Long day of learning

Pictures and captions can't begin to describe the feeling of what happens in our shop. Today was day two of our Sculpture Magic Workshop. At eight this morning some of our students were waiting for me at the door to our shop. The rest arrived a very short time later. We jumped right into it. I challenged each student with the comlexity and the quickness of each exercise. In short I was doing my very best to squeeze 40 years of experience into only three days. Today was mostly about fabricating good sized trees from fiberglass reinforced concrete. Concurrent with that were other projects as well as a field trip and a lecture.

Through it all spirits were high, laughter was plenty.

At eleven this evening the entire class was still in the shop and working hard. I sent them out the door with the promise tomorrow they can start all over again.

I'm exhausted but happy in Yarrow...

-grampa dan

Moving a mountain

To host our workshops we need to set up tables and have lots of working space. Where normally only a few people work, during the workshops ten to fifteen will share that same space. Until this morning it was impossible to walk from one end of the shop to the other as there were projects in progress all through the shop with the bulk of the space taken up by the sign/mountain/waterfall/lighthouse feature. It was time to pull it from the shop and do some serious rearranging. I warmed up our trusty little tractor and the guys fetched the sturdy chains and hooked me up. While the tractor did the heavy pulling the boys steered it out the door (with minimal clearance) and out into the parking lot.

We'll finish welding, wiring, cementing and scultping the piece out in the parking lot.

The rest of the pieces in progress were also moved out of the shop. In a couple of hours the shop was swept, re-arranged and set up for the Sculpture Magic Workshop. As we finished the guests began to arrive, eager to begin the learning. It's going to be fun!

-grampa dan

Handy, dandy tools.

I love tools. It's no secret. I have a vast collection of handy tools in my shop that is the envy of many I know. Some people I know, including my favorite son Peter, sometimes take too much pleasure in making fun of my selection of tools, commenting that there are some I never use. Peter especially mocks my ownership of a giant anvil that I am especially proud of. But that anvil sure does come in handy and on occasion there is simply no other tool for the job.

This week is a classic example of how handy the anvil truly is. In the last two days alone my trusty anvil has been used TWICE. Yesterday I needed to bend a steel rod. I whipped out a two pound hammer and then used the anvil as a sturdy working surface to hammer on and thus shape the rod. It worked great! I sure was glad I had the anvil in my shop!

This evening the anvil was used yet again. Doug, one of our workshop attendees needed to shape two 3/8 steel rods. It was a precise operation for they needed to match perfectly. I whipped out the two pound hammer once more and using the holes in the anvil surface he had the task done in minutes. He commented to me how handy the anvil was, wishing he had such a sturdy device in his shop back in Illinois. I believe he was more than a little jealous.

If this keeps up I may have to buy a second anvil.

-grampa dan