Thorse and Other Things of Importance

By 'important' I mean 'important enough to mention'. So here goes.

First in the order of importance, the Thorse! This is almost finished...

 
And this is completed. For some explanation: a few years ago I went through a phase where I was drawing Les Mis and Phantom of the Opera characters as horses...laugh all you like, but dangit, I had fun with it. This is just a hearkening back to those times, if you will. I have a very rough sketch of what might be horsey!Hawkeye. Maybe. Depends on if I can get his silly leg to look right. O.e

I bought this book last week after briefly glancing through it at a friend's house and liking what I saw. It goes through traditions of the church and traces them back to their original roots, pointing out that the majority of time-honored traditions (everything from having a paid pastor to sitting in pews to having a 'church building' to worship teams to dressing up for church) were things that weren't done during the first century of Christianity and, more often than not, were taken from pagan culture. (By 'pagan' they mean principles that aren't Christian or biblical in origin but taken from the surrounding culture, not necessarily something that is evil or wrong.)

I personally have found it to be a very interesting read. I'm not about to jump ship from traditional church or anything like that, but I'm going to work through the New Testament with an emphasis on seeing how the church operated back then. And by 'church' I mean the body of believers, not a building. XD

Colorado is approaching in 13 days. O.o I have a ride to the ranch, my train ticket is ready to be printed...this is really happening. Phew.

School is coming along...sort of. My last assignment has been sent back twice with a big fat 0 and no explanation/corrections as to why...hopefully my teacher will answer my email because I'm getting a little nervous.

In other news, it's very late and tomorrow is going to be a big day of cleaning. My room is a disaster area--since I haven't had to work or keep to much of a schedule lately I've kind of let it go loose. I'm typing this in a little space on my desk between piles of school books, sketchpads, piles of small pocket items, embroidery floss, and some cosmetics. I've heard it said that a messy desk is a sign of creativity...but this is a bit over the top.

The Latest Project

What do you think it is?

Hmmm?

Okay, maybe this one gives it away...I've taken up bookbinding!

(Quick backstory here: my brother had a friend from college who made a sketchbook for my brother's fiance, and to be quite honest it wasn't that good. Each section of pages (or signature) was like 20 pages messily folded in half, nothing was glued, etc. I'm not saying mine is fantastic or anything, but seeing that made me think 'well, I could do better than that' so this is my shot at it. *takes a breath* No offense if that friend reads this blog. I know he doesn't, though, so I should be good.)

This is just printer paper, folded in half, torn, and folded in half again to form a quarter-page-sized booklet. Each signature is 4 pages, and I think there's 8 signatures. The thread is normal polyester, two pieces folded in half so there's 4 threads total. I just used Elmer's glue for the binding because I don't have any other glue on hand. 

See the glue on the edge there? That turned out to be a mistake--it dried into a hard edge, and now the spine is wonky. But I think I know how to avoid that next time.

The cover is some scrap fabric over cardboard (the back of an old sketchbook, actually), all glued again with Elmer's. It seeped rather badly through the fabric, so I'll have to figure out a less messy way for the next time. 

I have a TON of old sheet music for craft use lying about, so one sheet became the endpapers.

And the inside is just printer paper. I think next time I'd like to use watercolor paper, or something of a similar heavier stock. 

On a side note, this entire project (including tearing and folding the paper) probably took me around an hour. The use of a hair dryer to speed up the glue drying helped immensely, but it wasn't NEARLY as hard as I thought it would be. I watched the original Planet of the Apes while assembling the pages (and tried very hard not to be shocked by the '70s--they had a fascination with butts back then. I saw more of Charleton Heston's backside within an hour and a half than I ever desired to see in my entire lifetime. *shudders*), and the cover took maybe half an hour to put together. 

You know what this means, right?

MOAR BOOKBINDING (and less Planet of the Apes)

On a random note, church was canceled yesterday due to an ice storm. Hence, no notes from the study. But fear not, we will be up and running by next Sunday, provided there are no more ice storms. 

