Did you miss me? I’ve been on Hibernation Mode since getting the last flutes out the door in December, surviving the Holidays, being stuck here due to snow, and general December-January ennui which is well described in this article: See https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2022-01-14/column-at-home-tests-are-great-mr-president-but-we-could-also-use-an-army-of-massage-therapists
The workshop was too cold during the snow. I could have heated it up with both space heaters, not to mention bundling up going but then its humidity would have been in the single digits. Not so good for the flutes that are in progress or my electric bill. It got to 33F (we have to keep it heated somewhat since the workshop is in my well house). Also, the tools are always cold and this isn’t so good for my hands.
Christmas was low key. In lieu of a tree, we trimmed a few eye-level branches off our Redwood Trees that needed to be trimmed for mowing and bound these together, and had to hang it from the ceiling beams. It sufficed.
Lately I’ve been spinning my wheels but finally found something to focus on in the long haul - playing my new guitar and studying all the great instructional videos on YouTube with Patreon PDF support/access by the great Djangologist and Guitar player Christiaan Hemert. But then I get overstimulated enough that I don’t sleep much. I’ve been up since 2:30. I am still adjusting the humidity controls on my cpap so I don't wake up at night sneezing or the next morning. So Saturday I was up at 4 listening to music in bed. Later I went out for a curbside pickup of groceries while sort of listening to Wait Wait. Got home, put away the groceries, sent an email off to a friend at CAS, then got lunch cooking, then watched TikTok and YouTube videos until it was cooked. Some of the TikToks are actually interesting - such as how the blue collar workers in China make everything for the world. Unfortunately I don’t know how to filter out some random content thus much of TikTok that one has to wade through unfortunately is young and horny boobage not to mention the occasional antivax Trumper or some other bullshit. TikTok has come a long way since I discovered it with the screaming ukulele player (Makeshift Macaroni) short, seen here as well on that better platform known as YouTube. This video Won the Intranets:
This weekend its been foggy. As in Condensed Pea Soup. I hate the fog. It makes me scream like Makeshift Macaroni.
About the only useful thing I did Saturday was set up the wildlife cam at a spot just above and to the left of my workshop door where a pair of cuddly bushtits have been sleeping at night since September. Birds don't produce urine. There is a flicker woodpecker who roosts above my office in the plate of the wall where the rafters attach. In the morning he is pecking the guano for a few hours, probably for the salt, calcium and phosphorus. But I suspect that he read online that urine will prevent COVID if you drink enough - so I have decided all of the flickers who like to pound holes in my roofing are antivax Trumpers - perhaps Thumpers. I tried to cook one once as an experiment, after it broke its neck on my stationary car, fleeing from a rival male. The meat was very tough to the point of inedibility and it was the leanest meat I have ever seen, probably from its guano-enriched diet. This could be the new weight loss craze. For aantivaxxers who drink their own urine.
I did manage to finish a batch of 8 Folk Flutes. It turns out I only needed 7. On its heels is another batch of 5, and some other flute orders that I took for cash flow, as well as some additional inventory. These met my requirements. I’ll be done with all of these in early February. Once I have these stocked read to sell, I’ll finally get going on these glass flutes and other projects. I am actually under no deadline for that project and want to wait until the warmer months of spring as the place in my workshop that I intend to use is unheated and uninsulated. In the meantime I have installed a Buy-it-Now button on my Folk Flute page to sell these. I could use the cash flow.
Yesterday my focus much improved, thanks to the guitar playing and other matters. Today will be interesting and fun. My friend Keith Gates and crew are coming over to take down the large wild cherry tree at the base of our driveway. Unfortunately it started leaning over more and more to the east and threatens to block us in. The base of this tree is around half a meter in diameter and we will be bucking anything greater than 20cm into 5’ logs. These will be later bandsawed into boards that will be then cut into 2-3 pieces and cured for 2-3 years. at that point these will be thickness sanded or planed and will be available for use for Mokuhanga, also known as Japanese Woodblock Printing. There is a similar species of wild cherry in Japan that was the traditional wood for this craft. We will also get a nice pile of fresh chips, some of which is derived from a large pile of trimmed or fallen branches and a few fallen trees.
It helps to be on the upswing of my cyclothymic cycle. This cycle is undergoing a change, thanks to some cognitive behavioral techniques, exercise, etc. not to mention removing stressor after stressor from my life. Its amplitude is decreasing and the time in between peaks is lengthening. Also, the middle of January is when I finally get over my winter break and so now I am lighting a bunch fires. I ordered pepper seeds (Carmen and Inferno Peppers), make a big braised Lamb stew, studied some music performed by Samson Schmitt (DJieske) using the Amazing Slow Downer, and playing along. I am now sketching some articles for my instrument making blog, if that happens. Am about to fire up the 3D printers, and maybe one of my smaller kilns to start playing with glass casting techniques, and am already about up to 30 bird species sited this year. When it gets sunny again I will dip down to Portland for some favorite charcuterie (Tails and Trotters) and the drive through trail at Ridgefield NWR.
Instrument making -wise this is the year in which I celebrate being in that business for 40 years in April I think. I started first by making tools for violin makers and that led to flute making in 1982. At 40 years and after over 5000 instruments its hard to be inspired, unless I get into something different such as this glass flute project. Bagpipes were always fun until sold (then the recipient commonly wants you to deal with all of the reed making and adjusting issues rather than learning to do it him/her/they self). Lately Bart Van Troyen who studied under Remy Dubois started posting technical data on the Musette Enthusiasts Facebook group with the idea that others could render their bagpipes on 3D printers. People are doing this all over now which means that I don’t have to do that! There is even one person doing this in Seattle. Musettes are being rediscovered thanks to the now widespread interest of the Scottish Smallpipes. The instruments are of the same cylindrical narrow bore with a flare at the end subgroup. See https://musettesociety.com Here is a Musette in D that I made about halfway through my career. Not shown is the bellows, and the alternate double barreled chanter stock with the 6 keyed auxiliary chanter. In Blackwood with artificial ivory (polyester resin).
Yesterday Bart started posting technical data on this strange musette at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. I last saw this instrument in 1989, a few years after they acquired it and always wanted to go back to measure this. Now I don’t have to which is a good thing as I may have burned my bridges there due to last fall’s scuffle with a former glass flute contact over vaccines, and his attitude that the rules, including visiting the collections, didn’t apply to him. The MetMus isn’t answering my hails. Fortunately I have no other compelling need to do research in that collection. So another task today is to gather some data for Bart, including data on a musette here on the Pacific Coast. This type of thing is what inspires me. Stay Safe everyone!