Wednesday 9 May 2012

 A fault box! not because of any faults as such - more geological.



Friday 4 May 2012

Back to the workshop

Yesterday I assembled for the final time the visitors book box. Only it wasn't the final time. There was a piece that didn't fit properly. So it's back to the workshop. I sometimes wonder if I shouldn't stick to desk boxes. But then life wouldn't be a challenge.
On a happier not I got a very nice letter this morning from Councillor Tom Hargreaves, Mayor of St Helens thanking me for " all the hard work you put into the design and production of the caskets for the Freedom Scrolls, which were presented to our newly conferred Freemen of the Borough.  Everyone commented on how beautiful thy were."
So that was a bit of good news!

Thursday 3 May 2012

mirror on the wall

It's lunch time! and I haven't even been into the workshop yet!
I've been all morning messing about with PAPERWORK, computers, posting stuff,banks and so on and so on.......
People ask how long a box takes to make  - I sometimes think the actual making is the quick bit!

Anyway here's a pic of the mirror - I did get that finished off this morning.

Wednesday 2 May 2012

hinges



I didn't get any photos taken but more oil was applied and I've now started in earnest on the next box which is a box for a wedding album.

These pics ar the strap hinges for that box beginning to take shape.

Today - more on these hinges, more oiling, waxing and then photographing.

Tuesday 1 May 2012

I imagine that thousands of people around the world are on the edge of their seats as their computers warm up waiting to read the next episode in the life of a box maker...
lots of cramps but no stick!
well - In the morning , exactly as planned, I clamped up the beading around  the glass. In the afternoon, again, exactly as planned I made a mirror frame for Chris' B&B guest bedroom (don't tell her - she hasn't seen it yet) and then in the evening I took the cramps off the beading, sanded it flush, and then it fell off! It hadn't stuck properly. The glass was fractionally too thick for the rebate. 
I'll glue it again today. And then oil it as well as some dovetailed boxes awaiting their next coat, and, of course -  the mirror frame. I'll photograph the new dovetailed boxes for the website and that just might be all I get done today.

Monday 30 April 2012

Trying to keep posting . So what happened on Friday? I managed to get the workshop tidy and vacuumed - it's been deep in sawdust for too long now and I finally fitted the glass to the upstairs landing . I think that job has been waiting about a year! so -not much in the way of boxes...When you're self employed you have to be ultra disciplined - I really shouldn't have worked on the stairs but they had to be done because we had nine guests over the weekend!
Maybe I should write in the morning what I hope to get done that day and then the following morning write what actually got done...

So, today I'll try to finish the big secret opening box which will house the visitors book. I really ought to make the long mirror for one of the guest rooms - but that's not boxes so I guess I should do it tonight - but going back into the workshop  after dinner doesn't appeal....

Friday 27 April 2012

I'm Back!

The longer you stay away from diary or blog writing the harder it is to restart - unless it's months and months, in which case you just start again... so I shall.
From ungloved to gloved!
Yesterday I handed over my commissioned jewellery box to Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery - finally... It was about three months late! Life is getting the better of me.