Paint, Saw and Sand?

4.25x4.25 handmade house from basswood

Since all I have been doing this year so far is woodworking, first with the Craftsman scroll saw and the new Dremel Moto-Saw I gave myself for Christmas, maybe I should change the name of this blog!  However, I am still painting too.  Right now, I have three paintings in the works while I work on all the little houses I am making for a marketplace, and it really is a great way to satisfy my ADD tendencies; while glazes on the paintings are drying, I go do something with wood.  And vice-versa.

In February I began learning wood carving.  First, I bought a set of carving tools from Woodcraft, but because that aggravated the arthritis in my hands, I bought carving bits to use with my old Dremel and began to learn power carving.   I bought a Wecheer power carver on sale at Woodcraft, and one of the handpieces went bad within a month.  Annoying.  However, after an extended correspondence with somebody in China, they finally replaced it at no cost to me.  Great, since a handpiece can cost $50 alone!

And lo and behold, now Dremel has come out with its own power carver called the Fortiflex, and I love it!  It takes all the same bits as the original Dremel.  So I keep sanding bits on the Wecheer, and change out the Dremels for carving or cutting.  I started making little houses in April and so far have made about half a dozen.  I have trivet frames left over from my engraving/sublimation business and am carving 4.5x4.5 pieces to fit inside them, to add to my market inventory.

Oh, and because I am fascinated with routers, I found a refurbished Dremel Trio which can do things I have learned how to do yet.  I made my own mini miter box for my little houses, but I found one on eBay which I am anxious to receive.  And I have promised myself NO MORE PURCHASES.  We'll see how long that lasts. (Just saw that Dremel now has another new product!)  I got tiny hinges from Christina at Sky Blue Pink where I always can find tiny stuff, and found an eBay store that sells construction items for dollhouses that I can use on my own houses.  Mine tend to be perhaps 1:24 scale, but usually not any particular scale.  They only open at the front door, so they really are not toys.  No point in putting furniture in there, in other words.  They can be lighted with battery-powered tea lights, so I have decided to put patterned paper inside all the subsequent ones I make.

Okay.  So that's my update for now.  And yesterday, I learned about a mixed-media postcard swap, so off I go to make a bunch of those..... but first I have to finish the house I am working on now.  Really!