Staring down the barrel of an unusually long week as we wait for Santa Claus to ravage our home with socks and useful household items! I hate the fact that school let out so early, and we have an entire week in which we need to entertain our kids prior to the big show. If Covid weren’t a thing right now, I would have loved if school could have gone right up until December 23rd, and then we’d of had a fun filled friday for Christmas Eve, then Christmas Day & Boxing Day, and then the kids would have had almost two full weeks to play with their new cherished toy(s) and we could putter around the house doing something constructive. Instead I needed to rush out in order to make play dates for both of my kids sets of friends, and keep them occupied for seven full days before the main event. It is stressful to say the least. I do like being able to spend a good chunk of time with them, but by 8:00pm, I’m ready for them to leave me the “F” alone. Come on holiday festive cheer! get me through this without an eye twitch or a set of equally horrible child melt downs!
Month: December 2021
After all this time
I didn’t do any work on my illustrated children’s book this year at all. Last year in Year One of the Covid-19 pandemic I took my rough notes and wrote the story out in full, and then also rewrote it two more times, along with a few character sketches, but then I’ve just left it sitting untouched. Mind you, I did then go and write a full book of short stories in its stead. Now however I feel like I should resurrect the project for 2022. Alas, in the few golden months I had since both of my kids were attending in person school I tackled home diy projects to improve or finish off rooms in the house, rather than devote myself to an illustrated childrens book. I haven’t drawn by hand in a very long time, and I haven’t painted in watercolours or acrylics in nearly the same amount of time. I think I’m nervous about the artwork being terrible, more so than the story not being entertaining. But wave #5 and the end of Year Two of the pandemic are nearly upon us all. Part of me is still chasing the high from actually writing a full book of interconnected short stories set mostly out in space, along with some non-fiction autobiographical stuff mixed in. Funny how a lot has happened while nothing has happened. A very strange feeling. I think what I’m missing is, I used to come and work/write every day from 12-2pm while my kids napped, and then the youngest gave up naps, and I had to resort to working at night and then I dropped off my writing habits because I was focused on the paid work for my day job, and my brain was a tad fried from several weeks where I wrote 5 or 6 thousand words over some very productive days, week after week. Not always that many, but I know my cognitive skills dipped on any day that I wrote more than 3,500 words at once. A fugue state, brain fog, brain fart, mom brain, synapse fatigue or what have you. Odd feeling, that. Oh yeah, and I devoted more time to wood working, and I scaled back my sculpting too this year. Perhaps a more rounded dabbling in all of my hobbies will make for a better choice next year. Glad I am alive and well enough to consciously make that decision.
Not too much going on today
So here is a photo of our former pup Alfie Francis before he past away in May. This is the first Christmas in twelve years without his wagging tail knocking ornaments off the tree, or his snuffling nose tearing through wrapping paper on gifts under the tree. He was a good looking boy, and though his last yea to year and a half were challenging, he was well loved.
The rocking chair of 2019
The first item I refinished was an antique rocking chair which I tackled in May & June of 2019. That was my first taste of tearing down, repairing, sanding and refinishing an actual piece of furniture. It was hot, difficult but ultimately rewarding and educational. So much so I wouldn’t do an other item until 2021, ha! But seriously I swore a lot, and picked away at it, 30 minutes here, 45 minutes there, every so often over a two month period. Seems to be the way I work on my hobbies.
It was pre-covid times, and I didn’t document all the steps I undertook all that thoroughly. If I recall I used 80/120/220/320 & 400 grit sand paper to make the seat, arm rests and head rest as silky smooth as you can imagine. Felt amazing under my finger tips. Had a rich warm colour when finished. All in all a pleasant project to undertake.
The Table Refinishing Project of late 2021
Some of you might know that in late summer through until late fall I had attempted to build a screen door for the back of my house, which I started far too late, and missed open window / wide open door season by several weeks. So that lead me to putting that project on the back burner until Spring time when I feel as though I can devote time to it, and the weather will warrant my doing so. So, after putting that on hold I wanted another project to do in my down time between paid graphic design work. The table was delivered in several pieces on November 2nd, as I recall, and was in a state of disrepair.
It had cracked and crumbling paint, water stains, mould, flaking lacquer finish on the top, and smelled a bit funky to boot. It didn’t have any middle leaves, and the leg attachment points were worn out or missing or entirely broken. So it required me to strip it all down to bare wood, cut new hardwood braces for the legs, glue/ screw / pin nail portions together and then to be refinished with stain & paint and possibly if the weather holds out a clear coat on top of Varathane’s Diamond Wood Finish.
