Author: greatwallstudios

“What have you got going on today, my good sir?”  “Well if you must know, it’s Monday. Which means?”  “General domestic duties day!”  “Yes, that’s it exactly. Laundry, general tidy up, vacuum the floors, mopping the floors, and making beds and cleaning the kitchen counters, sink and cabinets, and a scrub of the bathroom.”  “Jinx – ha! You owe me a coke! What, still going, let’s try another…”

Yeah, so house bound with cleaning and then back in the shop to continue the table build up. Only a few more major cuts to make, then a test fit, and then break down for sanding through the grits, and then assembly, and a spray finish. The only stain I’m going to use will be on the plywood drawer panel. I hate that bleached yellow plywood colour. Hideous. Looks uber cheapo too.

If it rains at all this week, I’ll work on my turtle man figure. I have the armature locked in, a suitable base ready to go. I really want to finish my table first though. As I learned from my screen door, the longer you leave it, the worse off your raw materials get over time. My door uprights warped a touch, one far worse than the other. They were perfect when I milled them, and then got a cup and slight twist over the next 18 months. Still made them work though, which is good for me. I sank a tonne of time and effort into those pieces of wood, and the door as a whole.

Once this table is finished, I’ll have nine weeks to think of what to do next. I really want to tackle a water fall edge slab table. I’m just not keen on spending an obscene amount of money on a five foot long slab of something dark, or nicely figured. It doesn’t need to be exotic, but a fancy grain pattern or a rich mix of colours would be a real treat. But not too hard of a hard wood. Something I can work without busting up my less expensive tools. I’m not exactly running a 7 Hp cabinet saw over here, if you catch my drift. I bought most if not nearly all, used or refurbished at a discount. But that means things wear out on you because you don’t know how hard people pushed stuff before you got it.

I’m lying in bed and I’m trying to think of the last time I felt dread on a Sunday, about the impending return to work on a Monday, as it has to have been years since I last felt that way. I’ve had bad moments prior to a dentist visit, a colonoscopy or my vasectomy, but not for work. I’m part of a lucky few, whom works from home, for myself, and can keep busy with home DIY projects, hobbies and volunteer gigs in between paid jobs. It is very pleasant, and for however long it lasts, these are some wonderful Sundays, rain or shine that I’ve gotten to enjoy with my kids and wife.

School is out for the summer in T-minus three weeks less one half day. Then nine weeks of kids at home 24/7, just like the lock downs and several portions of the previous three school years. Bikes, beach, pool, playing catch and being outside should help a bunch now that it’s summer time, or close to. I wish my kids had friends that lived closer so they could romp at the park freely with their peer group. Just a little too young to go alone right now. Patience!

I have made significant progress on my Hickory multi use table, and baked my Ogre Rogue bust, and mounted it on a wooden base. I built the armature, and bulked out the torso on my Ninja Turtle full figure sculpt, so I can start on that if I feel like it.

My main focus right now is the structure of my table. I can scale back once I make it to the sanding stage. I am making a point to sand it in pieces prior to assembly & final glue up. I hate having tucked away hard to reach corners, so I’m going to attack each piece by itself. The only part to get stain will be the interior of the drawer, which has a plywood base. Everything else will get a clear coat, to show off the wood. I still have a whole slew of dados to cut for the shelf, and my cross braces are not to thickness yet. I’ll have to run them through the planer a few more times, in order to sneak up on a tight fit.

My wife and kids are currently out camping with friends for the night, and the morning dew has thoroughly soaked my kids shoes. Had to fun over and drop off boots, and supplemental breakfast snacks for the lot of them. So much for a lie in this morning. But on the plus side, I can work on my table this morning without sleeping through all of my available spare time. If I choose to do so. I could instead play some guitar or start my next sculpts armature & base material. The morning is my oyster as it were.

