100th Post, Happy New Year!

Here's to a hundred posts and a new year-

Posts will probably be slower this year; I'm doing big projects and work is increasing. Where am I headed? Pretty sure I'm already there.

Have a great year!

Things Pouches

Due to mild hands injuries I gave them a break, and sewed some little pouches. I get the clips and similar items from DIY Gear Supply.

They'll hold dice for now.

Holiday Presents

Mom and I made this hat for my baby nephew out of an old shirt sleeve. I did the hat, she did the pom-poms.

I made the above hat for my youngest brother. The fabric is from an old flannel sheet.

 I posted these items before, but I liked the packaging here.

Beanie tag detail. This hat was for my oldest brother.

 Flashlight bag for Dad.

Last but not least, I made two of these hat things for my older brother and his girlfriend. The horns are mirrored on the two hats.

Hand-sewn buttonholes.

Hand-sewn horns. Mom stuffed the horns and sewed the circular part of the cone on.

The frill fabric piece wasn't large enough to span the full length, so I had to join two pieces. It's hard to see on both hats, but it's shown in the picture above.

Leather Seat Repair

I repaired this campaign stool leather seat for someone. It would have been easier to make a new seat entirely, but the owner has a sentimental attachment to the original chair. The chair is about fifty years old, and the owner says it's like a leg to him. That would make him a pentopod I suppose.

Below is the seat before I started messing with it.

And here is after:

If you scroll between the above two photos quickly it looks like a writhing jellyfish.

Note to self--do not post past 2am.

Above is the corner that had the hole through it. I made a scarf-joint patch sandwich.

Plane Bag, More Slingshot

Canvas innard and canvas outer. Done on commission.

I decided to build a better catch box (pictures coming soon) and re-assemble the 8mm slingshot. New pouch, new bands. It's quite a delicate assembly. The thin blue bands are faster than thicker ones, but they break easily. If I don't poke silicone grease into the folds regularly, they tear after a few dozen shots. The pouch is 1mm thick leather, which is reinforced with thread where the bands loop into it. If it wasn't reinforced, it too would break quickly. The yellow attachment knots are made with the thinnest Theraband available to be gentle on the bands and weigh the least.

Next to the 4.5mm (BB) slingshot:

Chopsticks, Spatch'

I have plenty of wooden spoons, which is great, but I got tired of eating noodles and potatoes with my fingers. I thought some long skinny wooden finger substitutes would make eating more pleasant.

Here is the jig I made to help produce tapered hexagonal chopsticks. Not pictured is the hand plane. I start with split/riven sticks, cut to a square profile on the bandsaw. By using the three angled slots, I can work the squares down into hexagons.
 

Above, finished fir chopsticks.

Above are two things I whipped out on the lathe, a leather burnisher and handles for the shoe stitching wire. The wire breaks every 20 stitches or so due to cold work, so it's just loosely attached to the handles by twisting. The shape of the handles is to avoid tangling as much as possible.

Carved wooden spatula thing. The edge was flat before the wood dried, but now it's flat enough.

More Spoons Etc.

Boot repair with very strong kevlar thread. This is a very slow process. Definitely spent longer repairing the boot than they did making it, maybe five hours per boot. Though, I doubt the people who made it were sipping tea in a quiet room while playing video games at the same time. After and before. Yellow gunge is waterproofing wax.

Fir tree cutout. Branches: Higgledy Piggledy

Drawknife envelope above.

And more spoons made from an alder log I found.