Amazing Grandma

My grandma is amazing. when growing up i learned my left from right playing guantlet with her on the nes. We played all the Mario games, she even played world of war craft. She was a good pool player, and loved life. I have the coolest grandma ever. She is now with my grandfather... it was unexpected and i am having trouble with it. She was going to see the Hobit today... she would have loved it. that is all for this week.

Quick Update

My work below, the Vader shirt has been taken down by a direct complaint from George Lucas. Well his lawyers anyway, but I'm going to pretend it was him to make me feel better. I am a bit miffed, it was obviously a drawing, and a parody. I know it was legal for me to sell it, otherwise spaceballs, the other 500+ T-shirts on redbubble alone, and every other parody should also be taken down and owe George money. They acted pretty quickly. Right now I do not have any way or money to fight it, so today the giant kills the ant on that one. Hopefully it is the last time something like this will happen.

Night Stand

Well it is finals week, yay. I have a massive paper due in Art class by tomorrow night that I haven't even had time to start. I just finished with my English class as soon as I submit this post. Yesterday I finished my other two classes with three finals. During all that I started with a new project, I will be cleaning out my basement and fixing it up a little so it isn't so dingy. This is a temporary fix until we can afford to finish it. I continued working on the new fence to hide the trash cans. I have one section out of three built. Also I fixed the problem with my Vader shoulder armor. All I had to do was take a strap with buckles and cut/burn some holes in the proper places and screw it into the straps that hold the shoulder bells on. The next Vader related project is the helmet mounting system. More on that later.

I have been having problems with people messing with my X-mas decorations outside. I am going to buy a camera and hopefully find out which little snot is doing it. I am tempted to put out an electric fence attached to the reindeer. However, I would probably get into trouble for that. Personally If I put a no trespassing sign out, I think it should be legal to place any sort of trap I want to. Land mines, claymores, electric fences, and giant pits come to mind. Makes me angry, obviously.

I was able to put out a new shirt on Redbubble. I was trying to convey that even evil can call for peace. That just because one believes in peace, it does not make them a good person. Also, that the call for peace can be used to subjugate. Finally that "peace" without freedom simply isn't a desirable situation. What it needs is a catchy caption to go under it that conveys all of the above. I have two pages of possible captions, but none of them work. So I decided to put it out and let it speak for itself. You can purchase it HERE.



It works because Vader wanted peace. He fought very hard for it. In the end to achieve peace he joined the dark side and in doing so decided that the only route to peace was enslavement of the whole galaxy. That from now on it would be the emperors way or a death sentence. A sentence he would gladly carry out on an individual, a race, or an entire planet.

I have started building a new night stand for myself. The first piece of furniture I built was a giant dresser. You see, I wanted a very tall, oak, black, shiny dresser. I searched many shops to locate one. Failing to find what I wanted, I did what any person would: I built one. I gained many skills in doing so and got exactly what I wanted. When I got married it became my dresser and her other four pieces of bedroom furniture. I was going to complete the set and sell hers, a plan she agreed with. Well six years later I am starting to do exactly that. Here is the original:

I had to cut it in two to get it our of my mothers basement, and I still have not fixed the fact that you can see the cut. For the new piece, first I built the front, back, and sides. The front is oak, the sides pine. They are just a skeleton so they need not be of oak. Then I built a fake back which will be a secret door. Here is the starting pieces of the back and a side that is put together:

You can see the pocket jig, and the best drill I have ever owned or used. The front:

Then I attached them together. I use a pocket screw jig. This plus glue makes a strong and professional looking joint. The secret door will be attached by wooden dowels so it can swivel open. Here you cannot see the back or fake back, because I made a mistake in my math and they require am adjustment before they will fit.

Next I put together the secret drawer and the backs. Both fake and real. Then cut the sides and top that go over the skeleton. Build the drawers, router and sand. Then stain and clear. I will post another update after that.

Vader Shin Guards

This week I was able to accomplish a lot. School is wrapping up and next week is finals, so this coming week might be slow as far as getting other things done. Today I am going to wrap up my ten page report for final turn in, and I already worked on my new night stand (more on that later).

This week I had to cut off a lock that made sure no one stole my trailer hitch off my truck because it rusted and the key would no loner fit. I used a cut off tool and it only took about 20 min. Now I will use a simple pin system and just hope no one steals my hitch. I also started work on my end table, and a fence I need to build around my trash cans so I will stop receiving angry letters from the HOA every winter. The rest of the year they are hidden by the bushes, when the leaves fall I get angry letters. So I will build a fence and see if I can get an angry letter for that. You would think they were helping pay my mortgage.

I climbed all over my roof, there were some bee's poking around when I set up the Christmas lights, so I filled the nooks and crannies with caulk in case they were thinking about setting up a hive. If they did already I might need to call someone. I certainly am not climbing around the attic if it is full of bee's. BTW climbing on my roof is nuts, the second floor is STEEP, so steep that the builders installed safety attachments so you can hook your climbing gear onto something. Finally I spent some time shopping and I am almost done with my Christmas lists.

Anyway, on to interesting things. I finished my Vader shin guards. The straps that held them on were terrible. They were too short and the buckle would come off when you tried to put them on.

So I cut new straps and sewed them on permanently to the guards. I used a sewing machine, it isn't going to win any beauty contests. This is because the guard was in the way, so I could not maneuver it around like I wanted to. However, it isn't going to fall apart, it isn't going to let the buckle fall off, and it isn't going to be seen while wearing the costume.

You can see I added a folded piece at the end of the strap and sewed it to ensure buckle retention. You can also see that I forgot to dust the insides.The next Vader related  project will be the shoulder armor. One of the straps that holds that on is missing and I might need to make a new one.

little reminder

I made these, and they are awesome. At least I think so...