Wood burning redemption

I spent most of the day yesterday working on my re-enactment gear. I finished dying my frock a darker green and my white knee breeches black. I also finished my possibles bag. While working on these I watched the DVDs of the Pioneer House series with my wife. It’s about 21st century people spending 5 months living in an 1883 lifestyle on the Montana Frontier. I love shows like this, to look at the equipment and see how the people react. My wife and I would love to do a show like this, but we just don’t think we could get the time off of our jobs.

While watching Pioneer House and finishing my dying and leatherwork I had an urge to do more wood burning. I know, I know after my last debacle I should know better. I alse know a lot of you where being nice and said it didn’t look like total crap. I appreciate that, but it did and it still does. I wanted to give it a second try, I had an idea on what I did wrong. I KNEW I could do better.

I needed to get my family distracted so I could have a chance to work on this. They have not let me within 10 feet of my wood burner since that tragic day. When we finished the last episode of Pioneer House I turned to my wife and said, “Since I bought the new truck, it’s only fair that you get something for yourself. Why don’t you go shoe shopping and buy yourself…” I got that far before the front door was slamming shut and the van was backing out of the driveway. One down, two to go.

Boopie… I know! Boopie has been grounded from video games/TV for a week now; he should be ready for some mind numbing time. “Boopie, I’ve been thinking that since you’ve been so good, you can play video games for a couple of hours if you like.” I hear his TV turn on and the sounds of computer-generated cars crashing into one another. Two down, one to go.

“Clone, you look sick, hmmm yep a fever. Here have some children’s chewable morphine and lets take a nap.” (Snoring coming out of his room) Ahh, yes my master plan has worked. No one knows what I’m doing; I could do what ever I wanted for the next couple of hours! I went outside pulled out my wife’s chair and her folding stool and proceeded to make designs on them. Yes, I used my wife’s camp furniture to do the designs on. I didn’t own anything that wasn't already designed. The stool was particularly difficult because the top of it folded in half. The problem with her chair was that it’s made of oak and was bought 8 years ago. It has quite a bit of weathering to it. I got them finished and I’m pretty proud of myself. I don’t think they turned out half bad. When my wife got home she was at first upset that I was wood burning again. However, after she saw the designs she wasn’t upset at all.

So to make of for my last mishap, I’m posting the pictures of my second attempts.

My wife's chair

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My wife's stool

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