On another random note, I'm still waiting to hear back from this one dude ranch in Colorado. *bites nails* All the people they called have told me that it's almost a certainty that I'll get the job...BUT THE SUSPENSE. *flails*

Six Boxes and Two Bits

Remember these boxes from a while ago?

Well. The other day I was talking to Dad, and mentioned that I wanted to hang these up on my wall. He said that he had New Year's day off, and that he could help me hang them up.

Bright and early this New Year's morning, that's exactly what we did. :D

So basically, I drilled the holes in the boxes (most of them, anyway), Dad made the boxes level and attached them to the walls. My walls are plaster and lathe as opposed to drywall, so that made them easier to drill in. Or something. I am woefully un-knowledgeable about building and attaching things. 

We staggered the boxes and left 6" between them so the explosives labels can still be seen. 

Sorry for the funny angles, by the way...my room is shaped like a fat L, and the shelves are in a cubby-like area with three walls and if I stand with my back to the other wall, you can't see all the shelves in one picture. Sigh.

(Yeah, that's my Manvotional book from the Art of Manliness website sitting next to my Hornblower collection. Deal with it. XD)

And the finished product!

All of my large/extra long books are on one of the little bookshelves on the floor, and the upper shelf can hold some more should I need the space. Grammie sent a TON of old books over in a box that I need to go through and decide what to keep...plus I have some classics in the living room. I'm a little afraid to pile the books on too heavily, but for now it looks great and has no sign of giving way.

Now I just hope that I don't move in the near future, because I wouldn't want to have to take these down and re-attach them to a wall somewhere else. Just sayin'. XD

I have two boxes left, and one of them was a lid of some sort because it has the 'Atlas Powder Co.' on the back (top?) and says 'This Side Up'. I think it would look really cool as a little table top or something. But that's another project for another day.

Oh! The title means that we went through two bits drilling holes. They were literally smoking towards the end and the smaller one was pretty well shot. But it worked!

A Medical Find

A medical book find, that is.

But first, the latest owl image!

Good thing I have a really nice lens, because this was at least a few hundred feet away and the moment I took two steps in his direction he took off again. Sigh. 

He was fluffing himself right there -- owls are so adorable. (As long as you don't look at their fearsome talons.)

But on to the book! 

Today Mom and I were setting up Grammie's Christmas tree, and after it was all decorated and pretty-looking I started digging at a stack of old books on the heater next to the wall. One was filled with home kits and stuff from the early 1900s (that was cool in itself), and the other was this massive tome called 'Medicology'.

It's 10 books in one, and freakishly huge -- I'd hazard a guess at the thickness being at LEAST 6 inches. And it's filled with quaint words and phrasings, medical terminologies, house building (!), sanitation, herbal/natural remedies (which include belladonna, hemlock, and nightshade in small doses so take it with a grain of salt--not literally, of course), marriage guidelines, exercise, EVERYTHING. It's weirdly thorough, and used to belong to my great-grandma (my grandpa's mom, I think). Apparently she relied on it all the time for the kid's ailments and such.

I love old books like these. They're so serious and quaint and fantastic.

Oh! Storytime! I was innocently flipping through and came across a series of plates with bodybuilders! Totally not what I was expecting. All I gotta say is that the guys back then took their exercise quite seriously. Man.

Lovely illustrations of arteries and muscles and veins and nerves...I'd rather read this book than my modern medical dictionary. That thing has pictures of freaky afflictions on every other page. I can't read it without bracing a little beforehand.

Oh! Before I continue: the next bit is the very first page I flipped to when I picked the book up for the first time. It cracked me up.

I mean--this--where do I even begin?? And then it goes off on a tangent about the terrible state of privies and 'closets' and the reason women are constipated is because of the deplorable state of said privies.

