Tuesday 30 June 2015

Enjoy Your Cat Videos

I find I get disappointed when I do something and no one notices. It kind of makes you wonder if at certain times you become invisible to all those around you. It is possible I suppose, but probably unlikely.

I suspect it is just that I don’t get the reaction I am hoping for. For instance, when I “share” a joke or video on facebook I am just amazed when others don’t re-share it or even “like” it. I understand that not everyone has my rarefied sense of humour, but those who choose to be my friends should at least find it mildly amusing. Why can’t everyone be perfect just like me?

Yesterday I found a youtube video that showed how to make a bent wood ring and I thought I would give it a go. Most of the time these videos underplay the complexity of the project and what I end up with is more often than not, nothing like what is in the video. I’m okay with that because I assume that the person doing the video has years of expertise and certain basic skills developed over a lifetime that I may or may not have. They assume a level of skill that I don’t have and probably will never have because I am just not that interested.


I guess I had the basic skills and enough interest that I was able to more or less duplicate the rings made in the video. Yea me! I haven’t taken the rings to the finished level of the video, but that is because I lack the interest in finishing once I have constructed the item. Not the guy in the videos fault. I think the rings (I made two) turned out pretty good for a first attempt and I am considering making more with different woods and using wood dyes to get some interesting effects. It is an easy project that you can finish in a short period of time once you have the wood bent.
 
I don’t know what I expected when posting a photo of the rings on facebook. There were some polite, half hearted comments, but… I thought I would have gotten comments about where the video is, or what kind of wood, was it hard or why do you waste your time on crap like that. I thought that is what I would answer. I didn’t expect anyone to ask if I could make a ring for them because I wouldn’t, but it would have vindicated that the rings are pretty cool.

I am going to believe the reason there are few comments is because most of my facebook friends don’t appreciate the beauty of the technique. It isn’t just drilled or turned on a lathe because the ring would have flaws and quite probably break shortly after wearing a couple of times. The wood was heated and bent, just like snowshoe frames are and rolled and glued around a last that I turned on the lathe to match my ring size. Then there was the sanding of course, to bring it to the correct width and get it smooth enough and shiny enough to look good. The ring is very strong and if you don’t put too much pressure on it (I did) it won’t crack.

Well, it was fun to make anyways and I have learned to live with disappointment.


Enjoy your cat videos.

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