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I am starting a new commission for a client in Illinois. The piece is a used, 1953 Pontiac hood ornament with the amber-colored plastic Indian head. The job is to mount the ornament on a suitable block of wood and illuminate the amber Indian head. It arrived by mail yesterday and I discovered it to be in good structural condition with very little corrosion to the base metal, a very shiny plastic head with no crazing or interior dullness, but with considerable wear on the chrome finish. Closer inspection revealed that someone had painted the metal with silver paint and perhaps 20% if it remained firmly attached, such that a rotary brass-bristle brush would not remove it. The Indian chief head has a name and the date “2016” inscribed on the side of the socket, so I suspect that it is a newly made insert. After removing the plastic head and some remnants of Scotch tape, I applied paint stripper to the metal, let it sit, rinsed it and then proceeded to buff the finish with the brass rotary brush as usual. This produced a much more even and shiny surface, although the remaining chrome plating is very thin and the copper under-plating is evident across most of the metal ornament. This I find to be attractive. Anyone can go out and find a reproduction ornament with a perfect chrome finish, but to locate an original piece with virtually no metal corrosion and the original plating still in this good a condition is not easy. In fact, more and more classic car auction houses are recognizing the value of unrestored original automobiles, rather than ones that have been rebuilt from the frame up to better than original condition. Now, to find suitable piece of wood.
We survived our first swap meet. Thanks in large part to #1 son who came up to Denton for a week and provided both manpower and supervision on how to set up equipment for such an event. Also, the weather wasn't too hot. I think I have the enthusiasm to try another meet at a different venue toward the end of October. Meanwhile, I am busying myself with catching up on uploading Items to this website AND making the bold step to offer some of my stuff for sale on Ebay. As of this writing, I have ten listings under automotive and home decoration. I sell under the name Eastexburt. (I first went onto Ebay when we lived in Wood County in East Texas) Here is a link: http://www.ebay.com/sch/eastexburt/m.html?item=252407646255&ssPageName=STRK%3AMESELX%3AIT&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562
I also have continued to acquire old automotive items. This morning I bought my first Pontiac hood ornament. These usually go for hundreds of $$. For some reason one did not sell at $50, and after the sale ended I was able to talk the seller down to $30. I am excited to make a display out of it. I recently did a commission job on two Pontiac hood ornaments. Now I will have my own. I hope to keep more abreast of my production in uploading images of my shop creations to this site. Last fall we decided that the number of automobile related projects that I have completed warranted an attempt at selling some of them, so I reserved a single space at the spring swap meet at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. This was a learning experience. First I learned that there was a lot of stuff to prepare besides the items that I wished to sell. Then I learned that it was a lot of work to transport and set up all the necessary equipment and inventory. Fortunately, my wife, Suzanne, helped throughout the planning, preparation and selling operations. Then my son, Karl, drove up from Austin and helped with the transfer, set-up, sales and final tear-down at the four-day event. Above is Suzanne sitting under our two canopies (Wal-Mart) in our luxurious 9'x18' rectangle of asphalt in the midst of uncounted acres of asphalt behind the Motor Speedway grandstand along with several thousand other vendors. The next thing I learned was that nobody rents just one space - most vendors had four-plus spaces so that they could spread out and also keep their vehicle next to their sales area. But we made it work and had all my stuff on display across two folding tables (Wal-Mart) and four cattle-panel grids (Tractor Supply Co). Above are various hood ornaments and car emblems mounted on various types of hardwoods: oak, mesquite, walnut and cypress. Below are some wall plaques mounted on hardwoods and clocks set into hubcaps and headlight bezels. Surprisingly (to me) the items that sold were the larger, higher priced items. The small, upright ornaments did not sell at all. The first item sold, the first day, was the spotlight clock on a mesquite stand. I could have sold two more if I'd had them. The next most popular was the 1955-57 Bel-Air speaker-grill-with-clock mounted on walnut and oak, also $95. I could have sold at least one more of those. I was able to pick up more raw materials of both for future production.
The final thing I learned was that most shoppers at swap meets are not looking for decorative items, but for parts for their own projects. I had lots of compliments, but only a few buyers. I will look for more of an artisan-show than a parts swap-meet in the future. But it was interesting, educational and I enjoyed the company of my supportive wife and dedicated son who were critical in making it possible. Well, the rest of 2015 has run over the dam since my last posting here. This year I have gotten interested in restoring automobilia. Accordingly, I have added a new page to my site to feature automobile-related creations. While I am still active with other woodwork and with lapidary, I have concentrated on car-related projects. I buy most items on Ebay, although I do have other occasional sources.
