A few days away from the lathe......but I'm back

Due to a shoulder injury I had an enforced break from turning which made me sad. Also a trip on Friday to have a delicious dinner and film with family for lil sisters birthday. That burger was so good I am making burgers for sunday lunch. With brioche buns. mmmmmmmmm bacon.

I had turned another little bowl on wednesday to take to my woodturning group on thursday but since then I had not turned until today (sunday evening). Twas the first time I had taken minis to club and I think the members were reasonably impressed with the delicate work.

Wednesday bowl (possibly walnut)

I also picked a 2" piece of walnut out of the shavings after the demonstrator had finished making a whistle and he proceeded to give me a piece of African blackwood to try. Supposedly it is very fine grained and strong, dense and perfect for holding the small details needed in mini work. Quite frankly I am too afraid to cut into it yet as it is pretty expensive so I will continue building my skills before cutting into this piece. (Edit: several days later postman brought me 5 pen blanks [3/4" square about 6 inches long]  to try before cutting into the bigger piece.)

But I am back on the lathe with avengance.

Today I was determined to make a candlestick after far too many fails at the end of last week and nothing to show for a good amount of working time.

Progress photos which never reached completion

 
 As a precaution I thought I would practise with some cheap 9mm hardwood dowel which was left over from making lace bobbins.

Not quite a matching pair

Surprisingly it worked rather well and a pair of vaguely similar candlesticks emerged. The light wood would also be great for anything that was to be painted.

Then another little bowl and a kitchen paper stand and I was finished, a very productive turning session indeed.

Until next time, Kim

More miniature woodturning

Another session at the lathe and I have a few things to share, two bowls and a small drinking cup about 8mm tall. This one gave me some trouble when I dropped it behind the lathe station into a pile of shavings and spent half an hour on my hands and knees searching for it. Time I think to put a back board on the lathe station me thinks.

After completing the tiny tumbler I placed it beside my first mini turning and made a funny squeeking noise.....

I was so pleased with the first turning, I was overjoyed with the second only about a week later. The walls are so thin! Less than a millimetre. Much like the cake stand which didn't survive the final stages of polishing.

I seem to have reached the limits of the commercial tools I have, with the 6mm spindle gouge unable to reach the bottom of this container. Taking a cheap (and useless) wood carving tool from the craft stash I hit the grinder and shaped it firstly to fit in such a tiny vessel and secondly gave it the profile of a scraper to help me thin down the walls of the cup and flatten off the bottom. I can see me making many more tools to complete these pieces, there are some available online but they are very expensive and the scraper is about the simplest tool there is to make, even if mine does look home made it did the job. Next task, hollowing tools.

To finish, this is a group of my fave tiny turnings so far....

We shall see where this road takes me from here......any suggestions?

Todays images brought to you by Nikon+macro filter rather than Samsung galaxy phone.

First turned miniatures

And so....

Taking one of my tiny chunks I glued it to a block of scrap pine and just decided to see what happened. A plant pot appeared from the block of wood followed my a slightly more curved one the day after.

Plant pots.  Push pin for scale.

The next day came another two minis from the same type of wood, a bowl and a deep platter which I don't have pictures of for some reason. [Correction. Making up for being a bad blogger I went and got them and photographed them.] The base of the bowl on the left is a little too thick but all good practise.

First Bowls

The next session at the lathe I used a piece of Yew wood which had cracked during drying and was no use for full size work. Broke it down and glued it up for this little pair of beauties, the wall thicknesses were getting thinner and I was very happy with these items. The little dish is just 6mm (1/4") tall.  I think yew may be my favourite wood, works easily, has a lovely warm colour and grain and finishes wonderfully.  We are lucky to have a tree surgeon amongst our group and I shall have to offer him baked good for more yew (and other woods)

Yew

Now we are almost up to date, I hit the lathe again this afternoon and after turning a spinning top (normal size) from yew as a warm up, I started with another bit of the same wood as above. Perhaps I was getting over confident and the first bowl I made was destroyed in a catch, there was still a little left so I went for another little dish like the one above but I was an idiot and made the same mistake and lost that too.

Next a piece of sapele, turned a small bowl, sanded and finished and just needs the bottom cleaning and finishing before I can photograph it but very nice. Still lots of wood left so I started a plate, which began to develop a base which turned into a cake stand, all was going well and it was just as I was finishing the polishing up that I held it wrong and it was destroyed, the top was super thin (in scale but fragile) and it would have been stunning. I was rather sad. Thin top platter with an simple but elegant pedestal in a warm brown wood.

Perhaps all of my walls today were too thin and overly fragile. That is the danger of mini work, walls less than 1mm thick and it is so easy to slip and destroy nearly an hour of work. At least I am not short of practice wood, G tells me there are more scraps to salvage in his workshop, his timber come from local joiners so they are somewhat limited in variety, hopefully when word gets around our club that I can use pieces that are firewood to them I may find myself inundated with a larger variety of woods (a terrible burden). For exotics I may have to resort to actually spending money and buying them. And hunting in the garden. We have a lot of garden.....seriously.

For anyone wondering, I am trying to get back to my blogging and the mini community in general so I would love to get set up for some swaps or personal exchanges. I would happily swap something I have made for something nice that someone else has made with love. I will get set up for better images as I do have a dslr and a macro lens, I just need to get somewhere set up with decent lighting. The next upgrade at the lathe station will be two lamps for excellent lighting and I am hoping to put together a little photostudioroombox which can sit (with magnets) on the lathe bed and borrow the twin lights for good photographs.

And maybe, in time..........an etsy shop?

And because blogs need pictures and the latter part of this blog is lacking, here is a cute kitty in a bag.

I couldn't bring myself to take the bag away.

It's happening again......

I am over planning things.
I have carefully sketched out a complete cottage design for Belinda (who is still an image in my mind) when she has nothing to put in it.

I have something of a tendency to do this, let my plans get away from me and then they can become overwhelming and actually stop me doing things which is really stupid and annoying. Hence a few days without posts, also home responsibilities were above average keeping me busy.

So despite having partially written a post about the ground floor plan/design I am going to leave it un-published in the draft section. I am going to be strong and try and keep myself thinking small.

Some of the nicest minis I have seen are not full houses, some are just a single dresser/hutch filled with co-ordinated goodies or a single corner of a room or a lone worktable. And for the time being that is where I need to keep my focus. Thinking small.

When I look through my pinterest pins there are so many things I want to make, all different styles of baskets, pots, ceramics, tiles, plants, books. The list could truly be endless and so for now that is where I am going to focus.

Maybe in a while when Belinda has a physical presence and a stack of possessions she will demand a space of her own and I will re-visit those plans.

I shall return to the theme of art supplies until I am satisfied with that, and then I will pick a new theme and order anything I need for it (eg wire for baskets) and then I will do lots of that item in various styles. I will link to tutorials I have found most useful and give you any variations that I have made to those or tutes of my own.

Belinda's magical cottage is not the only theme I like in mini, I know that shabby chic is a very popular mini style and it is one I would like to play with as it is not a style I would ever have in my actual home. Not super shabby chic like a cath kidston shop just vomited its entire contents into my mini, but a shabby lite, more neutrals with pastel highlights and some tasteful wear on the furnishings.

When I make baskets (again as an example) I can make some in neutrals and pastels for future usen, whilst Belinda will need darker tones.
I shall go and get a good night's rest and start with a fresh mind tomorrow. Does anyone else have this kind of problem? If so, how do you cope with it?

Until then, Goodnight all.
Kim

PS. This thursday till saturday I will be in Manchester for an event, finally getting to see Hank and John in person and I CANNOT WAIT, so excited!!!!!!!