash it all off. Ended up having to cut two new pieces, drill new holes, and figured out a better way to glue the trim pieces on. Then I nailed in the little nails, so far so good until I turned it over and while everything lined up and met on the front, not so on the back and corners. So then I filled all the gaps with wood putty and sanded it all down again. It looks good. Ready to paint with the primer. By this time it was dark in the big shop and I couldn't see how well the black on the first one looked. I know I'll have to touch it up a bit.

Oh, and the roof still leaks where I made my repairs. Not as much as before I don't think but I don't know where the water is getting in, perhaps from the seams of the metal panels so I'll have to get more stuff and try again.

Today, got the second shadowbox primed and the black looks good on the first but will definitely need a second coat. Ordered my hangers today and picked them up. Got the second coat on #1 and the first coat on #2 though I think #1 is going to still need a few touch ups, especially in the corners, and of course I'm looking at the paint job with a very critical eye. Stop that! My fear is that the shadow boxes will look amateurish.

I'm starting to stress out about Saturday. Not the day but getting everything done by Friday evening. I have to decide which pieces go on the board on my display stand, which other pieces I'm taking, pricing everything (I'm going to low ball the oldest work to hopefully get rid of it), getting price tags, finding my business cards, getting packing materials in case I do sell something, getting everything packed and ready to load in the car very early Saturday morning, make sure I have what I need to put my display stand together when I get there, etc. The usual stuff. Fortunately Kathy is doing the work of deciding how all the furniture (display stands, shelves, and tables) will be arranged in the booth and still allow for traffic flow.

OK, deep breath, breathe in, breathe out. It will be fine. You are going to get to hang out with your friends all day.

And when Saturday is over, I'll have the luna moth mold to fill. A meditation of sorts. 

progress, no progress

I hope everyone had a drama free gathering with family and friends whether large or small or formal or informal. We are masters of the informal ourselves. Food and family is what matters. We raised our two kids in a small house, our daughter and son-in-law raised their four kids in an even smaller house. Their current house isn't much bigger if any at all and contains 5 adults, 1 baby, 4 dogs, 3 cats, 1 lizard, too much furniture, and no room for a table. They are experts at balancing plates on laps. Food was plentiful and all the family was there minus two, our son who stayed in the city and grandgirl Autumn who is in the rainforest of Ecuador working on her final research paper for her semester of study abroad. So it was a good day.

Decisions have finally been made and progress is happening. I decided to stick with my standard, painting the shadow boxes black. I also decided to float the trumpet flower pieces in the shadow boxes so Friday I cut 4” lengths of trim and used the liquid nails to attach them to the plywood intending to paint the first one on Saturday.

the blue tape on the trim pieces is to keep them from being painted

I want the plywood behind the glass to have a matte finish, the trim glossy, so after the paint dries I'll have to protect the trim, probably with painter's tape (fingers crossed) to spray the painted plywood with clear matte acrylic. I'll see how that works on the one that's already put together before I put the second one together in case I may have to paint the pieces first.

So, Saturday, dawned cold, gray, and wet, a light rain but steady and supposed to be this way all day, currently 44˚ and not going to get much warmer. My desire to get the first shadowbox painted was at war with my desire to not leave the warm house for the cold shop. Well, I've waited this long to get those trumpet flower pieces finished I guess I could wait another day. Besides, it would be a good day to watch part 2 of Peter Jackson's new documentary Get Back on the making of the Beatles' album and documentary film, Let It Be (Abbey Road was the last album they recorded together though it was released before Let It Be). The first part was just over an hour long and we watched it Thursday night. We were going to watch part 2, which is about 3 hours long, Friday night but things happened and it was 9 PM before we were through with dinner and settled on the couch. And so that is what we did.

I got over to the shop today to start painting the first shadowbox and applied two coats but it's not going well. The spray paint is supposed to be paint and primer in one but it's not working. The soft wood of the grain is soaking it up and the hard part is not.  I went out and got some primer but any other work will wait til Monday. I'll have to sand the black paint some before I apply the primer and also next week I have to put my display together and figure out what I'm taking and get it all packed for next Saturday. So another day with two steps back. I hope I get one of the trumpet flowers finished by then.

indecision and preparation

I'm no closer to deciding what to do about the shadow boxes than I was a week ago.

I pulled out the four stains I have and stained wood samples,

pine

red oak

I found a small black frame I haven't used yet and held the glass over it,

I painted a piece of trim white,

I painted a piece of plywood and trim black.

In the past I have always framed my work for hanging with black frames, custom made for each piece, as it sets the colors and luminosity of the glass off nicely though most just show a 1/4” edge of black around the work.

