January 31, 2016January 31, 2016 by kritterspaw

Let there be flowers

Projects, Uncategorized
art, bloom, flowers, light, metal, mood lights, new mexico, night, night lights, pizza, pizza oven, ruidoso, winter
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So if you’ve followed this blog you might have noticed that we take on some fairly oddball and eclectic projects. It’s not because we lie awake at night and try to think of these ‘interesting’ projects. We actually see a need… and just aren’t scared of the work or the ‘we’ve never done that before’ or ‘we don’t know how’, or ‘we don’t have the skillset’ (my personal favorite). Those phrases we hear from other people, just aren’t in our vocabulary. Many of our projects, believe it or not, come about because we come up with some good idea… but we can’t buy ‘it‘ or it is too expensive to buy.

Take our concrete table for instance. Who builds their own concrete table? We didn’t set out to build our own concrete table… but we were just too cheap to pay the 4 figures for a seemingly simple concrete table. We asked instead… ‘how hard could it be’? Well… we found out!

But I digress… We are still working on the project that just keeps giving… our pizza oven. Somehow it’s hard to work outside when the ground is covered with ice and snow. But we are determined to find an end to this project so that we can move on to something else. So we put in the wiring and the lights.

oven lightsi.JPG

We put lights under the eaves of the pizza oven roof, aiming down at the granite counter top. We also hung mood lights in the trees. We draped them across the drive way, drawing the eye to the pizza oven itself. To do so, we erected a tall 12′ post to swag the lights between. We found the tall silver post, at least during the daylight, to be a bit of an eyesore.

At night, you can’t really see the post, and the lights look good.

So we decided that the silver post needed something to distract from it. Maybe it’s being in the middle of winter with snow all around, and more expected. Maybe it’s our unconscious desire for the onslaught of Spring. Wellll…..

When we were in New Mexico in November 2015 (just a couple months ago), we went to Ruidoso as recommended by our friend Gary. We purchased a ‘bushel’ of metal flowers and brought it home, not knowing exactly what to do with it. It has sat in our basement ever since. That is until we were looking for something to distract from that silver post. So we cut the base off and the flowers apart and re-purposed them… trimming them and cutting them back, flattening their ends, and drilling holes in them. We painted the post and mounted the flowers, carefully arranged, like a vertical flower arrangement. Let there be color in the middle of our winter. No more eye sore of a silver post… Let there be flowers.

post beforei.JPG Post before

new posti.JPG New painted post with flowers

Flowers

flowers closi.JPG Flowers close

Much better!

And people ask us what we do in retirement.

Nutin’ . Sit around and drink coffee all day. 🙂

December 17, 2015December 17, 2015 by kritterspaw

Pizza Oven Final

Projects
custom, diy, finale, gas oven, kritter, kritterspaw, ledge stone, pizza oven, wood fired oven
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Finally, you get to see the finale of the Pizza Oven. It’s been a long hard 6 months of labor… and while it’s still not quite done, here is the final installment of our efforts.

Pizza Oven Final

We still have yet to complete the lower ‘cabinet’ doors, hook up the gas jets, and complete the wiring, lights, etc. But winter is here, and Christmas is coming… so it’s time to do something else that is more in keeping with the weather… like go cut down a Christmas tree.

This project has been larger than life… and exemplifies our mantra – go big or go home. It has consumed our year with it’s many facets, but it’s final result is something we can step back from and be pleased with. Now on to experimenting with it and perfecting great recipes in our new wood fired / gas outdoor oven.

October 2, 2015October 6, 2015 by kritterspaw

Pizza Oven, Part Two: The Oven

Projects
diy, pizza, pizza oven, wfo, wood fired oven
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If doing the prep wasn’t enough of a chore… building the actual oven, was a mathematical, mind bending, brick laying challenge. But gratifying none the less. The bigger the challenge, the larger the reward. We worked hard, and yielded great results.

