I cannot find boots that I like, so I have to repair those I have.




They are soon to be beyond repair, thogh :(

The only boots closer to mine that I have found are these. But they have this stupid label :/ I guess I could just remove it, but there would be the sewing holes... and they are not precisely cheap.

The pics are quite bad because it is very dark now...


Here with the flash you see how transparent he is.
My finger looks orange: it is henna.






The first picture was taken the 21st of June. I think he has grown a quarter of a turn or more.

As I promised to medievalmuse too long ago, here are all the pictures I took of Holly Village. I put them in a gallery here.

There are some interior pics here and here too.



Enjoy!

Last week I bid for a desk on Ebay and "won". If you see my previous desk you'll understand why ;P It made my eyes bleed and was clashing with the rest of the living/dining room furniture so much.

I love this desk. I needed a little bit of repair. We picked it up yesterday, and we had to take it apart to fit it in the car. Nice that it could be taken apart, since many antique furniture doesn't...

When we got home we assembled it, I washed it, gave a de-waxer to the board, filled in the cracks with wood pasta (I always end up using my fingers):

( Read more... )

And it was ready. I love it:



Then came the lenghtier process of all, to unplug al the cables of the computer, clean up the mess, clean the computer in and out, and re-assemble it all again. I hate cables I put them as orderly as I could, this time I used cable ties. And it is now set:



( Read more... )

After my workshop journal's paid account expired, and a little fuck up on my part that is now solved, I have decided to get paid account here, post my workshop entries here and keep only one journal. Since I almost never post personal entries anyway, it seems a bit absurd to me to keep both journals. I'll be re-posting old entries from my workshop journal here in the next few months, but I'll try and do it in a way they do not show up again since that is very annoying. I know this can be done.

I'll tag entries as personal or workshop, but they will still show up in your friend's page if you have me friended, and you might not like this since my workshop journal is quite picture heavy, and you may not be interested in it at all. I then recommend you unfriend me, since I am not gonna post much more than that here anymore.

Today I started sanding the "wood paste" I made according to hardware store clerck... I should have tried this before going on crack filling spree. The paste has hardened and darkened a lot. I have to sand it off with a harsh sandpaper in the machine, and insisting a lot, it is gummy and difficult to sand off, and at some points the filling comes out of the thin cracks in a thin strip when sanding the rest! argh. I am then losing my time and losing wood to top it off. So now it is gonna take a lot of time to sand this crap off and fill the holes again with something that works, and then sand again. This is how the glue+sawdust mix has hardened:



When sanded, if it doesn't peel off, it looks like this, quite dark, but I hope not as noticeable once the surface is varnished, therefore darkened. Still, it is way too dark I think:



I have then tried to fill the cracks with the quality wood paste I have, it was much easier to fill the cracks without making a mess all around:



And when sanded (and it sands easily off and nice, I did it by hand in 10 seconds), it is of course too light, because this paste is light oak. I am gonna go and get cherry wood this weekend:



Live and learn, I guess.

Original entry with comments.

Last weekend Pim helped me sanding the rest of the table top. He did most of the work. After removing all of the varnish, he sanded it with a finer grit and no vacuum cleaner, and I picked up as much of the sawdust as possible. Then I mixed it with white glue and filled in cracks. I am still not finished doing this.



Today I've been working on the table all day. My hips hurt so much I can barely walk >_< I just took an anti-infflamatory and let's hope it works.

( This is a text and picture heavy entry )



( ... more )

Now I am off to take a warm, warm shower. Then I hope I still have enough energy left to clean up the mess, but I do not want to fuck up my hips even more, so we will see.

Original entry with comments.

I finished two more t-shirts.




Little bird on branch.


Orchid.


The model.


I have to let them dry completely, take better pictures (difficult with the little light there is around here for the last week) and put them on Etsy. I want to sell them fairly cheap.
I have another t-shirt, grey, to paint. It is gonna be more birds.

My wrist appears completely healed already.

http://mer-workshop.livejournal.com/34496.html

I needed some instant gratification. To start something and finish it.



Inspired by the poppies I see these days in a train station on my way to work.
Hand painted poppies over light green t-shirt. It is a 6-7 year old t-shirt, I'll put it on Etsy soon. I have some other t-shirts to paint.

I hurted my hips again while sanding the table yesterday, so Pim is gonna have to finish the sanding...
And I just burned my wrist with boiling water while cooking. Oh joy.

http://mer-workshop.livejournal.com/34055.html

I've started working on the dining table again. I don't think I ever posted here about it? We started to sand it some months ago, the varnish was quite hard and difficult to sand off. I didn't want to use a varnish remover.

