Wooden tongs

And the reveal… wooden tongs! I made wooden tongs as gifts this year. I used mesquite wood for the blades and wedge, but wasn’t confident with glue joints so learned to set brass pins. I posted on that previously, but didn’t show what I was actually making (spoilers).

Mesquite wood tongs shaped and sanded to 400 grit

After shaping and sanding, I did my usual water rinse to raise the grain, and was quite surprised that the mesquite was still quite smooth. I ran over everything with 400 grit again, just to be thorough. I added some embellishments with wood burning, then sealed with butcher block conditioner (which is a food safe mix of oils and wax).

Finished pair of tongs

Weaving loom rest

Yard stick used as a loom rest on an arm chair

Because the cat gets a little perturbed when I rest the loom on her rump, I laid a yard stick across the arms of my chair to prop up my weaving. She is OK having her own shed (that is weaver humor, by the way).

I can neither confirm nor deny that I am doing last minute gift weaving.

Happy Holidays and good luck with last minute projects.

Apple peel

Continuous apple peel

I had to peel an apple for my youngest because she has braces and needs it peeled and sliced. As I applied peeler to skin, I gave a try at getting it all off in one unbroken go. The removed peel makes a nice double spiral with some pleasing shade shifts. Glad all that fine motor practice on other crafts comes in handy.

Beardless

Puppy posing

You can’t really tell from the photo above, but my sweet boy Griffin’s wonderfully scruffy beard is gone. The culprit is sitting on the left of the photo. Turns out big brothers make the best chew toys. And he not only tolerates it, he loves playing with her. I hope as she progresses through puppyhood, that the need to strip hair diminishes and he gets his beard back. But it explains her hair balls (though I am still maintaining she is part feline).