Can't waste this fab weather

Giving the front cover a refreshing break, its turning out to be a bit of a struggle.... SO on hearing the weather forcast and trusting it ! out with the Dinitrol filler and I have started the next layer on the roof, not very much filler needed this time and a lovely thick battleship grey undercoat is now covering about about a third of the roof, peraps a bit more eh! ha...........

I started early and lit the fire as there was a bit more waxoiling to do on the floor inside, it thinned down a treat in a pan on the stove !!! and brushed into all the nooks and cranny's that had been missed. So another good job done, thank you weather.

Anyway, whilst stuff was drying (and on such a warm sunny day it all did dry out very nicely), having already spotted staining on the sides after a fire had been lit i realised that despite the chimney being a double skin type, there are a dribbles of water leaking on to the roof and down the side (see pics).

Now I know it never did that before and close inspection revealed a sort of guttering collar round the base of the chimney which would catch any of this stuff... but it had perished and had was leaking water. On looking through the web I find chimney dribbles are a common problem but I havent seen anything like it. It obviously worked ok, made out of an old aluminium pan base with about 1" of side left, with a hole cut out of the base so that it just fitted on to the collar and the chimney sits on it, the dribbles are contained...Definately a Jim invention then Ha Ha..
Now where's them old pans ??????

And another puzzle !!!

Well it is actually quite straight forward and looked so simple at first !!!!

but climbing up and down, balancing on tiptoe and trying to get a plastic sheet over the front end did pose a bit of a problem on my own and I realised very quickly that a) I didnt have enough fabric (covered in strawberries purchased some years ago and never used) and b) the original design being one piece stapled to a plank down the middle is just too unwieldy and heavy for me to be able to put it on and take orf .. at all really ... so the puzzle is to create a front cover that I can manage easily... after all I am not gonna get any stronger or more supple eh! Ha Ha


SO after scrounging several yards of blue, I am going to try a 5 piece job with each piece managable and rollupable !!! two on top, two sides and a front.........and it will be a minor miracle if it works.... its not just a pretty front end we are aiming at .... it has to function.....

There will have to me some minor adjustments and additions to the cratchboard. I have to say that with the right tools its posssible to do so much and if you look carefully the dowel on the left is actually a round peg shaped out of a square block...oh what fun is a workshop

Ok then, after much throwing, pulling, sliding and fortunately no slipping phew, now at least I have a rough pattern for the 3 shapes, the blue half-top covers almost all of the conservatory floor !!!

and the sides are much bigger than I expected. Hmmmmm much thought going into this so its a good job I am waiting for the 2nd coat of Sikkens to dry on the woodwork before a final fitting.

All sticky smelly stuff but she's looking good and I hope it all works. We have the form but do we have the function?
Only time and use will tell





Form & Function eh! ... OU Science course and source of many great debates in the art/sculpture world Ha Ha

and here's a perfect example sitting on top of the wall at the bottom of the garden. Created by Jim when running the Stourbridge College workshops
The 'flower heads' are huge cast metal screws and makes a great barier. (This corner is about to be given a back gate/door in the wall, a fence on the other side which will show it off a treat and steps in front ...
delightful form and excellent function ..... 

aaaaaaahhh, so many things to do, how did I find time to go to work I wonder Ha Ha ....

I always wanted to do woodwork !!

But it wasn't allowed at my school....cookery for girls and woodwork for boys...no choice for us then........but that wuz 'a long time ago in Accrington' Ha. Of course because we weren't allowed, the urge to diy has always been high on my list of things to master etc.. AND its wonderful to have a fab workshop and so many tools to use.....Jim's dream retirement.....inventing in the workshop by day and telescoping the nights away. Thank goodness I learned some lessons well !!!! and plenty of health & safety instructions should keep me safe (touch wood ???) But I am quite amazed at what I have managed to do so far....A good teacher wuz my Jim.

SO making a new cratchboard has been perfect to try out all the equipment...and now I have got the hang of the using router, well you have never seen so much in the way of shavings and dust and so much fun, nothing is safe Ha Ha. Two coats of cuprinol done should give it plenty of protection, next will be two thin coats of Sikens. The pegboard is just a temporary, to see how it all works first .. Its all evolving somehow....I stare at something long enough and slowly it turns into something usefull ha ha ..

Sometime I would like to do some stained glass panels, I have a couple of round ones somewhere safe (!!!) that I made when we first moved on to Wildrose, but never got round to fitting them in the front doors, again something for the future...for now it all has to be just practical and enough to be able to continue with other stuff.

This will be a prototype as I have put it together in completely the wrong order and there are holes that should have been drilled earlier in the construction. More joints could have been glued and plugged so as now I have good measurements and a pattern, this will do nicely until we are on the water. It will also test my design for ease of use and strength. The front tonneau cover is the next puzzle....hmmmmmmmmmm where's the sewing machine ??

But at the moment, there isnt a piece of wood safe from me and my router now I have got it working ffffffabulous