Street Find and Big Spoon

 People throw away the darnedest things.  As I was riding my bike around the neighbourhood on Sunday this garden tool box lay with the trash at the end of a driveway.  Now, admittedly is was not really much to have pride in as it lay.   I don't really know how a person could nail five pre-cut board together and get none of the edges lined up, but, so much the better for me.  I sprung the unglued pieces apart, glued them, lined them up and clamped the whole thing together.  I plan to sand it smooth; at least 400 grit: wood burn and paint garden type designs on the box.  

 

  The coloured leaf design works well as a pattern on light wood.

  The other project from yesterday was to fulfill as request. 

A 45 cm. spoon for stirring large pots filled with cooking fruit.  It has been a great year for pears and so we have pear sauce, jam and juice. Eva wanted a stout spoon so she could mix and coax a pot full of hot fruit while being far enough removed that she wouldn't also get cooked.

  I cut the spoon shape from a piece of 3/4 white oak on the band saw. I used a block plane 

and a palm plane 

very similar to this one to shape the handle.

Once the handle was shaped I used my Dremel tool with flex shaft to shape the bowel of the spoon. I have bits and burrs that I have gathered up and inherited to use with the Dremel, I wouldn't know what bits to recommend, but I do recommend having a Dremel or similar tool in every work shop. Often they can be bought with an assortment of bits included with the tool.  After all the shaping was done I used scrapers and sand paper up too 500 grit to smooth the spoon for final use.  Since the spoon will be soaked and boiled I left it unfinished.  White oak may take on some colour from the food but seems to stand up well in the long term.

  I picked white oak because it is less effected by water than many other woods. While digging the big spoon from the drawer I found it had many friends.

  That is just the spoon, spatula and spreaders that are used in our kitchen.  At least that many have been spread about various other kitchens around Canada, Sweden and Great Britain too. I like it when my work gets used.

 

Pochade Box - Small Size

  The third box in this series is my newest, but also the box that I think will get used for plein air  the most.  For several years I have carried a sketch book and pencil around with me.  This  small box is just about all I need for an 'everyday carry' art box.   5 x 7 inch water colour paper is cut to fit inside the lid. Also this size is flexible to use.

  Here is the box supplied for water colour painting. It has everything needed expect paper towels, the water brushes work quite well for field sketching. There are a couple of pencils and erasers, as well as a sharp knife and a straight edge in the box too.

 

 All that is needed is to substitute  Prismacolor Art Stix  and the box is ready for dry field sketching. Art Stix are basically  wood less pencil crayon colours. Twenty Four colours in the small box. Better than pastels for this use because they don't smudge and can be sharpened to a fine point.  

 To hold the lid open I re-enforced the hinge with leather. This way it is strong and firm without me having to add locking style hinges as on most pochade boxes.

  It is a re-used chisel box, remember when tools came in wooden boxes with box jointed corners? The chisels are long gone but the box was too good to throw away. It wasn't much of a shop project but, it needed to be sanded and the spacer put inside and the hinge modified, all things made easy with a wood shop in the basement.

   

9 x 12 Water colour and ink on paper'

"Fall Colours"

  I am working on a Christmas present currently and so can't post about it with out giving away the surprise. 

  Be thoughtful and Be safe.

Pochade Box - Medium

The next box I made came a couple of years later, when I had a better idea of what I wanted/needed.

13 x 11 x 3 1/4 mid sized box.

As you can see the medium box is much smaller,  and so lighter.  I build the medium box with a removable lid rather than hinges.

  The inside of the lid has a 1/4 -20 t-nut set into the middle.  I made the box from door skin and 1/2 inch pine.  It is simple butt joints with glue and nail construction, so it is very light but still tough.  I choose not to use fancy joinery since it is a tool box, not a jewel box.

  The 1/4 -20 t-nut means that I can attach the lid to any camera tripod and  work either sitting or standing.  I tape or clamp paper or sketch books to the lid and work out of the bottom section of the box.

