Spring cleaning

I like May. It’s light out early, not too hot, lots of birds, and all the leaves & flowers coming out display a great variety of colors. Except this May – it was mostly a dud. We’ve finally had some sunshine and it feels great. The raking light of early morning provides some of my favorite views. Here’s this morning’s view upriver:

The light on this basket hanging in the shop is reflected off a beam just out of view to the left. The sun is to my right –

Here’s a view pulled back showing the sunlight hitting the timber –

Yesterday in the shop I went to the loft and pulled down some half-finished baskets. I have a small amount of hickory to shave for rims and handles, so I spent the afternoon doing just that. I found that if I shaved the rims carefully to an even thickness, I could bend them without bothering to steam them. Some did go through the steaming process, but things went just as well without it. These will be ready in a day or two for lashing the rims & handles on with thin narrow strips of hickory bark. Then I’ll go back to the loft to see what else is up there taking up space…

A bird that Marie & I missed last week arrived here this week, the cedar waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) 

 

Finishing up some ladderback chairs next.