The Three Step in Making Anything - Step Two

 One you have gathered all your materials together and prepared them to the best of your ability Step Two often takes less time than Step One.

 Step Two - Assembly

 

This is the container that will hold the soil and plant. It definitely needs to have a nice planter box.

This is the box clamped together and drying.

   When it comes time for assembly I like to dry fit all my pieces first and then coat the surfaces with glue and clamp it all together. You can never have to many clamps, but don't make the mistake I did early in my shop life, I bought cheap clamps. Cheap clamps look very similar to quality clamps but they will let you down, cheap clamps slip. They only fail when it is really inconvenient for you.

 Gather all your clamps and jigs close at hand and get your glue into a small easily manipulated applicator before you begin assembly. If you are a bit messy, like I am, have rags and a dish of water handy so that you can clear up glue squeeze out promptly as you are working.

 I found that assembly for this project was a few minutes, preparation had been at least an hour. 

 Step Two when baking is when you combine  the wet and dry ingredients in a big bowl according to the type of product you are making. Sometimes the batter should be very wet, other times quite dry. Remember not all dough needs to be kneaded, for biscuits kneading the dough will give your biscuits a more solid and less flaky texture. Also not all dough needs to be processed until it is totally creamy, again, biscuits like lumps of shortening in their batter.

 Step Two is finished when everything is square, all the squeeze out is cleaned up and glue has set. Usually several hours later.

 Step Three is where the magic happens and the project becomes a Master Piece, Finishing. I'll talk about that next time and share the results.

cheers, ianw