Highland coo

On By CarynIn art, Craft

I went to a painting class at our new local Hobby Hut to do an interchangeable shelf sitter. Very cute design, there is a “bird house” base and the door and central design can be changed out. I painted the base at the studio but took the highland coo in the honey home to paint.

Photo description: interchangeable parts painted by me of a highland coo in a honey pot with three bees

The original design had antenna on the highland coo, which I didn’t care for, so I cut them off before painting.

Photo description: original laser cut wood highland coo bass with antenna
Photo description: antenna removed with a band saw and the horns smoothed down with sand paper

I did have to fill the space on the next layer where the antenna were supposed to go, but some cutoff bits of wood and a heavy layer of paint did the trick.

I will post the glued together finished project once I’ve done a clear UV protectant spray coat. It has been raining almost every day, so I haven’t had the chance yet.

Sing design

On By CarynIn art, Craft

I needed a new design for the other side of the van in the upper corner of the back window because it makes the vehicle easier to spot in parking lots. So I designed one.

Photo Description: white vinyl decal on a car window with the word “Sing” in script letters and four concentric circles of varying thickness

The concentric circles represent the Barbershop cone of sound, just looking down from the top, where the largest sound should be from the basses, then baritones (when their note is below the leads), then leads (who have the melody in Barbershop), and then tenors. Fun fact, in Barbershop the voice parts are not related to gender, but to the role the part plays in the harmony balance. So we use bass, baritone, lead, and tenor for low voice, mixed voice, and high voice choruses and quartets.

I designed the graphic in Adobe Illustrator and cut it out with a CRICUT electric cutter.

Check mate

On By CarynIn Craft

My lap continues to be a playing board for cat chess. The stakes have been raised as the blanket I’m crocheting gets larger and there is actually room for a toe beans.

Photo description: working on my crochet with a calico cat in the mid-ground and dilute tortie in the background
Photo description: this is a very happy cat, she won a round of cat chess and gets to lay on the in-progress crocheted blanket

Yes. There are cat hairs crocheted indelibly into the blanket.

Whatever it takes

On By CarynIn Craft

Summer is coming to Texas, which means it will be hot. Hot during the day, hot at night, and hot in the morning. I found a recumbent stationary bicycle so that I can get some exercise this summer, because I have historical data that I won’t go walking in the summer heat. I also know that I am easily distracted, so I have two arm bags with different projects set up on the machine, and there is a stand for my phone so I can get some learning in while I craft and pedal.

Photo description: monitor view of a stationary bicycle with two cotton bags hanging from the handles, the left one has knitting and the right one has spinning with a drop spindle

Throwback Thursday: Harvey

On By CarynIn throwback

In August 2017 Hurricane Harvey devastated Texas and flooded many of our neighbors houses and property, displacing them for months on end. At the beginning, we didn’t know what we were in for, but our youngest did have a fear of storms, so we made a cake.

Photo description: white and blue frosted cake with a definitive swirl formation and “Harvey” written in light blue icing

The storm wasn’t a furious one, it was a sulking behemoth that just sat over us and rained constantly for days and days. We had just recovered from a house fire two years before and were fortunate not to add flood to the house history. Many of our neighbors were not so fortunate, and had to be evacuated by boat, with flood lines two feet up in their living rooms.