The End of March Update

Just a little post of what we have been doing these past few months.

The Kitchen Jotul provided lots of comfort this year... always feels so good to feel that heat and see that cheery flame. 

Ok now, this was a fun find! ...  the Schwinn Air-Dyne exercise bike.. non electric... Manual.. totally works by just pedaling... you never have to plug it in! ...even gives you a cooling breeze as you pedal... 

It was given to us when we went to a yard sale.. the fellow just wanted it "gone" as he had sold his house and had to move that very weekend...  so we loaded it on the trailer and took it home..  Perfect condition and was it Heavy!!!   So solid... found out after some research that it is quite a Collectors item and I can see why... they don't make things like this anymore ... you know, things that don't wear out!  From the 1970's...  It is practically indestructible and you can do lots of different exercises with it other than just basic pedaling.. Love this !

This beauty was also being given away.  It is one of the coolest looking sewing machines in my collection.  It needed cleaned and oiled as most all old machines do, but I like to see if I can get them back in working order. It even came in its own table. It has a very masculine appearance don't you think?... brown and cream with lots of dials... also very heavy.

This machine was very dirty and dusty mostly just from sitting someplace where dust and grime accumulated...  most parts of it were seized and needed quite some time for the oil to soak in. 

The original  Kenmore ad was still with it, torn from the pages of a mid 1960's Simpson's Sears catalog.  I believe it is one of the early fancy stitch machines... Made in Japan.  The sewing machine industry was something that grew huge in Japan after the second world war as they were trying to get their economy built back up... shifting from war machines to domestic machines... and Japan made excellent quality machines.. 

Here "He" is with his top metal lid removed... a bit of a look at the many working gears and moving parts.  I oiled everything that moved and even the parts that never. It eventually loosened up and everything started working in unison.... but it took a few days.  He had not been used for a long time but was almost like new.  I don't think it ever saw much use.

 Thought I'd test it out.  I had an old pair of oven mitts that were worn out, dreary and darn ugly... made from an old pair of recycled jeans years ago... they had done their service and were ready to retire.

  I took a pattern off them and sewed a new pair up using that groovy sewing machine above... worked great. I reused the inner padded insulating lining.  

The fabric was left over from the drapes in the living room.  I preshrunk it and it was fine for the job... besides it's pretty and heavy and so much nicer to look at.

We are still in the studio making jewelry too. Here are some new "Fiddleheads"... can't wait for the real fresh ones to pop their heads up...  and a pair of "Ship and Whale" that are always popular with visitors to the Maritimes.  

The sand dollars in the background were found on the St. Martins beach at one of the times of year when the tide is very, very low and goes out the farthest.  They were on the sand at exactly the point where the tide turned... you had to be quick to gather them.

 An in-progress shot of the  Fiddleheads after fusing, being set up to have the hole drilled for the earwire... at this in-between unfinished stage they have not yet been hammered, buffed or polished. 

Also doing some forging and shaping on the big steel textured block, my dad found for us years ago.  

And every once in a while I unload some art supplies and spend some time making art.  I particularly like the new Sakura "Koi" water brush.  That's it lying across the small white sectioned dish... the main body of the brush is a water reservoir... no problems with leaking and the bristles hold their shape well...  A pleasure to paint with.

Till next time. All the Best!

At Work in the Jewelry Studio

I'll be spending longer hours at the bench these days ... so I'll be away for a while....


Take Care .... and Cheerio!
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The Flea Market

Last week-end we went to the Giant Flea Market in Sussex, New Brunswick, held every year on the third weekend of August... 3 days (4 days if you go on Dealer Day) of peeking, searching, wandering, wondering, pondering, bartering.... and hopefully finding a treasure of some sort to take home....

More than 450 booths spread out across the large fair grounds... there was no lack of things to look at... antiques, junk, collectibles, books, car parts, tools, you name it... it was there... guaranteed! in good and bad condition... and everywhere in between... a deal could be had, depending on how much you had to spend or how much they wanted to get rid of it...

... scorching sun, pouring rain, traffic jams, tired feet, sunburned faces, soaked to the hide.. didn't matter people were there in full force... when a downpour happened on Saturday, one vendor sold out of his umbrellas in minutes! There was a silver lining in that cloud.. for him anyway...


... 10 years ago we had the good fortune or bad, depending on which day you ask John... to find the bits and pieces and parts of a 1966 P1800 Volvo Coupe there, the kind "The Saint" used to drive... in parts on a fellows table and in several boxes under it... and the rest were in another province in his barn... he agreed to put them all back together and sell it to us... it was in very sorry shape and we have been working on it for years... searching out parts, a never-ending task... with much perseverance and cursing, cause it was too late to turn back now... it finally has a coat of primer and the engine is restored, still more to do and far from perfect but it is almost road worthy...




