Palettes and More Palettes

This is not my calling in life.  Or, maybe it is.  I have no idea anymore.  My creative brain takes me in so many different directions that I imagine that I am on some dusty intersection out in the country somewhere, only today, I've been saddled down with palettes. 

 

Aren't they pretty, though?  My deck is officially my woodworking studio.  I go out there to make a mess of everything and it doesn't matter either.  Why?  Because our deck needs a demolition team - one of these days.
 

I've got quite a nice one man assembly line goin' on here.  I especially love these sunny days when I can lacquer the palettes and let them dry quickly in the sun.  The sun heats up the lacquer and it smooths out nice and even - just like glass.

The only thing I hate is all the hand sanding.  Bob cuts the palettes out of the sheets of birch. 

Then I pull out my spindle sander and sand down all this stuff you see around the edges.  Then I take 200 grade sandpaper and sit in the shade and sand all the curves to a nice, smooth finish.

Then I sand the top and the bottom of the palette, and sand the curves some more.  I know I'm done when my neck is stiff and my right shoulder is on fire.

Nice curves don't ya think?  Then I admire my hard work and I pull out the stain. 

I stain the palette, then I sand it.  Then I get lunch.  Then I stain it again, and I sand it again.  Then I take a nap.

Then I pull out the lacquer and paint on one coat and let it sit in the sun for 20 minutes.  Then I sand it and lacquer it again.  Then I sand it and lacquer it again.  Then I take 3 Advil. 

But it's worth it.  I'm selling them!  And, they are beautiful and comfortable and I'm proud of them. Just know that I'm not going to be making these forever, so if you want one for a Christmas gift, you better put in your order now!

 

 

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Red Easel Designing

 

As some of you may know, I have a small place on the web for visual artists that I call "Red Easel."  It is where I share stories from my studio, tutorials, and it has emerged over the last 2 years to a nice little place for visual artists to share their stories, their tutorials, their paintings, and more.  I also have listings of galleries, and I have an artist directory with over 100 artist listings if I can ever get around to finishing adding those artists that still need to be added to the directory.  I even have information and resources for visual artists.  A whole bunch of neat stuff in one place.  

Red Easel was the first blog I ever had and the first one I ever designed.  I was new to all this stuff 2 years ago and I used a simple template and then added my own banner and background.  Nothing fancy like you see here on Raisin Toast.  Believe me when I tell you it has been quite the learning curve for me in web design.  Blog design.  Whatever you want to call it.

With everything going on here at home, though, I got so wrapped up in Raisin Toast, that Red Easel sorta took a back seat.  My bad.  So bad.  Anyway, that is something of past history as I am trying to revamp Red Easel.  I have over 550+ subscribers to my monthly newsletter and that in and of itself surprises me.  

 

Red Easel needed help, though, so this week I have been working on redesigning the site.  I will hopefully be able to launch the new design on November 1st, but that might be a bit optimistic.

Anyway, that's what I've been doing this week, if you're wondering why I didn't post yesterday, well, not only was I working on Red Easel, but I was also cutting out, sanding, and staining 4 "Red Easel Master's Palettes," and, well, I'm tired.  And yawning.  And my eyes are watering.  And I'm ready to hit the sack.

Thanks for stopping by!  Is everybody ready for Halloween?  

If it's any consolation - I'm not.

  

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WooHoo! I'm a TypePad Champion!

 

I was looking around TypePad this morning seeing what they have new going on and ran across a story about TypePad Champions, and boy was I surprised that I was on the list.  Check this out!...

TYPEPAD CHAMPIONS ON GET SATISFACTION

Our "Champions" are here to answer your questions and help you get the most out of your TypePad blog. Be sure you stop by the Get Satisfaction forum and say 'hello' to them and join the discussion. Let us know if you or someone that you know wants to be part of the Champion program and help grow our TypePad community!

Christine Herron was ranked among the Top 20 Women in Technology in 2000 by AltaVista and is a tribal kitchen goddess in her spare time. She's been blogging about technology, society, and best practices at Christine.net since 2005. Favorite TypePad features include the easy integration of third-party sites and services through the widget gallery and using her TypePad profile as OpenID credentials.

Cynthia McCracken was previously a clinical therapist but health issues forced an early retirement and she began blogging not long after. That was 2003. She's a full-time mom as well as the author of four different blogs. Straight from the beginning she felt as though TypePad really cared about its customers, she liked the personal touch that we've provided and it has set the tone ever since.Visit her at Forever a Fangirl.

John T. Unger is the founder, lead author and developer at TypePad Hacks, an alternative knowledge base and design shop for TypePad blogs. TypePad Hacks is the leading expert in custom design and coding on the TypePad platform. As a result of his work with TypePad, Unger has also been asked for feedback by AdaptiveBlue, AddThis, Cocomment, FeedBurner and has done consulting work with PayPal 1000Markets.com, and Etsy.

Mipmup has been a member of the Typepad community since 2003 and blogs about design, food, shopping and green ideas on mipmup.com. She has provided design and set-up services to many leading blogs and web sites. Her expertise includes custom blog design and set-up on TypePad, Movable Type & Vox, advanced templates design, and integration of third-party features such as advertising, stats, search and social networking applications. 

Robin Capper lives in Auckland, New Zealand and has been blogging on TypePad since 2004. He discovered TypePad through Autodesk's company blogs and began his own site after discovering how easy it was to create and publish without the hassle of learning a publishing platform or coding a website. These days Robin blogs about CAD, design, IT and various web theories on RobiNZ Blogs.

M. Susan Vaughn is a busy wife, mother, grandmother and artist. She produces artwork in oils and has sold her paintings around the world and won a number of awards. She has been blogging on TypePad for two years and finds it to be a wonderful creative outlet. TypePad laid the groundwork for Susan to learn HTML, CSS, Javascript and code for designing her blog. Visit her at Raisin Toast.

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Thank you TypePad!  You know I love blogging on your platform, and enjoy helping others, too, make the best of their blog design.  You've given me an entirely new creative outlet!

 

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