General DIY – Greatwall Studios Graphic Design

Slapping some stain on the old girl.

February 28, 2024greatwallstudiosLeave a Comment

It was sunny and plus thirteen for about 90 minutes earlier today, so I popped out to the wood shop and dashed some Walnut coloured Danish Oil Stain onto my youngest daughters new single bed frame for the cottage.

I started by spot sanding a few bits that didn’t get all the love they needed the first couple of go rounds, and then spent a few minutes dusting it off with the air compressor. Then I splish-splashed the Danish Oil rub on it with a very wet foam brush, and ran through a few clean rags wiping it off. I think I managed to avoid runs in the finish, but I’m sure there’s one someplace very visible that I couldn’t see while I was bustling away this AM.

Good thing it’s so light weight, I didn’t need to call for help to move the whole thing around while I worked. Rests on my bench easily enough. It’s times like these that I am thankful for all the space saving theatrics I’ve had to undertake recently. My old layout would never have been wide or clear enough for both the frame and me. No chance I could have freely walked all 360 degrees around it before. I could still do with the whole shop being a good 36 inches wider, but that’s a very expensive construction matter. Also not going to happen. No way I tear down walls, and add roof for just three feet. Plus the property line is right there and no municipal office would ever grant me permits to get closer than eight feet to the line. So I’ll do what I can with what I’ve got.

Side bar: I am toying with the idea of taking down the pre-built racking that looks kinda shifty, in favour of metal racks, and reclaiming higher up wall space, but I need to get rid of several stored doors, and car seats, strollers, and household junk before I do that. It needs careful planning. I could benefit a great deal from doing so, but it’ll cost me both time & money, and a fair bit of aggravation to boot. I’m thinking it over. But I digress.

The Pine bed frame is one inch thick, with box joints, and a slatted cross member design. The feet all screw on, and the slats screw down into their mortises for extra peace of mind. It’s light weight, and has been stained to a Walnut brownish tone. One single pass. I’m told with Danish Oil I could do multiples, but I find one wetly soaked coat works fine for me. It ain’t no heirloom quality piece but it should last a few years. I hope.

(Fig 1.) *Pieces break down. 6 feet / 6 slats / 2 rails & 2 ends.*

(Fig 2.) *Hand scraped finish, but sanded to 100 grit. Very rustic appearance.*

(Fig 3.) *Assembled upside down. Original Pine colour showing.*

(Fig 4.) *Starting to Stain with it still upside down. Notice how much room I now have to get all the way around it! Ohh- Aah.*

(Fig 5.) *All stained up, drying & off gassing that nose prickling oil finish smell. Could stay in here for a few days getting that smell to dissipate.*

Finishing isn’t exactly my favourite thing to do. It’s sticky, and smelly, and finicky too. My shop doesn’t have an air cleaner, nor do I use anything better than a shop vac to control the dust I make. Not good for high end, ultra high quality finishing. But I get it done regardless. Although now the temperature has plummeted down to minus one, and will go even lower and bring in some snow too. So I don’t know how anybody can plan around this type of thing. Well… a temperature controlled working space would alleviate those stressors, but I ain’t got that kinda dough just lying around for a quirk of mine.

So maybe a single spray on layer of Diamond Coat will go on next, or not. This piece may not be worth the additional effort. It will get scratched & marred. I’m none too concerned about that. If I can get a shot of it in situ up north I’ll update about the bed frame one last time. Take care out there. Ciao Bella.

Work spaces and their impact on productivity.

February 27, 2024greatwallstudiosLeave a Comment

I am currently freelancing from home, from my own office/studio space. A place where I can not only create paid design/production work, but can make music, sculptures, paintings, and models too. It’s a place I enjoy hanging out in. It’s clean-ish (depending on the needs of the job at hand) and quiet during the day, warm & dry, and the best part is it requires zero commute time to get to. So I don’t mind getting to an item at 6:30am one day, or answering a panicked email at 11:00pm the next day. I can pop laundry in as I walk to the bathroom. I can do a grocery shop over lunch. But best of all I’m here to drop my kids off at school in the morning, and available to pick them up at the end of their day. I don’t have to spend four hours a day, five/six days a week traveling downtown, and then across town, then walking several blocks to a job. I’ve excised that demon.