There are a few exceptions like this blue jay feather for which I bought a cheap commercially available frame

and the shadow boxes my brother made for the feathers.

I suppose I could try one of the stains and then paint it if I didn't like it.

Any decision will have to wait for another day or so. I spent yesterday making the cranberry sauce and all the prep work for the dressing which I need to get in the kitchen shortly to put it all together and get it cooking for our family gathering later today for Thanksgiving at our daughter's house.

Also yesterday I trimmed and cleaned up the mold of the luna moth that Marc made on Tuesday and did my volume measure and repaired some pretty deep holes where bubbles didn't rise up or got caught.

While my glass blowing friends Dick and Kathy opted not to do the open house again this year for various reasons, they and our friend Gene who does fused glass and myself are going in together for a booth space for a one day Artisan's Market show the first Saturday in December so I need to figure out which pieces I'll take and what I can fit on my display board as I'll only be using half my regular set up. I don't think I'll actually sell anything as my price point is mostly out of reach for this particular market but I'll enjoy hanging out with my friends whom I haven't seen in two years.

Wishing everyone a loving gathering with family and friends today be it small or large.

more progress, rethinking, and other miscellanea

Thursday, my SHARE volunteer day, was the last time we will be open before Thanksgiving and it was our busiest day so far with 35 families. We also had had a big food drive donation come in the previous Monday and another one come in Thursday. There was so much food and nowhere to put it as we had had a big delivery from the food bank the week before. I guess it's a good thing we had so many families because Jan kept bring cans into my station apologizing because there was no where else to put it but it was fine as I was loading it into baskets as fast as she was bringing it in. Robin was helping me the first two hours but then it was time to take her to work.

Friday about the only thing I got accomplished was cutting the new four pieces of trim and fixing dinner which was stuffed bell peppers, vegetarian version. I used a blend of barley, lentils, and split peas cooked with a little chicken bouillon, sauteed onions and mushrooms, and some leftover spinach mixed in. Sorry, no pic.

Today another day in the shop and I got one of the shadow boxes put together. What I didn't mention in my last post was that I went into Lowe's on Monday to get the new piece of trim and hopefully find a teeny tiny drill bit. No such luck but when I got home and rummaged through the little plastic box of dremel tool accessories, I found exactly what I needed and yes, I had already looked through that very same box before I headed out. Anyway I fit it into my hand drill and that's what I used to drill the holes in the trim pieces today.

a little suggestive, don't you think?

The plan was to leave the back piece the natural wood color and paint the trim pieces. In retrospect I should have just left 3/4” clearance around the cast piece instead of an inch (going with it anyway, not redoing it) and I'm not sure painting just that narrow border trim will be enough to offset the wood wood behind the cast piece. Right now it doesn't look 'finished' and I'm thinking maybe the whole thing needs to be painted. What I wanted was birch plywood, not pine, which is prettier and I think I would have been fine leaving the birch unpainted. 

I don't know, there's just something about pine that looks cheap, unfinished. I haven't glued the glass in yet and the background color is a little off because there's blue tape behind it (I don't want that part to be sealed or painted). If I don't paint the whole thing, just the trim, I was thinking white or yellow, but maybe it needs to be black. Fortunately, Rocky cut me two of each of the plywoods so I can play with the other ones.

I've got all the holes drilled in the trim pieces for the other one, the one on the red oak plywood and Rocky mused about staining the trim pieces instead of painting them. Something to think about.

Tomorrow I'm heading down to Matagorda to the beach, about an hour's drive each way, to see two of my river guide buddies whom I haven't seen in at least 15 years, probably longer. John and Elise moved to Tennessee after we all stopped guiding. Now that they've both retired, they RV all over the country and they're parked for the weekend at an RV park on the beach, heading west on Monday. 

As I've repeated ad nauseum, the arctic freeze did a number of everything here and things either didn't bloom or bloomed late. I got a few puny attempts from the yellow butterfly ginger earlier but this week two have bloomed nicely.

And I've noticed on my walks with the dog that my neighbor's live oak has produced an enormous amount of acorns this year. Live oaks are evergreens and all the ones here lost all their leaves from the freeze, so apparently they thought they're dying (they're not).

a typical sample of the ground beneath that tree

busy day, more progress, dinner

Thursday at SHARE was so busy! Last week we were supposed to get our food delivery from the food bank in Victoria but they somehow neglected to put our order on the truck. Anyway, it arrived Thursday and while I was packing all the bread into the chest freezer we started getting food clients. I was like 4 orders behind before I even started refilling the baskets and it just kept going. We had something like 19 clients and most were big families. I guess stopping the enhanced unemployment early in our state (just one of the many mean spirited things our governor does) has had an effect on people's ability to buy food.

