This has not been a week you want to listen to the media or politicians, check Facebook too often, or discuss politics. We voted last week because we can do that in Arkansas. And then we stayed away from the mess and created. 2H Creations has been busy — creating — over the last couple of weeks.
Railing Installed
Noel put up a beautiful rail in front of our house. My garden is by the road with about a 6 foot drop off to the concrete below in some places. This klutzy lady is thrilled that there is now something to keep me from falling over the edge when I break the shovel and sprawl on the ground from the impact of it letting go. Yes I did. Last Saturday. Thankfully it was only a mum and not concrete that was under me. The rail will keep me safe hopefully. And it’s so beautiful! We want to decorate for Christmas. NOW.
I am pretty confident that you don’t have enough money to pay Noel to put up one at your house. Those 8” holes into concrete took most of a Saturday. My contribution was the use of my Glad Press’n Seal to keep the water away from the setting concrete. I was the one to walk around the yard, hiding behind straight edges, closing an eye and seeing if his drill was still straight as he drilled. There are not a lot of straight edges in my tree-covered hilly, curvy neighborhood.
But he was able to make a couple jigs to make his work easier. Noel is all about jigs. His engineer brain will always invent a jig that makes the process quicker, easier, and more accurate.
Wood Dried & Sold
He was excited to sell his first slabs of wood over the last couple of weeks. These are trees that he cut down, took through his sawmill, dried in his kiln, and then sold. He sold a couple oak slabs last week to someone who is remodeling their bathroom. In the midst of quarantine, selling has the side benefit of friends coming over and sitting outside for a good visit.
The 21 cedar trees have started to make their way through the kiln. I love the smell of cedar, but the smell is a bit overpowering throughout our house when it first gets in the kiln. Only our basement was free of the smell.
The giver of the 21 cedar trees, got this to remember their trees:
This week a whole load of cedar came out of the kiln. A friend drove 2 ½ hours to buy one of the 2” X 8’ planks to build a bench to place near her fire pit. And besides it being wonderful to sell his first cedar plank, it was more wonderful to visit and eat with Allyson and Kyle on our deck. We haven’t had company during Covid, and it felt so good.
After taking the wood through his sawmill, Noel stacks the wood at Steve’s farm to air dry, and then brings home a load as the kiln gets emptied. I took a few days off this week and was able to go to the farm one day with him as he got a load of oak. In case you’re curious, wood can be up to 50% moisture content; dry wood will be around 6-8% moisture content.
Personalized Ceramic Tile
Our nephew is getting married in a couple weeks so I made a wedding present this week with my Cricut. I have been working with sublimation lately, so it was nice to get back to the vinyl again for a change. Noel will make a wooden plate-holder for it to rest on instead of my little metal holder. Hopefully Joel is too busy getting his house ready to check out our blog this week and see his wedding present. I think I’m safe! =)
Victory!
I have been troubleshooting my sublimation printer, learning about ICC profiles, and researching taxes and nexus in states. My creativity isn’t quite so glamorous this week as Noel’s. I continue to fight with this web page, taxes, and getting my printer to print gray colors and reds to be red and not orange. Somehow Santa in an orange hat, just isn’t Christmassy. But I have been successful on all fronts. Finally. Look at the gray on the pickleball towels! Not just one shade – light and dark.
Twomey PC Repair
Noel made a new display for a local computer shop, Twomey PC Repair. Nathan got a great deal on phone cases but didn’t have enough room to display them. I don’t have a great picture. Noel’s router gave its life for the making of all of those ridges, but it is under warranty still so should be back among his tool friends soon.
I don’t have any of the store with the finished product and display complete, but it looked great.
Pickleball
Pickleball earrings are a popular part of the business. It all started because I wanted to be Noel’s pickleball fan, but there were no earrings anywhere. So we have 3 different ones now. Noel has a pickleball tournament this weekend. They don’t have vendors at this one, so hopefully they will just see my earrings and Noel’s pickleball towel and inquire.
This week’s projects: steps and a park bench for Noel. For me, I need to paint. I don’t know what yet, but I miss my paint brushes. I’m not an artist – just crafting paint. And I’m trying a sublimation pillow for my granddaughters. It beats watching the news these days!