Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Wild West


I've been meaning to take pics of the 3 wooden "buildings" i was hired to make and i finally did that yesterday! My ma'am's been asking on a pretty much regular basis. So here there are.








Issues i had with these puppies... First of all, when i was handed the pictures and told they were for the young sons room (They decorated his room using the theme of Woody from Toy Story) I figured they'd be oooh i dunno, at the most 12 inches tall for the jail, and maybe 24 for the sheriff's office. Uh, no. Found out later on, that the doorway of each building had to be atleast 12 inches because that's how big the Woody doll was, and they were putting these on the walls close to the floor so they can be congruent to the size of the doll. So that made them alot bigger. So i estimated which size boards i needed at Home Despot, bought 2, and went home. But the one board had to be cut in half as it would be housing the school and the jail, but in order to cut them in half, i'd need to use a table saw. We have one mind you, but i'm not all too comfy with using it, plus my ma'am pretty much freaked out when i said i had to use it, and asked if this project can wait until they come home in June so my Daddoo can cut it. And that just wasn't happening. So i asked my cousin Dan if he wouldn't mind helping out, and he was happy to since Rob was over there a few times trying to fix their computer.

But i'm getting too far ahead of myself here! First, i had to draw out the buildings on the boards. I took the original pics that were given to me, and made a ratio of 1cm=6in and in that sense they'd be big enough for the doorway to be 12 inches. Redrew them onto graph paper to make things a little easier. But when i worked out how many inches they'd be, the sheriff's office - for example - would be 36 inches wide and 49 inches high. Hmmm.. Considering my board was 24x48, that ain't happenin'! So i had to stretch the pictures in such a way that i'd get a 12 inch door, with a building under 48 and thinner than 24, but keeping some integrity on the dimensions so it wasn't all blown out of proportions. That was fun! And man did i use alotta math that day.

When i finally got them all drawn out, and the original cut done by Dan, i was ready to go. But hmm.. Jigsaw only has so much room on the left side. And these boards were so big, and the surface of the jigsaw so small, i had to first build up a flat area to hold up the sides of the boards. So then i was ready to cut. But alas, getting into the fence area, as well as just corners in general when the boards are so big, i had to continually flip the board over to make one cut, flip it back to make another, and so on and so forth. I got a little creative at one point and had to make cuts repeatedly in one directions to cut out where the fence is, because the board was too big to maneuver it around to cut. But then i had a really jagged line. And alas, my belt sander wouldn't fit in their either! So, i got a file. I was pretty proud of myself for thinking of that one. (Although i only thought of it whilst searching for some chisels to use - which is good i found the file first, cause i probably woulda ruined the thing trying to do that!) I was out there for atleast 4 hours doing this, and i was sneezing out sawdust for another hour. Was gonna use a mask, but unfortunately, it had been sitting out and well, was full of sawdust. Which i breathed in immediately and proceeded to have a coughing fit.

Anyhoo... once they were all pretty and sanded, i brought them in and started painting. Which took me freaking forever. Usually doesn't take *that* long, but i guess i was out of practice since it's been so long. Plus all i had were complete crap paintbrushes, because i gave ALL my good ones to my mother in law because she was taking an art course, needed us to buy all the supplies which we couldn't afford, so we pretty much gave her everything of mine. Nice. Anyways!! I have nice new ones now, Rob bought me 2 sets for Mothers Day. Awww. He even made me breakfast in bed! (well, i didn't eat it in the bed. I'm quite clumsy y'see. I woulda dumped it somehow. But i did wake up with eggs in my face. )

Then after they were FINALLY done (to get back to the original rant) I had to spray seal them. We didn't have any. So Rob bought some after work one day, and the next afternoon i went to spray and well.. My fingers just didn't seem to be strong enough to press that damn nozzle down! so i hadda use two hands, and it was dripping everywhere, and i practically ruined the school! So Rob came home with another sealer (cause i knew i'd need 2) and started to seal with the 2nd bottle he bought and said he couldn't figure out how i'd have a problem. So i made HIM use the first bottle, and AHAH! He had the same problem. This time it WAS the product and NOT the operator! Thank you very much.

So now they're finished.

And i can stop my rant. Which is good 'cause now i'm tired. And i have alot of work to do today, so i must be off! It's so tiring being unemployed. Yeesh.

Later peeps!

3 comments:

Bob said...

When I get home I'll show you how to use my jigsaw, so you won't be stuck with using the scroll saw. It's like the one in this video. Oh, and we'll get some of them snazzy new blades too.

http://blip.tv/file/1000542/

Bob said...

wait..I just noticed something

try this

Not Your Average Mom said...

loving your creativity Kat - when can you come do my house? Just kidding, I can't afford you - how about you just come over for coffee?
Hope you and ROb are doing well,
Love T