Finally got around to watching The Batman. It was ok, a touch too long for my taste. Could have dropped twenty minutes without interfering much. I’m not sure if I would rank it as one of the best Batman films. It was good, but nothing struck me as being of added value except for the portrayal of Gotham City itself. I had the subtitles on so I could tell what was going on. I wonder if I’ll regret not going to see Dr. Strange : MOM, now that it isn’t in AVX theaters any more. We will see. It was nice to see an action film take a moment to let a scene breathe, but it does tend to lose momentum if you do that too often. Some of those slower moments could have been trimmed a bit I think, without loss of the overall intent of the story telling. Looked great though. Andy Serkis felt under utilized, but what else is new. I hear a second one is on the books now. Maybe that’ll be 2.5hrs or less? One could hope.

As of 8:00am yesterday my family is off & away on their trek out west – again. Sad to see them go, but if it’s where they want to be, then keeping them local wouldn’t be fair. Thank the heavens for Facetime and video chat options. As the summer grows near, and we get out and about, swimming and keeping busy the kids won’t be as affected by the missing half of the family.

Beyond a few extra details I think my Ogre Rogue bust is just about done the sculpting portion. Next thing is to bake it, and then paint the damnable thing. Although, while the touch has returned to my fingers I may move on to a Ninja Turtle in Sculpey, and save a batch painting session for later in the summer. The tips and tricks make their way back into the process once you tinker long enough, so it might be beneficial to keep this train moving along. I skimped on texture with my Ogre, because I knew how rusty I’d be. Now I have that worked out, my next project can have a touch more fidelity to it.

I’m sitting down to breakfast as we speak. I’m going to putter around with my table build for a bit longer, and then possibly start on an armature for my Ninja Turtle sculpt. Full figure this time around. Intimidating! Oooh. Could be cool if I get it right. Will worry about quality later on! Now is the time to start anew. Dig deep and start your next failure faster than you ever thought you could. Ha! Ciao Bella!

I’m not much interested in what’s on tv, but I’ll tell you what, I do like to eat while watching cooking shows. Not that I am very adventurous with food, but I like to see what’s going on out there in the wider world, which tends to be more original than what I usually make and consume regularly. Call it a quirk.

Going to be a quiet day today I think. Half of my family are packing up and moving west today. I wish them all the best on the week long trek to Vancouver Island with two dogs in tow. It’s going to be several years before we go out to visit. So a bit of a somber day today. They moved to Ontario from Vancouver Island about a year before Covid hit, so we haven’t seen much of each other since December of 2019. Which is a shame. I think the fact has slipped my kids minds, so I won’t press it, as they both cried a fair deal when we found out in late April. No need to dig around in that wound.

I will now need to find someone local with whom I can attempt to golf. Or I’ll just frequent the driving range this month, and then again in September. If I can get my kids more proficient on their bicycles then we can go ride some paths this summer together. Or ride to the school and play there. I’d like to get better at riding my long board skate board. I’m a bit shaky on it right now. Slow carving down a slight grade is about as good as I can do right now. Bought a new helmet just for the skateboard. It’s really fun. Tiring AF, for this forty something lump of a guy.

Now that I am consistently lifting weights, I’d like to kick some cardio into the mix, and get down below 200 lbs. If I could comfortably reach 175/180lbs without having to do anything drastic over the next year, I think I could maintain it.

Work on my downsized coffee table is progressing. I have decided on a open slat shelf below the main slab. I also decided to cut off the two live edges, as they weren’t all that attractive, and it would mean I couldn’t push the table against a wall, as the edge was too wild. I still wrestle with the idea of a drawer with hard wood runners. I think a shallow & wide drawer would go over really well. I’m adapting the design for functionality as I go, can you tell?

I need to write out an order of operations otherwise I’ll forget something, or make a drastic error. I know that much about myself.

The usual stuff, cutting the front and backyard grass, weed eating the fence line and trees, garden beds. Planting left over Dahlias and Gladiolus. Now I’m going to pump up the low vehicle tire, then head indoors for some laundry and a second smaller breakfast.

