practicing

i bought a small niddy noddy with the kind of turning that’s on bonnie, and realized i could practice on it until i get the finish i want.

this isn’t it.  it could be if it was really that blue, but it’s really much more navy than in the photo.  i’ve sent back for some white milk paint so i can see what will happen if i lighten it up some.  this is a wash of ultramarine, then a coat of tung, then sanded. i think it’s going to take awhile, probably longer than i have before brigadoon, so i’ll come back to it in august, if so.

btw, this is what i got when i couldn’t find the 3m contour pad thingys that frazzle made up recommended.:)

 

cleaned the rust off the flyer with wd40 and put a coat of tung on the flyer and bobbin.

(took them apart to oil; just put them back together for the picture.) boy, were  they thirsty, especially on the flat ends. it took lots of slathering before i even got a shine! (i didn’t put any in the grooves of the whorl, having heard, i think, that it can cause slippage?  should i?)

while i was at it, i put a coat on ash’s unfinished upgraded flyer, too.

also thirsty, and no oil in the whorl grooves, although this is younger wood and is wicking it up in there some, i think.

first thing this morning i already had gone to home despot and bought (along with the fake steel wool) a package of 84 assorted springs (!) for under $5.  i used this one to replace the rubber band brake, which i’d realized was being thwacked by the flyer at every rotation.

and guess what?  i’m back in business! :D

Flickr Tags: spinning wheel