Vegas, Moosejaw, and fiddle update

What a spectacular weekend I have just had. A lot has happened since the last time I wrote, maybe more in the life than luthier department but nonetheless.... Two weekends ago I flew to Las Vegas for my eldest sister's wedding. That was an experience, let me tell ya. I finally found the right words to describe the situation there. Money flows like water. I arrive at the airport and guess what, slot machines, etc. The gambling begins! I personally don't understand it. My sister gave me 10 bucks to gamble at the penny or slot machines and I lost it within three minutes. I just didn't get it. I mean there's really no strategy to it, it seems to  be pure chance which I guess is what gambling mostly is. Anyway, the wedding was small but lovely. I cried, which was quite unexpected. The food there was great. It was just a nice, quick, Vegas experience.

Now this weekend I just got back from my first Moosejaw! And what fun! I was able to go for free thanks to the owners of Maplelag, the ski resort where it was held. It was hosted by the Wild Goose Chase Cloggers out of Minneapolis, and I just had a fantastic time. What a warm, loving, and relaxed atmosphere, yet there was always something going on as you can imagine with 200+ people around. I also cross country skied for the first time. It's about time since I've been up north now for three years. So all weekend was old-time music and clogging and workshops on both. Maplelag is just outside Detroit Lakes, MN.

Now I am in White Bear Lake, MN just outside the twin cities. My spring break has officially started. I am staying at a hotel with my man and am doing basically whatever I want. There's an old-time jam tonight, and I want to check out the Institute of Art, other than that just hanging out.

A little bit about what's going on at school and my repair job.....
I just finished gouging out my plates for my viola. I first flattened each half, joined them (glued them together), then flatted them again, drew the outline of the plates, sawed them out, and then began gouging only the outside of the plates. Gouging the insides comes later. Unfortunately, I acquired some gouge wounds from this and got pretty irritated with myself for doing so. Now I am establishing my edge thicknesses, which means I am creating about a seven mm flat along the entire edge of each plate.
I have also glued the top back on the old fiddle I posted pictures of in the previous post after putting in about five cleats. Cleats are kinda fun. So I am finishing prepping the neck block and will began carving a scroll for it shortly. Then I get to set the new neck and scroll on to this old fiddle, sounds like fun! I am pretty interested to see what I'm going to do about varnishing the scroll, seeing as the fiddle's varnish has some pretty good wear. It has some pretty good bumps, bruises, and nicks. I might get my first taste in antiquing. It will be interesting to see how well I can make the scroll look like it belongs.

To all those wondering, I have finished three violins and am now working on a viola. I will be posting pictures of my violins shortly.

Repair in the Air

I've been inspired to write a new post. You may wonder why, since I haven't written anything for months. But to sum up what has happened between then and now, here it is. I happily arrived back in Wisconsin after spending my summer in Nashville to start my third year of school. I have finished three fiddles, one of which I get to keep. I've been getting myself more familiar with guitars and lowered the action on my boyfriend's guitar and am working on doing the same for mine. I have started building a viola, which if I remember correctly is approximately 16 1/4 long. Today I just finished gluing the ribs. I started repairing an old fiddle for a friend. I bought it at an antique store for something like 15bucks. It isn't in playing condition. I will end up putting more work than it is probably worth in a shop's perspective, but it gives me something to practice on and it will be my friend's first violin. I will be putting a new neck and scroll on it since it has some pretty severe cracks that someone tried repairing. And last but not least. Last Friday I played my very first show premiering myself. It was about a two hour show with an intermission in there. I played fiddle tunes and did some singing. Had a great time! And my partner, Chris, backed me up on guitar and sang a few himself. I was on cloud nine that night. I don't think I've ever felt quite like I did.

On this old fiddle I am working on, like I said earlier, I will be carving a new scroll and neck for it. I recently bought new accessories for it including a fingerboard. So far I have taken the neck off the body and the top off.. Someone had already put a sizable patch where the soundpost is. I cleaned and glued a couple open cracks on the top and reglued some splinters that came off when the top came off. Next I will cleat the cracks. Below is what the instrument looked like when I got it.

 

 

open seam

A piece of wood was put in. You can see it on the outside here under the G peg.

On top of the pegbox walls some sort of pins were put in.

Times are Always changin'

Got the feeling I should write again, especially since I have moved once again and I know some people who want to know how things are going so.....things are good. I'm in Nashville now, working at a fiddle shop :-) I have lots to learn but am up to the challenge.
I ended my school year at the New World School on a pretty good note I think. I was working on my last scroll for my third fiddle body. Oh! Something else that's pretty exciting is I am going to be a guest artist at the Wisconsin Northwoods Art tour this fall. I will be at Your Arts Program gallery thanks to Frances. I am still preparing for it and hope to have some interesting things to show.

Scrolls: As my introduction, Brian talked about how there is asymmetry in sculptures and people and how this is often appreciated, so a little asymmetry in my scroll is okay. First time I've heard that! Up til now we've tried getting everything as symmetrical as possible, a little bit of a nice relief this was. Then I began making 5 basic shapes of scroll scrapers, learned how to orientate the scroll blank, and so on and so on. . . I learned how to cut out the rough shape of the scroll using a bow saw and then the bandsaw. Once again when taking the scroll down to the scribed line, squareness is important. I saw, then gouge when working on the turns of the scroll. And I was introduced to the sanding stick which is helpful  in the pegbox.

