And Then It Was WInter

We have had a particularly mild fall and beginning to winter here in the Dallas area.  However, today it looks as though we are in for our first snowfall of the season.  With the trees only just losing their leaves and many of them already beginning to bud out again I hope this projected week long freeze does not damage the landscaping too much.  Last year we lost a large oak that we had babied for 8 years.  See my post about a very expensive walking stick.

With the weather turning cold I am breaking out the winter recipes and a large pot of chili is cooking as I write this.  The cats are reveling in a lit fireplace.  We have only turned it on for them once so far this year.  They like laying in front of it.

I worked last week to finish the garage which has been an ongoing project for a while but it is now complete.  Completely painted completely organized and ready for me to create something outstanding.  Now what that will be I don't know.  I have a number of projects that I want to get to.  One being to turn on my lathe for the first time in seven years.   I hope it works.  It is actually a new lathe that I bought when we moved to Murphy and only used once.  The work I do on the lathe is some of Pam's favorites.  Mostly candle holders and small plates and bowls but, unique and great gifts for our friends and families.  I also want to carve more walking sticks and have a number of other carvings laid out.

Here is the latest carving.  A small angel that I designed.  Hopefully I will turn this into an article in the next few weeks and see if I can get it published.

This was done on a piece of scrap pine as a proof of concept.  I then reduced the drawing even further and I am carving it from a piece of mahogany.  Given my choice Mahogany is one of my favorite woods and my favorite to carve or turn. In furniture I prefer pine or aspen.   While I often carve pine it does not hold fine detail well but I hate to waste wood and small scraps are fair game for my experimentation.

This is the small angel in process.  The knife gives you some idea of the size. This represents about an hour worth of work  by time of completion I will probably have about 4 hours in the carving.  It takes about the same amount of time to carve the larger versions.

I also have a Santa that I designed in progress.  I find it is best to have two or three carvings started as some of the fine detail can become tedious and the ability to work on something else is sometimes helpful to the process.

He is also a pine scrap.  When done he will be a Christmas ornament.  I plan to make a larger version as a lid for a cookie jar and a smaller version as a pin or refrigerator magnet.  He too will eventually be an article I hope.

With a cold rain falling outside I leave you with the boys sunning themselves in their favorite window.

May there always be a sunny spot in your live.

More Later

Bruce