My topic wasn’t WFH, but the space in which I operate. I’ve worked places with no assigned seating or computers, in an open room on tables, in a bank of cubicles, and in a couple of offices of my own with a door I could shut, an air vent of my own I could manipulate, and my own lighting. Being secluded by myself was always the best for me. Collaboration is great, and loads of fun, but the bulk of my labour required very little of it. As normally my bread & butter item in my workload was production. Retrofitting someone else’s art work to fit new specs. A style guide answers the most basic questions, and it was just a matter of producing enough of the artwork to suit all the different brands, sub brands, and partner brands to stay afloat. I do not miss firing off 115 projects a week, every week, until the new fiscal when planners, and bulk sell sheet orders would come my way, and I’d do double, to nearly triple that. Yikes. My wrist fried out, and my eyes went twitchy, and I was not a very kind person. I don’t miss any of that, except the steady pay cheque.

The cool thing now is that when I have a quiet period, of hours, days, or weeks, I can tackle a DIY project, or build in my wood shop, or paint/sculpt/draw in my office, ready to answer a phone call or email. Some times I can even pick up a guitar and strum along to music for a spell. I’m contract, and freelance so I’m not tied go an eight hour day, with a keyboard counter, or a clock watching supervisor. Thank god! I’m here and available and you only pay for the hours you use. Works great for all involved.

Hot lunches, and a semi private bathroom, shower and laundry on site. Video games and movies on hand. A gym with weights. What more could a person ask for. Oh yeah – no people though. No external interactions 98% of the time. Ah – PERFECTION!

I tell you what. I could accomplish more at home in 3.5 hrs than I ever did in an office over 8. No walk by’s, no drop ins, no gather rounds or team meetings, no memos or circle the wagon moments. All work, no fluff, and no in office pantomime of walking to talk to all the right people just to be seen, and sound busy. It really is fantastic to drop all of those extra steps and just get to do the work I love. Yes I have to send invoices, and do my own books, and plan around delays in payment or lull periods. But freelancing offers me so much more family time while I have young kids that none of that matters all that much. Glorious. But, I’ve always had a spouse that out earned me by a wide margin, even at my highest paying job, so there is that to consider. It was cheaper in the end for me to take a pay cut, but for us to not have to pay before & after school care costs for two kids, plus sitters for pa days, winter break, and march break, and the whole summer.

How do you have your work space set up? How do you like where you are? What would you change? What are you able to change? Take it easy.

Oh that’s pretty chilly.

February 17, 2024greatwallstudiosLeave a Comment

Sun is out but that minus nine looks unappealing. Scattered clouds on these blue skies makes me think it isn’t all that windy, which is a plus. Let us all try to avoid any brushes with Frost Nip this weekend, please and thank you. Luckily last time it was the merest of tickles upon the Frost Bite spectrum, but I don’t want anybody to risk it for a snowmobile ride. Put on a helmet and a weather suitable balaclava to stave off the worst effects of the cold. So if we could all do just the bare minimum to avoid the cold that would be much appreciated.

Doesn’t feel much like a Saturday morning. Not sure what’s making the vibe feel off. Hmm… I’ll have to think on that for a bit to see where things feel different. Perhaps it’s because this is a long weekend, and the extra day off feels weird. Is it the presence of snow and cold after that long warm/dry spell. I don’t know what it is. Could be the looming feeling of Ugh! From next Friday’s funeral and visitation services putting a dark cloud over everything.

On the plus side nobody rushed to call me with the results of my small intestine MRI from Thursday. Which makes me think the news will be mild to good. No news is good news. I’m still worried about having my mask off partially to drink at the hospital, and inside the actual machine. I really hope I haven’t tracked home Covid or anything along those lines. I feel fine thus far. My kids have been coughing and in various stages of gooey for several long weeks now, which I have avoided. Could be the near continuous running of our Hepa filter in the living room. Or my immune system isn’t fighting it and my chest feels a little less than normal, but I’m not oozing like they are with it. Is that a blessing or a curse?

Good news is we can go tobogganing now that we have six or so inches of snow on the ground. We haven’t been able to go for a number of weeks. The town doesn’t even have any outdoor rinks out like during the lock-down periods of 2020-2021. It was pretty awesome, you could go to any number of local parks and skate outside with hardly anyone else around. If I recall a fair few winter birthday parties were held on skates during those years.

In other news I broke down and bought four more substantial caster wheels for my rolling tool cart build. One of the four small ones I had lying around shattered into two halves and would not go back together on the bearing. I went up from a 1 inch wheel to a 3 inch. So it didn’t effect the overall height by too to much. Plus it rolls like a champ now, and all four wheels can be locked, and swivel independently. Very maneuverable. It’s ugly as sin, but suits my needs to a “T”. I even got to repurpose several pieces of our old change table. Now I have memories to keep.

