Woodworking: The Best Wood For Beginners
March 31, 2008
Woodworking: Know Your Wood
Wood is made of cellulose fibers, held together with a property called lignin, and is classified as hardwood or softwood, depending on the type of tree from which it comes. In addition, sapwood or new growth wood on a tree is still alive, while heartwood refers to the part of the tree that is no longer functioning. These two stages of wood also have different properties and uses. Knowing something about the different woods can help you determine which to use, how to work it, what problems to watch for, and how to care for the finished product.
There are hundreds of different types of trees and wood, with a wide range of colors, density, grain, figure, and other characteristics that affect its workability and application to different types of uses. The following is an alphabetical listing and description of some of the more popular woods used in woodworking. Types such as ebony and ironwood are not listed here, as they are not typically used in woodworking, at least not by beginners. The focus is on woods that work well and are common in woodworking.
Stitching Memories
March 30, 2008
Sometimes, usual photographs look so common and boring. Converting your pictures into charcoal or oil painting is a welcome change but then, a lot of people have been into these crafts already that there are times when these portraits too, look clichéd. There could also be a time that a charcoal or oil painting of your photo does not look exactly the same as your original photograph. I have been a witness to several charcoal portraiture failure. Have you ever had your portrait done in charcoal in which the result didn’t actually look like your image?
There’s a new option to the dilemmas of boring photographs and failed charcoal and oil (even water-color) paintings and that is the cross-stitch portrait. It is converting a favorite photograph into an elegant and artistic needlecraft. However high-tech the snapshot is, it will be captured exactly, even the tiniest detail, in a cross-stitch portrait.
Robert Burns Love Poem: A Red, Red Rose
March 30, 2008
Robert Burns, a poor man, an educated man, and a ladies’ man, is representative of Scotland, much like whisky, haggis, bagpipes, and kilts. He lived a life shortened by rheumatic heart disease, 1759-1796, but his life journey through poverty, informal education, disappointed love, nationalism, and literary and financial success can be identified by all Scots and common men the world over. He has become almost a national symbol of all things Scottish. His life is like a love story with a happy ending.
The Poet, Robert Burns
Robert Burns’s family raised seven children on sparse, rented farmland on the west coast of Scotland. The family cottage still stands as a proud tourist attraction. The family farm was not successful and the family moved from farm to farm. Life on the farm in western Scotland was harsh and Robert worked long hours with his father.
Burn’s father recognized the value of education and he managed to hire a local teacher to tutor Robert. He was an extremely bright student, mastering Shakespeare, current poets, French, Latin, philosophy, politics, geography, theology, and mathematics. His father read the Bible during the evenings around the cottage fireplace and Robert became an expert on the Bible and a devout Church member.
30th Birthday Gift Ideas
March 29, 2008
Choosing a birthday gift for a friend about to turn thirty years old can be a challenging task. You want to honor the special day with a unique gift, but not necessarily draw attention to their age. After all, thirty is the pivotal year of life when we transition from young adults to full-fledged grownups. Make your loved one feel their best on their big day by choosing a gift that focuses on the beginning of his or her life, not the number of years that have passed.
If you want to give a truly personal gift, you cannot go wrong with a birthstone– a gift idea that dates back to Biblical times. Birthstones and zodiac stones are great gifts that hold deep significance and will be treasured for years. When making your purchase, be sure to keep in mind the type and size of jewelry the person wears most often, as well as whether she prefers gold or silver. This way, you can embed her birthstone, for instance a pearl for a June birthday, in a setting that will be adored. Birthstones are also stunning when mounted in watches, brooches, and hairpins for those who rarely wear rings or necklaces. If you are shopping for a man, he may prefer a pocket watch or specialty ink pen imbedded with his birthstone to jewelry. Following, is a list of birthstones:
Woodworking Beginners: Secret Tips To Start Right
March 28, 2008
Woodworking: Where To Start - Tips From Experienced Woodworkers
Woodworking encompasses a broad area of skills, specialties, and applications. Some beginners take on too much too soon or blow their savings on expensive woodworking tools and machines that they don’t know how to use and might not ever need. And even some basic techniques can be confusing or easy to do incorrectly. Experienced woodworkers have some simple, but insightful tips to help you get off to a good start.
Do Your Research Initiative, courage, a sense of adventure, these are all good things, and many fine woodworkers learned their skills by just jumping in and trying to build something. Chances are whatever they chose for their first project, it came out better than they thought, but not really nice enough to use or display. Even those brave souls that start from scratch with no preparation often end up seeking out some books, magazines, or experienced woodworkers to figure out how to do it right.
