My Big Mouth

I have a friend who is getting married soon. She has limited time and limited budget, and I heard this and offered to help by doing wedding flowers. First of all, though I have *helped* with 2 weddings and a "wedding" film, I do not exactly know enough to offer to do someone's wedding flowers.

I am really scared. I don't want to mess up her wedding, I don't want to hand over dying and wilted flowers on her special day. Why don't I keep my mouth shut?! I lament all the time that I have no time and yet I offer to help.

She's a very sweet lady, and I wanted to help because she seemed so stressed and sad. I think I can handle most of it, bouquets, boutonnières, corsages, minor arrangements, but there are things that scare me like huge arrangements, how to dress a large space, where to get a runner, etc. ?!?! And I'm afraid of this responsibility because I really don't want to ruin this day for her.

Top it off with the fact that I've got to attend a shower for a different couple the day before. Very stressful. I don't know how I'm going to survive that weekend.

Stain...ing

This is a longer process than I had initially anticipated. It's not the staining that takes a long time, it's the sealing. Progress has been made, it's just the slow-ish kind of progress.

Anyhoo, pictures may be forthcoming eventually.

Sanded

JB and I sanded this weekend. We sanded the entire mule chest as follows:

Thoroughly sanded wood with 220 grit sandpaper.
Wiped wood down with a wet rag.
Wood dried feeling "furry."
Wiped steel wool over the wood to catch and rip off tiny wood fibers.
Vacuumed up steel wool shavings.
Thoroughly sanded wood with 220 grit sandpaper.
Wiped wood down with a wet rag.
Wood dried feeling significantly less "furry" - but still furry.
Wiped steel wool over the wood to catch and rip off tiny wood fibers.
Vacuumed up steel wool shavings.
Sanded wood with 320 grit sandpaper.
Sanded wood with 600 grit sandpaper.
Vacuumed up sawdust.
Ran a tack-cloth (very sticky cheese-cloth) over all surfaces to remove any sawdust that didn't get vacuumed up.

It took half of Saturday and most of Sunday to do this, but now the mule chest feels almost like glass.

Next weekend... staining.

Friday (Again)

I don't know about the rest of you, but this week was truly, truly hard. I got a lot of stuff done, but I am glad that Friday has finally decided to grace us with it's presence. Eeeeeeeee.

Friday

Happy Friday.

JB's dad brought down the Mule Chest he has spent the last 15 months working on. It's beautiful.

DB (JB'S dad) doesn't believe in staining wood, he thinks the wood should be finished/sealed in such a way that the natural luster of the wood comes out. I can totally see this point of view, and if you've been to our place and seen our Coffee Table, Sofa Table or End Tables you can see examples of this philosophy at work: they are also beautiful. (I especially love how DB finds interesting knots to incorporate in the pieces. It's the "flaws" in a piece of wood that really give it character, and DB's got a great eye for character.) However, JB and I thought we'd like a different look for our bedroom.

So: we are going to finish it. By "finish" I mean we are going to do the final levels of sanding and then we're going to stain it. No pressure. It only took DB a little over a year to construct it. Meticulously crafting each drawer. Hand chiseling the mortis-and-tenon joints. Measuring and adjusting to achieve a perfectly balanced piece of heirloom-quality furniture.

But I'm not worried that we're going to mess anything up by covering the whole thing with a product meant to permanently alter a wooden surface. Is it a little hot in here?