Painting and painting (and repainting) and painting.
Finishing up a big ole Halloweeny batch today. Yay!
One will be a clown. I'm facing my fears.
What do you think about clowns? Cute, or the stuff nightmares are made of?
Sneaky Peeky
Painting and painting (and repainting) and painting.
Finishing up a big ole Halloweeny batch today. Yay!
One will be a clown. I'm facing my fears.
What do you think about clowns? Cute, or the stuff nightmares are made of?
Today's Table
Here's what's in the works this morning.
(I've heard that life is just a bowl of cherries, but this is something way sillier.)
With Dylan out of commission I've had to take on all his maker duties on top of my regularly scheduled shenanigans. That is, the sewing and stuffing part. Oh sure, I know how to sew. But Dylan is something special, able to turn the tiniest of limbs without so much as a curse word. I however am an entirely different kind of special when it comes to sewing, but I gotta say that I held my own. I may have required supervision, but see those goat horns up there? I did that! Not as gracefully (or G-rated) as Dylan might have, nor as quickly, but in the end they turned out every bit as good as his. Hooray! Today I get to start on the part that I feel much more comfortable with, the drawing and base-painting bit (no curse words required). I've also got 3 more Halloweeny sculpted pieces in the works. See that smiley punkinhead down there? He's gonna be a clown. That's right, I'm facing my fears! He may turn out to be the stuff that nightmares are made of, but I'm hoping we'll be friends.
And speaking of sculpted pieces, I just had to share this wonderful pic sent by Cornelius's new caretaker!
She assures me that he'll be joined shortly by his Halloween brethren, but for now he's enjoying hanging out with all the Sams. Isn't this a wonderful collection? I recognize several of the artists represented. Can't wait to see her Halloweeny stuff! And for any of you misguided souls out there thinking that it's too early to be thinking about Halloween, might I remind you that it's practically September which is practically October.
☻
The First Batch
Hooray, the first batch of goodies made entirely here in the wheelie house are all done!
It took longer than I anticipated, mostly because of not being able to find stuff and also having to cart water back and forth every time I needed to rinse out my paint cup. (Running water is still not something that we've got going on at the moment.) I'm so pleased with this first batch of goodies a la Cart. Working at my table all week has given me a much needed sense of normalcy. I don't need a whole lot of normal in my life, but these past couple of weeks have been so crazy that a bit of normalcy was much appreciated.
Cornelius Sweets, Fric and Frac McGuiness, and Serendipity.
They're all one-of-a-kinds, and are available now in the shop.
Update on Dylan's digits:
Thanks to all who have sent get-wells to Dylan! He's still all wrapped up in bandages and such and is mighty restless having to just sort of sit around, but he's healing. We go back to the surgeon's in a week for a progress report. I'll let you know how it goes.
Work-Table Make-Over
Dylan turned my last worktable into a bed, so I needed a new one for my new workspace on The Cart. We had this red painted table already, but it totally didn't work with the Cart decor. So a make-over was in order! "How hard could it be?" I thought foolishly.
The first thing I did was coat it in a stripping agent, trying to get all the paint and varnish off so I could have a nice unfinished surface to repaint. I used Citristrip because it's all environmentally friendly and got rave reviews and whatnot. I must have done something wrong. I think I didn't put it on thick enough, or maybe it was too hot out, I don't know. Here's the table after putting on the first coat but before I scraped it off.
And here it is after scraping, and with a second coat on. What a mess!
The second coat definitely got more stuff off, but it was still just awful.
And now it had all this weird residue on it.
So we took a pressure washer to it! That got the residue off, and some more of the color, but it was still pretty awful.
So we resorted to good old-fashioned sanding. College Boy spent at least two hours with a power sander, and brought the table back to its unfinished state. It looked so pretty it was almost a shame to paint it, but I need a tough workhorse of a table and unfinished wood just wouldn't do the trick.
We debated staining and varnishing, but in the end I picked a light gray paint with a satin finish. It's a little boring, but The Cart is such a small space that we need any furnishings to sort of disappear or it's too much clutter for my already cluttered brain.
I made a backboard for it because it doesn't sit against a wall and I don't want any arty stuff to fall off the back when I push it out of my way.
Here it is in its new home on The Cart!
I'm making the first batch of stuff today that will be entirely made on The Cart. Sculpting, sculpting, sculpting.
Whee!
A Glitch. . . And Some After Pictures
Dylan had a bit of a mishap with a machete. Ouch! Here he is being a trooper in the ER.
He severed a tendon and will require surgery on Monday to fix his hand. The good news is that the doc is confident that's he's totally fixable. So everything is on hold for a bit while we get this sorted out.
In the meantime I'm just taking care of my sweetie, doing what I can, and not thinking about what still needs to be done. Instead, I'm focusing on all the stuff we have gotten done. Here are some of the finished (more or less) areas of The Cart.
Thank you to everyone who has written to check on Dylan and extend their warm wishes.
It's greatly appreciated.
♥
Day 6
It's been almost a week here in the wheelie house. I've been wanting to write about how it's going so far, and it's not like I haven't had anything to say. It's more like I've had too much to say and just couldn't get my thoughts together. So I'll just start at the beginning. . .
On Wednesday morning we began loading all of our possessions (besides a few boxes that a friend was kind enough to store long-term for us) into The Cart. Well, I say "we" but actually Dylan and College Boy did all that heavy lifting bit. I scrubbed and polished the house that we've been renting for the past three years, and prepared to say goodbye to hot baths, the dishwasher, closet space, flush toilets. . . you know, all the super-comfy trappings of modern American suburban living. What I was saying Hello to was the beginning of the realization of a dream that we've had for years.
Once we were all loaded up, looking like something out of one one those Hoarders shows, we headed down the road to my brother's house about an hour away. Dylan was really nervous driving the thing, which handles sort of like a land boat, but he did just fine. (I get nervous driving under the easiest conditions, so me driving was so not an option.) We not only brought everything that we'll need to live and work in the RV, but also all College Boy's stuff that he'll need in his dorm and all Dylan's building supplies so he can finish the thing.
Here are a couple snapshots of The Cart, packed to the rafters--
And here's Dylan and College Boy unloading things.
(Thankfully, my brother was kind enough to lend us the use of a corner of his shop while we're staying here.)
I gotta tell you, the first few days have been hard. I've heard that change is uncomfortable, and whoever said that is totally right. I'm constantly saying stuff like, "Where the heck is (fill in the blank) ?" and "How am I supposed to (fill in the blank) ? " I'm having to learn so much! Like how to work this new computer and all the stuff that goes along with that (aaaargh!), and how to *a-hem* in a composting toilet in a bathroom that currently has no doors, and how to get into a bed that's 4 feet off the ground, and how to not constantly kick over the dog's water bowl in the teeny tiny kitchen, and, and, and. . . But when the day is done we light a fire and all sit around it laughing at the misadventures of trying to make the faucet work, or trying to get dressed in an area the size of a phone booth, or the fact that we were crazy enough moved into an unfinished RV in the first place. . . we exhale and are reminded why we are doing this.
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| Best brother and sis-in-law ever! |
I'll be back soon with more in-progress pics of The Cart.
I think this post is long enough.