bee keeping

my friend sarah, who gets mentioned a lot on this blog, works for blue bottle coffee in oakland (try the new orleans iced if you go) and when a beekeeper came and asked if he could put some hives on the roof she said, "heck yes!" or something along those lines.

that beekeeper, who is also a sailor and carpenter and all around good guy named brian, and his partner terry, of urban bee sf, installed three hives a few months back and added two more yesterday.

after all the gear (including two heavy cardboard boxes that made sounds like pop rocks but were, in fact, full of 20,000 bees a piece) was hoisted to the roof, brian went to work assembling the new hives while terry, brad (a blue bottle employee) and i suited up. unfortunately, i didn't have my camera. but sarah had hers. since brian and terry only had 3 suits and one net hat, sarah braved her camera duties sans protection (and did get the only sting of the day).

here terry explains to brad and i the different features of the comb of one of the hives that was placed a few months ago. lots of drone brood (that's baby boy bees) and not very much pollen or honey suggest that the continuing shitty weather has left the hives a little stressed out and hungry. the drone brood suggests that the hive may be prepping to swarm, sending half the hive off to search for more food and to establish themselves elsewhere.

it was amazing how little the bees seemed to care that we were there. though they brought a smoker along, there was really no need to even pull it out. which is for the best, anyway, as the smoke doesn't really "calm" the bees. it just interrupts their ability to communicate and leaves them all kinda wonky.

after checking up on the old hives, b&t set up the new ones.

the cardboard box'o'bees is called a nucleus or "nuke" and contains 5 or so frames. it seems like the nuke method is a way to buy and move a somewhat established hive. sarah described that when the first three hives came, they were in "package" form. a package is just a box full of bees (no frames) that is opened and dumped into the hive. i guess that's more like buying bees in bulk.

beekeeping is very interesting, very complex and just a little bit freaky. though not a project that i wish to take on myself (what with the keeping things alive and happy and probably getting lots of bee stings), i am very grateful to have the opportunity to participate peripherally.

now let's all pray for better weather.

quilting

i'm making a quilt for the yet-to-be born baby of a person who i am pretty sure doesn't read this blog, so i'm not really that worried about ruining the surprise.

so far i have most of the piecing done, except for a simple border. here's what the back looks like:

i'm really enjoying this process (even to the detriment of some other projects. whoops.) because it is very precise and careful and structured and takes some consideration of angles and seam allowances and whatnot but you don't really have to plan if you don't want to. i guess what i mean is that the final result is dependent on working carefully, not planning carefully.  it's a nice change of pace from woodworking and tailoring and the way i approach art pieces and pretty much all the other things i work on.

my only thought going in to this piece was that i wanted there to be a chevron pattern as a main component. after that was done, i thought some diamond check would make a nice pairing. and then i thought it was looking pretty symmetrical and that it would be fun to see if i could piece a circle. so i did those things. no biggie.

here's a picture of all the circle pieces:

in the end, the circle needed some modification to deal with a pooch-ey center, but that was kind of a fun challenge.

i'm already trying to figure out how i can include more of this kind of work in my artistic sewing projects but i wonder if i will still enjoy this once i get to all the hand sewing...

more pictures as i move along.

buy things! that i made! on etsy!

gentle reader,

might i point you in the direction of my etsy shop? just follow this link to J. Ruszel Goods. there you can buy one of my sweet wooden bowls. and do check back occasionally, as new bowls and, at some point, objects that are not bowls will be posted regularly.


remember, the jack rabbit seal ensures freshness!
lovingly yours,

john

4 is one better than 3

you may remember a while back that i was gluing blocks to bowl blanks so i could mount them on the lathe. well, that's kind of a slow way to turn a bowl. since you cannot flip the bowl along its axis, you are forced to work the outer surface of the bowl up against the headstock, where there isn't a whole lot of room to adjust.

a much faster way, used by, as far as i can tell, most professional woodworkers, is the chuck. with this method, you mount the blank with a faceplate or a big ol' worm screw, cut the exterior surface of the bowl (away from the headstock) and then flip the piece, clamping the foot of the bowl in the chuck, so you can cut the inside. i've been playing with this method lately and find it to be mostly really great. but here is the problem- my chuck is a million years old, only has three jaws and is basically a piece of crap:

where modern chucks have 4 jaws that form a complete circle when clamped tight as well as a carefully formed inner and outer edges that ensure maximum grip, this one has three almost-comically-small-by-today's-standards "jaws."

what this all means for me is that if i work at too high a speed, or on too large a piece, or too aggressively, or with a dull tool, this happens:

note the dents. those are from when it flew across the room, hitting the garage door, the ceiling and another wall before coming to a stop.  i've been hesitant to use the three jaw chuck since then and am currently making room in my budget to make the upgrade.

really not much of a farmer

i've mentioned before that i'm a pretty bad farmer but i really am trying... sorta.

today i pulled a few carrots- less because i thought they were big enough and more because my sister's chickens jumped the short garden fence and stripped the stems of almost every leaf (they also razed the chard). but, as it turns out, the two bigger ones were ridiculously woody and inedible. i'm thinking it was the clayey soil and less than ideal watering conditions. still, the small ones were tasty with really woodsy (like a forest, i guess) notes. once again, my gardening experiences have left me unsatisfied but somehow undeterred. just have to keep trying till i figure it out, i guess.

i just can't help myself

more bowls:

clockwise from the big one at the bottom (6.5" dia.): plum; sycamore; sycamore; mulberry with charred exterior; sycamore. all are finished with beeswax. colors are milkpaint.

i've been having fun with the milkpaint, mixing slight variations and even playing with layering: the big one has a reddish undercoat that is just visible in some spots where i sanded through the blue coat. the charring was fun too: careful use of the blowtorch not only blackens the wood but also brings out some interesting grain texture. the wax coat seems to lock in any residual soot and keeps the black from transferring to fingertips.

i've also seen a vast improvement in my cutting speed and finished surface quality even since my bowlathon post. this is thanks in part to an intense sharpening session where i reset the cutting angle on my two favorite tools (read: ground them down on the wheel for a good long time) and worked them back up to a not-quite-mirror-but-still-pretty-good finish.  the other part is the use of an old three jaw chuck, but i'll get more into that some other time.