Follow along on my mini wood refinishing project from November / December of 2021
As I stated earlier, the table arrived in pieces, and I needed to break them down into smaller parts for cleaning and sanding, and looking for any major cracks, weakness or damages. This didn’t take me more than about thirty minutes for the whole table. I knew the leg braces were either missing or broken, and that the lower portion of the table legs would need some putty work. No big deal there. I opted not to use any chemical strippers on the table as I don’t have an exhaust fan at the moment, and smells from the garage make their way into the basement (which isn’t ideal). So I used sanding, a whole shit load of sanding. I went from 40 to 60 to 80 to 100 to 120 to 220 grits on all of the parts. The table top I went an extra step and went up to 320 grit, because I had it, and it gets so smooth, it feels like glass. My work flow was to do every piece using the same grit, so that I always knew where I was with my sanding schedule. It helps that this old workers table was put together with a lot of screws, so I could disassemble it easily to get to all of the nooks and crannies. Also made putting the sections back together a breeze.
The legs were by far the most difficult portion to work on. I had originally thought I would chuck each leg into my lathe, turn the speed right down and sanding them with little to no physical demands on my body, but my four jaw chuck choose this moment to crap out on me, and replacing it was too expensive at this point in time. So the forty dollar heat gun makes an appearance and storms the barn! It was great. I could get through one leg in about 1 hr. After I had the heat gun and putty knife put away, I turned to a curved card scraper to really get in there and get those layers of nasty chipped old paint off of the legs. Leaves a nice finish that is easy to sand – relatively. Then it was about four hours of hand turning the legs with one hand, and sanding vigorously with the other. My forearms and hands did not appreciate this at all. Once I got up to 150 grit, I used an air compressor to blow off the dust that gathered in the crevices. I used the bolts to hang them up along my garage door, and then used a rattle can of white paint/primer 2X to paint them a bright white again. Originally I wanted to go with a softer off white, borderline yellow – feel more french with the walnut top, but I couldn’t find any, and I wasn’t going to drive all over town just to not find it. I let those hang dry, and then I artificially antiqued them with some 220 grit sand paper, and they were done.
If it weren’t so close to zero degrees celsius here in Ontario I would venture to add the spray on clear coat of Varathane Diamond Wood Finish, but I don’t want it to get chunky or spit out blobs that you can feel under your hand. So all in all it took me about twenty hours over six weeks to get this project done, and I enjoyed just about every minute of it, except those spindle legs! Straight blocky chunky legs only next time!
Two years ago I refinished a rocking chair, but I can’t find any of those images. Next year I hope to tackle either another table or perhaps a chest of drawers or an old hutch of some kind. Hope you have a great Holiday Season, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year! May your wood working DIY projects go smoothly or at least teach you a valuable lesson. ~M
The books I was able to read in 2021*
Some of these titles came out well before 2021, and I also ended up reading all seven of the Harry Potter® books out loud to my eldest daughter this year, but I’d read those myself when they came out back in the early 2000’s, so I won’t count them here, but that took up much of my mental capacity to read this year.
The two Fart Quest books were meant to be read to my daughter so that we could think about starting up some short D&D sessions now that I had built a bunch of terrain panels (pictured inset). But I enjoyed them immensely and didn’t feel like sharing yet. Plus the text is still a little above her reading comprehension level so perhaps next year! I have the third book on order, which was initially scheduled for September, but has been bumped to February of 2022. Chasing New Horizons was an amazing retelling of the Pluto missions, and I was riveted throughout the whole book. The pictures are incredible as well. Black Star Renegades was a fun romp in a Star Wars adjacent sand box. Project Hail Mary was a clever and entertaining entry from The Martian’s Andy Weir, which still proves to be one of my all time favourite books, alongside Jurassic Park, and the Death of Superman novelization. Martha Wells has a fantastic short story series in the Murder Bot Diaries, with the newest installment called Fugitive Telemetry. I had heard a number of people talk about The Forever War, and I can see why, it was pretty good, although a whole lot of current science fiction has leaned heavily on this book, so if I’d have read it much earlier in my formative years, I think it would pack a heck of a wallop. Mars Rover Curiosity was pretty much a text book, which means it was dry, but also informative. A trade off for certain, but, worthy of a read if you love space exploration and drones. The Goblin Emperor was a slow burn, but still exciting and very interesting. It is probably the most off the beaten path for me from this years selection of reading, but I really did enjoy the palace/royal intrigue elements. Out of nowhere comes the last on the list Troll Fell, which was a quickly paced story of rural viking woes, and trolls, and gold & treasure.
