Workshop Weather

4C this morning - YIKES! On Sunday it was 28C! I suggest a petition that the temperature only decrease by 1C a day...or week!! These sudden changes cause me seasonal anxiety! And also cause me to overuse exclamation marks!!!!!!!!

At least the sun is back. We had 5 or 6 straight days of rain. Which means no biking, no long walks through the forest...BUT...it does mean the workshop is now open for business!

From unpolished...

to polished!

 The leaf is a piece I snapped off a larger carving - I wasn't happy with it and this small piece didn't seem to belong. I turned it into a leaf and gave it to my artist brother who has recently named his studio "The Silver Branch". He put the leaf in his storefront window underneath a large vase holding a silver branch. It looks as though the leaf has fallen from the branch! :) I'll take my camera with me next time I visit him so you can see how it all looks.

Unpolished...

...polished!  * The base is made of soapstone as are the pieces above. Soapstone comes in a variety of colours - I really like the rich browns in this piece.  I didn't alter the quartz.

In progress...(this is the sculpture that I took the piece off of which became the leaf). More shaping to be done before I begin to polish...

This one is partially polished...will finish tomorrow. I am going to place this one in a shadow box as it is a thin relief sculpture and needs support. I like the other side better but didn't photograph it for some reason.

This one is partially shaped; will work on it more tomorrow.

Future works of art :) Both are quite large so I will be taking a hammer and chisel to them first to make several sculptures out of both - I prefer to work with small pieces.

And there you have it!
This is week two in the shop - I am quite pleased with what I've accomplished so far. As they say...it keeps me off the streets!

Foto Fri....Sat....Sunday!

I just had breakfast for lunch. Why? Forgot about turning the clocks ahead til just a few moments ago! So today I'll be dining elegantly at 7pm! 

Below is a photo I took one day last week and it was like 6:15pm! Tonight if I get to see a sunset it will be 7:15pm!! We're getting closer and closer to spring! Not with the weather however. A winter storm is coming our way...again...

The next two photos are from my 5km walk that I try to do everyday but there's been a lot of flooding lately even on city street as many of the drains are clogged up with leaves and debris.

This was one of my favourite signs at the International Womens' Day that I attended last Wed. It was so windy that we didn't march after listening to the speakers - we could barely hold on to our signs and banners.

This photo below is from my 5km walk the day after the big wind - a large spruce was brought down. I have several tall spruce trees behind my condo and I was keeping my eye on them due to the 90km/hr winds - they seemed to be bending over at almost a 90 degree angle to the ground but thankfully none of them were uprooted.

The next few photos are from Friday's fun activities. After my weekly sit-in I had lunch at The Trini Man Kitchen with my two best buds - I could eat blackened chicken everyday of my entire life!!!

Then my friend Jules needed to go to a nearby art store to purchase supplies for a week long kids' art camp held at our city gallery. It's now March Break. I looked around and found a box of soapstone pieces!! So I bought 2 small chunks because I work small and the cost for the 2 pieces was a mere $3.43! I'll be going back soon to get more!

While I was at the sit-in in the morning I was able to purchase some farm fresh organic eggs from my friend Celeste. She has a small illegal farm in the city but hasn't been caught yet! I also purchase organic honey from her!

The campaign I'm involved in is to try to keep Ontario Hydro a public utility - our government is trying to sell it off for short-term gain. I was given a Hydro mug as thanks for being a part of this protest movement.

This was my small grocery shop that I did on Friday. I'm currently eating mostly vegetables, a smaller amount of fruit, and protein in the form of chicken and fish. For snacks I'll grab a few peanuts and will make my detox drink from lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, honey, cinnamon and boiling water. I've lost 5 pounds in combination with moving my body 25km per day. (walking, hiking and biking). I hope that by lightening up my weight my knee won't hurt so much. Worth a try.

I buy unsalted peanuts in the shell and pistachios too.  I will complain just once about all of the empty shells in the bag! I did try buying from the bulk store but an equally high or higher amount of empty shells :(

I received in the mail this week - a guide for The South West Coast Path which is over 600km in length.  What an adventure that would be!!! I also received the guide for the West Highland Way in Scotland that I'm doing this year.

The last photo is the worst of the bunch!! A couple of years ago the cost to renew our annual license plate sticker was $75. Then the next year they raised it to $90 (and I know I complained about that on my blog!) and this year!!!!! $120.00!!!!!!! An increase of $30 - holy crap! Once more reason to go car-free!

And that about wraps things up. Last week was a busy week of going out to lunch, going to a Council of Canadians dinner, sit-ins, going for walks and to movies (saw Fences and Manchester by the Sea). I missed seeing "Moonlight" but it's out on DVD so I'll rent it.

Now, with a shorter day, I must get the laundry going and get onto my bike. It doesn't look very inviting outside so I think I'll skip my walk. It's -10c and we have another snow squall warning in effect.

Did you remember to turn your clocks ahead?

Foto Friday For the First Time in Forever!

Before I check my photos to see what was happening one year ago today I'm going to predict there will be snow. And cats. And maybe a creative project. Yes, I am pretty predictable! Okay, drum roll please..........................

.......I called it! Luna and Lily are curled up together on the futon in the TV room. Sadly, they no longer curl up together; instead they fight over my lap!

Awwwwwww.....!

Not a lot of snow... I thought there'd be more. On another sad note we are getting next to NO birds this winter at our feeders as they are able to feed themselves. So CAT TV is a bust so far this (non)winter.

Carvings from the workshop:
-a couple pieces that haven't been hand sanded to a glossy polish yet...

