Arts and crafts

My running is on hold; my wedding is only a year away; and I am desperately trying to keep my fingers busy to avoid picking my nails. What's a girl to do? Art projects, naturally. My new interest in D&D has brought about an interesting hobby--painting the pewter miniatures used to represent the characters on the battle map. These miniature figurines are generally about 1" - 1.5" tall and have detailed features, making painting them a good and time-consuming challenge. So far, I've painted the two minis related to the campaigns I play and have started painting a third for one of Judson's characters. I will post pictures when I can get my hands on Jud's digital camera.

Meanwhile, I once again became interested in calligraphy and have espoused the idea that I can at least hand-address my wedding invitations. I have tried calligraphy several times over my life, and I've never had too much success. This time, I think I have a better chance. I have a new key weapon: the book Left-Handed Calligraphy. I have learned that I should be using special "left-oblique" nibs! So far, I have been practicing with my old calligraphy markers (for righties), and my uncials look pretty good. Soon I plan to progress to the Foundation alphabet, which should be a good base for the other alphabets I like. Michaels, A. C. Moore, and the Cornell Store don't carry left-oblique nibs, so I had to order them online. It'll be fun to see how things go once I get the right equipment.

I've watched a few episodes of New Yankee Woodshop on PBS, and now I wish I had a woodshop. I think carpentry and the desire to build things runs deep in my veins. As a kid, I used to watch This Old House and New Yankee Woodshop every Sunday. I had a toolkit and access to scrap wood in the basement. My dad was always building neat stuff. I was generally stealing wood from the good (and forbidden) pile to make my boats and birdhouses. Those were the days! Maybe if Jud and I buy a real house, I can have my own workshop. I don't think Jud would take well to my playing with tools that could easily take off my fingers, but it's hard to say.

Well, that's all I have to say about my art projects for now. I wish I had a drafting table (with its user-friendly angled writing surface), but that's something I should be able to acquire easily some day or at least to emulate. Now I'm going to head out for a long walk. *sigh*