Monthly Archives: May 2019

Wood Burning.

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THIS POST IS BACKDATED, (it’s January 1st 2021, and I need to get back to burning!) and I took pictures after I did the work I was talking about in the post.  For easy reference, I am posting the Before/After the post pictures, so you can see where I was when I was stuck, and what it looked like after I did the work I was stuck on.

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Wood burning is one of the hazards of our tiny apartment…We have a garage, but it’s really far away, and most of my wood work is done here in the house….if I have to walk there every time I stain or varnish, shit is NEVER going to get done.

But the other issue is the smell. Varnish and stain STINK, and in our small house, they stink up the whole apartment. So I have to wait for warm weather and dry days if I’m going to stain or varnish indoors, and if I’m going to be outside, I have to wait for summer.

Because of this, I tend to burn in the Winter, and stain and varnish when Summer hits. FINALLY I can varnish the sign for Tee and Bill, which has been stained over the winter, but waiting for the varnish coating. It’s outside drying now. I’ll probably give it a second coat, and it should be deliverable by Monday.

Finished. It was just waiting for stain and varnish.

I also have some projects that I just psyche myself right out of. I cycle through several at a time…I have one I’ve been working on for my niece and nephew since they announced they were getting married, and every time I work on it I feel like I’m doing such a terrible job. So I work on other things until I can feel brave enough to do more work.

(I kind of hate this.  His eyes are way too big, and although Keegan looks great, Mike looks very wrong.  It’s been something I keep thinking about and cringing, and being afraid to look at to go back to work on it.  But I have, since these pics, sanded and redone the eyes SEVERAL times to get them closer to his.  They still aren’t his, but they’re not this wide-eyed thing that they are in these images. The shirt is going to be a real problem too.  I’ve been thinking that maybe I should only do their faces in detail, and have the detail fade out the further it gets from their faces, but I’m still working on it.)

The new burner Robert got me for xmas helps….as I feel more comfortable with the temperature variance and the various heads, it gives me more skills to work on the original intimidating project.

I have a box I’ve been working on FOREVER for Ben, and that will likely be my focus for today…

 

Before pics of Ben’s Box.
After post.

(sorry about the rotation on those pics.  I’m not sure how to fix that.)

along with some extra shading on a piece for DY, because the new tips give me abilities that I didn’t have before to lend new depth to the piece she asked me to do so long ago.

Before
After post.

Plus a tea box that was given to me by Amy, which currently is Alice in Wonderland themed. I guess now that I’m talking about these things, I should post some pics.  I’m also missing a pic of the TOP of the box, which is actually pretty awesome.  I’ll add it in at a later date.

Before and After this post.

and the top, which I only took a snapshot of when it was done.

 

There’s also a little treasure chest I’m turning into a Mimic.  BEFORE PICS.

I’m fond of the images on it (No internal lining on this guy unless I do two colors so you can see the tongue), but I have to do more work on all the eyes I put on it. I want one set to look realistic, and the others to look fake, (because the mimic wants everyone to think they’re all decorations so they get close enough to look, you see), so that means some real examination of eye art to make that happen. But I feel like the new tips will give me what I need to make it happen.

After post pics.  I want to shade the inside of the mouth, but there’s a lot of hard-to-sand glue there.  It will stain with spots…but maybe I can use that to my advantage….I don’t know.

I’ll put them in the UNfinished group as I get a chance. No camera where I am right now (in front of my computer and prepping to burn) which means I get to binge watch Supernatural (I save that for while I’m burning) and drink some coffee and stay focused.

Out of all the forms of self-care that I posted previously, this one…spending time on my art…this is the one that’s been most neglected recently. (I blame the present for that. I intimidated myself right the fuck out of doing work).

Time to get back on the horse so I can be good enough to finish it. Thank you all for your patience…not that any of you were waiting. Most of you probably forgot I even had those things.

I did not forget. I DO not forget. I just have to be able to judge my own work with a more forgiving eye.

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In retrospect, this has been really helpful to ME….because seeing the difference in before and after has been pretty extreme, and is an indicator that my work really improves when I give it the time it deserves.

Beltaine 2019 – Live Deliciously

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This has been quite a life, thus far.

Beltaine falls at this time of year where the planet is juuust coming into ripeness and fullness. We are each of us, ripe and full with different things. Sometimes we are literally ripe and ready to conceive, and sometimes we are just at the point where we are ready to move forward into a new thing, something we have been dying to try but have not been ready to before now. New crafts, new recipes, a new activity….maybe finally step into the gym, or into a retirement….it’s all of those things, but they all have one thing in common.

It’s the EXPERIENCE of it, you see. The experience of trying something new.

When you try a new food, you smell it, look at it…you chew it and roll it around in your mouth to test the texture and taste…you experience that food in a different way than you do, say, a burger, because you don’t EXPERIENCE burgers anymore….you just eat them.

There is a quote from The Witch (an excellent period horror movie that is well written and acted, and not filled with silliness) which is, “Would you like to live deliciously?”

Imagine that you are a puritan, super suppressed, joy is limited to those things that involve your concept of God…how tempting, how liberating (how intimidating? How frightening?) is that question?

Pagans in general (and there are always exceptions, for there are so many branches of Pagan) experience Deity in every-day life. Sunrises, or the migration of birds, the smell of grass, the sound of water, the beauty of the bonfire. All these things are sacred to us, and sometimes we forget that we should be experiencing them in addition to just looking at them. There are things in our every day lives that can be experienced more fully….I often think about it when taking the clothes out of the dryer. I love the warmth, the smell of fabric softener or detergent, I use Patchouli laundry detergent, or Frankincense and Myrrh. It’s a job, sure, but it’s also a little interlude where I can bury my face in that smell and just enjoy and be grateful that this is in my world. When I was younger, I was too poor to afford fabric softener, and I often had to take my clothes to a laundromat. This luxury of doing clothes at home is lovely. Sure, it’s a chore, but it’s also so much better than my life before. I think of that when I do vacuuming, or when I am loading the dishwasher. My life has led me to this place where I know these things are luxuries, and I am grateful. And I experience them BECAUSE I am grateful, not just doing the chores.

My Beltaine wish for you is that you find your deliciousness, whatever it is, and you spend some time doing that. If you already know what it is, I wish that your technique of enjoyment spreads to other things, so you can live even more deliciously than before. If you are with a significant other, rediscover your partner (sensually or otherwise)….if you are alone, rediscover your Self. (Sensually or otherwise…You deserve that time, believe me.)

Life is Delicious…Savor and Devour it. Get the juice on your chin, the berry-stains on your fingers. Roll around in it, get the smell in your hair and clothes and skin.

As long as you are breathing there will be more, and someday you will breathe no more. Don’t disservice yourself by living with less. Always reach for more. Be a glutton for Joy.

Blessed Beltaine.