*My wheeled cart with shelves, drawers, storage space, and an open top for power tools access. Just what I wanted!*

Seems to be holding up – for now.

January 23, 2024greatwallstudiosLeave a Comment

Did a bit of additional driving about town yesterday, and my bumper repairs are holding strong, for now. Do I put a lot of faith in those plastic welds? No, not really. But if I can limp into late spring, and then think about swapping out for a new bumper, I’ll consider this fix a win. All about making due. The car is old, and we do need to trade in for a new vehicle before too much longer. If I could get the bumper to last that long, I’d be super impressed with the 220W plastic welder / hot stapler I bought off of Amazon. Oh I searched Canadian Tire and Home Depot web sites first before turning to Amazon, but that’s an entirely different conversation. As it stands I don’t feel the ROI on a brand new bumper is worth it given the potential life span of the vehicle itself. Had I of done this nine years ago, BAM! new bumper, no contest, but the vehicle is atleast eleven years old, and I don’t think we’ll get all that many more years out of it. I can live with the zippered look as it stands right now.

On a side note: what the fuck is Cam Newton wearing on Good Morning Football right now? That’s a hell of a get-up. Makes a statement. Half Doc Holiday, half Diane Keaton, all pimp. The outback ten gallon hat is a focus puller – fo sho. Damn.

I’d like to be able to revisit the bumper issue in the spring when I can be outside in better weather. If I have to crawl under the van, I’d rather do that in the sunshine than on a bed of ice & snow. Maybe that makes me weak, or only half serious about DIY fixes, but I don’t relish the thought of freezing my fingers to stubby numb nubs while working on body panel clips, and sorting out all the unforeseen issues that accompany body panel/bumper swap outs. No thanks. Not in minus twelve or worse. If I had a bigger, insulated garage, that might be a different story. I’m a DIY’er of leisure, not a hard core go’er.

Have a great Tuesday. Ciao Bella.

It’s a strange feeling when you learn to let go.

December 24, 2023greatwallstudiosLeave a Comment

It can be really challenging to let go, whether it’s things, stuff, accumulated junk, perceived slights, missed opportunities, whatever it may be. Knowing what you can comfortably give up, or get rid of and not have it gnaw at you is a hard won skill to have. Oh you are going to have the opposite to buyers remorse a few times when you start out. Misjudge what a thing means to you. But if you keep at it, and be as down to earth and real with yourself you’ll know exactly what you can, and cannot part with. Knowing your limitations is good. You can test it, expand it incrementally, but you have to know where that line is drawn so as to not hurt yourself (feelings – not physically). 20 year old me would lose his mind to hear about clearing out books, and clothes. I carted 24 or more 76L tote boxes of books and stuff around with me from move to move for years. Why? Because my stuff was what felt like home to me, not the location. We moved a fair bit in my youth, so people, friends, and locations don’t mean as much to me because we severed those connections (as I was so little) when we moved, so my home was my “things“. Materialistic much? Yeah. Gets real easy to fall into the must buy things trap. Surround myself with stuff to feel at home. But my situation is different now, as we’ve lived in the same house for 15 years. I’ve never stayed in one spot, let alone one house for that long. I feel like, for the first time, I’m putting roots down. It’s a strange realization. So I have to change. Have to heal. Let some of that shit go. Accept the parts that made me, well – me. But let go of some of that hurt. Don’t play the What if? game. Let it pass through you and be better afterward. That sounds glib. I’m no psychologist. I’d wager there is far more going on in the background than I can articulate. But understanding where your foibles stem from, looking at those circumstances with a critical eye, making adjustments to things that are harming you because of it, and trying to do better, is worth it. For me. Perhaps not for you.

Closets, drawers, dressers, book shelves, and my old wardrobe. Stuff I haven’t touched in ten years. A good portion of it can go. Serve someone else as you have served me. Let someone less fortunate go work their first office job with my old dress shirts/pants. Let some teen read those fat ass books because I sure as hell wasn’t going to read them. Whether it was a style of writing I couldn’t get into, the subject matter, or any number of other reasons. No good holding on to that stuff just to look like I have a library at home. I’m not holding on to 1,000 books I don’t plan on reading, enjoying, or being challenged by, just to qualify my horde as a library. Ridiculous. Better served to go to the community at large. I’ll read twitter on my phone, and the occasional article, but I read best with a physical book in my hands. That hasn’t changed, and I don’t think it will. But also, if I choose incorrectly and buy a book I don’t like, I don’t feel as though I HAVE to keep that book for the rest of my life. Subtle difference. I wish I could read faster/on demand so that I could utilize a library. But my mood towards a book, even one I’m loving is so volatile I can’t stick to reading one in 10-14 days, as a general rule.

