Now with Pictures

I gave up trying to find software to download my digital photos. I picked up a card reader from Radio Shack for about $1o. Add another gadget to my growing family of electronic toys.

Without further ado, here are the first pictures from my digial SLR. I am pleased. I wanted the first ones to be of my table since someone requested those. These are the barn boards Giovanna gave me a couple years ago, and I didn't know what I wanted to do with them so they just sat around until I decided I wanted a new table. Danr took the pics in the shop. It's very dark inside, so I'm happy these turned out nicely. The front took about 2 hours of sanding with an electric sander and at least two hours of hand planing before that. I haven't sanded the back yet. I want to do the final sanding by hand. One end has a couple boards that are longer so I need to do some trimming on that yet. This was over the weekend, and I got the legs cut out before I went home. I was tired from working on a video shoot project since about 8 am that morning.

The next pictures I'm posting will be of the corset embroidery. I have some very nice close ups of the stitches, and it made my realize just how much more I need to practice. After seeing the pictures, I want to take some parts out and do them again, but what I'd be undoing is about an hour or two of work. I'd like people's thoughts once I get the pictures up. You'll see what I'm talking about then.

I'll be at TJ's Thursday night until sometime Sunday. It'll be nice to get away from home for a few days.

The Problem with Gadgets

The good news is the new camera works wonderfully. I took many pictures of the corset embroidery project. In some of the shots, the lens was only a few inches away from some of the designs, and there were no quality issues at all. The only problem now is downloading the pictures to the laptop and posting them here. I haven't been able to find the correct software. I didn't think I would need anything specific, but apparently I do. I'll keep working on that.

One nice thing about the laptop is I can play movies on it, and even better, listen to them on my Bose headphones. I didn't realize how much I was missing like background voices.

The A.S. 50 Update

Here is my latest update:

1. The Corset project. This is coming along. I'm trying to get in one hour a day during each week day and 2 hours each Saturday and Sunday.
2. Make a trestle table. The table top is together, done with much help from Danr. I need to go sand it now. I've decided on a modern epoxy finish because there are many cracks and I will be doing much cooking on it, including chopping.
3. Get better shoes. I decided to buy shoes. Because of my ankle problems, I need shoes with really good support. I will try to get as appropriate looking shoes as possible.
4. Work on the Spanish circle (rapier). I haven't done much with rapier lately. Part of this is just being very busy
5. Help someone new make clothing. I helped my old friend Matt make new clothes before 12th night, and did my first keyhole neckline with an overlay. It turned out very nice for my first.
6. Eat only period appropriate foods all day at one event and prepare them in a period manner. I will not be at Lillies this year, much to my dismay. I'm sad. I will probably do this during Ages of War. The event is in my hometown at the fairgrounds (Yay!), but it is all about war. I would like to do something about what a soldier would eat on campaign.
7. Make a period hairpiece because I don't have enough hair as it is. I haven't done anything on this.
8. Make a hat to go with one set of clothes. Same here, nothing done yet.
New things:
9. Perform a dance before an audience, not just dance during a ball or practice. Preferrably with Master Etienne and I'd like the dance to be Spagnoletto Rigolatto.
10. Make a 6 board box.
11. Finish the 15th century table knife. I'm to the point of sanding it, but the grinding is very cold in winter and standing in front of a belt sander that blows cold air back at you isn't my idea of a good time.
12. Make late period hair curling tongs. I'm just going to make these, not actually use them on my hair.

Gadgets, Lots of Gadgets.

So all in the past week and a half I got a different laptop with a built in wifi card, an SLR type digital camera and wireless. Wow. I can now post pictures again on the blog. I'll be doing that in the next week or so. I have to figure out some things on the camera first which means finding the manual online and reading it.
Refurnishing my apartment is going okay. I've now gotten wall shelves in the kitchen instead of the ones I had sitting on the floor. They're not quite straight on the wall, but it was hard to put them up by myself. As long as they're close to straight and they hold up, that's all I need. If anyone wants wide mouth canning jars with lids, let me know. I can deliver if it is in the Twin Cities or at an event.

I haven't gone back to Danr's to work on the table yet. I haven't touched the corset embroidery in a week and I've barely done any blackwork. I've had a lot of homework this week. I'm also trying to find time to clean my apartment, but I have too much homework and that is almost all I spend my time doing.
I bought three more thread colors for the corset cover: a bright pink/purple (more pink than purple), and heraldic red and blue. I'm almost out of the last two colors because they've been used on other projects.

The Table

I spent a few hours at Danr's today working on my trestle table. He helped me build the top. I'm using the recycled barn boards from G finally. I know I've had them at least a year and couldn't figure out what I wanted to do with them until recently. I had to hand plane down one of the pieces a lot, and that is not easy work. My arms hurt a little from that.
The table is going to fit together with wood pegs only, no metal and it will last longer. It will have an epoxy finish on it, so that won't be period. The only reason I decided on that is because there are holes and cracks that I'd like filled in. I'm going to use this table for cooking mostly, and I want the table to be easy to clean. That way, food bits also won't get stuck in the little cracks. The next step is to sand the top. I'm using a belt sander for this, but I might do the final sanding before the epoxy by hand.

For those who did not know, TJ is going on his third week back at work and is very happy about that. He cannot walk without the air cast on his leg though, but he can walk. The ankle will never be as flexible as it was before because of the pins and plates in it. I'll likely be down there later this month.

I read the post about Ages of War today. I can't wait to go! If the site plans become definite, it will be in my hometown about a mile from my parent's house. Guess where I'd be staying. I also read about the A&S Competition, and the later period Europe is right up my alley, so I guess I'd better begin planning a project. I think it would be fun to do something with food. Speaking of food, my last batch of candied orange peels were slightly burned. I think the honey got too hot too fast, and I didn't stir enough.

Broadband!

I now have broadband and couldn't be happier! I can get my homework done faster because my connection is faster. I don't have to worry about not being able to connect, or going to the library. I'm going to get the wireless router next. I don't think I would ever go back to what I had before.

I have one more thing from IKEA to assemble. I've spent about $400 there in the past couple weeks. I'm slowly refurnishing my aparment and enjoying every minute of it. It's just as much fun to assemble the furniture as it is to use.