I sat and colored with my kid while we were on a call. I nearly didn’t finish because the call ended but the page still needed coloring. It takes a long time to fill in, even when the sections are tiny and there is abundant white space! But I knew if I stopped, I’d never return to it.
I’m glad everyone is different. My youngest loves to sit and color for hours. It is not my zen.
I played my mandolin for a little while, until my fingers started to hurt. The top strings are thin and feel sharp. To deal with it I need some calluses.
“Calluses develop from repeated friction, rubbing or irritation and pressure on your skin.” (Cleveland Clinic)
Traditionally string players develop calluses from playing their instruments; one recommendation is to play for 10 minutes multiple times per day, rather than one long session. I would love to this, but my schedule doesn’t always allow for that, and I am easily distracted. I started to look for other ways to apply sharp pressure to my finger tips. I tried several home grown things, a block of wood wrapped with old guitar strings, a hand strengthener wrapped with wire, but they did not fit easily in my pocket and so would not be readily available throughout the day. I ended up making a triangular stick.
I squared up a small piece of flame maple to 3/4”, then cut it down the middle to make two triangular shaped sticks. I sanded them to 320 grit and sealed the wood with feed-n-wax. I made two lengths, one to sit by my chair, and the shorter one to go in my pocket.
To get the edge of the triangle to bite into my fingers, I place my thumb at the wide base and my fingers on the apex.
It takes a month to develop proper calluses, so I will update y’all later on the efficacy of this method. I can say that in the past few days I do pull out the stick (I need a better name) and use it several times a day. Even if calluses don’t develop, it makes a useful fidget.
I’ve been holding back some of my holiday gift money and keeping an eye on the marketplace. I like small instruments and have been eyeballing mandolins. Then one came up that was for sale in the next town over, and looked to be in good condition, so I bought it.
The seller put me in touch with the previous owner, who had purchased the mandolin from a man who was clearing out his Dad’s house. The instrument had been his grandfather’s and had been sitting in the top of a closet for years. It was made by Lyon & Healey, back when they made more than harps, somewhere around 1890.
I tuned the mandolin, and it keeps pitch well. There are no cracks, and the tuning pegs hold. Absolutely amazing for an instrument that is over 100 years old.
In October of 2016, I painted ping pong balls with irises and pupils and glued them on a wreath frame decorated with short lengths of dark red glittery ribbon and mounds of black netting to make a Halloween decoration.
This was a short-lived wreath. In storage the acrylic paints rubbed off the ping pong balls, and the hot glue released its hold. And while it was interesting to play with different iris colors, it didn’t take long for painting that many ping pong balls to get tedious. If I were to do it again, I would look into making the eyes more realistic, maybe with some clear epoxy, since the true impact of this piece is achieved on closer inspection. There would be fewer eye balls as well!
In the snowy landscape of the last storm, the trail cam picked up the image of a raccoon.
Raccoon spottings have been few and far between.
Critters and Craft 