Well that Cheers me up.....

A trip to Bathurst to drop of kids....that's not the cheer part....Had to do tax with the ex... As well organised as I expected it to be, I had a hard time keeping a straight face.... A deaf tax accountant that couldn't deal with the ex's inability to look at people when talking and an incredibly complicated return just made me smile like a classic British sit-com. So I am sure it will all be screwed up and I will get nothing, but at least i had a laugh.

Shadow Boxing.....

Thursday Morning, No Sleep and caffeine fueled....School Holidays are a bit of a grind, to broke to do anything with kids due to bad planning and bad weather.... A quick spin to Bathurst tomorrow to drop the kids off, not sure what to do after that. Need a few things a hardware shop, well I need a lot of things at hardware store, but I will make do with what I can afford.

So today I have done a little boxing..... I will never make the money back on the time it took, but at this stage it is more about developing ideas and technique's. Making money from the stuff I am making is not essential at the moment, I have sold a few pictures, not anything I like, but peoples taste is peoples taste. This box is more my taste, it started out as a very beaten up 1940's or 50's HB pencil box, I sanded and re-glued the veneer....

With a spare bolt from the chair project as a handle and a vintage Chinese coin as embellishment, and a lot polishing....

and of course a bit of work on the inside....

and a nice little vintage box to put something in.....Lets see what else we can do today.

Trapped in a box.....

Frosty day.....bit of a drive round....Sanded one box, glued veneer on another box....So it felt a little bit like the day after xmas....groan.

Got a picture half done....I will try and finish and post it in the evening update....Depends if I have house guests again, if I do then dinner and movie and relaxing....If not then a picture or two.... Either way I am happy. Amazing how different the world feels with even the smallest amount of belief and encouragement.... I guess I am bit like a beaten down dog it that respect, any kind word does wonders.

Watching the weather for weekend it is a 50/50 thing at the moment, so any handy goat sacrifice you can make in my name to the weather gods would be appreciated!! Really need to raise some $$$ and clear out the old stuff, I absolutely refuse to pack it ever again. So I may have to find some Saturday markets too....I am quite prepared to spend every Saturday and Sunday between now and xmas to get the situation sorted....

The Evening Update - Apparently I am hard work....That seems about right.... I maybe hard work, but on a good day I am worth it.... and my good days out number my bad most months.... Started on a necklace tonight, slow going due to frosty weather making fingers less nimble than normal....but getting the hang of it..... It is interesting to be adding craftsmanship to my designs and ideas.... Not ready for pics of yet, mainly just screwing around with cheap stuff at the moment, but I have some solid silver on the way, that is more my bag... If you are going to put that much time into something why bother with plated rubbish.... Misplaced faith in my own talent maybe?

One quick picture down and another started.....happy with the speed I can knock out a quick picture these days, trying to combine the free and loose with the tiny detail.... That will take some time to balance....but i really think the intricate stuff did need a looser background...

We are all going on a ....

School holidays.....hmmmm..... Not the best time for doing stuff it seems..... Regrouping and cleaning a bit, get the tools and supplies back in some kind of order, pricing stuff for markets and stopping the kids from exploding with boredom.

Add to this last nights attempt to do ridonkulus online forms, and creativity is taking a battering.... So the plan of action is clean a bit, so I can stop thinking about mess..... Then one picture, and maybe strip old seats off dining room chairs. Not sure what I am going to do to them but I need a bit of visible progress.

By the Pricking of my Thumbs.....

So much for the end of winter....I got four whole days with the fire not lit.... Frosty and rainy and Brrrrr. No matter, I got sunshine on a cloudy day. Broke and completely lacking a pot to piss in.... and baby I don't care... What I am trying to get across is my mood is on the upswing again, filled with ideas and the motivation required to see them through. I can see clearly now, and it's all good.

So I am going back to Bathurst, and the fact that it's Bathurst no longer matters. So its a week of paper work and sorting and hanging out and feeling the love. oh, and waiting for the postal delivery man/woman to deliver the stuff I ordered. It is weird in the house at the moment, it is like living in two different worlds....the old world of collectibles and items with a resale value...and the house that is being set up move into a creative future, where all income will be wrought by hand....I am loving the transition.



