iseecerulean

When I looked for miniature table saws and saw how expensive a good one was I thought that I might as well buy a full sized saw that my husband could use too.  We don't have a lot of space, so I sent Matthew shopping for either a jobsite or a small table saw...he came home to tell me he just doesn't have room in the garage for either one.  That's actually good news, because a miniature table saw is going to be more functional for me...I can't cut moulding and other little fiddly pieces, or cut as precisely, on a regular table saw.

I was going to buy this one, but then I googled "what is the best miniature table saw", and read on both model train and model ship building forums that the same question is asked two or three times a year and the consensus always is that if you're going to spend that kind of money it's well worth it in the long run to spend an extra hundred or so to buy the best saw, which is sound advice that fits my purchasing philosophy...so I did.

While I'm waiting for it to get here I'm building a foam core mock-up...which is making me feel a lot better about my project than I was on the weekend, when I couldn't do anything right.

From artist Bill Helmer.

Turned on a lathe from mammoth ivory, tulipwood, and bakelite.  Small enough for half scale use...almost as small as a pushpin.

I always think that it's not going to take long to string a necklace, and am always surprised by how long it does.  I think it's because my mind just puts beads on string without having to turn each of the beads around to find the holes.

This is a present for Kristy, one of my coworkers (the one I made the sea necklace for last autumn).  She's been having just as tough a time as I have with the acquisition, and working even more hours, and I think she deserves a little treat.  I didn't have time to come up with a new idea, so I based this on the sodalite and sterling necklace I made for Marcie as a thank you present for the antique miniatures.

Up close the beads look like little planets.

Next on my agenda is to fix Kathy's necklace.  She's fidgety...chews on her pens, doodles, twists her necklaces...and she broke it.  She didn't break it in half and send beads all over, she only broke one string and lost part of a section, because I knotted periodically when I strung it for just that reason...so it will be a tad bit shorter when I restring it.  She was so embarrassed to tell me she broke it, it was cute.  I'm going to try to string it on wire this time, provided the holes in the beads are big enough...if they're not I'll have to buy some higher test Firewire. 

I went into the office Saturday morning...had a very productive 2 1/2 hour long conference call at 7:00 a.m.   then worked for a little bit afterward, but not too long, because I've been working so much lately that I haven't been doing things I need to at home (which means that I was wearing my last pair of clean underwear and had to do laundry).

After some housecleaning, and while the washer and dryer were spinning away, I decided to work on Susan's Halloween project....it didn't go well.  I scrapped what I had done, then went to Michael's to get new, hopefully better, supplies so that I could start over, but was so mad at myself that I decided to wait until Sunday before giving it another go.

Sunday morning I was still disgusted with Saturday's failure, so I spent the morning online, reading Brae's blog.  Then, newly energized, freshly motivated, my creativeness singing with possibility, I decided to start over on Susan's Halloween present.  I screwed things up worse than I had the day before.

What I'm doing really shouldn't be difficult.  I was so disgusted with myself that I swept the top of my worktable off into the trash can, cursing the cost of wasted materials.  Then I brewed myself a cup of Earl Gray and thoroughly cleaned my studio while I mulled over what I need to do to make what I've got planned work.

I decided that I'm going to have to invest a chunk of cash in the proper tool for the job...which is something that Matthew and I can both use, so I'm going to send him shopping.

I've been saving this for a day when I had none of my own work to show you. 

The Greenleaf 2010 Spring Fling Contest.

I've started on Susan's Halloween present, which I'm going to keep a surprise this year...so what do I blog about if I'm not going to show you what I'm making?  And more importantly, who do I bounce ideas off of?  I'm going to have to figure this out all by myself.

...

I got two very nice emails yesterday from miniaturists who want to be followers of my blog but can't.  I swapped out typepad's follow me widget for the google friend connect widget, so that should fix things for them.

They sent links to their blogs...May, and Mis Miniaturas...check them out.  I'm in love with the library on May's site.  Absolute drooling envy...is it wrong that I want to knock her on the head and steal it?

It's not perfect, but for my first house it's not bad.  I'm pretty proud of myself.  Now that I'm finally done with the build I get to start on the fun part...interior decorating.

I put some pictures in an album off to the right for you...