Fence Replacement

After 20+ years, the fence behind our garage had finally rotted beyond redemption:

It was a difficult fence to fit at the time, as there is a large drop and nothing to fix it to. This is the back of our garage with the old fence removed:

It was an ideal opportunity to clear the vegetation and muck that had built up in the gutters.

I’d already assembled a framework to hold the fence panels, and the first job was to fix this to posts at each end and brace it against the garage:

Once this was done, the easy part was fitting the panels themselves:

Hopefully this fence will last my lifetime – or if not, the frame will last – the panels are easy to replace!


 

 

Progress on the fifteenth century costume

After a couple of iterations and some advice from fellow dancer Sharon, my headdress is more or less finished.  I’m practising my aloof expression…

I have done all the machine stitching on the chemise and sleeves; just the visible bits left to hand sew.

Next job will be an overdress, but even if that doesn’t get finished, I will have a working costume for the Early Dance Festival.

15th Century costume: sleeves

While she was in Orpington, Lucy helped me to create a pattern for a sleeve for my kirtle.  To be honest, she did most of the work. I just stood getting measured and giving advice.

Now I have cut out sleeves from the kirtle fabric and white cotton for the lining.  In those days, sleeves weren’t sewn in, but attached by pins or ties, so you could wear different ones with the same garment.

The cream fabric is a bit of curtain I bought in a charity shop.  I plan to use it for a giornea (a sort of over-dress), another pair of sleeves and a headdress.

Sheet Wood Carrier

When starting a wood-working project, I’ve often struggled to move 8’x4′ (2440mm x 1220mm) sheets of wood from the front garden into the garage. Over the years, I’ve tried various things with mixed success.

So I re-purposed some wheels from a dead compost shredder:

They’re bolted onto a steel frame along with an aluminium carrier for the wood. This fits under one end of the sheet, allowing me to move the sheet from the other end without lifting it:

Regency turban really under way now!

So, having bought a wig stand and a stretchy turban as a basis…

 

The next step was to drape fabric around it.  This is left over from the Regency dress, so it’ll match.

Draping front

Draping back

Now to begin stitching it all together (and hopefully not to the stand).  I also found a little collection of sparkly bits which might work as decorations.

A long term project completed!

Some years ago, I began crocheting squares from some cotton yarn from my stash.  Squares are good to take on holiday, as they are small and you can just take a few at a time, but it also means the project progresses slowly… Anyway, I was getting near the end of the cotton, so it was time to decide what to make from the finished squares.

First, they had to be blocked, then pressed. 

I ended up with 33, just the number for a shrug pattern I found.  The photo below was taken on the bed while I was away in Cambridge – the whole project was still small enough to take in my rucksack!

The assembled shrug had to be blocked again after I had crocheted the squares together.

Here it is being worn as a shrug:

But the sleeves have buttons, so you can also wear it as a shawl…

…or a scarf!

Very adaptable!  But do I store it with the wraps, the shrugs or the scarves??

Garden Sprayer

I’ve been using a modified Hozelock garden fan sprayer to water the garden from our ‘well’ for years – this works well to deliver a large volume of fairly low pressure water.

It’s been gradually falling apart for a while, and finally broke at the connector end. I’ve since patched it up, but it’s only a matter of time before it breaks again.

Unfortunately, fan sprayers of this type do not seem to be made any more, so yet again, I fired up the 3D design software and designed a replacement. The first attempt had a number of problems, but the 2nd version works really well:

The inlet end is threaded to accept the existing connector and sealing washer. And if this one should break, it’s just a case of printing another one!

Playing with our new toy

This week we had the second attempt at proving the pizza bases in the new proving oven:

It starts off quite flat, which is handy for storage.

The lid lifts up, then off, then the inside unfolds so you get a box.

It takes less than five minutes to get to 40°, during which time I make the pizza bases.

Next, the frame which Phil designed and 3D printed is unfolded, and the pizza bases stacked in it.  We had to buy new trays because the old ones were too big!


Finally, the whole lot is lifted into the oven. I must say the contraption is much more stable than I feared.  It’ll be interesting to see what it’s like with four pizzas!