Should I put them together as a pair? That was my original plan...

Polished!

Which way to display it?

Instead I decided to use a shadow box to display this piece because it was a very thin slice of soapstone and I carved it in relief; ie it has a flat side. You can see my hands taking the photo :)

My life needs an injection of excitement! What should I do to spice things up a little?

Work in Progress Wednesday

Yes, it is indeed time for a workshop update. Over the past few weeks I haven't been in the workshop nearly as much as I'd like to so this Wednesday Workshop update post (WIP - work in progress) will hopefully spur me on to become more productive.

I just find that time gets away from me and before I know it it's time to make dinner. This is another busy week, though all of my activities are in the evening. Which is good because then at least I have my mornings and afternoons to be productive.

Last night I went to my book club and I got a FREE book! The leader of the book club is a librarian and gets advance copies of books before they are published - yippeeeeee! I chose a book about England's "flower sellers" at the turn of the 20th century - it looks really good :)!! Tonight I am learning about proportional representation at our monthly Council of Canadians meeting. (sounds a little dry but there are SNACKS!) Tomorrow night is yoga and group meditation, Friday is volleyball, Saturday I'm hopefully getting together with 2 friends for dinner and a movie and Sunday night I'm going to the "Blue Rodeo" concert.

None of that explains why I'm not getting into the workshop more often. Last week I did spend 3 afternoons in the workshop as the weather was horrendous. Which reminds me that the week before last the weather was up above 10c (setting record highs around here) and so I was outside hiking a lot. OK, that explains things somewhat.

There are just so many choices of things to do around here - recently I've been doing the weekly Los Angeles crossword puzzle which can really take up a LOT of time. And I'm reading a huge trilogy blah blah blah...OK, enough excuses - here's what I've been working on...
...oh, but first a photo of a junco on my fence! Isn't it sweet?

Ok, getting back on track again...I completed the soapstone carving below - it was a thin scrap of soapstone so the back of it is flat. I was trying to figure out how to display it - it could just sit flat on a table or shelf but then I had the idea of putting it into a shadow box...

...so that's what I did! Though I have to say it's extremely hard to get a decent photo once it's in the box! You'll just have to take my word for it that it looks freaking AWESOME!! (hee hee!)

The piece below was also a thin slab of soapstone - I used the stone to the best advantage that I could
the front...

...the back...

...and the cross section...you can see how thin it is - if it juts out on one side it indents on the other!

This is my current piece and I am not happy with its shape at all so will get back to it after I eat some lunch.

Does it look phallic to you because it does to me!!!

Back to the workshop I go!! Unless anyone is interested in a phallic shaped piece of soapstone?!?

Are you getting creative these cold winter days?

Soapstone From A to Z

Here's a quick look at my soapstone carving from start to finish. I would estimate about 8 hours of work on this piece over 3 days. I could probably "whittle" that down a bit if I stopped jumping up and dancing with the kittles when a favourite song comes on my iPod! In the top photo is the rough piece of stone. At this point I don't really know what I'm going to do with it yet - first I file away all the rough stuff around the edges. I work on a rubber mat that helps to cushion the soapstone so it doesn't break, having learned from experience. It also helps keep my work area clean as the soapstone dust falls between the grooves.

Then with my rifflers, rasps and files of all different sizes I start to cut away material to find the shape I want. I like this shape below but I know there's more I need to do.

After cutting away a bit more and giving it a more defined shape, I'm happy. Kazi came in and saw a heart and said she really liked it so it has found its recipient!

What an amazing colour (photo below) - this is after a couple of hours sanding with wet/dry sandpaper starting at 180 grit and going up to 12,000 grit. Then I switch to fabric/mesh "sand paper" which is really flexible and can get down into the grooves starting at 1800 grit and going up to 15,000 grit. With soapstone I do all of the work by hand as it is so easy to chip or break. (I put a couple of old hand towels on top of the rubber mat for extra cushioning and have a tub of water to help with the sanding)With wood and harder stones I can use a dremel to do some of the work.

I have tried a lot of polishing compounds but what I like best in common floor wax. I rub a little on with a piece of felt and take a piece of cheesecloth or shammy and give it a good buffing....very carefully as now it's pretty slippery.

In the photo below my brother saw a stylized ram's head and a friend called it celtic/feminist/modern. I told him he was bang on! In this lighting it looks dark green/grey...(using an overhead light)...

...while in this photo (window light) it looks a light grey with bits of blue. I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Tools:
I use rifflers, rasps and files of all different sizes:

 and these are the rubber thingamajigs to get to those "hard to sand" places. OK, I see by the photo they are called "sanding pads" but I prefer thingamajigs!

The wet/dry sandpaper is available in some hardware stores and the mesh sanding stuff I send away for online. There used to be a hobby shop not far from me that carried very fine grit sanding paper, not really paper, it looked more like plastic, but they have closed.

I just heard from Annie, with whom I hiked Hadrian's Wall that the piece I sent to her arrived safely so now I can post photos of it:

Once again, I had no idea what the final piece would look like - I just knew I wanted to create a spiral shape. While we hiked we kept finding examples of spirals in nature - especially snails. Annie took some amazing photos of a few of the many snails whose lives she saved :)

Looked at in a certain way (pointed end to the left as in photo below) the snail-like shape is more noticeable. Right? You can see it right? :)

I am thankful to the postal service for flying my little carving across the big pond safely so that it arrived in one piece.

No workshop post is complete without a photo of my faithful helpers: zzzzzzzzzzz!