Cheesecloth Ghosties - You know, because Halloween is approaching.

A few Halloweens ago, I decided I wanted to try out those fancy cheesecloth ghosts I kept seeing during this time of year. I was also on a kick of only having homemade decorations, so these fit well in my grand scheme. 

Not ready to commit to anything overly large (we have to store these things somewhere), I grabbed some water balloons we had on hand and readied them as a form on which to drape the cheesecloth.

Don't worry, Will. This cup is often used as a drinking vessel, too. The balloon just fit so nicely on its smooth rim.

I think most of these crafts recommend liquid starch, but I had nothing on hand and opted for regular Elmer's glue. It took a while for the cloth to dry and wasn't really giving me the stiffness for which I was hoping.

We just so happened to be working on the Cozy this day, so I took my forms out to the garage and used up the leftover resin. The resin worked wonders and allows me to not have to be extra gentle when packing them away for the year.

You Wanna Map? You Gotta Map!

At an undisclosed time ago, I purchased a rather large map of the United States as a Christmas gift for Ced. The idea behind owning a large map of the U.S. was to map out trips we'd take in our homebuilt airplane (this was before the Cozy came into the picture), mark locations we'd visit, and generally have a visual reference for places we plan to go. When it arrived, (we were still apartment-living) I attempted tacking it up on the wall with thumbtacks, but the darn thing was so large and awkward, I gave up for fear of kinking the laminate printout. Besides, poking a zillions holes in the wall to hold it up did not sound so appealing, especially when we'd have to take it down shortly to move.

So, it sat rolled up until we moved into the house. Then it sat rolled up in a corner of the house until we figured out which room it should go in. Finally, the office was the winning location, but just tacking it to the wall wouldn't work anymore. (We've been attempting to move beyond thumbtacking posters to the wall and actually preparing wall hangings with a more "polished" approach.)

After measuring and remeasuring, I went out into the single bay where we keep excess supplies. Ced had purchased some material a while ago to surface his workbench/CNC table. This bit of leftover material fit the bill and, after clearing that it wasn't reserved for another use, was cut down to fit the selected wall.

A trip to the local Home Depot was necessary to pick up a gallon of glue and a spreader. We both had a little bit of experience pushing around goop (a.k.a. tile/floor adhesive, grout, resin, whatever), so we "prepped" the area, let some glue glug out, and got to work coating the surface of the stiff material in the adhesive.

I had purchased a roll of corkboard online in preparation for this project. We rolled it onto the tacky surface, then found as many heavy objects as we could to weight down the corkboard to ensure a good adhesion to the porous material below. (We had just gotten in a large shipment of clay and sand (a tale for another time), which helped provide quite a bit of weight.)

We let the glue dry for a week or so before removing the weight and trimming the corkboard. After that, it was a matter of measuring, drilling, and mounting the sheet to the desired wall.

Once up, out came the map and we were finally able to display it.

Now, all we need are some straight pins, some travel plans, and time to finish our airplane!

Plans Diverted

We did have plans. 

We were in for a few days packed with visiting, good food, and, possibly, a little relaxation. We checked the news and scoffed at the weatherman's predictions. He's been making promises lately that he just can't keep. So we prepped and packed, unsuspecting and unaware. We woke at 3:00 a.m. to road closures and a winter white world.   

I love snow. But on days where we have schedules to keep, schedules we've planned and booked months in advance, I'm not a huge fan.

Regardless of my feelings about snow, the weather happened and our plans had to be diverted.



We canceled and postponed and fretted.

After the decisions were made, we tried to make the best of the situation.

Wing Drilling

Yesterday, Ced and I moved the wings inside in order to drill them full of properly aligned holes.

Looking at these large structures helps put in perspective all the steps it took to get to this stage. It also helps put in perspective the lack of attention I've given to properly updating our progress. Ack!