I was window-shopping on Zillow (as you do) and found a homesteading-in-progress lot.
Y'all.
This is their *temporary bathroom structure*!
Look at the figure in these full-width slabs they're using as shingle walls! It's *insane*!
It's a wooded lot, so they're probably saving money by using materials on hand, which is even funnier.
To compensate for tonight's failure, I'm also going to share last night's success!
Partly inspired by a suggestion from @Yuriel, I decided to make something from one of the elm rounds I picked up last week. I thought it was going to be a platter when I started, but it was thicker than i'd realized so it ended up as more of a presentation bowl.
It's so close, too. Stopping a second earlier, and it might have been perfect!
Ah well.
Some glamour shots of what might have been:
Then I decided (for whatever harebrained reason) to try to turn the stalk thin enough to be translucent, so it could light up while the top was dark. I went slowly, checking progress as I went. I even decided I should stop using the scraper, and try to finesse the thickness with sandpaper. I polished the outside, but it wasn't quite thin enough. Back on the lathe it went!
Things were going well. Then! A slight give in tool pressure. I stopped the lathe, and sure enough, I'd gone too thin.
Sometimes you fly too close to the sun.
I've had this old lamp base for years. It doesn't have a shade, so I've never used it. I decided to try to turn one!
I had a small section of oak, and as I was working it I realized it wanted to be a mushroom. I thought that would be fitting on the rock lamp base. So far so good!
Oops.
(Someone on Craigslist just took their elm tree down, and was giving this away for free. It was really the neighborly thing to do to take as much of it as I could manage, so they wouldn't have to pay to dispose of it. I had a moral obligation to take all this free wood, you see.)
Also, handling wet walnut really freaked me out the first time. I thought I'd bruised my hand pretty badly, but couldn't figure out how! Turns out, just a stain from something in the wood.
The results of last night's time in the shop!
Working with green walnut is a delight. And it was free! Thanks, random craigslist guy!
The first was a small piece turned to avoid some of the checking starting down the log. The second I turned thicker and coated with anchorseal immediately afterward with the idea of doing a twice-turned bowl once it's dried more.
#woodworking #woodturning #walnut #woodbowl #woodwork #maker #workshop
Question for anyone who may know! What could have caused this?
I've been cultivating a volunteer grape vine. The grapes are almost ripe, but when checking today I found this! One, singular red grape hanging at the bottom of the otherwise green cluster. All other grapes on the vine are green. Why is only one red?
(Also, it was ripe, and delicious, so now there are no red grapes on the vine)
#grapes #grapesonthevine #grape #gardening
(Reposted to include hashtags)
