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Making Beach Art Using Wood
We decided to use up some of our scrap wood to make a piece of art for the living room. I saw something similar on Pinterest and followed the link to Etsy. Yikes. I think they were asking around $400. I knew we could put our own spin on it and decided to give it a go. The first step was to start cutting strips of wood into varying widths and thicknesses on the table saw.
This could take a while -
Turtle Lane Sign
Remember Teresa? Sure you do, she is the pottery kiln lady. A couple of weekends ago we delivered the wood for her outdoor kiln. Well, she dropped by this week and had an idea for a sign for the end of her driveway. The story goes that one day she was on her way to work, and lo and behold a turtle was digging at the end of her driveway to lay eggs. Imagine, possible baby turtles. She asked if we could make a sign. First we had to draw something out on the computer.
drafting Turtle Lane -
Making a GPS Sign
We needed one more ‘thing’ to fill out our wall of ‘things’. First we decided on the size and shape. We figured something about 8 x 20 would be best, so a long rectangle. With that information we decided to make a sign with our GPS co-ordinates on it. Here is where we plan for it to go.
Where the red box is -
Making an R for Baby Ruby
Our nephew and his wife had their first baby in July. They named her Ruby and she is so tiny and beautiful. I had asked my brother if we were to make something for her nursery, what color should we paint it. He sent along a picture of the nursery and we were all set to get to work. First we had to determine the size for the letter R and then pick a script for her name.
Designing the project -
Making a Confederation Tray
It started as an experiment, like most things do around here. To try it and see what happens. We had harvested some hemlock logs from Sutherland’s River, NS in the winter of 2017/2018. We decided to slice up some hemlock into round discs, called cookies, and follow through the process of levelling, sanding and finishing. But first, we have to count the rings. I counted just over 150 rings. That means this tree sprouted at about the same time a group of men gathered in Charlottetown, PEI. Which is just up the road and across the water :). Confederation Cookies.
About 150 growth rings. -
Painting Grain Sack Stripes on Fabric
I may have bragged a time or two about the area we live in. Postcard perfect really. There is just one problem. Our nearest three towns are seriously lacking in the shopping department. I blame the internet. It’s both a curse and a blessing. I think as a result of a lot of people doing their shopping online, there has been a decline in retail stores. Some things you really need to see in person before you buy. Case in point…fabric.
Grain sack stripes -
A Few More Map Orders… Everyone Different!
A few weeks ago we had an order come in for a white washed map of Prince Edward Island (PEI). While any province or country can be scrolled out of wood, the islands are most easily recognizable. Again we knew we could get 2 map projects out of one cutting session.
PEI map -
Making Wood Slice Coasters
We thought we would make some wood slice coasters. And like any good project, it starts by heading into the woods. Ha. You know, once you get something in your head, you just have to try and see if it will work. We didn’t have too far to go to get a branch or two before we could start.
This one should do -
Making an Eagle Whirligig
We see a LOT of eagles in our neck of the woods. There is a fish hatchery just down the road. That could have something to do with it. They patrol the edge of the lake looking for fish. Every once in a while we actually see them dive into the lake for fish. They often park themselves on the highest tree on the edge of the water. So beautiful. We decided to build a whirligig, and what better than an eagle for our first kick at the can.
American bald eagle fishing for breakfast -
Wind Spinner 2.0
With the success of our first wind spinner, we wanted to make another one… but different. We were wondering if cutting out a different shape would make a big difference in appearance or even wind spinnability. Thats a word. But if you spell it a little differently you get a different meaning. Don’t do it. Here is the first one we made, a little blurry cause, well, it was spinning.
So handsome