Today I sanded the rest of varnish from one third of the table (I'm dividing it in three parts to work on for three days) with a harsh grit, and then with a finer grit and no vacuum cleaner attached, as to collect some saw(?)dust to mix with white wood glue to fill in cracks later on. This was a tip from the clerk at the hardware store.



On a side note, the paid account for this journal expired some time ago (I still don't know why the automatic payment didn't work) and today I went to renew it for a year, I did... while I was logged in with my innershelter account :( stupid, stupid me. I've logged a help ticket and I hope this can be solved, I cannot afford to pay for another account, and for some reason this went back to an account with ads :/ And I can make absolutely no use of the benefits of a paid account in innershelter, it is completely useless.
I am having a terrible day, I shouldn't do anything remotely important when I'm like this.

Update: I got a refund!! :) now I have to remember tomorrow and purchase the subscription on this account.

http://mer-workshop.livejournal.com/33956.html

We had fun, we saw a lot of things, we got to finally meet charming threnodynvelvet... and ate her yummy paella! but I am too tired to make a chronicle. I didn't get the chance to sleep enough yet, and I desperately need it, so here comes just a few pictures from the hundreds we took. And then I'm gone to bed (Pim is passed out on the couch already)

( Over here... loads of random, touristy pics )

And on Wednesday, Morgana took a few nice shots of us in her living.




( A couple more... )

We are off to take the train to London tomorrow today morning early. We'll be back wednesday afternoon. I won't answer e-mails, etc, etc. Yes, we'll have fun :P

I'm so tired!

I am taking a break from... everything. Except work of course. I was a tad saturated by everything and felt like relaxing and doing only the minimum required. This doesn't include livejournal (much)
Today I worked from 8 to 4 which means I didn't get much sleep. It has gotten suddenly quite warm (24°C, I know, I am getting spoiled here) not a cloud in sight, and I am a bit annoyed, because that is what heat does to me, makes me grumpy. Everyone around me cannot hide their joy, though, the weirdos :U

Right now, I feel like going to bed, but... gotta go to the swimming pool. Terribly lazy about that, of course, but does me well, and I need well before going to England. I 'm going to England!! :D One day to go.

( This is a shoe rant so I'll put it behind a cut )

I've been working on this yesterday and today. Yesterday I soldered the rings and finished soldering the "walls" which still had some holes.
Today I saw(ed?) one of the frames out, filed, sanded, darkened (with flame) polished a bit with pumice stone, and tried to set the enamel in (I also put some glue as a reinforcement). This is the first time I attempt a bezel setting, and it has been many years since I've done any jewellery, as is apparent in the results :P

I think the sheet was maybe too high, and maybe too thick. Cannot get it down more than this (also afraid to break the enamel, which btw I chipped a little bit when insering the enamel...). Maybe I should file it a little bit? Hm, I have no clue.


This is the state of things at the moment. A bit blurry.

( More pics )

Not too happy wiht this, obviously.

Crappy Prym setter...

Today I've been setting grommets (the most annoying part, especially since I don't have an awl...) because I wanted to try the corset before finishing to see if I have to make adjustments. I do..

( Read more... )

Right now, I think I am a bit tired of this sewing project. It is surprising for how many days it mantained me engaged, though. I wanted to finish it this weekend, but I think I will let it rest for a while and work in another (non sewing) project. But I am not allowed to work in another sewing project until I finish this one! I have decided (it was about time, really) that I won't start any new projects until I finish a few ones, because I have dozens of them started... I am a mess.

I feel a bit worse of my sickness today, so I think I am gonna rest for the rest of the day (apart from cleaning up my mess and trying to cut down a little on the huge pile of ironing)

Still home on sick leave. I worked a little on the corset, but nothing too exciting. Stitching the other half boning channels. Previous half was a little crappy, so I tried to find a way to make the lines straighter and in the right place. First I tried tape, I hated it.
Then I took the edge stitcher and saw that it is perfect as a guide:



There are other things I want to write down, but I am too tired right now, maybe tomorrow...

http://mer-workshop.livejournal.com/33199.html

I am home on sick leave. Couldn't do much because I fall asleep (and I must, too ;P)

Today I basted the rest of the boning casings (for one half of the corset) ironed them to adapt to the curves, and stitched. My stitching is not straight. I think I could use one of those quilting guides because I find it difficult to keep the distance even, with no guide whatsoever.


Ironed around cup.

( Waist tape, bones, flossing )

Today I ripped the boning casing I sew over the weekend, because it was 3 cm wide and too narrow. Today I tried 3.5 cm which worked very well, so I ironed the rest of the strips at 3.5 cm. I am now basting more strips, but running out of time already, so I don't know if I will have time to do much more.


With the bones in

( more pics )


http://mer-workshop.livejournal.com/32737.html