Nashville: I started work in the shop Thursday and worked on violins most of the day. Friday I worked up front getting familiar with all their stuff and got to play some pretty cool fiddles :) Looks like I will be working wherever they need me. Dave's son is also going to start working, he is just about to go into high school.

Success of a New Day

The best compliment I have received in my violin making career occured today, and it's even better because it was from Brian! So....I have been working on my first scroll and taking tons of notes! I have measurements for everything on a scroll you could imagine. And today I got to try out my new, custom scroll gouges, which Brian keeps saying are nice tools. Today, I primarily worked on the first turn of the scroll. Now how Brian goes about showing us is he basically demonstrates what he wants us to do on one side, in this instance one side of the scroll, and we copy what he did on the other. Well, today after I has finished another step in the process and brought it to Brian to look at, he looked at the scroll, touched it up a little, and said, "Are you sure you haven't done this before?" I just laughed. And he said, "I'm serious." I looked up at him and kept laughing. And he said, "This is not bad."
"Oh so you expect it to be bad."
"No, but it's your first one."
After that I just smiled. Earlier while I was working on the scroll he asked me if I felt like I knew what I was doing, or if I felt lost. I said I kinda felt like I knew what I was doing. I'm not sure to chalk it up to me enjoying scrolls, for the most part, or Brian's teaching skills.

That was my highlight of the day.

Nashville visit

So my last blog was right around Thanksgiving....it's been awhile and as a result much has happened since. I have completed the bodies of fiddle two and three, the Amati and Strad models. And I have just started working on my first scroll. I was able to get some really nice custom built gouges that I am looking forward to use.
I also just got back from spring break in Nashville and boy was it great! Nashville Violins has been pursuing me to work in their shop, so when I went to Nashville this week I got to meet the owner and check out the shop. It 's a nice place. I'm thinking the profession I'm in allows me to get to know some good, down to earth people quite easily. So I had a good time in Nashville, checked out the city some, got to see some sights like the Art museum and the outside of the Grand Ole Opry and walked down Broadway to take in some music. My impression of Nashville so far is....well, people have a certain perception or expectation of it and it often is very different than you might have thought, especially after living there. But this is just a theory. Honestly, it's just another city. The difference is it has a big name.
It would be great if I could finish my three scrolls before school is done for the semester, but I don't know how realistic that is really. We will see. Anyway, I've been having a great time. Until next time.

To Be Is To Do, To Do Is To Be, and Do Be Do Be Do

I am now working on purfling for my second and third instruments. Before Thanksgiving break, which I am oh so thankful for, I finished grinding a blank to make my purfling pick and picked out part of the channel I cut. I felt it was a bit rough but Brian reassured me I was doing just fine. I just feel like I should be a lot better having done it before.
Yesterday was Thanksgiving and Shawn and I went to two Thanksgiving meals. It's pretty safe to say I didn't feel like getting out of bed today and when I did, my roommate had cooked up a small turkey and made a belated Thanksgiving feast for herself and was happy to share. Wow, I have never eatin' so hardy in my life (and felt so sleepy and lazy). But here I am, the day after Thanksgiving, feeling like getting back to motion and getting some things done. Next weekend is busy busy. I have two functions I will be playing for. One is playing with an orchestra that is backing up a choir for their winter show and the other is to be background music for the Festival of Trees held every year in Manitowish Waters. That is the one I am not feeling very comfortable with.
That's about all for now folks! And like the characters in SAW would say....."cherish life". . . .and that I feel I do.  :-)

Beetles and Beeswax

I don't believe I ever mentioned there are two students  going to school this year. Linda and I. Last year there were six of us which is just about capacity for the little shop. I am also living with Linda which has been working out nicely (last year I lived with two different students, not so nice).
I haven't written in a while but today it just felt like it was time, not me forcing myself like it's homework which I dread, no I was on the computer and thought oh I WANT to write on my blog :) Maybe it's because I have something to say. Many weeks ago something happened that I really wanted to remember and write about. Several weeks ago Brian was working in the shop and doing things that made me feel like I was living in the 1800s for the day (more so than what usually goes on). He was making varnish, sealent for the wood before varnish, and creating a natural pigment. I felt like it was 1812 as I was watching him boil bug bodies (to extract color; it is a type of small beetle that has shriveled and dried) and beeswax, literally very raw beeswax, straight out of the hive, with lots of particles and bee parts stuck in it. I was intrigued and asked him if he learned this at Chicago which is where he went to school, and he said no. He learned it on his own from doing some research. I thought what he was doing was great! It was like a long lost art! Especially with my generation, it is the norm to go to the store get exactly what you need, many times already prepared, but what Brian was doing was very different. And then I think about what we do everyday and get the same feeling. It is refreshing to create something so spectacular with raw materials. I rarely even cook that way! I like tortelinni with the meat and cheese already packed in each little bite! I discovered for me, what we do at school is humbling. This feeling has replaced the inexperience and frustration even though I have a long way to go and the things to do, make, try never end.