Friday at Home

  Today's blog doesn't have one big over arching theme, because the  last couple of days hasn't featured a major project.

  This morning I delivered the 30 Cajons allowing me to reclaim space in my shop which desperately needs to be swept and vacuumed. 

  While I have been working in my shop my wife has started Christmas baking.  She has made nine different types of cookie, 150 cookies each type.
                                                           

                                           

I got involved in a quick repair of Eva's necklace box, some how a grandchild managed to knock the back off of the box last weekend.  No big deal, a job for glue and clamps. (you can never have too many clamps.)

necklace case repaired,
the white back was the bit glued back on,

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  One of my favourite wood workers on the Net is Izzy Swan at Think Woodworks. A while ago I watched his quick video, simple holder for woodworking plans.  I was a quick little build that solved a problem for him in his shop.

  I took that idea today and made a couple of changes to the document holder that Mr. Swan made.

 

 My holder is larger, 12 x 17 inches and has many more holes drilled in the front edge.  My plan is to use this holder as a working surface when I am drawing, painting and colouring with pencil crayon. I have been playing around with "Fine Art" for about a year.  Drawing and painting have proven to be a satisfying pastime for me that is portable, quiet and not too costly.

3 x 5 miniature that came third
at the Rockton World's Fair this past Thanksgiving

  Having a dedicated drawing board means that I can move my work around to chase good light and comfortable seating and as well to not have to put everything away every time I take a break.

 
 Aside from making the working surface larger and adding more pencil holes I opted not to use clips to hold the paper down, instead I screwed a thin strip of wood down at both ends of the top and slide the paper underneath the wood strip. I felt that this system for holding paper was more versatile than clips.  I recognize that this system will only hold 3 or 4 sheets of paper at a time effectively but I think that will not be an issue.

you can see the strip and screws in this photo

 It is nice to have a wood shop so that these simple tasks can be dealt with quickly and easily.

  It's the weekend, get out there and make something.

  cheers, ianw