They have been making pizza ovens for centuries… so what makes it so hard? As someone who saw what we were doing… “it isn’t a kit?” No. How do you know where they go… each row is custom.. and each piece individual. Not only is it not a kit.. we have no plans. If we weren’t worried about doing a quality job, with good clean joints, and sharp lines… it would have been an easier task. But we took our time to assure we could ‘productionize’ each step, making the joints as small as possible, and thermal dynamics (and heat transfer) as uniform and even as we could to make an efficient, sound, and beautiful oven.

Each day is an adventure… and with it’s own reward.

For those who have done it… welcome us to the club… it was a daunting challenge, one we feel proud and stronger for having achieved. Wow. What an endeavor!

Check it out….

Pizza Oven Video

September 25, 2015October 4, 2015 by kritterspaw

Pizza Oven, Part One: The Prep

Projects
block, cmu, diy, flagstone, outdoor kitchen, pizza oven, project, wood fired oven
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We normally do one big project each year.. along with quite a number of smaller projects. We have moved outside for this year’s project and got a wild hair to do a pizza oven. It seemed like a good idea at the time. We looked into buying one (which probably would have been a wise choice), but looked at the cost, particularly for a gas & wood fired oven.. and decided (like so many things we do) that we could do it ourselves.

So we embarked on this journey that continues … and continues.

We identified where it would go and how we would go about it. It should sit on a concrete block pad, which we would later wrap with stone and granite counter tops. The oven itself would sit on top… and have a concrete pad lead in… and a flagstone area around it, where we would put the concrete table we made (remember that earlier post?).

Who knew how much work just doing the prep would be. Suffice it to say it has been filled with long days and a lot of back breaking work… but it’s finally starting to look like something. I gathered some photos and built this little video. Wordpress does not allow me to upload directly, so I posted it on YouTube.

Check it out. Next, we can now actually start the pizza oven itself. Stay tuned…

Pizza Oven Prep

February 23, 2015 by kritterspaw

More Gourds

I had some lingering gourds sitting on the bench that needed to be worked so that the bench could be cleared for the next project — shelving units for my office.

So I sharpened the pencil, heated up the wood burner and got to work.

I wanted to do designs that were colorful and different. I wanted them to be fun and professional looking. I also wanted to take better photos of the finished projects. What I have learned in taking photos of them, is I have a lot to learn about studio lighting.

My photographer friend, Maureen, turned me on to LimoStudio Lighting, http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009F37LW8/ref=pe_385040_30332190_pe_175190_21431760_3p_M3T1_ST1_dp_1 . For under $40 I got a tripod and soft box lighting. Using it is another talent altogether… one that I still need to work out the kinks with, (though I am improving).

I do like the way they came out. The colors and designs are original, fun, and professional… just as I had hoped. Time to put the gourds away and move on.

February 11, 2015February 12, 2015 by kritterspaw

Concrete Tables – Progress

So, you haven’t heard too much about these concrete tables lately. Perhaps you thought we’d given up on them. Tempting… considering the amount of work they have become, but it’s for that reason that we couldn’t possibly.

If you recall where we left off … we had poured the concrete into the forms (in the snow, I remember well) with the metal bases we had made. We allowed them to dry for some time due to the cold temps. In late January we very awkwardly flipped the (now very heavy) table on it’s feet (with the help of John Deere). We let the tops dry for another couple weeks before attempting to pull off the plastic and plywood insets.

Forgive the crappy cell phone pic.

Getting the plastic off was easy… but getting the plywood insets would prove to be a pain in the backside. We ended up chiseling it out. In the process we ‘chunked’ out bits of the corners around the inset. So we had to mix up concrete patch (which we had to color, best we could) to match the colored tables and benches.

We put 3 coats on… sanding the concrete between each. (Yes, sanding concrete is as difficult as it sounds.) As a matter of fact, if this project is starting (?) to sounds like a lot of work, well… let’s just say that would be an understatement (and a little insane, yes).

Finally… we individually cut our tiles for our insert. We mixed up some thin set, and began the daunting task of laying the tiles, and then with a toothpick removing the thin set from between the tiles.

Whew! Almost done.