Hopefully this cold spell doesn't last long enough to dampen my enthusiasm.... Bought a couple of two dollar lamps today, to gut and use for my bedside lamps..... Did a bit of imitation silvering tonight. Just did the detail....but I may do more later.

These Boots are Made for.....

Feeling great after 12 plus hours sleep....I had a serious sleep loan to repay this week, and I think I worked hard to pay it all back in one go. Just pottering around the house today, random cleaning and sorting. Found the ex's box of rocks she was "looking" for....they weren't in the house they were in my storage unit...I will give them back, they will no doubt end up in the hands of "Vista" but I can't be petty.

Many years ago while living in Brisbane my garage was robbed and I lost a pair of johnny reb boots I had since I was twenty....Never did get around to replacing them.... Over the last week, since seeing a pair in the local shoe shop (for over $300), I had been toying with the idea of putting some cash away each week to get myself a pair for xmas. So on this weeks drop and return trip to Bathurst I stopped for a quick browse of Op-Shops, and walked away $30 lighter but with a pair of boots.... Not Reb's but I like them more....No silly name stamped across the front, and much better quality. They have not been loved, but are still in great condition and recently re-healed and soled. So I have cleaned them and they are covered in leather treatment at the moment, I will let that soak in till tomorrow, and then a very thorough polish.

Not sure about the B buckle on the side, but it appears to be silver and not just alloy....Thinking of pimping the buckle a bit.

When the leather is back to what it should be I will polish the silver and take it from there. The boots came with some free earrings, they were meant to be two dollars but he chucked them in with the boots... A stint in the jewelry portion of a pawn brokers taught me a few tricks, and the ability to mark a metal with your fingernail is a very basic test of what it could be....so maybe these heavy little buggers might pay for the boots.

The Evening Update - A relaxed day today, I think I needed that.... Needed to sleep and potter and get my head on straight. House is still a bomb site of epic proportions, but tied up my room a bit so I can ignore the rest when I am in there.  Two weeks of school holidays and being flat broke probably means a fair bit of time at home. So hopefully I can organise stuff a bit, started bagging and price tagging stuff for the markets. Looks like markets will be a no go due to rain, not good because I really could have used the cash, but a cosy sleep in is good too....

The only other thing done today was the final touch, for now, on the desk door...I have so much else to do I will leave it alone for awhile.

 

Rewind....

Safe and sound back in good old 1955.... Two weeks of school holidays seems like a good time to go back a bit and try and find the happy again. Way too much pressure has made me lose a bit of focus....I need some lists and down time. I will get my head around the stuff I cant change and get back on track with the progress train....woot....woot....or something like that, I am not very good at peppy, but you get the idea.

The Lurgy.....and the Stress Ball....

Seven thirty in the AM, and trying to decide if kids are going to school today. Lily is better but Seb is still lingering a bit.....and I am not 100%, but still hoping to avoid coming down with whatever they had/have. Not sure how much of Seb's coughing fit is real and how much is due to the fact I just download Bejeweled Blitz Live on the xbox for him....If they stay home today the chances of getting anything done round the house are zip.... and I really need to get things back under control here. Not looking forward to the idea of going into two weeks school holidays with a house that starts out a mess.

On the plus side the Blue Mountains City council has decided to give me a roadside find intervention and has already cleared Hazelbrook, and is also doing Lawson and Bullaburra. So the streets should be free of distracting goodies now and I can finish the stuff I have. The official last item found is a 1950's atomic vinyl pouffe/poof/pouf. Cleaned up it is an easy hundred, maybe more if I team it with one of the Eames Saucer Chairs I have in storage.

