Progress on the Thomasteppich August 2013 May 2014

 Anne and Katinka at work on the Thomasteppich in April 2014.

Like the previous progress report on the Thomasteppich embroidery project, I have made a photo for most of the days during August 2013 till May 2014 when Anne did something with her part of the Thomasteppich, and turned these into another small video.

Of course not only Anne worked on the tapestry. Also Katinka made an enormous progress...

 Left: Katinkas part of the tapestry in 2013, and right in April 2014.

Also interesting to see is the back of the tapestry. Only tiny stitches appear at the back of the frame, most of the wool is present at the front of the tapestry. The medieval klosterstitch used has two purposes: it saves weight and expensive wool.

 The front and back of the tapestry in August 2013.

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Progress on the Thomasteppich May July 2014

Like the previous progress report on the Thomasteppich embroidery project, I have made a photo for most of the days from May till July 2014 when Anne did something with her part of the Thomasteppich, and turned these into another small video.

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A Few Saturdays Worth of Roughed out Bowls

This is really more of a "look what I did" post than my typical How To.  Anyways, I gotta just have fun sometimes too, right?  I also realized that I hadnt posted about the progress Ive made towards generating an inventory of bowls...  Shame on me.

When you are a woodworker, (especially a woodturner) people will start calling you every so often and ask if you want the tree that has been sitting on their property for the past month.  As luck would have it, I have a hard time telling someone no, especially if its free.  So, while visiting my in-laws a few weeks prior, I stopped by to visit one of their church friends and picked out a few chunks of wood.

I didnt want to go too crazy because I have a stack of birch logs in the yard that I think are on the brink of being useless.  *Tear*  I also have some exciting furniture projects coming up that will take me away from the lathe for a while and there is no sense in bringing home logs to just have them rot.

The first piece I started with was from a piece of butter beech.  It had great potential, but was laden with deep cracks.  Since there isnt much calling for toothpicks made from 18" logs, I made the difficult choice and tossed the piece.  Life is too short to turn bad lumber.

I was really itching to see what kind of grain patterns were lurking in the "oak doughnut", so I grabbed the chainsaw and cut out a section to turn a set of bowls.  I was very encouraged when I split the piece and could see figure even on the rough chainsawed surface.  

I rough turned the first half and put it in the denatured alcohol (DNA) bath and put the other half in a heavy plastic bag until I could get to it the next morning.

So morning comes and I decided to throw the other half of oak on the lathe and rough out another bowl.  Not being one to want to start working on a "dirty" lathe, I brushed the shavings from the previous days work off the bed.  Waiting for me was a little surprise... RUST!  I totally forgot how wet the wood was and had a nice little side project on my hands as punishment.  Oak has a large amount of tannins in it also, which didnt help the rust situation either.  Oh well, lesson learned.  Clean off the bed, especially when youre turning green wood, and even more so when its oak!

Maybe four pictures of this is a little much, but I dont run across much oak that has flame.  So Im trying to show it off!

With both bowls turned and in the DNA bath, I switch my focus to trying the butter beech again.  Before now, Ive never worked with this species.  Ive heard that it is a terribly hard wood, but everything seems to play nice before its dry.  I was definitely able to tell a difference between the heartwood and sapwood though.  I have another log about 2 feet long and 18" in diameter.  Im excited to finish turning my stash of this and see how the pieces fair while they dry and then are finish turned.  There is also just enough spalting in the log to add interest.

The other species I worked with recently is elm.  This was another first for me and I learned very quickly to not even think that the bark will stay on.  Im not certain that this is characteristic of the species, but the log I have appears to have been sitting for a while before I acquired it.  Luckily, the wood is not punky, so I shouldnt have to deal with turning rotted wood, which is never fun.  Also, Ive never turned wood that was so wet!  The pieces Ive turned have so much moisture in them that my face shield was being splattered with water while the piece was turning.  I really like the interesting colors that are present in pieces I worked with.  There is a lot of dark heart wood to contrast the lighter sap wood.  I think it should make for very interesting bowls.  Only time will tell how they dry and finish turn, but for now Im optimistic!

