A great selection of wood, glass, leather,papercraft,vintage & photography from some fabulous etsy shops. Happy Friday and have a great weekend
Showing posts with label wood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wood. Show all posts
Friday, March 7, 2014
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Elephants never forget.. This one did!
In 1986, Peter Davies was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from Louisiana State University .
On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed, so Peter approached it very carefully. He got down on one knee, inspected the elephants foot, and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it. As carefully and as gently as he could, Peter worked the wood out with his knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot.
The elephant turned to face the man and with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments. Peter stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned and walked away. Peter never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.
Twenty years later, Peter was walking through the Chicago Zoo with his teenaged son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Peter and his son Cameron were standing. The large bull elephant stared at Peter, lifted its front foot off the ground, then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man.
Remembering the encounter in 1986, Peter could not help wondering if this was the same elephant. Peter summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder. The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Peter legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.
Probably wasn't the same fucking elephant.
This is for everyone who sends me those heart-warming bullshit stories.
This got me, read it right to the end.........
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Still Recovering
Following day we did face painting always a winner. Stevie wanted to be a chocolate dog and Poppy wanted to be a black and yellow Zebra but with pink spots! who am I to argue and I am no artist but tried my best and Stevie 4, looked about 12 with his face painted and Poppy 2 looked about 8 I was more facinated by that than the finished result.
With several more hours left to entertain a trip to the park was needed and they did the usual stuff kids do at a park, at least I got a chance to sit down for a few minutes.
I decided not to take any pictures off them whilst they were eating their dinner
for more reaons than I could possibly list!
The following day we went off to a car boot sale and they managed to find a few goodies to take home with them, fishing nets, ( the fishing nets will be used for them to catch grasshoppers to feed their abandoned owl at home) a huge bag of mini men (mum will be so pleased ) a talking computer and a doll.
I am not a lover of MacDonalds but have to hand it to them when it comes to entertaining kids they win hands down, we passed a good 1.5 hours there and apart from Poppy getting stuck on the stairs and me having to crawl throught the tunnels to bring her out which was not easy and amused several people around us, always pleased to help!
So finally it was time to take them home but have to say they were great fun to have around, it's hard work and I had almost forgotton what it was like to have little ones around 24/24 but I tell you what I won't ever forget again.
Till the next time
Friday, June 11, 2010
Dear Sir, The Art of Writing is not Dead!
If you have not yet come across the shop of Designer Pens before then here is a chance to see not only Randy's beautiful handcrafted pens but to hear a little about where he lives and his love of working with wood and creating his hand crafted pens. Here are a few questions I asked Randy. And one lucky person will receive a fabulous handcrafted pen from Designer Pens shop value $30
Rules for this give away are at the end of this posting. Good luck.
"Lemon Lime European Style Pen" pictured above.
Rules for this give away are at the end of this posting. Good luck.
Why did you choose to make pens out of wood
I went to a woodworking show a few years back in Denver, and there and then I decided that I wanted to work and create with wood. So I set to work on clearing an area at the back of my garage, set up my workbench, arranged my tools and set to my first project which was a, yes you have guessed a pen!
I have always loved wood and here in Colorado springs we are surrounded by Silver Maples, Green ash, Siberian Elms, blue Spruce and white fir. I could go on to tell you about wood from around the world that I also use but I think it would be a very long story. I try to put as much detail as I can into my descriptions when listing pens in my shop of the particular woods I use, so if you would like to learn more just pop in and have read.
What is your favourite wood to work with
I don't think I really have a favourite wood as I love all types. But if I had to choose one it would be the Pink Ivory wood, which is a rare African wood used to make luxury products and grows predominately in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa. Pink Ivory is the royal tree of the Zulus and only the royal family were allowed to possess the wood. It has not only a beautiful colour but the grains creates what to me looks like waves.
How long on average does it take you to make a pen
This varies really depending on whether I am working with wood or acrylic the wooden ones can take approximately 1.5 hours and an acrylic could take 2 hours. I have never actually timed myself from start to finish as I seem to get totally absorbed in what I am doing and I never like to rush.
Do you think the art of handwriting is dying.
I believe that younger people write less and would say that the Internet is one off the main reasons for the decline, and email is easy and fast, and and easy option for people nowadays. But I believe handwriting will never truly die as we all have and need the ability to hand write, can you think of the last time that you cherished an email? To receive a hand written letter is still and always will be a thrill for me and I hopefully for many others, and so by continuing to make my pens I hope that I can encourage people to enjoy the art of handwriting, especially if they are using one of my pens :)
Randy in action
1. I would love you to follow my blog, this is not compulsory to do so, but would make me smile:)
2. I would love you to visit Randy's shop and heart your favourite item from his shop.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/designerpens
3. Leave your name and contact details on your post.
4. Tell me when was the last time you received a hand written letter. (No Fibbing)
5. Tell me when you last wrote a hand written letter. (Even if it was to the milkman)
6. Finally, good luck and hope the winner will use it often and cherish their hand made pen. Thank you so much Randy for your generosity and helping with keeping the art of writing alive.
7. Giveaway will close on the 14th July
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