Finished another "Eagle" it was bought to give as a Christmas present and it turned out well. The unnamed lady who bought this was very pleased. I have another one to make by Christmas for another customer.

But, for now I have to make another "Remembering the Rose" that I sold in the Fall Festival. Busy time of year. anyway here are some pics of the very first stages of an Intarsia project. You can see i have cut all the pattern pieces out and now have to select the wood for the project. I will use Aspen for the dress, White Sycamore for the skin, Purple-heart for the shawl part of the dress, Butternut for the bench, Quilted Maple for the wings, Bubinga and Poplar for the flower and wings, and Pad-auk for the hair.

Well I thought I would put up a couple of pics of the our kitchen remodel, we got new counter tops last week and I spent most of today installing the back splash on the sink side of the kitchen will put the stove side up tomorrow. We also installed a new composite granite sink, new faucets and garbage disposal, switch  and outlet cover plates as well as all new electric outlets and switch's. A new window sill is also on the to do list.
We choose Wilsonart laminate over the other types of counter tops mostly because of the expense, and I think it looks great! We had some install issues but the installers are taking care of it. The glass and stone mosaic came from Costco. Still need to grout and am a week or so from finishing but we are excited to see it come along.

Just a little follow-up for "Remembering the Rose" it sold at auction (with all proceeds going to the missions fund) for 1000.00 and I now have to make another as the losing bidder will donate her last bid of 800.00 for one. I certainly feel honored to have made something that brought that much for such a good cause.

Back to new after a couple of weeks down with the creeping crud, finally got back into the shop.... right before I got sick I started cutting "Remembering Rose". I am making it for my church's Fall Festival and worked all day on it yesterday trying to finish it so I could have for the "preview" which was today and I just made it in time. So here she is...made from Aspen, Sycamore, Ambrosia Maple, Quilted Soft Maple, Purple-heart, Padauk, Bubinga, and Walnut. she is about 16" x 16" and has about 75 pcs.

It's my blog so i guess I can rant a little. What the hell is wrong with people? I went to wash the wifes car today and there were 2 young men at the carwash having some kind of  car stereo war, neither of which had any taste for good music. Both were young white guys playin' like they were some kinda gangster or something, saggin ass pants music so loud the vacuums couldn't cover it. I am all for personal freedom, and I played my music loud when I was young but I tried not offend others. I do have a right to go to a public place and not subjected to someone else's crap profane music. What do you do though... say something and get shot? Just got out of there as quick as I could and moved on.

Finished the Eagle! I am really proud of the way it turned out! I told my customer I almost refunded her money and kept it myself.:) 

I was able to work on the Eagle today and I made some great progress, I finished sanding, glued it to the backer board, and was able to get a good coat of danish oil on it. I think it looks great. Got to make one of these for myself some time. This is the second one I have made... the first one sold in about 2 hrs after I had it for sale so I never really got to look at it for awhile, I had some pics but believe me they don't do justice to a piece like this. The walnut in this piece is so very cool lots of grain and color variation, you really need to see it up close. I also really like the way the ambrosia maple looks as the slightly lighter color under the neck and on the upper part of the tail.

Tonight I shaped up the large wing, it is mostly tedious but very satisfying when your done. Feathers are easy and yet hard you can make each one exactly the same or mix it up some. I like to mix it up some... mother nature is not always perfect if you look at images of Eagles on the net you will notice many are missing feathers or some are broken, wear and tear of being a predator.

So I am back from a wonderful vacation... flew to San Francisco drove down Hwy 1 to San Simeon stayed the night in a beach front room, then on to Santa Barbara attended my cousins son 's wedding, had a fabulous time celebrating a great couple, drove back to San Francisco and spent 2 days with my brother and his lovely wife. Whew!

Before I left I finished cutting out the pieces for the Eagle. Walnut, Maple, Aspen and Yellow-heart, next step will be shaping it and I will start that tomorrow evening. Can't wait.... I am real excited about this piece I love my wood choices the grain had ought to really make this a fine piece! I also love this eagles "Attitude". I think my customer will be very happy!

"Remebrance" is finished , I'm pretty proud of how it turned out. I have decided not give it to the fall festival but make a different piece for the church. However I really am excited for that super special someone who is going to get it. But for now it will hang on my wall. I wouldn't say it was a difficult piece but the pillar, her hair and flowers were challenging. I think if I made one of these for sale I would probably charge 450-500. I spent about 20 hrs from start to finish.

For you inquiring minds she is 14" wide and 16" tall. I used the following woods.

Wings               Hard (curly) Maple
Dress                Cherry
Skin                  White Sycamore
Hair                  Yellow-Heart
Flowers             Bubinga
Leaves              Poplar
Pillar                 Walnut, Ambrosia Soft Maple, Butternut
Steps                 Ambrosia Soft Maple

I have already started on "Eagle in Flight" this is a commissioned piece I sold on ETSY, pics will be coming soon.