Happy Fourth of July! (and a new carving)

Happy fourth of July everyone, May all of my readers have a safe and fun day! We are entertaining in laws this week, and will be checking out some free music and fireworks here in beautiful Northport, Michigan later this eve.

Well I managed to finish up on a new wood spirit carving today. I made it from extra wood I had from that sofa project I just finished. I have a lot of smaller pieces that will make White Cedar the choice of carving material around here for a while ;)

Log Couch finished!

Hey I  finished the log couch I have been working on for my living room. Now I can relax on it! Made from White Cedar logs, the sitting area is 60" long and coated in 4 layers of durable Minwax polyurathane. The thing that took the longest was cutting all the tenons by hand, as I don't own an automatic tenon maker. (If Veritas would be so kind to send me a couple for free I'd appreciate it.) I made the main rail tenons 2" in diameter and vertical rail tenons 1 3/8". I used a hole saw to cut my mortises on the main rails, and a spade bit for the rest. Came out super sturdy and will be around for many years to come ;) My wife made a nice 4" thick forest green cushion for it, and we found several nice large comfy pillows for the back, new at a yard sale.Just in time for a visit from the inlaws...

"Cherry Spirit Carving"

Just finished this guy today. I have been a bit busy around the homestead lately and not finishing as much art as I want., but did get this guy done in time for the up north cherry season :)

On the Bench

So last weekend my lovely wife and me were checking out some garage sales for things we need, when she came across an old rickety bench for $10. I was against getting it, as I knew I would be the one working on it..  But after I got into the project this weekend, I really enjoyed fixing it up. I took it all apart and had to replace a broken support, re mortise holes to get broken pieces out,  get it all back together, sand,stain and topcoat. After all that, it is now sitting in my living room and the most important thing is my better half is happy ;) Here are the before and after pics. By the way, I am still out of work, so if anyone knows anybody hiring in the Traverse City, MI area, Please let me know.

Morel Madness!

So my wife has a friend who works in a motel called Mushroom Cap down in Mesick ,Michigan, where they have the annual Mushroom festival every spring. I thought it might be a fun trade to offer to make them a free carving for their front desk in exchange for keeping some of my business cards there for customers to take. Anything to get noticed right? Here is how it came out. Not too bad, It's carved from White Cedar and is pretty big. :)

Rabbit Wood Spirit Carving

Well I finally got around to finishing my springtime bunny wood spirit. I carved him out of Some nice Sugar Maple that the road crews cut down to keep the power lines clear. It's heavy stuff, but carves nicely. The guy stands approx 10 1/2" tall and was finished in Golden white acrylic and then over top of that once dry, with a Minwax Early American stain to get into the fur a bit. I did a satin varnish finish on this piece at the very end to protect the carving. Overall I like him, few things I would have done a bit different, but there's always next time ;)

Spring is Here!

Hi everyone, Just wanted to update this page a bit and share what's going on with River Otter Rustics. Well Spring is finally here. The Cherry trees are blooming and the grass is getting greener by the day. I have been busy with some outside work, but have been working on a few new pieces to be finished shortly. One is a cherry spirit like the one I did for my Sister in law's Birthday, but to be sold on Etsy, and the other is a Rabbit wood spirit. Look for those soon. I have also been cutting and peeling large white cedar logs for a rustic living room sofa, as we have no real furniture here since the move. I will post pics when it is complete. I have also been getting into taking beach stones and turning them into beads, as I live 5 min away from Lake Michigan, and there are some wonderful pieces that wash up. I have so many jewelry artisan friends on Etsy, I thought that it might be fun to add a few in my shop. I am also planting a BIG garden this year, trying to reduce the ol carbon footprint and bring good stuff to the table.  So that's pretty much it. I hope everyone has a wonderful spring and check back for those new pics soon ;)