This has been a weird one. To summarize. Deep cleaning is good. Letting go of some things you’ve held on to for unhealthy reasons is good. Understanding where your tendencies stem from is good. Using that to change your life/habits little by little for the better is good. You will over do it early in the process, and hurt yourself. Be as truthful as you can be to yourself, and start small. Also I read so inconsistently I can’t seem to utilize a library very well, and continue to buy books most years, though not in the volume I once did. I am also ok with putting a book down part way in if it doesn’t do anything for me. I can give those books to others. It’s ok to not like/love every single book I pick up. Statistically speaking that was an unlikely expectation in the first place.

Happy Christmas Eve, to all whom celebrate. We have more rain, fog and potential for freezing rain. Not much going on around here this Sunday December 24th, 2023.

Water softener vs Refrigerator: Which is worse?

September 12, 2023greatwallstudiosLeave a Comment

The freezer has once again kicked off and frozen over at the vents making the fridge portion warm. And the Ecopure 30K grain water softener still shows Err03, and is absolutely pissing water out the drain pipe though the internal tank is not getting lower, as the water line is up to the bottom of the six. So a valve is stuck open somewhere (from what I can tell, but not being mechanically inclined that’s a guess, based on the volume of water going out the drain versus what little to no movement I can see inside the tank, which is what should be draining). So… yeah.

My daughters room fan ground to a halt on Sunday night, so I have been out to replace it. In June I pulled it apart myself, and used my air compressor to clean it all out, and then used lubricant to quiet down the fan, which lasted all of a month. So either the lube didn’t get to where it was needed most, or it needs white lithium grease inside the motor, as the squeal was metal on metal rubbing. Hard to mistake that pitch of squealing distress.but now that it is trash I’ll take any machine screws I can find out of the unit, and will toss the rest. I have the older busted air purifier to do that to aswell. Plus an old iron and a broken, burned out blender motor base. The screws, bolts and such are handy. The plastic and innards less so, for me atleast. Trying to only pack rat the vital pieces, and not collect a broken electronics graveyard.

So that’s my Tuesday as of 9:30am. We were going to go to the driving range today, but storms and appointments got in the way. My wife has an hour long chat with her doctor right now, and I have blood work to be drawn at 2:00pm. So not a travel to wander a mall day. If work remains quiet we may just watch a movie together and listen to the rain.

I do eventually need to check that the softner is actually doing something, or else I need to go reset it.

I know that all of my tomatoes plants will be glad for the rain today. I didn’t water them much at all during August. They are massive and sprawling plants now. But few blooms or actual tomatoes. Until recently. Now the four plants might produce more than we could eat in a years time. Funny how that is. Apple trees went berserk this year too. Same with the grapes and raspberries. Likely same with the cherry tree, but the birds and local wildlife striped my tree bare before we had a chance to collect one single cherry. Not one! The blasted pests ate them all as they were on the verge of transitioning from greenish pink to red. BAM! The whole lot gone. The squirrels ravaged my raspberries too. The local hare ate my strawberries, even though the plants grow back each year they don’t produce much fruit.

Back to the pesky water softener. So far I have swapped out the wiring harness, the switch, the cam, and the motor itself. Besides the circuit board and physical unit, there isn’t anything left for me to replace, jiggle, tighten or manhandle on this infernal machine. Next step is to toss it to the curb along with the previous twenty year old model. And then buy a third one and have that installed – again. Not going through five bags of salt a month is nice. I think we’ve used four since May. Better!

Not sure about where all this excess moisture is coming from for the freezer though. The lines are empty. Water line disconnected. The ice cube maker disabled. There is no frost line near the seal to point to an external leak. But the vents are positively frosted over entirely. So I need to empty the freezer – again. Thaw out the vents – again. Move the milk downstairs, and any other items we want to keep. Very thankful for the ancient fridge in the basement which came with the house. Can save the milk, eggs and bacon. Just emptied the freezer downstairs so I can save a few other items aswell. Good to have!

Offending water softner stuck on Err03. Where is all that water coming from?

Frozen over vents after 30 minutes of thawing in the open air. Soon to be 2L puddle under the fridge.

