Kirbert's Tool Modifications....

Okay, I admit that I'm not a professional photographer - not even close, but I was trying to see if I could get a good photo that would show the differences between Kirbert's two very cool modifications of the Staedtler #1 V gouge in comparison to the original. So, here's my attempt.

The blade on the bottom is the standard #1 gouge from the factory. Notice how the front edge comes straight down to the cutting edge that is at the bottom of the V shape? Now, look at the middle tool.

The middle one is Kirbert's Reversed modification. He has taken that straight front edge and sloped it back from the cutting tip so that you can see exactly where you are cutting as you move the tool through your carving material. I find that this makes it easy to get really close to the lines I am trying to carve. The other great thing is that he has honed the edges, so that it cuts beautifully.

Okay, now for the top one. This is Kirbert's Miniaturized modification. He has ground down the whole blade so that the V is now shallower and then sharpened the cutting edge. I love this particular modification. It makes shallow, controlled cuts easy and the carving nerdles (you know, the shavings that you are cutting from the block?) seem to fall away from the carving tip more readily so that they don't block my view of - well - anything. The tiny tip makes tight curves a treat.

These are both fantastic improvements on an already marvelous tool. Other carvers who have had him modify their blades can chime in about how they would describe the qualities Kirbert has so masterfully given them.

And the extra good news? Kirbert got in touch with me, since so many people had been sending him tools to reshape, and offered to rework the tools for Stampeaz for a very reasonable fee plus postage both ways. I'm very excited about this, especially since he can take some of the not so excellent blades that slipped through the factory's quality control system and turn them into something superb.

Sunday Still Life...

I spent a good part of the day trying to reclaim part of my house! It has been thoroughly trashed by the construction process -- everything both upstairs and down has been coated with several kinds of dust. I vacuumed all the floors and wiped down the furniture I could reach (there's still a lot of stuff from the basement in piles upstairs, so I can't get to a lot of it). The dining room area windows were done, so that corner could be set up for use again. What a relief!



When I got it finished, I took a break to practice fiddle for the first time in a long time and while I was playing, a nice woman from church drove up with a beautiful bouquet. She told me that, since I had a birthday this past week, I was chosen to receive some of the altar flowers! What a nice treat! When I put the fiddle down and placed the flowers on the table, it looked so much like a perfect still life that I thought I should take a picture and share it!!

Turning over rocks....

While I'm turning over rocks to try and find a solution for the PZ Kut production problem, I thought I would entertain you about some other rolling stones... The chicken loves it when someone turns over a rock for her so that she can look for tasty morsels that might be hidden underneath. She makes the funniest happy little chirping noises while waiting for rocks to be moved.

Once the rock has been lifted, she gets right in there and looks for bugs and worms to eat, moving really fast so they don't get away. She doesn't miss much!

When she's found everything tasty there is to find (she doesn't like ants), she waits for the process to be repeated, chirruping and talking the whole time.

By Popular Request...

I bring you part one of the long awaited Chicken Update!

First, anyone who has ordered from me this month will recognize this face from the invoice stamp I'm currently using. I was really pleased with how the carving of this portrait came out. As you can tell from the chair rail in the background, she was being a very contented lap chicken -- she really loves to roost in a friendly lap.

Of course, she also tries to do her part in contributing her bit to the household. Here she is hard at work:

Cheeken has a lovely little roost out in a big outdoor cage, but she won't lay eggs out there. She prefers hiding in the dark under the desk in the dining room. I think she also likes to hear people milling around in the building, even though she likes her privacy curtain. She makes some pretty strange noises when she's trying to lay an egg. I wonder if it is uncomfortable, or if she's just giving herself a pep talk!

And isn't that something to be proud of? Don't you think she earned her tomatoes and pears (both particular favorites with her)?

I understand that she's slowing down on the eggs as she gets ready to molt again. Poor, scruffy chicken....

Houston, we have a problem...

There's currently a manufacturing problem at the PZ Kut works. I don't know when it will be resolved. What this means is that there will be no White PZ Kut until the difficulty is fixed. I'm trying not to panic, but my deep breathing looks a little like hyperventilation from time to time. This isn't aided by the fact that the basement area where Stampeaz lives is currently without walls, ceiling or lights -- timing is everything, right? (insert rueful chuckle)

I suppose that the good news is that since I don't have any PZ Kut to prepare, I can use that time to get my inventory fixed and write a chicken update. I think I'd rather have White PZ Kut than a silver lining right now, though.... (sigh)

It's That Time of Year Again!

I am about to head out on another grand mushroom hunting adventure with my family, as I do every year around this time (the first reports of mushrooms in our hunting grounds are starting to come in). This means that I will be closing Stampeaz.com for a couple weeks while I am gone. Orders received after 7:00pm Friday May 8th will not be processed until I return from vacation, which will be sometime the week of May 18th. I know it's inconvenient and I apologize in advance for that, but since Stampeaz is a small, one person operation, it's the only way I get to take a break from the daily routine. I will get orders out the door just as fast as I can, once I return.

I've also gotten my stash of clues ready, so I hope to do a little box hunting while I'm away, too. There are a couple pretty close to the cabins, so I should be able to take a side trip or two.

And, of course, I'll be seeing quite a bit of the chicken, so expect a good update when I get caught up with everything!! In the meantime, I will say that I have heard a good story to tide us all over. Recently, while she was out scratching around in the yard looking for tasty bugs and seeds and things, she fluffed up her feathers and chased a pair of wild turkey hens out of her territory. That's one feisty little chicken -- she must have been quite a sight!!

Visits and Gifts...

I'm so excited!! My sister is visiting (also helping me get more organized and catch up at stampeaz.com)! We took inventory today and the numbers in the online store now actually match what I have in stock. Inventory is much easier to take with two people than it is to do alone, so I really appreciated the help!

On the way south, she and her husband stopped by to visit my brother and sister-in-law (and Cheeken and Kizzie) and they were given a gift from Cheeken to bring along with them!! Cheeken has been laying an egg nearly every single day and they are very cute -- little, brown eggs with dark brown freckles on them!! There were a couple new daffodil blooms in the front yard, so I put the eggs into a basket and took a picture with them -- it seemed a fitting image for the changing seasons.


I got a note from my sister-in-law the other day -- Cheeken took her first bath since the warmer weather began to arrive. She likes dust baths, as you might remember from last May. Well, there isn't a lot of dust at this time of year, so she ended up taking a mud bath, instead. I'm given to understand that the feathers caked with heavy, black mud did not do positive things for the freshly cleaned house (nor did they do much for her freshly cleaned and newly bedded cage). Good thing she's such a charming chicken, huh?? Also, her new favorite food is canned pears - she seems to get intense cravings for specific foods when she's in egg production mode! One day she demands tomatoes and the next it's canned pears.