On the "How insane am I" scale at the moment I am hovering around a seven. Started to realise I am two very different people. A time pressed get thing done, Stress about being late person that is a pain  to be around, and the free of pressure bundle of fun that everyone should consider themselves lucky to know. I think being sole responsibility for day to day lives of kids is stressing me out in ways I hadn't foreseen. Even the seemingly simple task of doing the afternoon school run seems to be stressful and extreme. I hate being late, I very rarely am, and being late to school to collect kids is an abhorrent thought. Not a big issue you might think, but when you add in a 15min trip to school through heavy traffic and constant roadwork it becomes one.... On a good day it can take 10 mins to get to the school, on a bad day 30mins, and once or twice 45mins... And there is the stresser, from midday I seem to be getting in the mindset to get everything done in time for the unknown school run, so i end up in a flap even if there is no traffic.

Seb is still and bed and coughing sporadically, Lily has just come in a declared she is bored and has nothing to do. This maybe one of the days that gets called one of those days!! Yes Cinders you will go to the Stress Ball!!!

So kids conned me into letting them stay home, wasn't real hard...the idea of traffic to pick them up later not at all appealing....so the holidays have started, and then next term will be their last at korowal....Barring a lotto win or dead wealthy relative.... Really worried this could be one of those big mistakes, but basically over a barrel at this point. So notice has been given to school, and I will have to slowly break it to the kids. I am sure Seb will be alright with it if explained right, which is ironic since he is the one that really needs the school....Lily will be a mess...there will be real tears, although I am sure she will be fine anywhere, I suspect she would have been a more interesting person if she was allowed to stay.... But we never know what the future holds I guess, and I try to be positive about stuff....realistic but positive.

Today will not be a great day for getting stuff done, and tomorrow will be spent behind the wheel... So a small job this morning to make me feel like I have achieved one little thing....The old, take an existing item and put a clock in it, school of work....

There is hope....

Dropping my eight year old off at school for his first big excursion to the city, being a diligent parental unit, I said he should pay attention to his teachers and behave....He looked up from his game, gave me a smile and a wink, and said "I'm on it Mr S" and went back to playing his game.... So there is some chance the cool gene is dominent over the painful awkward gene....

Sailing.....

Karma....Luck.....Something like that. Last night I was trying to decide if I could afford to replace the jewelry tools the ex wants back, and ransacked my house for.... Looking on eBay, but decided to wait a bit.... So today the nice lady at the op shop gives me a very nice set in a case, while buying a framing thingy for $20. A framing thing that when I got home I looked up is worth about 300.... I have quite the little workshop set-up these days.... So next weekend I can give back the ex's stuff... No doubt so she can give them to 2.0.... Mine are better :)

Also bought an easel today, Nice, Vintage, Italian.... needs a clean and polish, but for $40 and not $400 I can afford to do a bit work. It will be nice to have all the painting stuff in one place....I will put up pics tomorrow when I start to restore it.... In the road side find dept. of the company, some very cool boxes....No idea what they are, other than cool.

Take a Seat.....

Sick kids so no school.... I did get a suprisingly large amount done on chair project. In between food runs and hugs.... This update will be a picture is worth a thousand words type affair, as my fingers are sore from sanding... Not used to hard work. Had to drill new holes for a new arm rest, a bit tricky to get the angle right, but the jobs done.

Finished sanding to get rid of old varnish.

Oiled up like a prized pig....

Cleaned the leather....Well I did after this pic....It was pretty horrid...Do not let your pets on the couch!!!

Relaced the canvas seat...after a quick rinse in the washing machine...a bit of shrinkage...but put it on wet to stretch it.... Very glad I took a few photos of lacing before hand.

And then put it all back together....and I like it!!! Took about 4 hours all up....not bad for a very nice chair that I got off the roadside.





Car Porn....

That's what you call sexy pic's of your car isn't it? With a free foam mattress and an old electric carving knife, I went to work....

So I now have a weekend panel van....1979 all over again....Of course in 1979 you didn't have to make sure your children were in government approved seats....Back then I could have just chucked them in the back with some colouring books and toys and drove to Brisbane.... I remember traveling around town with my cousin in the back of ute, not as bad as it sounds....it had a canopy.

Needs More Chair!!!....

Quick update before a trip to Bathurst....Only thing I found today was the part of a chair I took the leather seat off about a week ago....I really didn't think it would still be there.... Glad it was....