So much for Tuesday. How many more bandaids can I apply to these appliances before we have to buy new ones! The struggle is real. Ciao Bella!

Wearing my Handy-Man pants for a brief shining moment.

March 29, 2023March 29, 2023greatwallstudiosLeave a Comment

It took a while to find the part I needed but I did manage to change a brake light bulb that had burned out on my wife’s car. Took all of four minutes once I had the correct bulb in hand. I spent more time looking for a part number than I did doing much of anything else, other than driving to & from Canadian Tire. For less than $8.00 I made it street legal once more. All I needed were two different types of screw driver, and about four minutes time. Glad we can avoid any sort of traffic ticket regarding the tail lights. Go team!

I always wanted to learn more about cars, but those would be the types of vehicles from the 90’s, you know the pre-computer regulates everything, type of cars & trucks. When you had more mechanical solenoids to regulate operations in your car, and not lines of code. It’s a shame you can’t just bust out a bridgeport mill & welder to fix parts any more. Not that I can do much with either at the moment, but I can learn! Now it’s all cameras and touch screens and plastic, or polycarbonate this, that, and the other. Planned obsolescence and all that greedy bullshit. Bah! Beside changing my tires, light bulbs, and adding fluids, or an oil change there isn’t much i can do to fix any of our vehicles. Wouldn’t mind learning how to do brakes, and rotors, but if you fuck that up you crash and potentially kill people.

Oh, since the weather has managed to climb just over 0° C recently I have once again been able to pick up the Urn build for brief stints. It is going to require a fair amount of TLC, for the cold weather glue ups that left residue behind. Glad I’m just clear coating and not staining this, as it would wind up being streaky AF. I have the top tray built, glued & assembled. I went with a Royal blue felt liner. Looks tasteful. I felt the green might be too “Machinists Tool Box”, so blue it is! I have to shave down the tops a bit for a suitable flush final fit. Then I need to plug pin nail head holes, add any final trim, and build the cap/lid/cover. Then sand until I’m sick to death of doing so. Then add the high polished clear coat finish.

Tray fits, not too snug. Needs to be planed flush.

I also have the fence topping moose for my folks to complete. It needs a good sanding, test fit with pre-drilled holes, priming, and then painting, then a clear coat. Get disassembled and flat packed to be shipped across the country to my folks in Campbell River BC. That should be done by end of April if the weather gets nicer.

Wednesday – Hump Day – Middle of the Week Day! It’s here and cold, with lots of wind on the way. I will be glad that I cleared all of the brush yesterday morning, because more will fall out of the old trees today, believe you-me. I will end up needing to sharpen my hedge trimmer, Swede saw, secateurs and long handled loppers. Going to be a busy spring with lots of damaged limbs to prune back nicely, in an attempt to not let my trees, shrubs, and bushes become diseased or die. The ice, and wet heavy snow did a real number on all of our old growth Lilacs. I have an old Maple on the front lawn that’s been dropping branches and bark for a while now. It’ll have to come down within the next 3-5 years. Possibly sooner if the stripped bark causes additional issues. I’d love to have the main lower trunk cut into slabs for furniture builds for the house. Tables, chairs, and desks for both kids. I have plans for all that wood!!!

Love what you’re doing, but I have a few notes…

November 2, 2022November 2, 2022greatwallstudiosLeave a Comment

In regards to your performance recently… in that it sucks. When you work, it’s all great, but then you break down, clog, jam, hell we even lost an integral part of you recently in the u bend of a drain (more on that later). So yes, as a no name air brush, you do what it says on the tin, in brief spurts, and do fine work, but ultimately you are a major failing and we don’t want to work with you after you finish all seven parts of this major project. Oh ok? Hmm. Yes, no you can not leave early. We’re under staffed, and you’re the only equipment we have on hand. Budget constraints and all that jazz. Please and thank you. I’ll dock this meeting from your time sheet today. Bye-bye. But don’t leave. You’re not fired – yet. You are fired, but not until all seven items are finished ok? We clear? Great. Uh-huh. Toodles.

So yeah, the no name cheap air brush is solid when it works, but needs to be torn down and cleaned to the Nth degree after every single solitary brief use. The air brush cleaner, and hot water treatment don’t seem to cut it. And all I’m working on right now is priming stuff black. Haven’t done a zenithal high light on anything yet, nor have I laid on any actual colour. So maybe in the new year I will break down and purchase a higher quality air brush.