Woodworking Beginners: Introduction To First Time Crafts
March 27, 2008
Woodworking: The Process Of Making Something Using Wood
The art of woodworking is one of the most ancient and widespread. From the earliest days when humans first experimented with the many uses for wood, our civilization has had a connection with this material, in all its varieties and forms. And the growth and advancement of mankind has been closely intertwined with our ability to improve our woodworking skills and to develop new uses for wood.
Primitive civilizations used wood as material for building shelters, tools, weapons, utensils, and other items necessary for survival. As time went on, they began to expand the use of wood to include the creation of creature comforts such as furniture and decorative items. They also built boats and rafts for exploration, travel and trade.
As skills and knowledge continued to develop, and woodworkers began to understand the wide variety of properties of woods from different tree sources, wood became one of the most widely used materials, found in nearly all areas of life, from home to work, production to pleasure. Those who had a talent for working wood became important artisans and craftsmen, and guilds and workshops were developed to help document and preserve the art, train apprentices, and represent the interests of those involved.
Thanksgiving Memories
March 26, 2008
Turkey … Stuffing … Cranberry Sauce … Pumpkin Pie
This is usually what comes to mind when we think of Thanksgiving. Granted the food is yummy and worth waiting for however, let’s not forget another import aspect of this holiday "Being With Family & Friends".
Family & Friends, they are what make this wonderful holiday so special, and help create those special memories.
Memories …. Everyone has them and each is precious. I love being with my husband and two beautiful daughters, but I think my favorite remembrances are from long ago.
"Nana’s House"
This of course was my beloved grandmother, who has been gone from us for many years, but will always be remembered with so much love.
Thanksgiving at her home was the best.
Our family is not very big but with the sisters, husbands and cousins it seemed like an army. My sister and I looked forward to spending the day with our cousins; we always had so much fun.
Of course the very best part of the day was when nana declared "Time To Eat". The first order of business was getting seated at the "kids" table. Nothing special, just a couple of card tables put together with a paper tablecloth -we were a bit messy - put over them.
How To Make A Time-Lapse Video With Your Digital Video Camera
March 25, 2008
Getting the most out of your digital video camera can mean being able to create some really cool stuff. You just have to step outside the manual a bit and find the cool things you can do with your digital video camera and your editing software.
We have all seen them in a movie or a TV show, those very cool shots where they speed up time and capture a long segment of time and condense it into a very short amount of video. My very favorite example of this technique was an arty movie of many years ago that was called Koyaanisqatsi. (view trailer) In that movie they had some very interesting segments where they did time lapse effects to show driving on a bridge, flowers growing, clouds flying by and so on. Another example is many of the TV news stations nowadays have a camera that captures the day’s weather and then they process it down to a 20 second clip to show the clouds and weather racing by on screen.
My Greatest Stamp Find
March 25, 2008
I have been involved with stamps nearly my entire life. My first collection was as a ten-year old boy collecting with my neighborhood buddies. By the time I was done with it, I had more than 3,000 stamps in my collection and sold it for the princely sum of 7.50 in 1958. I don’t remember what I did with the money. I think I treated my family to supper at the neighborhood burger joint.
I gave up on the hobby for about seven years and took it up again as an adult. Where before I collected anything I found, I started to look for stamps in better condition and in sets. The first such set I bought was from Vatican City for the 1962 Christmas celebration and paid all of 50c for it.
Though a mere trifle, it was the first knowledgable purchase and only the beginning of a career that would involve the expenditure of many thousands of dollars. Over the years I have bought many individual stamps and collections. The best buy I ever made turned a hundred and fifty dollars expenditure into a sixty-five hundred dollar sale.
Eight Poems
March 24, 2008
Out of the eight poems provided here [all previously unpublished], four are Poetic Prose, a few Visionary [what I call Vsionary anyhow], a few Free Verse, and a few with more form and structure, more closely to the Auden style of: stanza, metrical rhythm, and rhyme. In saying that, I do believe all the poems are conveying a rich network of meaning, some of them painfully close bond between pleasure and destruction. They should appeal to the senses and create images in our minds, for poetry is just that kind of language that most complexly and effectively qualifies.
Escape
Let me flee from My vision, my world My melancholia My subjectivity; My world which is Now a prison-.
I shall change My poetic harmony From flesh to spirit I shall be? a? I shall be a poem Yes, O yes a poem ?eternally!…
Moon-Path
As the fire goes out And the moon comes in! The flickering skies darken, Makes a ghostly moon-path?
With the moon upon my face A skull-like grin takes place I choke the roaring dark, To save the flickering moon-path.
Life on a Finger