Here are the bowls in and out of the DNA soak.  The two on the left are butter beech, the other four are elm.

I hope you enjoyed the update!  Thanks for reading.  Check back soon, Ill tell you all about breathing life back into a Stihl 026 chainsaw!

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Progress on the Thomasteppich August 2014 April 2015

Anne embroidering in the great hall of castle Hernen. The beautiful sun rays were created by the smoke of coming from the fireplace in the next room which had a badly working chimney. Photo made by Geldersch Landschap en Kastelen.

Like the previous progress report on the Thomasteppich embroidery project, I have made a photo for most of the days from August 2014 to April 2015 when Anne did something with her part of the Thomasteppich, and turned these into another small video. During winter time not much was done on the teppich as we were working on our new house. However, the first panels of the tapestry are nearly finished, both that of Anne and Katinka.

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its that time again open studio weekend

ok, we have been doing open studio pretty much since the beginning, and this is the 22nd year that this event has taken place.  this year there are over 230 vermont artists and craftsfolks who will be cleaning their workspaces friday and emailing their neighbors to stop by this weekend.  as usual, well be open saturday and sunday from 10 to 5.  it looks like we could get some rain, which could be good, could be bad.  you never know.  if you havent seen sams new metal shop, this weekend would be a good time.  hell be fishing on the rapid river in maine for the weekend, but kit or will or i will be happy to show you around.  kit will have her jewelery on display, and will will we be there at least in the afternoons to talk banjos.  come by if you can.  

below are some links and photos from my earlier blog posts.

open studio 2013

open studio 2012

open studio 2011

open studio 2010

open studio 2009

open studio 2008

 look for the yellow signs !!

 ill have a few small pieces for sale

 and the shop will be pretty clean 

unlike the 2010 open studio, mr. lucky will not be in attendance this year

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spring 2014

well here we are again.  happens every year. sometimes early like last year, (4/24), sometimes 

really, really late like this year.  glad its here.  there was a LOT of whining at the end.

and, actually, its only 38 degrees this morning .. it is, however, sunny for now.
click the photos to enlarge them.

,

after 14 years and an empty nest, 20 healthy plants is waaaay too much asparagus.  

fortunately, they are easier to get rid of then zucchini

the wood frogs did their thing in the vernal pond below the shop for a couple days  ..

theres a very short video with good sound at this link.  if youve never

heard them, they are pretty cool sounding.

 theyre hard to get close to, but if you spook them, and then sit still for about
5 or ten minutes, one by one, theyll come back out and start calling.

and this week it was finally time for the annual glowing woods at sunset photo.

from the front porch.  that was tuesday .. all leaves now.

and the crabapple is out

with the leaves open in the background

weve had 3 male ducks loafing on the pond for about 3 weeks now

and were hoping that means well get some baby ducks soon.

the employee lounge is open for lunch

blue sky.  full woodshed. outdoor shower on maybe this week.

orioles in the yard .. kit is watching the male build a nest over the driveway.

hopefully well get some photos once he gets a little further along.  kits backyard bird list last week was pretty impressive ... scarlet tanagers, catbirds, indigo buntings, hermit thrushes,3 kinds of woodpeckers, flickers .. on and on.

and the pheobes, as usual, are nesting on the shop porch.

morning mist on kits pond in the yard

grandmas primroses

crazy rhododendrons

  robins by the air con again .. 3 eggs so far.

piranha trout!  crazy fish that sam caught.  about 18".  never saw teeth like that!

 another nice one!

and yesterday, a first!  a snake in the bushes.  he was about 3 off the ground, 

taking in some spring sunshine .. the neighbors kids thought it was great!

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Empty Bowls 2014

For those who arent aware, each year an event called Empty Bowls takes place in many cities across the globe.  This is a fundraiser to help end hunger and homelessness.  All of the efforts and materials for this event are donated.  Many local restaurants donate food for the meal, coordinators donate their time to organize the event, and local woodturning clubs donate bowls.  Tickets vary in price, giving you either a meal or a meal with a bowl to take home.

To find the closest Empty Bowls event and purchase tickets, click here.  Who knows, you might just go home with the bowl I donated.  Thank you all, and God bless.

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