From sketch to reality...

It's always interesting to watch the progress of a piece, from start to finish. 

Well, at least it is to me! 

An old customer stopped in a few weeks ago, asking about a gift for her husband, who is retiring. She asked me to design a shadow box that would hold some of her hubby's memorabilia, like four mission flags that he had collected over the years, as well as some commemorative coins and military swag. After much back and forth communication, we came up with a box design that could sit in his office, with various spaces to hold his gear.   

People often have a hard time visualizing the end result, so simple sketches help. Here's our final sketch: the interior of the box.  

Luckily, I had some cherry in stock, so I was able to get started on it immediately. And since I teach box making in one of my classes, getting the pieces cut was a breeze. 

I felt like the mahogany plywood bottom panel was staring at me the whole time, but Denny said that wasn't what he thought of when he looked at the grain. Hmmm... what was he seeing?...

Speaking of grain - check out this birthday cake! 

As always, the box is glued together as a whole piece, 

and then cut open. 

Add some hardware and  interior dividers and... BOOM! We've got a keepsake box. 

The coin ledge at the front of the box holds two different rows of coins, and pivots forward to reveal a small secret stash area. Sweet.

I'm not as crazy as some people (Lupe) when applying a finish, so I only apply two or three coats of oil. Oh, and a final application of paste wax. You can't forget the wax! 

The oil really made the colors POP!

 Luckily, the glass shop up the street was able to cut a piece and polish the edges while I waited. This piece came together very quickly!

I have to say that it feels great to make pieces like this for military families. And it's nice to take a break from building BIG pieces and get back to smaller projects. 

Next up.. I'm finishing the dining room chairs that have been lurking in my shop for the past several weeks... stay tuned!

Not complaining.... just saying..

If you live in Las Vegas, you're not really supposed to complain about the weather. (When you start complaining, people just look at you and think - STFU!)

I actually love the warm temps, so it doesn't particularly bother me when we get to triple digits - but it does make it a little tough to work in the shop.

Glue is my biggest complaint - it starts to set-up as soon as you spread it. Forget about ten minutes of working time, it's more like ten seconds! And - forget what you might think about how glue reacts to hot temps. One would think that it would turn sludgy, like cold motor oil. Just the opposite - hot glue gets as thin as milk. The first time I went to spread it, I spilled glue all over my lumber. 

Lesson learned. 

I have a ton of glue-ups to work on today, so this will be challenging! 

My best advice for beating the heat? Eat popsicles!

Keep on... keeping on...

Do you remember that scene from Castaway, where Tom Hanks talks about coming back to his old life, and the only way he can survive is to just put one foot in front of the other and keep going? 

That's how things felt this week. We're in the fourth week of classes, at the same time - Denny and I are producing a massive volume of work out of the shop. Epically massive! 

We've had rush orders that we've had to complete in 36 hours, repairs to complete on some of the equipment, wood deliveries - to say it's been hectic would be an understatement. We just keep putting one foot in front of the other and ....

...keep on keeping on. 

What choice do we have?!

Regardless of what we have going on, we've still been producing some of the most amazing work in our shop. Even more exciting is the fact that most of these students are brand-new woodworkers. 

In some cases this is their second class ever!  

Hand planes, baby!

They're using a combination of handtools and power tools to create terrific, well-crafted works of art. Not crafty-crap. We're talking nice work here. We wouldn't have it any other way!

Take a look....

Nice work, everyone... I couldn't be more proud!

My $6 Garden...

To say that I'm busy right now would be an understatement. 

It's been so hectic that I actually had to put Stella in daycare for a few days (Thanks Ann!) just to find time to get everything done. When I picked her up last night, I ended up taking her to class with me. She walked around, watching everyone build their workbenches, just wanting to play. 

She sure does love that Frisbee.

But one thing is certain - no matter how busy life gets, the sun keeps rising every morning and the household chores keep piling up. And my garden keeps on truckin'....

Back in March, some friends and I decided to start a gardening group. I think it stemmed from the fact that we were tired of starting our gardens by purchasing plants at the local garden centers, often spending a ton of money for plants that weren't all that healthy. Instead, we each chose a few plants and started everything from seeds. For around $6, each of us started 3 different plants, and then traded them six weeks later, when they had sprouted.  

I wrote about starting everything in this blogpost in March. Here are some of the amazing plants that were brought to my shop - everything from Lupe's ridiculously healthy tomatoes, to some store-bought plants because Ann's starters died before she got them to us! 

We literally had so many plants, I had to give them away to anyone who would take them... hundreds!

 It took me three separate weekends to get everything in the ground! 

(I'm fast forwarding a bit - but here it is this morning!)

 Within a few weeks, the magic began...

 I didn't know what these slender shoots were, but when they rolled over and turned cellophane-y, I dug them up... 

only to find that I'd been growing shallots all winter! 

If you've never cooked with a shallots, you need to! And I have pounds of them to share!

Here is the humble squash garden after roughly 2 weeks, 

and here it is a month later...

and a few weeks later.

 And now it's taken over the sidewalk, 

with huge spaghetti squash popping up  every few feet on the vine.

Lupe's japanese eggplant seem pretty happy - there are clusters of them everywhere! 

  

This year's garden has to be the best ever, it's as if everything is on turbo-drive... the zucchini are happy.

 the chard grows so much, I can barely keep up with it! 

And the beet garden is maybe the best it's ever been. 

 Even the nectarines are exploding!

I'm not sure how my garden buddies' gardens are faring, but I really hope they're enjoying everything as much as I am!

Even the ornamentals wanted to get in on the party!

Sundays are for a little relaxation and garden maintenance! Honestly, I don't even have the time to cook most of the things that are growing right now! I'd rather sit back and just watch things grow. 

 Hope the start to your summer is going well, too!