Pebbles on the Edge

Pebbles on the Edge
Lake McDonald, 2014

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Making Little Surfboards

I've been perfecting my "shaping" technique when cutting out surfboards. I use a very sharp exacto knife and cut on the bevel, using quarter-inch thick pieces of rag foam-core and a template. Then they're sealed with medium and painted. If I seal the back first I get a nice curve reminiscent of a real sufrboard. Here are some examples:

 
The bottom and top of a new board.
 
 
 
Another view of five. These are the bottoms.
And the tops of the same five. 
 
 
Then there are six smaller ones I just finished, sort of...
tops
and bottoms.
 
 
These are fun and challenging to make. Someday, if I ever find a cheap real surfboard, or even recognizable bits of one, I'll paint on it. I have been searching...to no avail, of course.

I've also discovered that I can't upload images the old way--something about my new computer perhaps--so I have to put everything in HTML and post until I figure out what's wrong. Someone please tell me if you can see the images posted this way.

Summer's End, Work, and Dreaming



A great deal has happened since my last post, much of it trivial and silly--the normal every-day grind stuff of going back to work after a summer off. Here's a list then:
  • surfing (or watching it rather)
  • painting on little tiny surfboards, since I haven't found any real ones yet
  • getting ready to retire from teaching art--this is my last year
  • getting braces (no likey)
  • losing another tooth
  • entering a jewelry competition (I didn't get in)
  • getting a new computer
  • sending my sister my old one
  • planning an addition to the house: a 576 sq. ft. studio above the garage (still no viable bids)
  • planning a trip to Hawaii for spring break with my mom
  • finding the perfect jeans that fit (!!!woohoo!!!)
  • getting the perfect curtains to go on the clerestory windows: cotton voile
  • writing a story
  • studying Gaidhlig and trying out Level 4 at Slighe nan Gaidheal
  • getting through every day...
  • reinstalling my cool fonts onto my new computer (lost the Mason ones that I loved)
  • learning how to use this new interface
  • planning a birthday/retirement party on the Oregon coast
The list goes on, of course, but that's the way lists work. They never end.

some tiny surfboards (this is not all of them--I now have painted 24 of them, ranging from 8-10 inches)