IATSE meets Stained Woods

Posted January 31, 2010 by Tina
Categories: stained woods
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My worlds are colliding.

I believe I’ve mentioned before that I’m a stagehand.  A sister in good standing in IATSE Local 618, Bloomington, IN.  That’s International Alliance for Theatrical Stage Employees.    One of my friends asked if it would be possible to get a Stained Woods version of our logo — or bug, as we call it.  It already looks like one of my star patterns, and thought I’d give it a try.  So, I spent an afternoon doing a quick mock-up, and trying a couple of new techniques.  Overall, I think it was a successful — even though a bit hurried, and therefore sloppier than I’d like — trial run.







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New camera lens

Posted January 10, 2010 by Tina
Categories: around Bloomington, photography
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It’s true, I’ve saved up my pennies and purchased a new lens for my camera.  I won’t bore you with the details, but will happily share pics from my first adventure out with it.  It just so happens that Bloomington — along with a big chunk of the country — is getting covered in snow.  This should be fun.

If you have any camera purchasing questions check out this guy:  Ken Rockwell.  He has yet to steer me wrong.  Thanks, Ken!

Christmas lights weathering the storm.

At Bryan Park

The children were all sledding.

The park was actually full of people.  All sledding — no sitting.

To be honest, it was very cold, and  I didn’t end up staying out very long.  I promise to take lots more in the future.

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Etsy shop

Posted December 17, 2009 by Tina
Categories: Uncategorized

I have an Etsy shop called stainedwoods!  I just got it up and running and doubt it’s finished.  I only have ornaments listed so far, but will include trivets, coasters and whatever else soon.

Check it out:

stained woods on Etsy

I’d love to hear some comments.  Tell me what you think!

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Craft show

Posted December 3, 2009 by Tina
Categories: stained woods
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Yes, it’s true.  I’ve been working on some things for an upcoming craft show.  Mostly jatoba ornaments and more of the “tag” style from last year.  I wish I had decided to do this show more than two weeks ago — I might not have felt quite so frantic this past week.  However, being the night before, I’m finally feeling as if I won’t need to be up all night finishing and tung-oiling.  I’ll also be taking some trivets and coaster sets that I’ve been meaning to put up on Etsy. Here’s what I’ve been working on:




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New supplies and new ornaments

Posted November 28, 2009 by Tina
Categories: stained woods
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That was unexpected

Posted September 29, 2009 by Tina
Categories: stained woods
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I know that all wood is not the same.  It doesn’t react the same way to stains or finishes, however, I didn’t expect this.

Wow. What do I do now?

Wow. What do I do now?

If you look at the last meme post, you can see that my two newest designs have a bit more color on them than in the above picture.  I applied a coat of tung oil to my squares of jatoba, and it darkened the wood enough to obscure my lighter shades of stain!  I’m not sure how to fix this.  I’m going to try to sand them down a bit and re-apply a different stain.  I’ve never tried to stain over tung oil, and am not convinced this will work.  Keep your fingers crossed for me!

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More Meme

Posted September 24, 2009 by Tina
Categories: stained woods
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I’ve, finally, started work on the last two items in my meme project.  Or should I say back to work on the meme?  One is the center from the blazing star pattern used on the drum, and the other is me playing with lines and the patterns they make.  Here’s a look at what I’ve been doing.

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Summer pics

Posted August 10, 2009 by Tina
Categories: around Bloomington, off topic, photography
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I’ve been outside, it being summer and all.  Just thought I’d share a few images I’ve stumbled across.

I"ve been trying to grown sunflowers for years, and finally managed to get a few.

I've been trying to grown sunflowers for years, and finally managed to get a few.

We chicken-sat for a friend this summer.

We chicken-sat for a friend.

Baby chicks are adorable!

Baby chicks are adorable!

Hoagy getting rained on. Maybe I should rig up an umbrella for him to hold?

Hoagy getting rained on. Maybe I should rig up an umbrella for him to hold?

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Masking madness

Posted July 20, 2009 by Tina
Categories: stained woods
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A friend turned me on to new masking tape ideas.  Car detailing masking tapes. They’re super skinny and very flexible.  I ordered a couple different kinds, and they arrived yesterday.  Since, I couldn’t wait to try them out, I used some on the meme project that I’m working on.

New tape!

New tape!

Oh, my goodness, I know, I’m excited about new tape. But, wouldn’t you be? Here’s the results of the first tape-trials:



New tape!
New tape!

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Meme and stencils

Posted July 11, 2009 by Tina
Categories: stained woods
Tags: , , , , ,

I’m back to staining wood!

I can’t tell you how happy this makes me.  Yes, vacation is fun, too, but this is a different sort of therapy.  I’d like to finish the meme project, and have three of the five started.

Meme starts

Meme start

I’m attempting a stencil of a 45 adapter.  I’m not sure how well it will work, but I have to try.  I traced an adapter onto a blank vinyl stencil page.  It’s plenty sticky, but I think the big problem will be how well I cut it out.

45 stencil attempt

45 stencil attempt

Well, any thoughts on how well this is working?  The center circle was not pretty, so I left it to do by hand.

Masking fun

Masking fun

As I removed the masking from this one I realized that I had a nice image on the reverse of the tape.

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