I had made it my goal to finish my Sign Challenge piece before the New Year. But like all goals the world conspires to keep you from them. I had made a good start early on, bringing it very close to finish. Then I got sidetracked with all manners of other projects. Peter who finished his piece last week (and enjoyed beating me immensely I might add) was egging me on at every opportunity. I knew if I let my piece go into next year by even a day I would never hear the end of it. So this afternoon, I applied the last bit of lettering and with Angie's help we applied the final glaze. A couple minutes past our normal quitting time (and seven and a half hours before the beginning of 2016) I announced the piece DONE! Happy New Year!
Rolling start
I've loved working with metal since I learned to weld decades ago. Building with steel allows us to fabricate just about anything we can imagine. Even better news is that the new MultiCam plasma cutter makes a whole gamut of new projects possible. It is just so easy to design and cut files of any shape imaginable. The pieces for the jet engine powered chair were designed in minutes and then sent to the plasma cutter for cutting. That only took a few minutes more. A quick pass with a sanding disk made them ready to weld. The top and bottoms of the curvy I-beams were hand formed and tacked in place and then welded up with the MIG. Before we broke for lunch the rocket chair base was ready to roll.
Magic chair
Some (make that many) who know me think I am often in too much of a hurry. It's not true. I simply have many ideas and projects that need expressing. I've come up with a solution that should make it all possible. Two of the office chairs at my desk are in sad repair. Rather than buy new ones I have come up with a novel plan to fix (and vastly improve) them. I've always loved the steampunk style and also rocket engines. I figure if I combine these wonderful things with my old office chairs I should be able to move about my office at record speed and in a great deal of style. I like to think of them as my new magic chairs. The design is done. I bought the new castors today. I'll get a good start on fabricating the first one tomorrow.