I had a table at November's Craft Bazaar at the Denton Senior Citizens Center with both car and jewelry related objects offered for sale. Although people looked over my jewelry creations, I got few comments or questions and no sales. All my sales were woodwork.. Mostly of the hood ornaments and emblems which were mounted to carved wood bases plus one wood box with a cut-stone inset lid. So I am ramping up my automobile-based wood projects and have reserved a space at a four-day car swap meet at the Texas Motor Speedway the end of April. Please view my new Automobile page. The display case at the Denton Senior Center hosts a rotating display each month featuring different activities that the Center sponsors. July's display is of woodworking projects by members of the Center. This gave me the chance to show off some of my wood projects. I managed to fill about 1/3 of the space - one of three windows. I do share "my" window with a couple of items by Tom Enloe (in the background). On the top shelf are hood ornaments from a 1949 Ford (far right) and a 1950 Ford (far left), mounted on oak bases with solid walnut fins replicating the original Lucite fins. Second from the right is a 1940 Plymouth hood ornament mounted on a mesquite wood base. In the top, middle are an assortment of small ornaments mounted on wood bases: Chevy, Cadillac, Lincoln, Ford, Buick and Mercedes. On the bottom shelf, in the foreground, are (left to right) a mesquite wood pyramid with an agate peak and weather instruments mounted on three sides, a 3" x 5" solid walnut box with a slice of septarian nodule (fossil) framed in the lid, a slice of mesquite limb with 2", 3" and 4" hollows turned in the centers and a set of coasters cut from a dead oak limb that was killed by a wild fire. At far right is a keepsake box of African rosewood with a polished chalcedony lid. (see top photo) [The religious scene and candle stick in back are by Tom Enloe.] I have a number of additional auto ornaments (some fairly large) and trim pieces, a dashboard clock and several emblems that were acquired on Ebay that I have yet to complete. I have become somewhat addicted to the vintage auto parts portion of Ebay and am acquiring items faster than I have time to do something with them. I have also been enrolled in a jewelry making class for two terms at a Dallas community college and spend quite a bit of time honing my metalworking skills. I'm going to have to live quite a while longer to complete all the projects that I now have in mind.
Since my excursion to Jacksboro, an hour and a half west of Denton a month ago to acquire hardwood limbs & logs for projects, I have been upgrading my shop equipment. The free wood in its natural state has made it desirable to have suitable equipment with which to turn these items into blocks and boards. So I began stalking Craig's List for a larger diameter table saw and a band saw with suitable throat for cutting large limbs into useable pieces. I first ran across an ad for a Delta band saw just outside Denton. An appointment was made with a woman who turned out to be the widow of a hobby shop owner, but inspection found the band saw to be too small (it's hard to judge size from an on-line photo) for my needs. But she also had a 10" Delta table saw which I also desired, so I beat her down $25 bucks on the price and brought it home. I added locking casters and a sawdust bin and it's in operation Further diligence on Craig's List led me to a Delta band saw from a fellow who had upgraded to a larger commercial model. It came with two blades, but missing a tire on one of the wheels. He helped me load it into the Ford, but while taking it out alone at home the tilting table caught on a folded seat and I broke the trunion bracket that operates the tilt feature. I found a new trunion and the missing tire on the Internet, put casters under it and it is now in service. So I now have two table saws (a Makita 8" and a Delta 10"), a Delta band saw and a Harbor Freight scroll saw. I have adapted my old 8" Makita to hold my Porter Cable router, so it doubles as a router table and saw. Add to that a drill press and a mortising machine and I have a pretty full set of wood working tools. This growth in my woodworking capabilities started with the success I had with making a marine-themed gift for my son Karl's birthday in January. I had obtained a vintage ship hood ornament and mounted it on a shaped and carved block of oak. Now that I have access to a nearly unlimited supply of free hardwood I have been acquiring more hood ornaments and fabricating bases to display them as art work. I have completed a simple turned-base for a Mercedes-Benz tri-star and have several others in process.
Yesterday we drove an hour and a half west of Denton to acreage owned by a friend of ours who Suzanne plays bridge with. She is the fifth generation to own the ranch with two siblings. From what I saw, the 100+ acres contain four cows and a good number of operating oil wells. The place is called Rattlesnake Ranch and the hill that rises above the road and cabin is Rattlesnake Mountain. Her great-grandfather was going to call it Fossil Hill because of the many sedimentary rocks that contain Permian sea-floor fossils, but decided that Rattlesnake Mountain would be less inviting to unwanted visitors. We were invited out so that I could collect dead mesquite and oak logs to make lumber out of for shop projects. Most of the property is covered with woods and rocks - many quite large (both trees and rocks). There are a good number of dead trees, as there generally is in a mature stand of trees. Some recently dead and still solid; some long fallen over and rotting. Her boyfriend (she is widowed) got out the chain saw and cut up the logs that I thought would be useful and I loaded them into the Expedition. After loading enough logs to keep me occupied for years to come, we had lunch under mature oaks surrounding the cabin, picked up some fossil rocks and headed home with our treasures..