As I mentioned earlier I have the third Fart Quest book on order for early 2022, and I also have the last installment of The Expanse, book #9 to read after Christmas. There is a Shiflett brothers sculpting book that was supposed to arrive in November, but hasn’t shipped yet, due to supply/shipping issues with paper coming out of the USA.
I hope you’ve all managed to find the time to read great books of any length. I used to be such a length of novel snob, but since I wrote a book of short stories myself in 2020, which I published in March of this year, I am far more attentive to the story itself rather than the page count.
The Company – A series of interconnected space short stories: Varied works of short fiction
by Amazon.com.ca, Inc.
Learn more: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B091JB3MG7/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_QDBT1TWRPV4H7DVBX3JZ
The Obligatory 2021 Year in Review Blog Post.
These are typically the type of thing that most people don’t bother to read, and I’m cool with that. As this sort of thing is for the poster rather than the audience. There was a definite shift in my workload and type of projects this year, compared to last year at least. Usually I would devote the majority of my off time to sculpting in clay or Super Sculpey®. Of which I did do some, but no where near what I have done in years previous. By that, I mean that I produced four this year. Two in plastercine and two in Super Sculpey® that I have yet to paint, though I did manage to get them baked and cured. My day job was fairly slow in the first half of the year, but I managed to pick up two new clients that have done a fair number of projects each, plus my returning clients all had work for me to do this year, which I am very thankful for. The big To-Do this year was Wood working. I was able to get out and into my shop and do a number of new and exciting projects this year in various types of wood. I have a good portion of Ash, Spalted Maple, Walnut, Pine and Cedar sitting around so those where what I worked in primarily. I was also able to add some textile work into the mix with Felt, Faux Leather and some real Sheep Skin Leather. I used the textiles on my dice trays, tool box trays, and to line the insides of my Harry Potter® Trunks. Below is the list of wood working projects from this year.
(3) Dice Trays – Lined in Felt or Faux Leather – Spalted Maple, (1) Die Tower – Spalted Maple, (2) Dice Vaults – Spalted Maple, (3) Harry Potter® Trunks – Pine, Cedar, Elm – Lined in Felt – Trimmed out with Ash, (1) Walnut Leather Working Tool Box – With (1) matching Tool Tray lined in Faux Leather – Trimmed out with Felt, (2) Walnut paper towel holders, (1) Pine Skid/Organizer for Pool Noodles and Towels, (1) Ash wheeled cart for old table saw, (1) Cedar box joint job box, (1) Cedar Porch Tray/Shelf that fits over the railing, (1) Elm Craft Supply box – Lined in felt, (1) Mixed Wood Antique Table that I am currently refinishing, (9) Cedar routered orchard signs, (3) Cedar name plates for gifts.
I have this feeling that I did a few more projects that I can’t immediately recall because I gave some stuff away to friends this year because it took me a while to sort out how best to approach some projects and I had to make more than I needed in order to be able to throw away the first iterations that were done incorrectly. A case in point, would be to use ply wood inserts for the base of the dice trays and trunks because real wood warps and twists after it has been milled flat in such a humid province like Ontario, Canada. I always hated the look of plywood, but a 3/8’s sheet with rich, thick felt glued over the top face is super sturdy and you’d never know unless you look underneath. A few years ago I refinished a rocking chair which was a lot of work, but also very satisfying, so I’m taking a crack at an old weather beaten table that was improperly stored at the cottage. I can’t make it look brand new, but I can make it look much, much better. Something you’d be proud to have in your home for playing cards on, or having a board gaming session.
Besides those things, we have done as much as we can to stay safe from Covid-19, I qualified to get a third dose early, and our youngest are finally eligible to get their first jabs in the coming weeks. I managed to get out while the numbers were low in October, to go and see Dune® in a D-Box Atmos seat late one Sunday night, and it was pretty great. It spurned me on to finish the first Dune® book, which was pretty dense but ultimately enjoyable, as I now look forward to Part Two in 2023! I was fortunate enough to get to read a bunch of great books this year. If I can find them I will write another post about them as a heart felt recommendation. Some of them were early Science Fiction classics written decades ago, and some of them came out this year or last year, so there’s a pretty good spread of the new and old in that reading list. The holiday season is baring down on us, and the new year approaches. I wish you all well, and hope that you are all safe & sound.
I’m also going to plug my book of short stories again, available through Kindle Unlimited.
The Company – A series of interconnected space short stories: Varied works of short fiction
by Amazon.com.ca, Inc.
Learn more: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B091JB3MG7/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_QFEER8NFM58WZMAA90C6
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