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46 minutes ago, rodentraiser said:

I have that grandfather clock, too. It's awesome, isn't it? I remember it only cost $10 when I bought it and I saw one a couple months ago on eBay for about $50, I think. You're right, the wood isn't all that great and I would advise that you use spackle on the edges and sand the you-know-what out of it. But if you wind it once a day, it really does keep time. I love mine and I'm thinking of refinishing it someway. I think it would look much better painted, but since I've already finished mine with stain, I don't know how I'd do that.

If you sand to rough up the surface a little it usually takes paint fine, if it is only stain and not varnish also you might not even have to do that.  With Spackle in the cracks it might look better painted.  

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58 minutes ago, rodentraiser said:

I'm thinking of refinishing it someway. I think it would look much better painted, but since I've already finished mine with stain, I don't know how I'd do that.

Would it be possible to use bits of the iron-on counter-edge veneer stripping on it?

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I use chalk paint a lot and on the DH furniture as well . You really don't have to do much sanding it dry brushes great . I then go over with a varnish , or wax and sometimes when I want a metallic I go over it with a shimmer metallic it's almost like a metallic varnish . Also it's really easy to distress.

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large.IMG_0564.JPG.95fa60cecd1fb9df34608rsz_img_0550.jpg.989131aaa413f4bcb22f310

I broke out an Carlson's gazebo kit on my kitchen table today. I miss doing something mini and fun. I have been wanting to display my cake topper from our wedding since 1995. We were married in a gazebo and the topper is almost to scale.

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Karin sorry to be so late in answering, Don't worry about greenware sitting too long, it will be fine, I have cleaned it when a couple of years old.

It can go in the kiln as soon as it is thoroughly dry but no hurry.

Go for the pouring. you can't hurt anything. Don't use anything sharp on the inside of you molds, always band them tight whether in use or in store so they a) don't leak and b)  don't warp

. Pick an easy one with a fairly big pour hole, a head ., use a soft squeezy bottle and squeeze it gently to keep the flow going, not fast but not too slow or it will leave rings on the piece..

But  ,you need to mix your slip first.. The easiest way is to dunk the whole gallon in a very large bowl and mix it together,don't whip it, it may have what looks like soft lumps in it, but it just settlings,.this is why I suggest doing the whole gallon, it is not needed everytime but on a new jug I do. It may seem thick, but don't add anything. just keep stirring it gently and it will seem to become more  fluid. When you are happy with it , think whipping cream,let it sit a while for bubbles to come up, strain it through an old piece of pantyhose then put about a pint in a smaller Mason jar and work with that.Put the reat back in the jug. Fill your squeezy bottle from it,.All molds have their little quirks you will very quickly pick up on how long to leave it in, if it needs a tiny bit of thinning, how long before you open it. Treat the first pour as an experiment, then pour it a second time. Just work with the one mold at first till you get the hang of it .I know you will get it quickly,,keep in mind you can't hurt anything, the very most you can do is waste a bit of slip. Start with a lady rather than a small child, when you have mastered the head try a set of legs, then the arms, don't do them all at once, they can set up very quickly. You my have to add a wee bit of water to it for arms, think thinner cream, don't over do the thinning and only do a very small amount.

It isn't difficult at all, but it is easier if you watch someone doing it, I have looked on YouTube and there are a couple of good ones but some not so good. I taught myself from a book. I lost a few pieces in the beginning but very quickly it caught on. You can do it gal....I know you can...I have seen your painting and this is drop dead easy compared to that...

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The weather finally cooperated with shop time, so I put a layer of ceiling paint on the underside of Brimble's roof assembly and roofed four of the five gables.  Of course, I have installed the awnings much too soon, which will make for tricky installation of the rest of the gables' trim (mumble, mumble).

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11 hours ago, Mid-life madness said:

I have been wanting to display my cake topper from our wedding since 1995. We were married in a gazebo and the topper is almost to scale.

What a great idea!  Your cake topper is so pretty, and what a perfect setting for it!

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Thank you so much Jeannine, I always save all the info you give me, you are my teacher and your instructions are my textbook! 

Carrie I've always wanted to pick up some of those Carlson kits they're so cute, what a fun project. 

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I’m heading to a club member’s home this morning for a Mini Play Day. Once a year she opens her home so members can work on unfinished projects, use her tools, or just socialize. My problem is that I don’t know which unfinished project to bring. I have so many. I could bring the windows for the White House and sand them all day. Or the roof on my Get Away house needs to be stripped off. Or I can bring the last project we worked on at our last meeting which I didn’t get to far into. So many choices.

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Lucky! Have fun, I really miss time I used to have with a mini group. 

Just wanted to share this since Jeannine talked about it in this thread. @JeannineI was looking through a 1984 copy of Nutshell News and saw the original advertisement for your nativity mold :) 

IMG_8062.JPG

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I started making a jig to make some cabriole legs for a table, mostly because a search doesn't turn up any big enough for a dining room table.  The biggest I could find was 1 9/16 and that would only be coffee table size I think, most dining room tables are 30" high so that would be about 2 1/4" leaving 1/4" for the top.  I discovered that I don't have the correct edge bit for the big router, but would rather use the dremel router for something that small.  The only dremel edge bits are for the trio, but I did see that someone else bought them and machined them down from 3/16 to 1/4, which I might be able to do on the small lathe.  Decisions decisions.  The only reason I started in the direction of making them was because I couldn't find an unfinished oval table with cabriole legs.  I have unfinished chairs, and would like them to be all the same color when I stain them, and I don't like the dark mahogany stain that most of the tables are done in.

 

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6 hours ago, KathieB said:

Sounds like a complicated project, Barb. Have fun with it!

With a simple jig you can make all your legs look the same, that wouldn't happen if I just started carving lol, and once you have it made you can reuse it as much as you want.  I would rather do it on my dremel router, the big router table is too big for such a tiny item, and it is outside in the cold and weights about 300 lbs so it is not moving!

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large.IMG_1027.JPG.fcd888132b16969c341bbBeen working on the counter for the Steampunk build. Working Now on placements of the steampot parts along with placements of pipes etc. Also need to varnish the parts I have been cutting out and sanded so that it gets a similar sjeen all over. 

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Just found out that my vacation request was approved! FOUR WEEKS away from work!!!!!Already started making a list of things to do, but hope to get a lot of mini work done in that time. The real house needs...a lot...but I can work on things while repairmen are here. FOUR. WEEKS. 

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3 minutes ago, Keifer said:

I can’t believe your work lets you take 4 weeks in a row :eek:

On Wednesday I start Five weeks vacation.. :bleh: But then I live in Australia... We all get heaps of vacation time here. :D 

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