bathing in sawdust

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This week, I had to get some paperwork in order, so I travelled home. I also visited my friend Rudi and his turning lathe, and we set out to make little pedestals for some of the tiny little succulents in my collection. They do not seem to get enough light sitting in their tiny pots with all the bigger plants being in the way. So I thought maybe making a few little stands might just be the thing.

The piece of wood in the top picture is the first thing I actually turned myself without help – I even made the (square) piece of wood round all by myself. It took a few hours, but I think in the end handling the tools was starting to feel alright. I didn’t even manage to poke out one of my eyes, and I still have the same number of fingers I started with! It’s a very successfull week, this week.

Considering there was no weather today, spending the day bathing in sawdust in someone’s windowless basement was probably a good choice. And my plants now (almost) have something to sit on to get them closer to the sun. If I get around to painting the pieces and the sun decides to come out again at some point, that is.

Anyways. After I spent forever to make 3 wooden things, Rudi made one as well. Surprisingly, it did not take forever. And because one cannot possibly turn wood and take pictures at the same time, I documented how he made his piece:

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I contributed by drawing the sketch and being annoying.

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We also found an ugly little wood worm. Poor thing used to live in one of the logs that we were working on, so it had to go.

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