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A New Tracker, Part 3

19 Apr

Recently, I had to replace my activity wearable, the Xiaomi Mi Band2 with a new unit of the same model. The OLED of the old one has been very dim and I can hardly see what is showing on the screen especially under bright conditions, whether indoors or outdoors. Plus there was a couple of occasions the reading went haywire.

I guess it’s time to change. After all, I have had the old unit since Aug 2016 and the lifespan is almost up. The new unit came last Friday, courtesy of online shopping. I love online shopping!

When I put both side by side to compare, the difference is pretty obvious in its brightness. Well, goodbye old Mi Band2, you have served me well but now you need to be retired; and hello new Mi Band2, you are the way to go to continue tracking my activities, strides taken, calories burnt and all.

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The old and the new

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Biggest Challenge Ahead

17 Apr

Last week, I took a big plunge and attempted my biggest piece ever! All these while, the biggest I have done are four-inch tall carvings, Halloween Owl, Dinky and the first giant Gnome, from ready sizes of the basswood.

Now this chunk is two pieces of Meranti glued together to become a towering 7.5 inch block. An ugly block to begin with but it’s not stopping me, even with the outline drawn and redrawn for a better proportion.

Within three days, I managed to complete the piece and the biggest Gnome ever in Gnomie-wood was ‘born’. It’s seven inches tall after sanding down and towers over the rest. It’s just simply adorable. Love it.

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And So It Continues

16 Apr

Three weeks ago (before the laparoscopic surgery) on a hot Sunday morning, the carving began. This latest Monument is different from the earlier pieces in many ways, the most obvious being the choice of wood – Meranti versus balsa. Then it’s the characters on the totem pole.

Previous pieces have different species of Citizens stacked up. This piece has only one species, looking the same yet different in their expressions. And it wasn’t easy to execute because being a denser wood, it was quite a challenge to shape the smaller area of curves and crevices. Definitely different from shaping a single big Citizen.

Patience is the key I guess. And at the height of this excitement, I overlooked having a platform like the others for this new piece. Oh well. Every piece is unique in its own way.

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A New Test Piece

12 Apr

When I was recuperating at home last week, the itch to carve got the better of me. As I couldn’t push myself to read and painting up the little Citizens and Baby Whale was very quick, I started carving on Friday when I felt I was strong enough to handle my tools.

This piece is another test piece and took three days to complete. A little different from my other original pieces, this is a copied character. I borrowed M2’s plushie, Apeach, a Kakao Friends Muzi series character and thought that it would be a good challenge test piece.

I wanted to see if I can emulate an existing 3D character with my carving ability. From an initial 2D outline on the wood to carving the real thing into a shapely 3D character, it’s not as easy as I thought! A lot of visualising and planning despite having the plushie in front of me.

I take heart that I was able to shape the body and carve away as much wood as possible without breaking any limbs. Unlike Dinky the Dinosaur who had chopstick limbs added on, Apeach has its limbs intact. Although there were some kinks and unevenness, the wood filler was able to fix these.

I am pleased with my effort.

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Staying Home

9 Apr

For the first time in a very long time, I didn’t go into the office the whole of last week and just stayed home to recuperate. The laparoscopy was successful in diagnosing and resolving the Cyst, Endometriosis and Adhesions issues.

I must admit it was nice for a change to be home the first two days, doing nothing and enjoying the peace (official pet number one was very quiet), napping, resting and focusing on gaining my strength.

By the third day, I contemplated reading the Genghis Khan novel that’s been collecting dust but just can’t seem to push myself to do it. So I ended up painting some Citizens of Gigglesville and a new baby whale that were waiting to be completed. It was good quality me time.

I am back at work today.

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Battle of the Boxes

27 Mar

The one thing Hubby and I have been doing quite constantly is online shopping. Week in, week out, he’d buy something and I would too. Most of the time, he would buy air plants and I would buy things related to carving save for that one time, a toy for official pet number one and an accessory for M2.

I thought I topped it when my purchase of the workbench came in the biggest box ever. Until his purchase arrived a few days later.

An air-condition unit box. My… My… At 32” long, 18″ deep and a foot wide, what did he buy?

A staghorn fern! Gosh, I guess he won the battle of the boxes this time.

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Shaping Up

23 Mar

The carving experiments have taken shape and color! Citizen on a Tree is looking good despite the flat head. The flat head Gnome was painted much earlier and two nights ago, I finally painted up the Citizen.

These few days, carving has been slow because I had to work late, an unusual busy run which is good and I shouldn’t complain.

I hope this weekend, all the queued up pieces will take shape too. Can’t wait for the weekend.

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Hammer Time

20 Mar

Last week, I had a short respite in the middle of the busy work week and escaped to the mall for a nice lunch with hubby. And after the meal, we took the opportunity to scout the place for a little bit. I am not quite the shopaholic for clothes and beauty stuff but I love browsing through the handyman aisles at the hardware store.

And I had to buy a hammer to use with my big chisel set! With all that supply of Meranti wood, I felt it was necessary to have a hammer to add on to my tools. Whee….hammer time!

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A New Species

16 Mar

Suddenly, the balsa and the little Citizens of Gigglesville are forgotten with so much focus on the Meranti wood and Gnomes.

Feeling guilty, I decided to go back to the balsa. And you know what? I found myself unable to hold it properly. It’s so tiny! How did I ever managed to carve up a village of Citizens, Superheroes and all?

Working with the harder Meranti, my carving strength is so different. I had to reprogram myself to dealing with the soft balsa again. It wasn’t quick work as it used to be but I managed and after its completion, I jumped back to the Meranti.

Even though the big block is glued (two big pieces and two smaller pieces), it’s easier to shape and a new species came long. I think this has potential to be little Citizens. We shall see…

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Gnomes Alert, Part 2

15 Mar

There are now seven Gnomes, all in different heights and sizes, unlike the Citizens of Gigglesville where everyone is about the same size and height. To call the hamlet, “Gnomie-wood” is getting more and more appealing at this point.

The Gnomes currently ‘live’ in a tupperware (whereas the Citizens of Gigglesville live in trays). And with all their hats painted red, one evening I mistook them for being watermelons from the corner of my eyes. Just because we had watermelons a day before. Even M2 thought they were watermelons! Hahaha…

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Don’t they look like mouth-watering watermelons from this perspective?

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