Mid-Yawn.

No good reason... just a funny pic of the dog.  Deal.

One and Only

There may be 31 flavors at Baskin Robbins and yet to me there are only two; Orange sherbert (cake cone) and Mint Chocolate Chip (Sugar cone) I have tasted the others and sure I guess they are also ice cream... but they are just not the glory that is Mint Chocolate Chip or Orange sherbert... maybe if they ever had Pineapple sherbert I could be swayed... maybe.

I have another food establishment that has become a one choice menu.  Erik's Deli. They're a chain mostly in the central coast and south bay area of Northern California and they have a huge menu of soups, salads and mostly sandwiches, but really all they serve is this; Light and Tasty salad with Raspberry vinaigrette and a cup of tomato bisque soup.  Every time I come down here I become giddy that I can have a bloody Soup and Salad!  It has got to be filled with salt or crack or something that makes this such an exciting meal. 

Perhaps it speaks to my character that I am so devoted to the Light and Tasty in the way that I am devoted to Mint Choc Chip.  There are plenty of places where I try new things all the time but somehow this is different...I'd like to think its a matter of knowing what I like and finding a joy in familiarity, but perhaps it's best to not read too much into food choices like this. 
Do you have a staple order at a restaurant you cannot be swayed from?

Belt bit

Victory! (part 3 of 3)

Plastic pour #2... neater... actually started to solidify when it was supposed to...

Primer.

Black detail. (a little gaudy at this phase but hold on, it's just a step in the process)

Oooh... more gold... (I'm not going to even get into how much of a fight it was to mount this thing onto a belt)

Bumps in the road to Gold glory (part 2 of 3)

 The foam mold portion of this process went well.  Perfect on the first try... but then the liquid plastic portion of this adventure kicked me down a peg from my feelings of success.
The plastic filled and overfilled the mold until I was left battling an ever expanding amount of sticky plastic goo that thankfully had a plastic container collecting the excess rather than the kitchen table.

 Eventually I discovered that positioning pencils under the mold would keep the flow inside.

 The plastic was supposed to dry in about 15 minutes but the next day I was still left with soft and sticky shapes that began to bubble and expand like cancer had taken a turn for the worse.

This is when you try again.

We are the Champions... (part 1 of 3)

Working with Roma Plastilina for the first time in over a decade. The good news is that now they make a non-sulfur version (because the stuff I used in high school smelled to all high hell)

Today I made this large buckle, tomorrow I make the small side buckles, a mold for it and then from that a positive out of plastic.

...and then I paint it and mount it onto a belt... yes, this stuff is not exactly easy but it is enjoyable. Pray that the foam mold and plastic steps go well since I haven't done that before... but we follow directions and with a little luck it will all work out. More updates to come.

Shiny.

Guess what I'm sewing this week...

Digging through stock again... found an old friend.