What We're Making

[redduck]

I can't pick out one piece of work. They all are impressive.

 

[MissMolly]

Like everything in my life things can get involved. Last June I picked up some 400 Nelsonville "Star" sidewalk bricks in pristine condition. I switched out the sidewalk installation I had done in 2012 with this better brick. I need to set up the brick saw to make three cuts for the missing 1/4 brick, and two bricks at the left of the post.

I had enough 3/4 & 1/4 included with this sale so not to have to cut up any of these beautiful bricks. There were bricks by the steps which I could not replace so I just resued the old worn bricks. You can tell the worn bricks by the white on the high surfaces which is where the glaze has been worn away from foot traffic. It makes for a great "compare and contrast" when I show this installation off....

That's a beautiful walkway!

 

[street]

Beautiful walk way.

 

[Ronstar]

DW wanted a "beachy" photo frame to match our new decor. So I made this from some scraps and a piece of moulding.

First time using chalk paint. Now I need to pick up the glass, mounting hardware, and put it on the bathroom wall.

Photo is from a photographer that I'm taking a photo lighting workshop from.

 

[Tetto]

DW wanted a "beachy" photo frame to match our new decor. So I made this from some scraps and a piece of moulding.

First time using chalk paint. Now I need to pick up the glass, mounting hardware, and put it on the bathroom wall.

Photo is from a photographer that I'm taking a photo lighting workshop from.

Very nice! You have some excellent skills

 

[deserat]

Can you please start an instagram account so I can look at these cookies every day. They make me so happy! You are an amazing artist

ditto, ditto! Oh my gosh, I am late to this but you are AMAZING.....these are works of art...do they taste good, too?

 

[deserat]

I am so late to this thread - but WOW - what great work by all of you. I crochet afghans and enter them into our local fair. The are three dimensional in that the flowers or designs pop-out from the flat part. I will post some pictures later.

In any case, thanks for sharing the great work - and for that cookie maker - gorgeous and YUMMM!

 

[davemartin88]

Jewelry

Trying some laser cut jewelry. Alpacas for my wife and some friends with alpacas and Sheltie will be for a fund raiser for the rescue group we are in. They have an annual picnic and hoping to sell a dozen or so pairs there as a donation. May do some of the bigger Sheltie s as Christmas ornaments for the picnic as well. The geometric shapes aren’t my design, just a test of the hardware and laser settings.

BTW, thanks to all who post their items here for everyone to see!

 

[Red Badger]

Made these for gifts too...

Beautiful! Are the top two photos cutting boards?
I bought a checkerboard style cutting board at a charity silent auction recently. Don't ask, but it was worth it for both reasons.

 

[Tetto]

Made a few more cutting boards for the Milford Oyster Fest; first time i'm putting up a tent in a craft fair. Should be interesting...

 

[harley]

Milford DE? I'll try to swing by and check it out.

 

[Tetto]

Milford DE? I'll try to swing by and check it out.

Nope, sorry. Milford CT

 

[Moemg]

Made a few more cutting boards for the Milford Oyster Fest; first time i'm putting up a tent in a craft fair. Should be interesting...

Great looking cutting boards ! You should consider etsy .

 

[Tetto]

Great looking cutting boards ! You should consider etsy .

Thank you. I’ve thought about it, but with my extremely busy job, I could see myself swamped with work and orders! I like doing it on my terms for now, when i retire I’m 9 years I’ll have plenty of time!

 

[davemartin88]

Nice cutting boards, I’ve done some similar ones. I finished up 15 pairs of the Sheltie earrings and 20 of the ornaments for the Sheltie Rescue picnic later this month. I’ve done a few other earrings that I was asked to do since they are quick, inexpensive, and seem to be well received, did a poodle shape, a Boy Scout fleur, and several of the geometric versions.

Also did a couple of music themed ink pens to take to the artist co-op. Top one is Cocobolo and the bottom one is Walnut burl.

 

[texcurtis]

 

[Tetto]

View attachment 29316

 

[texcurtis]

Very cool; it’s also way cool that you have a friend who’s an astronaut! Are they a current astronaut or retired?

If you worked at NASA, astronaut friends & coworkers are a dime a dozen.

 

[deserat]

View attachment 29316

 

[davemartin88]

Wine butler for a friend, cut from Mulberry. This is how it looks right off the router, it will darken to match the color of the darker piece when exposed to sunlight. At the rate we are seeing the sun lately, this may take a while! Will laser etch a couple of glasses with the same leaf design to go with it.

 

[Lawrencewendall]

For the second year in a row, a lot of my veggies did not get pollinated. Last year I planted wild flowers hoping to bring them in but no luck. Started doing research on setting up a beehive in suburbia. Saw a strange box with tubes in it and the caption said “mason bee”. I had never heard of them. Doing more research, I learned that they are one of the most proliferate pollinators out there, even more so than honey bees. Honey bees need to make honey so they prefer sweet pollen like from fruit trees and strawberry blossoms and don’t particularly like squash and zucchini blossoms. Mason bees just need pollen to survive and to store some with their eggs. Their eggs turn into cocoons and the following spring when the cocoon hatches, food is right there. The cocoons hatch when the daytime temperature is consistently above 51.

Mason bees are considered a hermit or solitary bee as it does not belong to any group. The female hatches, mates and begins collecting pollen. They lay their eggs in pre-existing holes (they do not burrow like the carpenter bee). Their preferred hole diameter is 5/16 or 8mm by 6 inches deep. Once they laid their egg at the back (females in the back, males in the front), they block off the hole with mud and lay another. Once the hole is filled (it will hold 4-6 eggs) they cap off the hole with mud and find another. The female’s lifespan is 4-6 weeks so they only are around from Spring to early Summer. Because they are solitary and have no territory to defend, they are a very docile bee and do not sting.

Another hermit bee that will share a house with a mason bee is the leaf-cutter bee. It prefers 6mm tubes and hatches when the temperature is above 75 degrees making this one a pollinator for the rest of summer.
There are articles out there explaining how to harvest the cocoons for the next years batch but I may need to buy some to get a head start next spring. There are places that sell them.

Well, after that long rant, here’s the first. I have enough material to make 10 houses so guess what everyone is getting for Christmas this year?

 

[Lawrencewendall]

Just finished a wedding arbor for my DS's wedding next month. Uncanny how it resembles a hangman's setup.

 

[pacergal]

Nice bee houses!
My SIL built a very similar arbor for his and DD wedding, it was beautiful with the flowers, ivy and fabric!

 

[street]

Beautiful work by all. A lot of talent on this board.

 

[Epiphone]

It’s 1954 Again

Hi.When I was a young broadcaster raising a family, many of my single cohorts had jukeboxes. I always wanted one but we put our saving goals ahead of material stuff. Now that we have reached our financial goals, my wife and I decided it was our turn. I spent seven months restoring my favorite jukebox. This is a 1954 Seeburg. She looks and sounds great.