Today is a glorious Wednesday, and the sun is out, it is warm without being too hot. The sky is periwinkle blue, and there are only whisps of cloud in the sky. I found my tomato plant, and have planted that too.

Let’s see what the day brings!

Another rainy day on the books. Good for the grass, flowers and crops, not so good for mowing the lawn or staying dry when outside. No matter. I’ll bump the yard work to a day when it is dry, and will focus instead on any paid work, and/or hobby items while I still can. I managed to break down the rotten slab yesterday into workable pieces. One live edge top slab, which I took a series of hand planes to today for about ninety minutes. I have a walnut chunk chosen for a single bow tie I need on the top surface. I have multiple strips of 1.5 inch wide by .75″ thick hickory strips. Two are thirty inches long, the other two twenty inches long. This will form my skirt portion, where I will attach legs, via a lap joint on two faces that touch in a corner. I will make tenons for the top of the legs to fit into the slab top. The slab top itself will receive four mortises for those legs. My big question to myself now is, do I use finger joints, box joints, a mitered edge or butt joint for the skirting? Or try out dovetails for the very first time? I do like the chunky look of box joints. Seems like a classic joinery to use on a chunky, fat, small slab coffee table. I haven’t decided yet if I should make a drawer or shelf underneath the slab. Then it could double as a night stand at the cottage, if I don’t keep it here at home. Decisions for another time. I will think on it, and worry about that later.

Also on the docket is my latest ogre sculpt in Super Sculpey. Progressing slowly but surely. Working my way through the head now. Ears and eyes to go at this point. And then hair. Smooth him out, texture the body, and then build up his clothes. I see mail, a hood that wraps his neck, various straps of leather, with wool padding underneath, possibly a shoulder pauldron of immense size. A wide belt with skulls or weapons or wine skins adorning it. Nose ring, earrings, and tokens woven into his hair. A huge shield slung on his back. A war hammer or crows beak over the opposite shoulder to the armor. Not to go crazy, but I’d like to have options for this one. Maybe I’ll even attempt a helmet this time. We’ll see how it goes.

Also today might be Day 175! Getting up there! I have a short story idea working it’s way around my head right now too. Not sure if there is enough to it to make something of it right now. Also my childrens book fas fallen off my radar right now. And I am ok with that. Also I’m holding off on publishing my second book of collected short stories. I might now add in the newest one offs I’ve been accumulating to beef up the bang for your buck.

The rain is really coming down out there today. Glad I power washed the downspouts earlier in the spring. That could have gotten messy! You know there’s a tonne of rain when you can hear your downspouts from inside the house. And I’m hard of hearing, so you know it’s just gushing with rain. Sploosh! Take care all. Ciao bella!

I have for many years now, planned on using the two Hickory slabs I purchased to build a waterfall edged coffee table. But upon closer inspection, after storing the slabs for many years, noticed that the larger of the two pieces is mostly unusable in its current form. I’ve had to cut out the rotten portion, the critical cracks that went from face to face through the entire thickness have severely weakened the slab to the point I had to cut it into three unequal sections. So my plan now, it to cut legs from the scraps, and perhaps cut some skirting strips from it too. A more traditional under structure, with a modified live edge slab on top. I’m hoping I can pull that much off, without having to break it all down into strips, and end up gluing together a very traditional table top and matching under structure. Boo-urns I say, boo, boo!

Maybe in the fall I will need to go and purchase two new book ended slabs to make the table I’m thinking off. No matter. Wood working is wood working around these parts. Another hand built table won’t go wasted.

I’m going to eat breakfast, quit sulking, and go break these boards down into something useable. I hope! Have a great Monday out there. Lean in or lean out, do whatever the trend is now.

On a side note, we saw Sonic the hedgehog two yesterday, and it was very enjoyable. We have access to Paramount Plus for a brief spell, and my eldest and I watched it in the comfort of our own home. Then late last night my wife and I watched a Sandra Bullock movie about a Lost City, which was decent enough. I have The Batman to watch at some point. I know it’s almost three hours long, so I’m holding off for a bit.