Pressing Matters

This is the latest gadget to come out of my woodworking shop - a tortilla press.  Like freshly made pasta, if you've only ever had store-bought tortillas you don't know what you're missing.  I broke it in last night with a big batch of corn tortillas, which were dispatched nearly as fast as I could make them.  Other than smoking up the house (whoops) they were a huge success, and ridiculously easy to make with my new toy.

I am also planning on using it to simplify making pita, naan bread and Cornish pasties.  Not to mention it will come in very handy while perusing my other Christmas present.

On the running front, the first week of Jantastic is going really well (it's the last few days to register if you're looking for that extra bit of motivation).  Helped by some wonderfully cold weather, I've had 2 great runs in a row.  This morning I met James for our fast Wednesday run with the intention of dipping under an hour for my 8 miles.  Well I managed it by 19 seconds (hooray), and James planted the idea in my head of working on getting that time down to 56 minutes in the months ahead.

Sounds good to me - go Boston!!!

And just a quick word on blog neglect.  Each year, I wrap up the blogging year by doing a post looking back on all the ups and down of the year that was.  I am planning on doing that post, but I've been super busy working (aka playing) in the garage.  The post is coming, but it may be a tad bit late.

Oh, and happy new year everyone.

Chessmen

First casting of the chessmen - Camelot on the left, Regal on the right.  I need to let them dry and harden completely before painting and sealing them.

I may have blogged a while ago that Gavin had gotten into chess.  He's joined the chess club at school, and he's been playing me and the computer at home.  A few weeks ago I had the idea to make him a really nice heirloom chess set.  I can make a pretty kick ass board out of wood (or stone), but I needed to figure out how to make the pieces.

Well I did my research and found a way to cast them from latex molds, so that is what I did.  I got 2 different sets of molds from England and found a really cool local pottery supply store - Armadillo Clay - that sold bulk bags of Hydrostone (a hard setting gypsum cement which has very fine detail duplication).  Yesterday I had my first go at casting them.  I cut apart a milk carton to use for mixing and pouring, and I was so pleased with the results - they looked awesome!!!

Of course, there were some casualties of war!!!

The King is dead, long live the king (plus a few pawns).  In the background is an inverted belt sander I've been using to smooth and round off the bases

I think I'm going to get another set - the standard staunton shapes - and build some storage into the board I have yet to make.  I also have to decide on color schemes.  For the stauntons I can just do an antique effect, but I would like to do some colorful stuff on the others.  That means a bit of detail work with acrylic paints.

Let's just say I'm a better woodworker than a painter.  But I'll try to use a bit of patience and hope for the best!!!

The molds setting - I drilled holes in some scrap wood to support them and hung them like bats