This month I flew to Oregon for a week of rockhounding with my friends Alan and Wendy. Above is the view of the Columbia River from PDX airport on the morning I was returning to Texas. Upon arrival, I beachcombed along the northern Oregon coast. I initially went to Canon Beach west of Portland alone, then moved down the coast to Tillamook - I did not find much of interest at several locations on the northern coast. Then I went to Salem and met up with Wendy and Alan to try my luck in the Willamette Valley. We tried a creek above Sweet Home and some spots on the Santiam and Willamette Rivers with limited success. Last summer I had located a source for petrified wood on the internet called Hollywood Ranch in the Sweet Home area which is known for agates and petrified wood. The place turned out to be an actual ranch with horses in the pastures. The owner had dug trenches with a backhoe and allows people to dig through the piles of loose dirt to find and take home chunks of petrified wood, only paying for what you decide to take. One horse was very persistent in examining our buckets and would have gotten into the rental car if given the chance. The three of us collected about 40 lbs. of petrified wood. We us also went to the central coast and beachcombed Fogarty Creek Beach at low tide. We had some success there, although agates were generally pretty small. We did find jasper, quartz and other interesting rocks, including some sea-tumbled lava and basalt. We stopped at a second-hand store and I bought several interesting stones, which had already been cut in some cases. In Salem I visited a rock shop, Crystal Light and Power, that I had been in last August. I obtained both information and several interesting local rocks from the proprietor. An antique mall not far from the rock shop also had some rocks and I bought a couple more there. As the result of my efforts I was able to ship home thirty lbs. of assorted rocks plus a few more lbs. in my luggage. Besides the rock hunting, I had the opportunity to spend time with my two best friends from Manbrin Gardens where I grew up and also had the chance to listen to a high school classmate, J.T. Meier, playing guitar and singing at a local coffee shop on Saturday night. On my way to the airport for the return flight I stopped at Willamette National Cemetery and visited my parents' burial site. Overall, a very enjoyable and productive trip. (See slide-show below) We survived our week in Puerto Vallarta on the Pacific coast of Mexico. We stayed at John & Kristin's time share at the PV Marina. Took a couple of tours into the surrounding countryside and hills; toured a tortilla factory and a hat factory in small villages. "Factory" is perhaps too grandiose a term - more like mom & pop operations adjacent to their homes. Toured a tequila distillery located in a former villa - they sell only from the distillery - so I brought home a bottle (the only souvenir we acquired). Took the local bus into town a couple times, toured a zoo located across the Baya Banderas in the area where Night of the Iguana was filmed in the early '60's and took a boat ride to a live show in a jungle-theater which was sort of Circ de Soliel meets the Mayan jungle. Had a great time - other than Suzanne's 24-hr stomach bug on Sunday and my violent allergy reaction after visiting a rancho for lunch Thursday on the last tour. Night on the town. (Float cursor over pics for caption; click for full view) Views of and from the resort.City viewsPuerto Vallarta boardwalk at beach - El MaleconBoat ride and show on last nightVW'sVW continued to manufacture Type I Beetles in Mexico well past the point when they quit selling them in the US. Thus, there are many still in use, although the New Beetle is also available in Mexico. Here are a couple I noticed that have been modified to fit the owners' needs. Just so you don't get the idea that this trip was all fun and frivolity, we did comb the beach several times and brought back rocks and shells that are at this very moment in the rock tumblers being turned into treasures. As Murphy would have predicted, weather during our absence from Denton was unseasonably pleasant - in the 60's and 70's each day; that lasted through the weekend when we returned home, but is now back to below freezing, as it had been before we left. So we didn't miss any of the wonderful North Texas winter.
Recently I had the idea that having a couple of tissue boxes sitting directly on the top of the toilet tank in the hall bathroom was not very attractive - bordering on unsightly. Without consulting my lovely wife, I considered various solutions. One might be designing and installing a stone extension of the vanity top, but that would be expensive and probably not match well. I considered having a piece of tempered glass made-to-fit and securing it in a wall-mount bracket, but both the glass and track are also expensive. Then I came across 1/4" aluminum U-channel at Lowe's and 1/4" solid oak that fits snuggly into the U-channel. All under twenty bucks.! So I purchased the materials and quickly cut, finished and installed the metal and wood - voila, an almost instant shelf to hold the boxes. Upon revealing my brilliant-yet-simple improvement to my wife I was informed that it looks "tacky." She opined that the boxes sitting directly on the tank-top looked better and there was no reason to make any changes.
Your opinion is sought. What do you think is the most attractive and utilitarian way to handle the situation? Shelf? No shelf? No boxes? ??? Please enter your thoughts under the COMMENTS feature of this blog. 1/24/15 Wendy is right, the shelf was lacking flora. I purchased a Lucky Bamboo which does not require direct sunlight. (see additional photo) In response to Alan's comment regarding "high-standard materials" I added photos of the adjacent medicine cabinet I built of the same oak wood. Al was overly complimentary of the materials used in the remodel. The shelf and med cabinet are cousins. |
CategoriesAuthorI am still trying new show venues to find those that provide the most effective exposure for my works. Archives
October 2020
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