Anyway, back at the Flea Market.... On Friday, John pointed out this old press which I thought at first glance was the top part of an old cider press... and immediately passed it by, thinking I really don't need another project to do just now, of trying to figure out how to make the rest of the cider press... so we wandered some more...

... soon I found an old beautifully patterned Silver teapot ... rather worn, and stained but had an essence I could not resist... and I dearly needed a teapot... Then a great hardcover book, " The Life, History and Magic of The Dog"... beautifully illustrated reference book... They both came home with me.

John found a big pile of salvaged window and door moldings, sides and tops... red pine 1 ¼" thick, from an 1867 house from Guysborough Co. Nova Scotia... even with John's very careful packing into our 8' long utility trailor, the beautiful moldings overflowed the trailor.... but he tied them on with my daughters old mountain climbing rope.... it was sort of a mountain of wood!! These will be saved for a future project... A starting point...   ( update  to July 2010 ... we are using them  here... interior construction)

Max found books, games and army surplus gear for his paintball tournaments...

... we were all happy... and tired... and hot... we were glad to be on the 45 minute drive home...





The next morning, we were talking about our great deals and the things that were rather interesting, that we left behind... and John again mentioned that he was surprised I hadn't shown any interest in the press... Well, I never really had a good look at it... only from a distance from across a crowded aisle... he said he had... and as he described it, I realized it was a Book Press... an actual Book Press... Oh no... Why didn't I walk the 10 feet in that direction and examine it when he pointed it out... ohhh... Foul word inserted here... Where would I ever come across one of those again... probably never!!!

I didn't actually need it.... but what a great addition to the studio it would have been... I started thinking up things I could have done with it.... for sure it would be gone now... it was probably gone 5 minutes after we passed it........... I think we should go back and on a wild whim of a chance maybe it would be there... noooo, it wouldn't...

oh heck.. we went back anyway... You know, Hope...

It was pouring rain!!! Buckets!!!

Couldn't believe it... The old Book Press (also known as a Nipping Press) was still there in the exact spot!!! It was in almost perfect condition for something that age... solid cast iron and not a bit of rust... It was a good size...With the wheel wound down it was 13" tall x 11½"wide x 21½" long... the platen has a 3" opening and was 9 ½" x 15". It weighed about 70 lbs. and had 4 bolt holes to anchor it down.

The dealer, Al Hermitage, from Rexton, New Brunswick who always has the best primitive antiques, was pretty surprised that no one had snapped it up... When I showed interest and asked about it, he said he could give me a deal... $45.00... Wow... My Lucky day! I more than gladly paid to take my prize home... Good thing John was there, though... It was heavy! I was smilin' for the rest of the day!



This is just a quick little pen and ink sketch I did of the new, old tool now in my studio, The Book Press... approx. 6" x 6" on textured drawing paper.

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The "Gras" Knife

Recently, after posting about "Asparagus", I received a lovely letter detailing several interesting facts and this wonderful picture of an Asparagus knife. They came from Annette who lives in the Vale of Evesham, which I was excited to learn is famous for growing Asparagus. As a matter of fact, this was her husband's grandfather's actual asparagus knife, used in the field for cutting the lovely delicacy... at least 100 years old!!... and still going...

She tells of the wooden handle being worn smooth and serving its owner very well for many years... that it has a hand shape at the end of the blade... and that over there across the ocean, asparagus is known as 'gras...

I like that this tool was designed to do a particular job and that it did it well... That is good design and must have been a pleasure to use. How wonderful that it had been treasured enough to be handed down the family line... quite a functional artifact!!






Annette said that the 'gras has a season from late April to mid June, depending on the weather... and on warm nights she has heard it said that you could watch it grow, several inches a night!!!.... oh, don't I wish we had that kind of weather here!

The asparagus is cut, carefully by hand and tied with string into bundles, called "rounds".

During this season, all around the Vale, roadside stands spring up ready to sell the 'gras, which in her area has a distinctive, almost sweet, earthy taste and some people reckon that they can tell where each "round" was grown...


There is even a local pub called "The Round of Gras" which serves Asparagus suppers.... I can only imagine the lucky people attending them....




Annette shared that they love to eat it with grilled bacon and baby new potatoes with liberal dots of butter!! Although she says her favourite way is to put hot asparagus, straight from the pan, onto a plate with thinly sliced brown bread and butter, then go into the garden and sit on the grass and have Hot Asparagus sandwiches!.... Heaven!!!

Wish I could join her!..........Thank-you Annette!!




Next year I'll be having the first harvest of "gras" from my garden.... Now I can't wait!!

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