  The bottom  a section holds water bottles, paint, pencils and brushes when water colour painting,   The whole thing will carry enough paper towels and 8 x 10 drawing papers for several projects at a time.  The contents are easily converted for pencil crayon, pastel etc.  I have found this is a good sized box for most situations. 

 The lid latches on two sides and to keep the top from sliding around I installed alignment pins,

on the one corner there are two and the other only one.  This way the lid goes on the same way each time and the clasps fit perfect.

  On both boxes the handle is braided  rope, it was handy, cheap and comfortable to use.  I also like it because if gets out of the way when I am stowing the box in the trunk, or what ever.

  I guess I should share a couple of my art works (?) since I am talking about art boxes.

10 x 16 inch water colour

5 x 7 water based marker and pencil crayon

   I have drawn dozens of cats, a birds and gerbils for grand children too.

  Next time the last, smallest and latest box.

 

 

Pochade Box - Large

 A few years ago I started taking art lessons for several reasons. One is drawing is a small, light weight hobby to take with me when travelling. The other big reason was Grandchildren, they love to draw, colour and paint, They don't know that Opa has limited skills so they innocently asked me to draw things, cats, boats, cars trains, gerbils, flowers etc. This Opa does't want to disappoint the Grandchildren.  So....I began taking art lessons at our local seniors centre.  Progress was slow and I still have a lifetimes work ahead of me to become competent. 

  Art like everything 'Maker' related thing has its own special tools and equipment. An Artist's tool box is called a Pochade Box, a large scale Pochade Box is often called a French Easel. 

French Easel, opened and 

closed for travel.

  For a couple of classes I carried my stuff around in a school bag, or shopping bag or back pack or whatever.

  What I found with time, is that all those other artists who had gone on before me actually knew what they were doing and made my first art tool box. 

17.5 x 15.5 x 4.5 inches

Opened and set up like a desk easel.

  I used this box for an oil painting class.  The Baltic birch plywood has an oak frame and plenty of storage for all the gear a student needed including slots in the lid to hold canvases while they dried. 

  This was the first art box I made and from it I learned a couple of useful lessons.  

1. oak is not necessary, my box is bomb proof and its weight reflects that.

2. it is almost a portable studio not a portable sketch on site kit, so the next box was smaller.

3. the wooden latches might be cool but..they are over engineered and heavy like the entire          box. 

4 I really didn't enjoy oil painting at all.  I like pencil crayon, graphite and watercolour so many     of the tools are different and usually you paint on a smaller less vertical surface.  

    I don't use this large box for much other than storage now.  It does a good job of storing and protecting water colour papers and other less used supplies. 

  Next time the Mid sized box, the one most used and why.

The mid-sized box, in the large box. This box is 

actually a true Pochade box.

   

First Lathe Project for Clara

 

  This was a big weekend for my Grand Daughter Clara and I.  This weekend she turned her first lathe project.  She wanted a small bowl for gerbil food and instead of the square open box she imagined making I introduced her to the lathe.

  This is a small bowl turned using a face plate.  Naturally I had to set things up but once I showed her the basics of rounding off the blank she got right into it.  At first I showed her how to hold the roughing gouge and supported her hands but...pretty soon I was only there for encouragement and normal support.  She learned how to sand the bowl through three ever finer grits as well.  

  These were spontaneous projects but next time I will take her through the whole set up process.  She wants to make a bigger bowl for herself next time.

  Our next project was this 'natural wood' neck lace holder.  We rummaged around in the wood pile until we found this rough piece.  I showed her how to use a block plane to smooth out the splinters on the wood and then she drilled the holes for the dowels on the drill press. 

  What can I say, I am so excited when our Grand Kids are interested in making things and especially in the shop.  Clara also crochets slippers and clothes for her stuffed animals. 

  It appears that I haven't kept up with the blogs.  Well, I have been working in the shop but always on routine/maintenance things for the last while.  I am planning in the next blog to talk about pochade boxes, building: what and why.