This video shows the final assembled piece and the application of the pudding like paste wood filler.  It has taken a good deal of time, effort, and head scratching to get this baby down the birth canal, but it looks as though it has been worth while.  By all indications it is going to finish out to be a very cool piece and a Fine Idea.  As I said in the last blog, not every idea turns out to be a good one, but I do believe that the sooner we can accept that simple but so-true statement the less burdened we are with the worry of having what we think is a good idea turn out to be a bad idea.  It's a given...we will all have bad ideas from time to time.  Wow! how liberating.

So next time you have a great idea that turns out to be not so good or even bad, extend yourself some grace.  And when someone else you know has a similar experience, extend them some grace as well.  Perhaps this is one way we learn humility and compassion

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FineIdeas-GameOn-Part12.mp4 (32.63 MB)

It can seem that way sometimes when designing and making an art piece.  Will it all hold together? Will it look good? Will I like it? Will others like it?  As a fellow artist said to me at Christmas "I've come to learn over the years that not every idea is a good one!". That is rather comforting actually. Well, happily, I think that all of the details came together to make a good piece.

In this video you will see some final components completed. The drawers were a considerable challenge as there were no flat surfaces or square edges with which to clamp or make the dovetails.

It was a nice change working on the lathe making the shakers for the dice. The wood for them actually came from an discarded root burl that Susie and I found when looking at houses to fix up last year. It turns out to be Box Elder, weighing some 300 lbs but we managed to heave it into the trailer. I think it will be in our inventory for several years!

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FineIdeas-GameOn-Part11.mp4 (45.59 MB)