Tuesday, August 16, 2011

The Shell Game


Earlier this summer, I was at the beach near Gray's Harbor, Washington. One of the small shops there had sea shells for sale at what I thought was a reasonable price. I picked up a couple as an experiment and you'll see one of them here. The glue is still drying on the other. The spindles are turned from walnut and have a stub tenon that matches the holes (kinda) found in the top and bottom of the shell. I attached them with E6000 craft glue as that is a thick glue, dries clear, and has some flexibility. These two shells cost $1.69 each, making this a fun little inexpensive project. They are fragile so I didn't know if I could get them home in one piece, but they made it. The finish on the wood is super glue, as I was trying to keep the pieces as strong as I could.

Enjoy, but be careful of the splinters.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

A Little Magic


A good friend of my sons has 2 daughters that went to Hogwarts Day Camp last week. Each was given a branch to polish and make into a wand. One was lost on the last day of camp, to the disappointment of the girl. Well, since they had asked already if I could help get the wands polished (sanded), I went ahead and made a couple of wands which you see above. Each wand is about 16 inches long, with the business end made from Myrtle wood. The Handle of one is Cherry and the other is Juniper. Since I made these from 2 pieces, I drilled the tenon hole extra long and added a partial feather voluntarily donated by a Blue Bird. Okay, its a feather I found on the ground, and maybe the cats didn't get him.

Enjoy, and be careful of the splinters.