On the other hand, the caddy works great. The Vallejo ready out the bottle paint primer is fantastic. The iawata air brush cleaner feels like it should work. Smells nice. And my make shift card board box over spray protection booth, while lacklustre is perfectly fine. Can be set up in seconds, and torn down to store under my drafting table just as quickly. I do want to build a better one, but I need to know what I really, desperately need out of it first. Do I need extraction, filters, lights, a turn table or flat static bottom. Do I want to be able to tear it down, or is it a new permanent fixture in my office/studio from here on out. Do I need to build it to fit inside a closet? Or store it under a work table. I don’t know. I do know that eventually a box of more than 100 miniatures will come my way in mid 2023, and I want to hit the ground running when those finally arrive from a kickstarter I backed a while ago. I should have done the Reaper Bones kickstarter, but I opted for a less expensive one, and it might take me for the $100 bucks. Oh well. Nothing I can do about it now.

In other news, the U bend I busted yesterday has been fixed. I went to Schell Lumber and bought a suitable replacement. I put that back in place, and tested the taps. No leaks – as of yet. It threaded properly, and fit the current existing piping. So a win! Yeah. Also I stopped off for groceries and bought a present for the birthday party this weekend, so that’s taken care of too. Came in and worked on some sample labels, and sent them off too. Had a request for some French Language items and got that put together, and am waiting on any additional instructions. So Bully for me. Ciao Bella!

Gotta love it when…

November 1, 2022greatwallstudiosLeave a Comment

You manage to crack the bottom of the U bend pipe to your bathroom sink when you pull it out to retrieve a very important piece of your tool that fell in while cleaning it. I now have a very tiny hole/crack in the base of my U bend that absolutely pisses water out of it when tested. Atleast I checked it with the bucket & towels underneath. Fuck me. I wonder, now that I’ve buggered it, if all u bends are uniform, or if I’ll be in and out of shops trying to find a replacement. I hope this god damn thing is easy to replace. It has to be right? I guess the dimension of the pipe itself could be the biggest obstacle to finding the correct replacement piece. Hopefully none too expensive either. Well, as it stands now, the water is shut off under the sink & the taps are off, and the line drained. I’ll pull it when I get a chance, and will take the bloody thing with me to go buy a new one. C’est la vie. Whop-dee-fucking-do!

The eye searingly high cost of an LTC…

October 20, 2022October 20, 2022greatwallstudiosLeave a Comment

Due to a recent COVID-19 infection that has debilitated an elderly member of our family we are faced with having to place said family member in an LTC that has round the clock emergency care capabilities. And let me too you that shit don’t come cheap. What’s worse is it feels as though they are only too happy to nickel and dime you for every available humanizing perk you might wish your elderly family member to have & enjoy. For the base rate of $9000.00 / month, your family member gets one shower/bath per week, but daily sponge baths in their hospital bed. A bed you pay them $4000.00 for up front, which includes a wheel chair, due to Covid stealing our family members mobility. It’s fucking horrendous. There is more to it, but as it stands we’re looking at around $9900.00 per month for her care, unless she needs any other additional perks or resources which they are only too happy to provide at additional cost. Ludicrous. Fucking vultures, the lot of them. No wonder Dougie, Harper and Harris are so in love with protecting these private corporations. They’re so gods be damned lucrative. Fuck me. I really had no clue. Oh, if you wanna go into one of those cheap ones you have to sign over all of your assets. House, car, vacation properties, stocks bonds and the like. Robbery. It’s a cluster fuck of heinous highway robbery. I’m so mad I could spit fire. Jesus h crimony.

On a lighter note I just built myself an airbrush paint/primer/mini compressor caddy that I can reach from a sitting position from my desk, or can have on the table top surface with me. If you watch Tested, you’ll see where I got my general idea from.

Next up is the spray booth, cowl I want to trap over spray so that I don’t ruin my walls, or other items in my office/studio space. I’m not totally sold on it needing a vacuum port, but an open cell foam backing seems like a useful thing to have in it. Just has to be wide enough to fit my Lazy Susan inside it, and give me 13 inches of clearance above the stand itself. Big but small. I have to keep it in the closet, but I want it to work for 95% of my bust sculptures to be painted, and an occasional full figure when I pluck up the courage to do more full bodied subjects. It’s a fine balancing act. As I’m sure you are all aware.

I need to eat. Also I have a botched gorilla bust in the oven baking. I was using materials I did not like, so I bunged it in the oven to be done with it. No fun fighting with it, so at least it will be finished soonish. I can always add more to fix the eyes & face and rebake it if I absolutely had too. Ciao Bella!

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