It was one of three, obviously a sectional lounge, as there was only one armrest....and since there was only one leather seat there, i can't make a lounge..... So I have scavenged enough bits and pieces of the other two to turn this into an arm chair.... So some unlacing, sanding, oiling and work on the leather and this very comfy chair is a keeper.

The canvas is a bit grotty....but according to the interweb you can was canvas in a washing machine....luckily I have a spare canvas so I will give it go.

Reasons to be Cheerfull Part II.....

Things that make you smile....in this case Boobs....I know that's a very boy thing to say, but in this case it seems justified....

Now I just need to do something not to creepy with them....Is using a hole saw creepy? How else will I get a pole up them? OK its all gone a bit Benny Hill in here....stop snickering!!! I meant a pole for a lamp!



Time at the Desk.....

The desk is done....done but for a few final lights etc that I am waiting on.... but done enough to start using as my desk again.... It has air vents, a feature often missing from 50 year old furniture, showing a distinct lack of foresight regarding the cooling requirements of computers...

So I ended up spraying the inside panels and the ones that face the wall too, probably no need, but it would bug me to know they weren't....

so it is a little bit Dr Who's Tardis a bit steam/cyber punk and quite functional.

So the sound system for the PC is now inside the cupboard, still a bit messy as I need to get extension cables for the speakers to move them up underneath the sliding shelf...and at the moment I am using a battery powered night light to illuminate the green glass, but that will be replaced by 240v LED strips, that will go underneath too....just waiting for it to arrive from OS...

A wireless keyboard and mouse keep the cables to a minimum.... the flip out mouse case is out of an old sewing cabinet...I will eventually line it with foam and black velvet to make a safe mouse hole. There will be a final polish and when I am happy with the door and drawer they will get a seal coat, maybe with a crackle finish. But for now it looks like it belongs...

Halves......

Got about half what I wanted to get done, but that's not to bad since a few set-backs slowed things up. A broken hole saw and a shelf that wouldn't budge without a large lever and a ton of brute force....also changed plans mid way through and decided to paint some things i was going to.

I decided that in addition to the holes for cables it might need a few speed holes....

Of course that made things a bit rough looking.....so paint became a good idea.

Might just leave it black for now.....Kind of like the look of it..... So I am going to do the underneath too.... Hopefully the stuff I ordered from Hong Kong turns up soon, so I can finish the tech parts.

Finished the door....well as close as it is getting this month....I may do a few more detailed layers after the other projects are done....and the desk it self is finished....

The door is a bit busy on its own....but in the desk it is more subtle, well as subtle as a glowing green light surrounded by cogs can be. Ordered some LED's that work off 240v, so I will have a very big nightlight to keep the bogeyman at bay....

Fumes.....

The plan was to complete a project today....instead I have been working on a few and sharing the destruction and paint around. Found the worlds most hideous valet chair....I like a challenge.

It is horrible but I think it can be saved.....Leather and paint and a tweak or ten.... Also started work on my computer desk....Well started on the destruction phase anyway....It started like this....

I made a door and drawer for it a while ago....nothing fancy just pine.....So i am now going to give it a bit more character and tech bits....But first the saw and proper old fashion measuring and cutting stuff.

Wish I had paid a bit more attention in school, but Internet to the rescue on how to find the centre of a circle....and speed and accuracy with the jigsaw is probably an acquired skill, a few more holes and I might be a bit quicker with it.

Running out of time to do anymore before pick up the kids o'clock...So a quick undercoat and back into my school run clothes....

Starting work on the design for the door and drawer now....This will be done in quite a few layers...So I am spray painting the first few to speed things along. A bit messy but I think it will look right by the time I get to the hand painted bit....

Layer 2 is spray paint in satin black cogs....and then while it is still wet Layer 3 is stippled with a brush, this is not for any reason other than impatience....tonight I will dig through some boxes and see if I have any metallic model paints....

Nine o'clock and layer four is done....might leave it there for tonight. Austin Powers is on TV in fifteen minutes, the kids are in bed and I have a bottle of wine in the fridge....Time to put the feet up and relax....