we started in the cold, in the rain, working by the fire. that was the spring. here it is, late autumn, somehow we got here without actually passing through a summer, the famous non-summer of 2012, and once again England is in the cold, in the rain, and we are working by the fire. ah, the cycle of the seasons.
and the process is, to our utter amaze, visibly drawing near the end. we had no idea in the world how long it might take: the inevitable question everyone asks,
“how long did it take?” who knows?
overall, all things considered, very close to a thousand man hours… and, happily, it shows.
the big moment: Jimmy finally sees it, as a work in progress – he has not seen it at all up to this point, i’m working on it as a shot in the dark, he’d specified nothing whatsoever.
“WOW!”
hey, he really said wow! he said wow! he actually said wow! thankyou lord…
and it builds from there, well received all around.
now comes the Big Jump: we apply the oil.
we decided on Danish oil, after no more than the usual dithering, brushed onto the raw wood, which had been sanded, sanded, SANDED in preparation: voila.
even as the butterfly staggers forth from the chrysalis, verily, the grain of the oak leaps forth to dazzle the eye: wow, it really is a big positive change.
Mark, old hand at furniture work, had predicted this; often the victim of my own overoptimism, i had been reserving judgment: i was delighted.
detail: let’s seal the bottom of the wood, so that no moisture can wick up into the grain, no matter how slowly – two coats of Cuprinol, then three coats of marine varnish, that should seal it for a few brief lifetimes of man…
the final formal touch: the brass plate, carefully inset, glued in.
history awaits. history bides its judgement.
done: let’s party!
the party combined with the ninth anniversary of the opening of owl art studio (my god), and robin’s birthday (double my god).
owlartstudio 