Christmas greetings

Christmas day at our house is all about family. The house is full of people, lots of kids making lots of joyful noise. Delicious food is plentiful and the feeling mellow. Life is good!

The Christmas weather is like always in these parts, the snow is above 2,000 feet on the mountains above us. I much prefer that to a white Christmas in the valley. I snapped this picture from the house deck towards the shop as the sun set this afternoon.

I wish everyone the best possible Christmas with those you love.

Last day before Christmas

It was a workday today but it was also Christmas Eve! It was festive in the shop with Christmas music on the radio and everyone was in high spirits. We worked until lunch time and then after a quick cleanup everyone got to go home early to their families.

Two of the signs got their final paint and glazes.

Everyone on the crew gets a four day break. Between Christmas and New Years work is optional for the crew so we'll be operating with a smaller than normal bunch. I've got some fun projects planned for those who do come in. As always I'll be posting pictures here too.

I wish everyone a wonderful holiday with their famlies and friends.

-grampa dan

Learning new things

To me it amazing how fast Peter and the crew are upping the bar with each piece that goes through the shop. When this project started we made that our goal and it is so exciting to see the improvement in the last months. Everyone is rising to the challenge and enjoying it too.

The Dingy House was to recieve its last sculptured mud today and with it a new technique would be explored... cracked and aged plaster over the rockwork that was done yesterday. We knew a few tricks (untested yet) and were confident we would figure out the rest as the project proceeded. Each time a new technique is explored Peter or myself will test the waters and then once a basic style is set everyone follows but also experiments more as we go. This would be no different. I carved for a few minutes but was out of the studio for much of the day. I followed the progress as I was able. The results were stunning. It's hard to believe it was all hand carved and will look ten times better when the paint is applied.

The crew also managed to do the bottom half of the golf tower as well.

It was a great day with lots learned too. It doesn't get better than that!

-grampa dan