I was going to take Sundays off from posting, but there were a couple of things that I wanted to talk about today. I think that I will revise my plan to make posting on a Sunday as optional thing for me to do. After all, I am the one who makes the rules here when it comes to how often I post. I suppose I can change my mind if I like. :)
First of all, I want to thank everyone who commented an viewed my Autumn Leaves Word Art project here on Lumberjocks. Last evening, it made it to the number one position on the main board. My previous project (the bat and skull ‘un-welcome’ sign) had made it to the top three in its final hours of eligibility, and that was a first. I never thought that something like that placement would affect me, but seeing that banner that is on the project page felt pretty good. You can imagine how cool it felt yesterday when I saw my Autumn Leaves hit the top spot.! (Can I say “Yee-Ha!” ?)
I have been hanging around here at Lumberjocks for well over two years now. It is one of my favorite places to be on the web. Whether I am writing and posting myself, or just reading through the forums or scanning the projects, it shows me that there are many, many wonderfully talented people who love to share their friendship, talent and time with others. I am really proud to be part of this community.
As I look at the ‘Daily top 15’ list and its ever changing array of projects, I think of how positive a thing it is and how encouraging it is to so many people who appear on the list. If nothing else, it represents a nice pat on your back from your woodworking peers, which to me is one of the most important and satisfying rewards that we can achieve.
Even though I do woodworking and designing as a living, I think that many of you know that I am not doing it ‘for the money.’ Yes – the money helps me making a living and that in turn allows me the time to do what I love with a passion, but I think that most of you who know me knows that if I won the lottery or came into money today, I would probably be doing pretty much the same thing I am now.
It kind of surprised me how wonderful it made me feel yesterday when I checked the board and saw my project had made it to number one. It was a very proud moment for me.
Am I making too big of a deal of this? Well – maybe. But I do put my heart and soul into my work and seeing that people really dolike what I do makes a huge difference. This is something that I can look back on when I am having one of those days that perhaps isn’t going so well and it will remind me the real reason I do this – to make fun and interesting projects that others will enjoy.
So with all of that said, I just want to thank you for all of your support. Not only on this project, but every day in my life.
And now for today’s project . . .
I have been looking forward to ‘playing around’ today and creating something really fun and special. My new business colleague Jim had sent me a link earlier in the week to make a ‘Die-O-Rama’ out of a pumpkin. When I saw it, I knew I had to do my own version of it and make one for myself.
I had picked up some supplies throughout the week and planned to take today ‘off’ to work on it, and that is exactly what I intend to do. I had some photographs to work on for the new patterns yesterday, and my partner Keith (the BEST partner in the whole wide world!) spent the day working on the photos for me with Photoshop while I caught up on some house things and did some other work. I will show them soon, but he did a great job on them and worked out a wonderful system for working with the software to make them nice. It sure helps to have a smart partner to figure things out and teach me new things!
So anyway, in the evening I needed to get started on some things for the project today so that things would be ready. I wasn’t able to find some of the parts that I wanted, so I thought I would make them myself. I have a product called ‘Paperclay’ that is an air-dry clay made of pulp.
I always keep some around ‘just in case.’ You may have remembered that I used some for the Skating Pond scene to stand the figures up.
Since I couldn’t find small pumpkins or a kitty to go on the rickety fence that I envisioned, I decided I would need to try a hand at making them myself out of the clay.
First I made pumpkins:
I tried mixing in the orange paint with the clay before shaping them. This made the clay quite soft though and they were having trouble holding their shape (not to mention the mess it made! My hands were all sticky and orange – hence no step by step pictures!)
So for the kitty, I just left the clay white. I will paint her today when she is dry:
While I am no Michelangelo, I think that what I did will suffice. The clay was quite soft and it was difficult to keep the shape of the pieces. I wish I had some FIMO clay that was a bit stiffer. But at least this would do!
So today I will continue on in my creation. I have some cool ideas of what I want to add, but I don’t know how much room I will have. I just suppose that I will do what I can and it will come together as I go along. I will take some pictures along the way and you can see the process. It will be a fun way to spend the day today.
Time off is good. While I love what I do, it is nice to be able to do something for no reason at all except because I want to do it. I hope my little scene comes out nice and I know that either way, I will have fun playing around with it and watching it develop.
The rain has stopped today and it is cool and calm and a bit overcast. I missed the meteor shower last night because of the cloud cover, but that is OK. There are other things to look forward to doing.
I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday and make the best of your day. And most of all – enjoy life and have some fun! :)