Signals From The Bunker

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Well Gill, you must have worked Eight Days a Week to finish it. When was that anyway? Yesterday? Did you have any Help at all? Don't tell me; "With a Little Help from my Friends" I suppose. You'll still be proud of it When I'm Sixty Four I don't doubt. Yep, it's all Come Together brilliantly.

Oh I could go on like this for ages, but I've got to Get Back. Proper Job. =D>

Cheers, Alf
 
Alf please - Let It Be!

;) :D

Thanks for the link, Tony - I'll see what I can come up with.

Gill
 
The background and the base are made of oak (which kept splintering as I cut it... grrrrr! Lots of glue on the breakages :( ) and the deer is made from an offcut of something else. I don't know what it is - anyone care to hazard a guess?

Anyway, it's a desk clock. There are three scrollsawn mortice and tenon joints, but I'm not going to tell anyone that for fear of sounding like a proper woodworker :-$ .

DeerClck2.jpg


Gill
 
Don't talk to me about the Kity 419 :x ! You might have seen my post about it here. I haven't had much of a chance to do anything with the 419 because I've been tied up scrolling. That desk clock, although it looks simple, is actually quite deceptively difficult (especially when it's being cut out of oak that splinters when you cough). There are other scrollsaw projects queuing up, including one for a friend's forthcoming housewarming party (me... working to a deadline? How bizarre) so I've really not had an opportunity to do much besides proper scrolling projects.

Gill

PS Thanks for the kind comments, folks. The clock looks much better in reality than it does in the photo.
 
Someone (no names, no pack drill :) ) rashly asked if I'd show some of my earlier marquetry, so here's an example.

Many, many years ago, I used kits such as Sail On The Lake from the Art Veneers Company. I was in the air force when I first started making marquetry and I was faced with a duty over Christmas one year. I knew this would be tedious and require me to be in attendance rather than actually working, so I decided to take up a hobby to fill the time.

My father had once worked as a civilian in the air force and I can remember how he would take a marquetry kit into work with him to while away the silent hours. He'd made a very impressive silhouette of a ship in a harbour, with all the rigging finely detailed, which took pride of place above our mantle piece. For years, I had admired at this picture and I wondered if I could make something similar.

That Christmas I started out making a simple stylised scene from a kit, about 3" square. I found I was enjoying myself and as time passed I took on more demanding projects. One day I returned home and showed my parents the Sail On The Lake picture I'd just finished. My father didn't say anything at first - he just took it over to the fireplace, removed his picture and set mine in its place. "That'll look nice there", he said. It was one of the proudest moments of my life.

The picture's taken a battering over the years; I look at it now and see faults that are rather embarrassing. It's also a good example of how harewood turns from sapphire blue to slate grey over the years. Nevertheless, here it is:

SailOnTheLake2.jpg


Gill
 
Gill, Thank-you very much for posting......the story and the pic. Story kinda choked me up a bit. Your Sailboats are wonderful. I just love all the deatail that goes into "Marquetry"...So many colors....its great.
Lin
 
Lovely picture (especially the water that appears to ripple in the foreground) and lovely story too
 
Ah, Trev, that'd be telling :wink: . Don't you think that church tower looks a teeny bit crooked, though? At least it's not as bad as the picture of a kingfisher I once made. The beak was made of ebony which kept splintering and in the end I gave up trying to cut it straight. The rest of the picture was fine, but it's funny how your eye is automatically drawn to a fault when you know it's there.

It's great to see a response when pictures are posted, and all the better when it's positive. Kinda keeps you motivated.

:)

Gill
 
Gill":2rtj5nbw said:
....... that'd be telling :wink: . Don't you think that church tower looks a teeny bit crooked, though?

No, not really. I thought that was how the church was built, see. As you say, you cannot stop seeing it - but the rest of us would never notice! :wink:

Cheers,

Trev.
 
A 1⅜" clock has been inserted into this offcut inscribed with a suitable message for the person who'll own it one day :) :eek:ccasion5: \:D/.

In reality the clock looks much better than my photograph suggests. Unfortunately, the gloss finish reflected the flash back at the camera, so the photo has been taken at an angle which means neither the scrolled lettering nor the bottle and glass are very clear :( . Next time, I'll have to make sure the scrolling isn't quite so delicate :? !

CocktailClock.jpg


Gill
 
During the past couple of weeks I've been cutting a portrait of a lion from a pattern that was kindly sent to me by a friend. I wouldn't normally touch a portrait that had 239 cuts in it, many of which are quite detailed. Nevertheless, I pushed ahead. Here's a 'work in progress' photograph:

LionWIP.jpg


It's the first time that I've stack cut a piece like this, but there was no way I was going to make all those piercing cuts for the sake of just one picture! Since I wasn't too sure what the outcome would be like in terms of quality, I used B&Qs finest interior grade 4mm plywood for the project. Blades were mostly Hegner's Pebeco #3 and #1.

I cursed the picture from the outset because I thought it would be too intricate for me; just too tedious and not to my taste. Nevertheless, since I'd been sent the pattern as a favour, I felt somewhat obliged to make an effort so (reluctantly) I started cutting. Now I'm pleased I did.

Some of you may recall me bemoaning my Hegner in the past for a propensity to bend blades forward during piercing work. It came as no surprise to me at the outset of the project when my blades started bending, but after 70 cuts or thereabouts I began to notice that this problem had abated :) ! Clearly, the fault had lain not with the machine but with my own technique. I haven't got the foggiest idea what I was doing wrong before because I didn't make a conscious effort to address the problem. Nevertheless, I seem to have worked through one of my own shortcomings by dint of practice and perseverence. It strikes me there's a moral in there somewhere.

Another enjoyable thing happened to me as the project progressed. I've heard athletes talk about being 'in the zone', as if everything they do just goes right and their efforts become effortless. Strangely enough, that happened to me - I suddenly found that I could do no wrong, just so long as I actually wanted the cuts to be accurate! It was weird, as if the saw had become a manifestation of my willpower. The pattern lines suddenly seemed to be as wide as the M1, not that it mattered because I felt as if I could have cut a hair down the middle. It was such a strange, transcendental experience. I'm hoping for a recurrence soon :) .

How did the lion portraits come out in the end? The cutting is finished and I'm going to lay both pieces aside until I can build a suitable piece of furniture that can incorporate them as a matching pair. So here they are, fresh from the saw and awaiting sanding:

LionWIPCut.jpg


Apologies for the yellowy colour of the photograph - one day I'll take a decent picture and amaze everyone!

At least I can now put this project aside. I didn't want anything laying partially cut on my Hegner when I take delivery of my reconditioned Diamond tomorrow.

Gill
 
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