Bottle opener done

Hi all,
Well it has finally happened, I have actually finish the bottle opener project, complete with pyrography pattern. And here it is.

I'm pleased with the way that it turned, even though it is a bit flimsy. You have to hold the metal part while you open a bottle because if you didn't it would bend at the first joint, a boomerang shaped bottle opener is not a pretty thing. To overcome this you have to just hold the metal part whilst using it.

It was only cheap but I won't be using that supplier again. I did try to get a more substantial one from Axminster but as is often the case they were out of stock.  Anyway, I will use this one until it breaks and then I'll see if Axminster have got a grip on their stocking levels. One thing is for sure, my new bottle opener looks much better than the one I was using.

I don't know what my next turning project will be because my wife has presented me with a big task in the garden. We live in a small bungalow and, until our new neighbours moved in, we had a lot of privacy courtesy of the big leylandii hedge in their garden. These were planted by the previous owner, who like us like us didn't like being overlooked  by nearby houses.

Anyway, the new neighbours cut down the hedge and opened us up to the world. One solution would be to plant some more trees, but at our age time isn't on our side. So she wants me to build a self supporting trellis that can be covered with rambling roses and thus give us a bit of quick screening. I will show you my progress in my next post.

I have managed to do a another video for my channel on Youtube, "The Armchair Artist ."  Please take a look  and subscribe if you would like to see more.

Thanks for watching.

Bottle Opener

Hi all,
In my younger days I used to be able to sup some stuff. In fact, if you put all the beer into one container there would probably have been enough liquid to extinguish the fire of London. Sadly those days are gone and I now drink much less in a week than I did in a night. Having said, that I still enjoy one or two bottles of beer during the course of a week. Anyway, I have on the table at the side of my chair one of the ugliest bottle openers you ever did see. How I've put up with it for so long I don't know, but it's days are numbered.

I have started turning a new one out of wood. I got it off line and it was only when it arrived that I realised I didn't particularly like the design as far as the turning is concerned. Here is a picture of it.

The problem is that the piece of wood that goes in the middle needs to be concave at each end to accommodate the ball designs on the opener. Perhaps it is because I'm new to woodturning but I could work out how I could hold the work in a chuck and turn each end concave. One end was not a problem, but two concave ends had me stumped.

My solution was to make it in two pieces and join it together because I couldn't think of anything else. That meant a joint and you can see it below.

Not ideal, but what else could I do. If you have another solution I'd be very pleased to hear about it. In the meanwhile, I will have to use my pyrography iron to disguise the joint and make it look acceptable. I will show you the finished product in my next post.

By the way, "A Staffordshire Boy,"  one of my books is free to download from Amazon until Saturday, so if you want a copy please click on the books tab at the top of the page and then on the book's cover.

I have also been busy on the ipad doing a bit of art and uploading it to my channel, "The Armchair Artist" on Youtube.

 If you would like to see episode 8, please click on this Link.
Thanks for watching.

Toothpick Pot

Hi all,
What a fantastic week of weather we have just had. I have never known it so warm for so long in February. The garden was full of butterflies and bees and I was sitting there in my tee shirt enjoying the sunshine and doing a bit of pyrography. It doesn't get much better than that at my age because I have given up almost everything I enjoyed that ends with "ing."  Smoking and fishing I missed the most but it's no good moaning you just have to get on with.

Anyway, the weather was most welcome and it took away any excuses about being too cold to go into the workshop. I even managed to finish the toothpick pot that I started a couple of weeks ago. I made this pot because I was fed up with loosing my toothpick. I wanted something that was both practical and looked good on the shelf within reaching distance of my chair.

The pyrograhy decoration was one of my favourite designs and it was all done with a spoon tip. I do like the smaller woodturning projects and I'm about to start turning a bottle opener which I hope to show you in my next post.

Besides the woodturning and pyrography, I have managed to spend a few hours in the evenings on my ipad doing some more art. Towards the end of 2018 I did group of pencil sketches that revolved around flowers growing on a trellis. Here is a couple of them to give you the idea.

These turned out very nice, they were realistic but they lacked a bit of colour. So, armed with the ipad I got at Christmas, I thought I try something similar on my ipad. I wasn't bothered about it coming out very realistic, I just wanted to create an image that is pleasing to the eye.
Anyway, I had a go and even taught myself to make some stamp brushes to make the process easier and quicker.

I use the stamp brushes to allow me to make adjustments to the composition and to make sure I am consistent in shape and size of object. If you are interested in finding out more, I have uploaded the first part of the painting to my channel on youtube. If you would like to see it please  click on the video below and it will take you to "the Armchair Artist" channel.

Thanks for watching. If you enjoyed it please consider subscribing, I only have one at the moment and they are probably very lonely.