Greenville Newcomers and Greenville Woodworkers Guild meet

Bob and I had a wonderful morning.   We hosted 26 Newcomers for a tour of the Greenville Woodworkers Guild.   We brought about 20 items for “Show and Tell” so they could see what we have made and how we have progressed in three years.   We split the group into three sections and each section got a guided tour of the Education Center.   The pres. of the Guild also gave a brief presentation about the Guild.   Bob and I talked about how we got into woodworking and our projects.   Afterward about 14 of us all went out to lunch.

We heard many good comments about the event.   Many said it exceeded expectations and they were surprised how big it was, all the classes and training available and the complete selection of equipment they could use.   Bob and I also thought it went very well and it was a lot of fun.

You can visit the Guild on line at: http://www.greenvillewoodworkers.com/

Keepsake box and oak heartbox woodworking projects

Here are pictures of our two newest woodworking projects.    I made 9 oak and mahogany heart boxes.   Here is the oak one.   It is about 4″ across.

This box below has several nice features.   The top has a beautiful piece of veneer, Bob’s first attempt on his own.  The white inserts at the corners are called splines.  The outside of the box are angled which give a special look to the box.   You can’t really see the angle in this photo. The wood is from Africa and called sapele.  The box is 7″ by 10″ and we call it a keepsake box.   It is also the wood that Cadillac uses inside their cars.   It has beautiful grain.

Here is the inside of the box.

Some Holiday Cheer and Projects

Sunday afternoon we went to the Greenville Little Theater to see their performance of “It’s a Wonderful Life”.  The show had a big cast and about 8 children.   The youngest was a little girl in first grade and she was so sweet.

It has been so long since I saw the movie that I didn’t remember very much.  It is a timeless story and of course I cried at the end.   The theater was almost sold out and there were many children in the audience.   Some of the little girls were too cute for words in their little holiday dresses.  There was one African American little girl, maybe 5 who had her hair in braids and the cutest soft pink velour with white fur like trim on the top and pants.   I had to tell her how beautiful she was and mom just beamed at the compliment.

Sunday night we were invited to dinner at one of our Newcomer friends, Sue and Larry.   There were 10 of us who enjoyed a delicious ham dinner.   Their cat Shamus is such a character.   He is a big long haired tuxedo cat and was definitely the center of attention.  He seemed especially interested in the shrimp that was on a plate on the beautifully set table.   Yes, I came out to the dining room and saw Shamus carefully walking between all the plates on the table.  I don’t think he sampled anything but he sure was thinking about it.   Amazing he didn’t knock anything over.

I said I would take pictures of our newest  projects so here they are.  The first four are items Bob made at his weekend wood turning class at John C. Campbell.

Natural edge cherry bowl about 6 inches across.  These are even more difficult to make than a regular bowl.   Keeping the bark on the edge requires much luck.   Bob and I will be getting more training on these.   We don’t especially like doing regular bowls but love these.

Votive candle about 8 inches across .   Around the candle at at the edge there is a special tool that is used to create texture.  We don’t know what kind of wood this is.

Tree ornament about 5 inches high.   This is my favorite.  Will definitely be making more of these.  I had a heck of a time finding the tiny little birds, about 3/4 inch.   I finally found them on line at a company that carries things for doll houses.

Snowman ornament about 8 inches high.   He is a cute little fellow too.  You can’t see it on this picture but his top hat is textured with a special tool like on the candle above.

We call these our baby boxes because there only about 3″  by 4″.  Spalted maple.

One of my newest ideas was to make little cheese board cutting boards from some lovely maple that we have and design them especially for the interests of those I was giving the gift too.  They are about 10 inches at the widest point.   The finish is 4 coats of food safe tung oil.

This was a RV for a couple who use there recreational vehicle all the time.   I think it will be quite a conversation piece in their vehicle and it’s small so won’t take up much room.

We have several friends who have cats so made quite a few of these.

This is a flower and I used our woodburner tool to burn in the center petal outline.

These are pens all made from exotic wood like  rosewood, marble wood, bocote, paduka, purple heart, yellow heart.   The one on the far right is ebony.  The picture doesn’t do them justice.   My favorite part of making them is when I put on the finish and the texture and color of the wood just “pops”.

This is our new pride and joy.   It is a unique pen called the bolt action.   The bolt moves just like the one on a rifle and the writing end is like a bullet.  Perfect for our friends that are interested in guns.   The downside is the kit is quite expensive.
These didn’t photograph too well. I etched birds on a branch on a set of wine glasses and a flower on a candy dish.  Glass etching at least at this level is very easy and inexpensive to do.

We also made several more sets of our twisted candle sticks.

We made some bandsaw boxes for Bob’s sister and she really likes them.   This is about 4 x 6 inches and is mahogany and maple.
Hope you enjoyed my little photo tour.

Back into woodworking

Bob’s work shop has been overtaken by stuff to make these chairs so not room to do much else.   However we are getting back in the swing of things now.  I made three pens with exotic woods today.   These are bocote on the top and Indian Rosewood.

We made 10 of our tipsy wine bottle holders.   Maple, spalted maple and oak.  Just got them stained and will put finish on in a couple days.  I don’t think I have shown you these.   We have given many as gifts.

Pretty fun.  It works with most wine bottles.   Once in awhile we find one that doesn’t work but not often.

We did these candle sticks  a while ago.  They are being given as a wedding gift.  I thought the color combination turned out really nice.  It is made of maple and spalted maple.

Hope you enjoyed the photo gallery!