Maybe I just have a weird sense of humor...but I find this freaking hilarious. It kinda set the pace for the rest of the book for me.

I'm going to enjoy reading the rest of this book, that's all there is to it.

Some more projects

I think I mentioned in passing the other day something about some other projects I've been working on...well, new pictures haven't been taken but that's okay. You can still see what they are without a total visual revamp.

Last weekend there was a city-wide garage sale (so I heard, anyway, but I only saw 2 in my ride around town), so I stopped and grabbed this dress that caught my eye. It's simultaneously huge and, while technically not hideous, it's not flattering at all on me. (Hence no pictures of THAT.)

 (This is the front.)

The woman I bought it from says she used it for an angel costume. I just thought it looked interesting and repurpose-worthy.

There's crocheted stuff all around the bottom of the skirt, along with around the sleeves. I'll figure out a way to incorporate it somehow.

The back has this long train with a faux bustle-type thingy--interesting insofar as figuring out how bustles are made, but thoroughly unflattering when actually worn. 

Thus far I've dismantled the entire thing--the skirt was so long that I was able to separate it into two sections horizontally, and the bottom section is so large that I can wrap it, doubled, around myself twice. I have plans for some bloomers...a slip/shift...something along those lines. 

The bodice had a green velvet lace-up thing on the inside, but it was unsalvageable. The outside of the bodice could be worn backwards like a cropped vest, as long as one doesn't mind having a forest of lace ruffles on the back. And the sleeves might be able to be reused...I don't know. So far, I plan on using every bit in one way or another whether it be in clothing or even quilting fabric. This stuff seems pretty versatile (it's made from a heavy cotton overlayed with lots and LOTS of lace).

It's currently lying in a heap on the edge of the piano. But it WILL be used.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

And the other project! I've wanted to make one of these forever, but preferred teetering on the edge instead of plunging forth and DOING it. (Partially because I didn't have a suitable book.) But now it's done (mostly), and here are the fruits of my labor.

It just looks like a normal book, right? Well, that's the idea anyway.

Ta-da! It's a book safe! Originally it was going to be a normal rectangular hole, but while planning out the dimensions of the inside I remembered that I didn't have a place to put my iPod (I'm forever putting it down and forgetting what I did with it). So here's the solution.

Am I the only one who cracks up at the 'Best of luck, old boy!' quote in the middle?

The little half-moon thing is a finger hole so I can pull it out without turning the entire thing over. The circular hole is for a magnet (I have one, but am not sure how to insert it). And the rectangle at the bottom is for cords and a pair of earbuds (if my pair ever shows up again).

I used the tutorial over at the Art of Manliness website (minus the green felt) with some inspiration from various tutorials on Instructables and looking at pictures of other people's book safes.

I used the book 'Memoirs of an Infantry Officer' because it's supremely dull and probably would have been donated if I hadn't saved it. It's a blah book but it makes a great safe. (I do love books. But boring ones have other uses besides being read.)

So there 'tis. That's what I've been up to, more or less, when not working etc. Here's to more creativity!

Reflections Upon The Chronicles of Narnia

(Spoilers and quotes abound within--if you haven't read the Narnian books and don't wish to have them spoiled for you, go no further.)

I was one of those kids who sort of grew up with the Narnia books (my older brothers loved them and we have a well-worn boxed set to prove it), but never actually read them until I was a pre-teen. Then I made the mistake of reading The Last Battle first (because it had the picture of a unicorn on the cover), and read the rest of the series out of order before coming to my senses and reading them from the beginning.

Since then--well over 10 years ago--I've read them several times from beginning to end. Each time I see something else or remember parts that I've forgotten about, and start wanting to use words like 'delicious' and 'beastly' and 'thrilling' more often and call people 'a brick'. (That's a good thing, apparently, to be a brick.) Recently I got an omnibus version of the series that's about the size of my omnibus of Lord of the Rings, and have been remembering why I love these books so much.