We still have yet to grout in between the tile… and waterproof with Thompsons.

Oh, and there’s the bit about prepping the whole area they go in with a retaining wall, sand / rock, leveling, tamping, and laying flagstone. That’ll be awhile.

Maybe next time we’ll buy our concrete tables. They did come out cool… and are the only thing like it out there. Built to last in elegant style.

December 23, 2014January 11, 2015 by kritterspaw

Concrete Benches, in development UPDATED

January 2015 ……………………………………………………

This project has taken a bit of a hold since it has snowed… and with the holidays and such. We know that since it is cold out we’ll want to let the concrete set up for at least a couple weeks. So we built the forms, lining them carefully with plastic so that we can easily unmold the insets to embed our tile ornamentation. We’ve poured a ton of concrete in our lives, but this is a first for us pouring it in the snow. We put some brown die in the mix with the rock, cement, sand, and water, and mixed it in the cement mixer to a wet but stiff mix. Then we wheel barreled it into the shop where the forms awaited. Then we shoveled it in with a scoop. Now that they are all poured we wait. We’ll let them dry for a couple weeks, then unmold them and ready them for embedding the tile.

December 2014…………………………………………….. Now that we have the table metal legs and assembly designed, cut, built, assembled, welded, and ground… whew! We have moved on to the benches. We cut the metal legs and the side struts, using the same pre-fab balls in the center that we used in the table (see earlier post, Concrete Table). We’re welding it all together and putting the top re-bar bars across the assembly so that we can sink it into the concrete. We made the shape for the bench using an elaborate ‘compass’ of sorts with a router, mirroring the radius of the table. For the bench form, we are including a recessed band so that we can imbed colorful tiles (we’ll do the same for the table). You gotta have a vision for this sort of project. I love how it’s coming together. The finished product should be very cool. Stay tuned for the next installment. Just as a teaser.. here’s the table and bench skeletons… and the beginnings of the concrete forms. More to come…

December 7, 2014December 7, 2014 by kritterspaw

Concrete Table

Just to give you an idea of the kind of site you stumbled across… this is the sort of maniacal stuff we’re liable to do. And I don’t mean stunt jumps or Joey Chestnut eating contests. I mean hard work, from scratch, stuff most people buy. But no… not us.

We are doing outdoor landscaping, and decided we need a nice concrete table. You know, one of those cement table you see in Mexico, with the mosaic tile tops and the concrete benches. We figure the concrete will be impervious to our snow and heat here in Northern AZ.

So we decide to go shopping. Yikes! They want how much?!?!??

So we designed our own. Not that we have ever actually made a concrete table. How hard can it be?

We cut the legs out of 4″x 4″ square channel. We figure the base should be metal so that we don’t have to worry about future maintenance.

Then we weld a foot plate onto the bottom of each leg.

Then cut side bars to go between the legs, and weld them in place with an ornamental ball in the center.

Finally re-bar cross hatching gets welded together and welded to the leg assembly. This re-bar & entire leg assembly will then get put into the concrete form (once made) and add re-enforcement for the concrete table.

After grinding the leg assembly, we’ll get into the chairs and build the legs for 3 separate chairs to go around the table. We opted for a 32″ height for the table, and 18″ height for the chairs which should be a nice height to get in and out of the chairs which being able to eat at the table. Once the chairs are done that will complete the metal work, and we can move on to the forms for the concrete table and chairs.

Stay tuned…. I’ll post more as we progress.

Better than a soap opera, huh?! Can hardly wait for the next installment, right?

December 3, 2014 by kritterspaw

Making Gourds

I guess it’s a sure sign of retirement… I’m now making gourds!

I took a class from Nora Graf of mesquitegourds.com, a true craftswoman. It’s her fault! She gave me the bug. I enjoyed her class so much, I bought a few gourds… cleaned them, outside and in, and found myself with 3 dimensional blank canvas’.

It’s what’s for Christmas!

I’ve found this ‘craft’ a very creative outlet… the possibilities are endless. What fun!