It’s a start

I actually sold a couple small boxes from my Etsy store yesterday. I think these are my first official sales. Yay me!

So today in the shop I was spinning some more of them. I haven’t had a lot of time there in the past few days, thanks to kid schedules.

This is what the stuff I was producing looked like:

Meanwhile, in the morning while I was doing mom stuff my father started making a couple beer mugs. By the time I got there, he was soldering on the handles:

Here’s what he had by the end of the day:

Aren’t they pretty? He spun them using several different chucks – far beyond where I am at. I can make some pretty things, but I have a way to go …

The apprentice’s apprentice

I cannot believe it has been so long since I updated the blog! I swear that I write it all the time in my head. Yes, I am aware that’s also known as talking to yourself …

So, what have I been up to? I made some more little boxes, but really must stop now. I need people to actually buy some before I make more. It is fun coming up with things to put on the lids, though.

It’s a pomegranate!

This is my younger daughter, who is 10. She loves the workshop and is quite desperate to learn how to pewter as well. Much of it is beyond her right now, but she loves to help as much as she can, so she worked with me on the little boxes.

Preparing lids for painting

She also likes to poke around. There is a lot to explore – drawers filled with stuff that my father has cast, or even that Doug cast, are a favorite. Half the time my father doesn’t even know what is in them.

She found dolphins that were originally Doug’s and loved them. She wanted to make something out of them as a birthday gift for a friend, so this is what we came up with. I buffed them and soldered them on to the piece of pewter for her. She planished the pewter first for ‘waves’, then painted it. She loved it so much that she then didn’t want to give it away. But she did. She will make herself one at some point.

Little Boxes*

After messing up a few bowls and baby mugs, my father and I decided I should try spinning some smaller items, so we switched to candle snuffers. You would be amazed at how many people actually use snuffers to put out their candles rather than just blowing them out.

My father spun one to demonstrate, then went off to garden, leaving me to my own devices. Then I spun one, and it worked! It looked just like his. I put it beside the first one and started a third. My dad wandered back in to check on my progress and looked at the two snuffers on the table.

“They are too flared,” he said.

“That one is yours,” I pointed out.

“Oh,” he said. “Well they’re okay then.”

These are the joys of hand-made. I made the rest less flared. Now, if you want a candle snuffer, you have a more options. Isn’t that thoughtful of us?

Spun snuffers waiting to have handles attached.

Having successfully spun something small, I then wanted to try to make little boxes. I am somewhat obsessed with little boxes. I made a medium small square one, then I made a tiny one, about the size of a matchbox. I love it. It is cute. I forgot to take a photo, though, so you’ll just have to trust me on that.

My father pointed out that the effort that goes into cute little square boxes makes them a bad choice, because I’d have to charge too much money to make them worth the time. But spinning round boxes is much easier, so that is what I set out to do. He gave me a wooden chuck that he uses to make something else, but would work for this with a smaller disc of metal. I spun five.

Waiting to be spun

The box is almost finished. I use a chisel to trim the edge before pressing the lip up against the chuck to finish it.

Some of them I left smooth, and some I planished (hammered). My spinning wasn’t perfect, and with some of the boxes there were small lines in the pewter or the sides weren’t quite straight. Those ones I planished, which removes the small defects.

Now, lids. Hinged lids are appealing, but again take more time. So I cut out two circles of metal for each lid; one slightly bigger than the dimensions of the box, and one slightly smaller. I then soldered them together, so when you put the lid on the box, the smaller disc inside holds the lid on.

Waiting to have the lids assembled.

I left some plain, but I experimented with decorating the lids of most of them. A while ago, I made a smaller tzedakah box, and painted the letters. I really liked that effect, so I wanted to see what I could do with the little boxes.

Small tzedakah box with painted letters

The heart shape is soldered on, waiting to be painted.

Finished

A lid for a planished box

I’d show you the others, but they were already gone before I remembered to take photos. My father is in the Red Trillium Studio Tour this weekend, so the boxes are already there. If you are looking for something fun to do this weekend in the Ottawa area, you could go on the tour and see my dad’s awesome stuff for yourself, and tell me if you like the boxes. Any interesting ideas for decorations on the top of the boxes are welcome too!

*How many of you now have Pete Seeger going through your head?