Wednesday, December 15, 2010

The holiday cheeriness has set in!

So out came the Santa hats and reindeer antlers today.  And the snow was so cute whirling around and never amounting to anything - just like being in a snow globe!
Over the weekend I took a lathe class to learn how to turn wood.   We worked on pine, maple and plywood.  The instructor, Stephen Gleason, is a wild, goofy, artist type with a million stories and tips on how to turn and use the different tools.  It is a fun, challenging way to work with wood.  I told him I wanted to try to make a ball - it was an ornament class after all - and instead of saying no, that's too advanced, he just said ok and let me spend 2 hours trying as my stock shrunk and my ball turned into a bead.  
This week so far I have worked on cleaning up the outside of the casepiece so the tenons are now flush with the sides.  Also, I have started making the drawers which means going back to making blind dovetails - you can't see the joinery from the front - and making peace with the not-quite-90-degrees part of the project.   I get the idea of how to do the dovetails but haven't quite mastered the tight fit in the joints.
Tomorrow is the Yankee Swap - what we midwesterners call a white elephant gift exchange - and potluck.  The 12 week program is hosting so we got to cleanup our lunchroom/drafting room/ finishing room today to make room for all the decorations and food.    I am making a pecan pie as my present, hoping to add some positive juju to the mix so hopefully I walk away with a nice thing instead of some hilarious piece of junk.   Wish me/us luck!

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