Bob’s Chair

For a couple months now I have mentioned all the work Bob and another Woodworker Guild member have been doing on furniture for OLLI’s new building.   The last remaining item has been the 12 chairs they need to make.  Bob is doing some parts and Dan is doing some parts and neither of them has ever made a chair so they both have quite a learning curve.   It has taken much longer than expected to get even the first chair frame done.  Here it is:

Neither of us will ever look at a chair quite the same way.   Getting these 16pieces to fit together is not easy.   What you can’t see are all the mortice and tendon pieces that hold it together.   The legs still need to be tapered a little.  Dan, the project leader, is looking for some more people to help because the pieces need to be cut, shaped, sanded, stained, glued together and a finish applied.   There will be an upholstered  seat also.  Bob is hoping he just has to do the five pieces for the back of the chairs.  Surprisingly he is still in a good mood about doing the chairs.   He said he has learned so much about using his equipment and also about how to make a chair.  This is by far the most complex and difficult piece of woodworking he has done.  We both agree doing the small projects like pens, boxes and candles is more our style.

Bob and Dan also made 4 square oak tables, 8 craft tables with laminated tops and 8 book cases.   I will get photos of those later on.   There were some other people who stepped forward to do painting and staining so those were not nearly as much work.

Having fun in the woodworking shop

Bob and I have been having all kinds of fun the last few weeks making gifts to take back to Minnesota.   I got half a dozen pens turned today.  Making those are quick and so rewarding.   I have really fallen in love with some of the exotic woods like ebony and bocate and purple heart.   I never knew there were so many woods.   I can even identify quite a few of them.   Who would ever have thought I would be doing this?    Certainly not me.

Our woodworking journey is such a great example of what people can do that is brand new when they retire.  We keep coming up with relatively simple and easy to do things that are great for gifts.  I just ordered a pattern for something that looks really interesting to make on the scroll saw.   These are some pens I made last year.  Bob is working very hard on his part of the backs of the 12 chairs that the Woodworking Guild needs to make for the new OLLI building.   Quite a learning curve for both Bob and Dan, his fellow woodworker.

Our Wood Creations

People keep asking me if we sell our wood creations.   Yes we do.  I have a few items in consignment stores in Travelers Rest.  Most things are custom made just for you so they might take a couple weeks.   We usually have pens, a few boxes and the magic wine bottle holder available.

If you are looking for gifts for those hard to buy for graduates and dads for Father’s Day, consider giving them a hand made wooden pen.  The pens are $10 for regular wood (oak, walnut, cedar, cherry, etc.) and $12.50 for exotic woods plus shipping.  Shipping is about $2.50 but I know I can do multiple pens for still $2.50.

This is probably the only time you will every see me do marketing with my blog.   That’s not the intent of why I write it but I thought I should answer the question.

Most recent two wood projects

I just know some of you have been waiting impatiently to see what Bob and I are making now and worry that since I haven’t posted any pictures lately that maybe we stopped.   Not to worry.  We haven’t been doing quite as much but still playing with our wood.

Here is the last bandsaw box we made.  The wood is spalted maple which is a fungus that is in the wood.   The patterns in the wood are gorgeous.   This box is about 8″ long and 6″ inches high.  I call it “mother and child”.

And this is our very latest project – entwined candle stick holders.  The first pair were really hard to figure out but now they seem easy.  One is mahogany and the other is mahogany and maple.  We think they will make nice wedding gifts.

Hobby Time – Woodworking and more

It’s been awhile since I posted any photos of what Bob and I have been working on.  Enjoy!

Bob and I just got over colds and that slowed us down a little.

Today I just got a new kit to help me take better pictures.  I don’t think it provides enough light but will play around with it some more.   It’s a start of something better than a white sheet for a backdrop!  Really a pretty good deal for $38.  There are two lights, four different color backdrops and a tripod for the camera and all in a nice carrying bag.

This box is maple and walnut and I really like the shape of it.   It is about 8″ long.

When we were at the Woodworkers Guild for our band saw box class we saw someone working on what he called “tiny boxes” and they were so cute.   We got the directions and here is our second one.  It is about 3 inches wide and the lid is hinged on little dowels.  It is mahogany and oak.   We will definitely make more of these.   It’s a good way to use up scrap wood.

For Valentines day we combined several ideas we have seen for boxes and made this simple heart box.   Once we figured out how to do it the construction was pretty fast.   The openings are drilled in.  The box is mahogany and is about 3 1/2 inches.  The inside is flocked, like felt.  I think it is really cute.  We can use the same concepts for almost any small box shape.

We tried another natural edge box but with a much different bark than the first sycamore ones.  I think it is made from a cotton wood tree but no one at the Guild knew for sure.   It is about 7″.

I also have been making glycerine soap and practicing my origami.

Some is scented and colored,  some with lavender buds in, some clear.  You can see the swan and heart origami.  I’m really, really excited that OLLI, at my suggestion, will be having an origami class next term.   Hope enough people sign up for it so the class is a go.   I have been wanting to study this more for decades but I’m not very good about figuring the folding out when I just look at a sheet of paper and instructions.   I do much better with videos.

Last but not least, we still make some pens.   These are from two beautiful exotic woods.   The striped one is Bocote and the dark one is Indian Rosewood.

I have a couple small boxes and two larger boxes that will soon be finished and made some Valentine cards. That is what we do to keep busy when not taking naps, swimming, petting the cats, going to classes or doing fun things around town.   More on those activities later.

Our latest wood creation – Can you guess what it is?

Do you know what this is?  Scroll down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok, how about when you see it in use?

This is our favorite new thing to make.