Lighthouse Update

It has been a while since I posted to this blog. In an attempt to bring it up to date, I am including some posts from an intarsia/inlay/segmentation discussion group to which I belong (http://www.scrollsawer.com/forum/intarsia-inlay-and-segmentation). The other guys and gals of his on-line group have been a great support and have given me the encouragement and motivation to finish my current project.


--1-19-2010 --
I have a big project that I am making for my own home -- no deadline (challenge #1). I feel guilty working on something else until it is finished because I have a history of starting projects (not just intarsia) and not finishing them (challenge #2--feeling guilty).

It is cut out and about 90% shaped but I have lost a few pieces that need to be re-cut. (challenge #3). I had the bright idea of doing a custom frame. The frame was one of the first things I cut out and glued up. In routing the frame, my router got off and I utterly ruined the frame. It needs to be completely redone (challenge #4).

So I'm having a hard time getting motivated as well. I see all the great things everyone else is doing and it is only making me feel more guilty. Why should a hobby, something I really love, make me feel guilty? Reading through some of the other comments here, I think I'm about ready to put my big boy pants on and tackle it.

--1-20-2010--

I am posting a couple of pictures here just as a reference point of where I left off. Everything is just as I left it oh so many weeks ago--the pieces are all jumbled on the work table where I dumped them out to work on the frame. The mis-routered (is that a word??) frame is lying on the floor.

My first step is to reassemble the piece and take stock of what missing pieces need to be re-cut and what pieces need to be re-sanded to get the color back. Luckily I had applied finish to a few pieces so they haven't lost their color. I've decided to first finish the inside picture then work on the frame. Then I need to re-cut and router the frame. The idea for the frame was to route a 5/8" channel all the way around and then inlay a 5/8" rope into the frame. My router got away from me because I was trying to be in too much of a hurry and didn't want to dig out my router table. Lesson learned.

--1-24-10--
I ended up working most of the weekend but I was able to sneak a little time in the shop to put everything back together and take inventory.

Some of the pieces are suppose to be shimmed so some of the shaping is off. I counted 6 pieces I am missing that will need to be cut (plus the shims). Aside from the missing pieces, I am not happy with most of the lighthouse --everything above the bottom piece. No matter how I arrange those pieces, it ends up looking like the Leaning Tower of Pisa or the house from my childhood storybook about "there was a crooked man who lived in a crooked house. . ." To be really happy with it I am going to start over and re-cut most of the lighthouse.

Most of my beautiful white aspen has a yellow patina now that it has been sitting and some of my blue pine looks rather gray. A quick touch on the sander should fix that.

I even glued in a piece of rope in the bottom right hand corner of the frame to show what I would like the whole frame to look like.

--2-14-10

The cutting and shaping are pretty much done. Some of the pieces need to be re-sanded to get their color back after sitting for so long. For example, the big clouds will whiten up again once I hit them with some sandpaper. I will also probably tweak a few of the shims/shaping areas such as the rocks.

Then on to a new frame and background. The background will be lighter than what is shown (probably Baltic birch). I don't have any wood wide enough for the arch of the frame so I will need to buy some. Now sure what I'll end up with there. I'm shooting for a medium to dark wood to contrast the white rope.

--2-21-10--
This last week I was able to shim, tweak the shaping, re-sand and apply a single finish to the picture pieces so that the finished color shines through. I glued many of the pieces together so I now have large sections to work with rather than so many tiny pieces. All that is left is to make a new frame and backer board. That will have to wait till I can go wood shopping next week. The rain this weekend has prevented be from getting a decent picture.