First thing Thursday morning I got a text from the metal fabricating guy that yes, he had a drop off, the pieces were cut, he filed the edges to get rid of burs and they were ready to pick up. So I stopped by and got them on my way home from SHARE. Took them over to the shop after lunch, put the glass on for a quick peek, and I'm very happy with the look. Then I cleaned up the second trumpet flower mold and got my volume measure and put it aside until I get these two drowned feather pieces mounted and photographed and sent off to the gallery. After that I cleaned up the mold making table. And then I laid down for a half hour or so until time to leave for yoga class. A full busy day.

Friday Pam and I went to an estate sale 70% of which was holiday oriented. These people loved to decorate for holidays, and bake cakes for same. There were indoor and outdoor decorations for Christmas and Halloween, of course (these two had the lion's share of decor), but also Thanksgiving, St. Patrick's Day, Valentines day (it just occurred to me I didn't see anything specifically for Easter). And wreaths, lots of big gauzy wreaths and a few other oddball items.

not even all the cake pans

about a fourth of the outdoor decorations...maybe

Then I worked on the aluminum squares sanding the outer perimeters about 2” all the way around to give them an even finely textured look.

And then since it was my turn to cook dinner (I'm taking over two nights a week) that's what I did. I had half a link of already cooked venison and pork sausage from the night before so I sliced that up, peeled and boiled about a pound of potatoes and par boiled them long enough to cube them up, chopped an onion and garlic cloves, and sliced up half a head of cabbage. Sautéed the onions and garlic in olive oil and butter, added the potatoes and continued to cook them until done and browned, added the sausage to warm it up, and then 2 T water and the cabbage and stir and cover, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage is cooked to taste. Doesn't take long.

Today head to Lowe's and/or Home Depot to get a small piece of 1/4” plywood, peruse the adhesives and pick one, and get a strip of french cleat/z-bar to finish mounting the two feather pieces for the show for hanging.

work stuff and dinner

Monday I got all the rest of the frit in the big flower and ready for the background color which I still had not decided on. Sometime during the night I woke up with the the answer. I guess my mind had been noodling on it while I slept. I chose a color called olive smoke. I didn't want to use a blue which would have been my go to because the chemicals in some of the blues react with the chemicals in some of the yellows to produce a brown wherever they touch. I could have covered all the yellow with a thin layer of clear which would prevent that from happening but that would have been another whole day's work. Anyway, I think it will look fine with the color I chose.

Tuesday was grocery store and then back in the shop, got the background color in 

and then the rest of the glass, a clear layer and a final white layer. So now it's ready to go in the kiln.

Here's my work table.

Just some of my 355 color samples, these are mixed transparent colors. I also have mixed combinations of opaques, opaques and transparents (like the sand mixtures), pure color samples of all the transparents, opaques (frit and powder), and of the modeling glass.

All my frit and powder. There's also a table in the shop full of large containers of some of these colors. I will never use all this, I will never use most of this in what's left of my lifetime. I could probably winnow out at least a third of the transparent colors that I never or rarely use because they are so dense they just look black but I like having the option, a complete palette.

transparent colors on the right, opaque colors on the left

I checked with one of the metal shops here and got a sample of 1/8” aluminum and I think I like it with the feather pieces. I have to let the guy know so he can check and see if he has a drop off big enough to cut two 11” squares, otherwise I'd have to buy a whole sheet and that would be very expensive. So I'm waiting to hear about that.

And then I fixed dinner Tuesday night, tried my hand at another pastie only this time I did one big one instead of four little ones like last time. Same basic ingredients...shredded leftover roast and pork chop, onion, garlic, celery, broccoli, mushrooms, carrots, potato...a little bit of everything cleaning out the crisper in the fridge. This one came out better. The first time the filling was a little dry so this time I added some of my frozen tomato juice cubes which was perfect. Sort of like a pot pie only without the pot. Small disaster though, once I spooned the filling onto the pie crust and folded it over it split along the fold so I cut a section off the other pie crust (I buy them ready made, 2 to a package) and patched the split.

More finish work on the drowned feather piece Wednesday while Marc made the other trumpet flower mold. Worked on the rocks with the fine polishing point, and the feather, and the edges. Hot and sweaty work but getting there. the gray powder I laid down first in the feather really doesn't show except in certain light and certain angle, neither does the gray I used in the quill. Though I supposed those shadows are really the gray powder, just not as apparent as I had intended. 

I'm pretty single minded right now, nothing else to post about besides work but that will change as soon as I get finished for the show. I'll still be working, just not to the exclusion of all else.