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2001-09-06 - 1:18 p.m. Glowing Smileys and Hot Metal Christian is out to be Kymber's hero. I loved his Shakespeare rip-off of the Henry V opening scene lawyer soliloquy, cleverly rewritten using Salic law to prove 'Smiley Faces Don't Have Noses.' Props to the Christian. The Church canonized Thomas Aquinas for creative logic proofs, so keep up the good fight. I respect y'all's convictions, but I still stand for smiley faces with noses. I've always drawn mine that way. The rest of y'all sketch the happy yellow balloon guy anyway you want, but mine will be able to smell the sweetness of life. I have much smiley paraphernalia in my life, most of it a gift from my dear Jenny. My favorite remains the beach ball. Inflated, it's a screaming yellow happy face about twice the size of a basketball. Boy, can you make that thing glow. At Black Diamond's Assessment Battles many years ago - somewhere around '91? '92? Squire Roland was tasked to set up Syr Thorbrandr's tent. Eorann and Tbone planned to arrive very late, so they wanted it set up before they got there at 2 a.m. Roland got the tent up because he is wonderful. However, girlfriend Theodora did not want to stay up until 2 a.m. just to help Tbone find his tent, so, using the items at hand, the little engineering student crafted a solution. We took a small flashlight and duct-taped it to the bottom of the beach ball. [Why was the beach ball at an event? Well, there was a creek on the Assessment site�] This appartus was gently mounted on an empty tiki torch. Then, we duct taped the entire thing to the center dayshade pole of Tbone's tent, and� Flame on. The smiley face beach ball, glowing brighter than the moon, hung like a beacon above Tbone's nylon abode. It did a nice job of illuminating the entire area - a practical and whimsical solution - just like me. Theo got to go to bed with her warm boyfriend and Tbone had (trust me) no trouble finding his tent from anywhere in the camping area. The happy beach ball is mine, and it's staying mine. I fought a five year old girl at the beach to get it back from the little thief, so everybody else just back off. (grin) Then, there was Mr. Happy, the child's coatrack that lived in Mel's and mine college apartment. Being short on closet space, we wanted a free standing coat rack for the front door. I was sent looking for something cheap and practical. Well, I managed cheap, because, deep in the depths of Walmart, I found Mr. Happy. Standing about four feet tall assembled, it was topped with a happy face with a bright red nose and a simple black tapered hat. Eight hooks/arms, each with a cheerful red ball on the end, were available for hanging coats. I loved this thing for the sheer joy and amusement value, but it did have a couple issues. First, remember it was only four feet tall - not that practical for hanging adult coats, especially those of a 5'11" roommate, so we resorted to a piling system - precariously balancing the coats on Mr. Happy's hat. Poor Mel. Second, it always looked very happy to see you - which can only lead to unfortunate tendencies in a college apartment. One tipsy evening, a bunch of us sat on the apartment steps and made a list of the top ten things we like about Mr. Happy. The list, as you might imagine, began, (1) Eight appendages - no waiting. and went rapidly downhill from there. For the sake of our gentle readers, I'll omit the rest. Besides, I have only a vague idea where that list wound up and I'm not really willing to unearth it. Mr. Happy was exported to my honorary nephew Adam, son of my childhood friend and Smiley face foe, Jenny. He now leads a cleaner, purer, better life in a child's nursery. Last night was lovely. Kyneburh came over to teach casting to for the Shire of Roxbury Mill, so I made one of my favorite dinners - roast tenderloin with port wine sauce and porcini risotto. I make this roast (which is awesome all by itself) just so I can make the sauce. Yummmmm. Actually, Kyna was just an excuse to make a dinner I really wanted, but she didn't complain. Poor girl, didn't make it out of work until 5:30 and made it to my house by 6:45 - which is impressive given the distance and traffic at that hour. The Shire group had a great time. Kyna taught us about casting theory, talked for a little over an hour. As Kyna talked, Roland kept bringing up various things from the shop to show the class different equipment - it was like Christmas. I had no idea some of that stuff was in the basement. Wonder what else is in Roland's shop cabinet? Maybe he's hiding Jimmy Hoffa� After casting theory, we went downstairs and melted some metal for the lab portion of the class. We somehow picked an ivy leaf mold Kymber had made for the class practice runs. Just cause ivy leaves are on my device is a happy � coincidence. Kymber talking about casting is a riot - the shop horror stories she can tell. "It does get hot near the casting pots. Don't cast naked." Silence from the class - "Really, some gentleman in Calontir � well, tragedy, so the stories go. I'm not sure. I don't want to know - just don't cast naked." It was extremely educational. I learned things like: The best was to carve up those huge metal bars before melting is to give Ragnarr a hacksaw. No, his phone number is not in the handout. Hot brass can go almost through a human foot. (No that didn't happen to anyone in class.) The good news is the wound's cauterized� Soapstone carving is frustrating because soapstone is quarried from areas containing lots of iron (Can't get my chisel through this bit) and chalk (Dammit, the rock just crumbled.), and contains occlusions of both material. Wonderstone isn't as soft, so it takes longer to carve, but produces much more consistent results. Rent a movie and use wonderstone. Don't put butter on a burn, and other side notes on burn treatment - a fringe benefit of taking casting from a chirurgeon. Wear gloves - leather or welders are best - and get gloves that fit. One of the better options - the Pilot gas station near Richmond. Yes, Kevin, the Holy Pilot. Brass melts at about 3 times the temperature of pewter and can make Wonderstone molds explode from the temperature shock. Sanding casting much safer for brass. Those cute hatch marks on the back of the cast pieces are actually to let air escape as the metal fills the mold. Who knew molds needed vents? I renounce my random trivia powers - I want Duchess Catorina (Kitten) on my trivial pursuit team. Kitten knows the oddest stuff, from the chemical contents of superglue to how to do lost wax casting. I bet she knows where Jimmy Hoffa really is. People left 9ish or so, most with their own Wonderstone and projects in mind for our fall event. It was very nifty. I'm trying to resist carving a mold because I have to stay on track as autocrat, but they make such shiny things� Stay in the boat� I must finish my Viking apron before Coronation. � � Scribble to Theo previous - next �