h-No Man

So whoever's been to my house knows that it's a little light on decor...  Mmmmaybe the entire front room only has a few pictures up...that happened fairly recently.  Anywho, I really wanted to try a new technique for a distressed paint finish as well as beef up Christmas decor last month, so I drew up some sketches in primary (you know...where I sit at the back on the piano under flickering lights...and probably should be reading the Ensign or something..)  I then cut these puppies out in pine and tried my new, 2-tone distress technique.  There's definitely some fine-tuning to go, but I really like the shabby-chic look that seems to be popular... I dunno, is it still popular?  Are bangs still in?  Are boot-cut jeans still in??  I just know I'll be that 40 year-old with flare jeans and a slap bracelet...

Backlog

So since I started doing this 'makin' stuff' thing a while ago and only now started this blog, I'll show you some old stuff, too, ok???

I give you the very first thing I ever scroll sawed!  You can tell from the 'O' and the 'L' that I was purdy scared of losing those fingers.  Plus, my first scroll saw was from, I think, the 4th century, so it was a little jumpy. (Still, warm feelings for the little guy, as it opened a doorway.)  More polymer clay practice here, too.

And then shortly after that, with some blade upgrades and a little more practice with that cat puzzle, I made l'elephant puzzle.  It's verrrry close to someone else's design, so I can't take credit for the shapes--but I think the painted color scheme turned out well.  It turns out paint brushes are pretty hard to be accurate with.  What's with that?  Why haven't people come up with a better way to paint thin lines? Yeez, artists..

{In Jerry Seinfeld's Belly Voice}: Hellllllllo

Well, here we are again.  Starting a blog.  Except this time, it's going to be a 'makin' stuff' blog. And instead of talking about any neuroses I may or may not have, I'm going to talk briefly about the stuff I make with my sexy scroll saw.

So here's the skinny.  I just upgraded to this delicious, variable-speed, 20" scroll saw (aka Baby Jack's new little brother) and I'm a big fan of making stuff with it.   Oh, like names, wall hangings, puzzles, boxes, holiday decorations, etcetera, etcetera.
And then there's polymer clay.  So you may know my mum (see her awesome stuff here).  Ever since I can remember she's been making schweet schtuff in polymer.  And as a kid, I was always like, "Yeah, yeah, that's cool and all," but I always preferred to roll the clay into fat humanoids, slice them up, and stick lit birthday candles in them...  It was that instead of Barbies... Oh and don't even worry about me secretly being a sociopath or anything, I've talked to pleeeenty of people who would do similar things as kids... mostly boys...ok, mostly weirdos... but I digress.  I'm suuuper into it now.  I didn't know what I was missing.  Like, I've got the ol' craft room set up with all the polymer amenities.  So between that and my power tool hallapalooza, I be makin' all kinds of stuff up in here.  I've set up my Etsy shop here and we'll just see what happens, i.e., whether I remain attached to all my fingers or not..

I'll start with the first practice puzzle I ever did.  Cut from 3/4" pine and then some experimental polymer techniques on top (clearly, I wasn't really going for a chic look here).  Oh, and fyi? Yeah, the head and tail pieces glow in the dark.  Just sayin' :)