Day 63: I'm Getting Paid

I'm so very excited because today I got my first commission! There is a musician who plays some Eastern instruments, mostly Indian I believe, and they are drone instruments. He wants me to build in a dulcimer to go with his baritone voice. So I'm gonna do just that. I'm gonna make a Concert Teardrop for him and it's going to sound wonderful and look great!

Today was the day to get the guy in the mold and glued up, but that was not to be. First I had to make some finishing touches to the tail block. Again, this seems pretty simple and straight forward, but there are so many steps and considerations for each small thing to be done. And I know I've said this already, but if I expect to make top-quality instruments then I must pay attention to every detail. So I'm adding notes to the notes that I took before, and a clearer picture is being drawn.

And I had to clean up the glue where I put the wings on the lower bout of the top. You can see in this picture where I've cleaned up the left side but not the right. It amazes me that I can put add wood to a piece of wood and make it seamless. I can see that this process will come in handy when making toys and kinetic art.

I had to clean up both sides, and then on the bottom of the top I had to draw again the lines for the supports and sound holes. This redwood is really pretty, and the grain is extremely tight. I can see that it is pretty, and I'm really excited when imagining the shellac on there!

Did I tell you that I am courting a school in Maryville? The Clayton-Bradley Academy is a private school there that opened just a few years ago. This year was their first ninth grade class. There are three Upper School teachers. One is a Montessori trained teacher, one is a Ph.D., and the third is at home teaching whether he teaches the Bible or Darwin he says. What a wonderful mix! The reading list for the high school this year was "The Voyage of the Beagle" and "The Da Vinci Code." Now you can see why I'm interested, right!

I have a connection, and I sent a note while I was back in Maryville. But I never heard a word. So I sent a follow up note and called the Director of the school. She took my call and said that they are very interested in me and that she passed my name to the Upper School principal. I called her and left a message and sent a note to her. Now I've not heard a word from her! Sheesh. I don't want to be desperate because I'm not, but at least tell me to beat it if you don't want me. I've decided to wait until next week to send a follow-up note and remind myself that the world does not revolve around me; she is probably so busy with school that I'm way down on the list of to-dos.

Val and I have the intention of making a living making our art, and she is busting her butt in TN giving private lessons and doing camps. And now I'm officially getting paid to make instruments. But I do miss teaching; I miss it a lot. We've got plans of doing a ukelele camp where I build instruments with whoever and then Val teaches them to play. That would be fun for everyone!

As I was doing the mock-up I found that the ribs were not going into the peg head flush, so I had to make an adjustment on that, too. There is always some fine tuning to be done here and there.

Everything has to be centered and aligned and just so. And there are so many tools needed to make it right. I've been thinking about the minimum number of tools necessary to build like this, and even the the minimum is a lot. We're going to have to tap into my retirement again, but we've got to do it get going on the building or we won't have any business.

There are linings that have to be made. This doubles the glue area along the inside of the ribs where they attach to the top and the bottom. Because there should be no sharp edges I used the plane to round off a corner. Okay, so when you are running your wood over your plane don't get your finger nails involved! Ask me how I know that--Dwain likes to use this and even though I'm sure he was smiling at the time of the incident happened he smiles when he says it.

Then I finally got the mock-up done and we did a dry run. We were going to try to get it glued but we had to knock off early because Dwain had an appointment and I cannot move forward on my own. But I am feeling good about the process, for sure. Dwain is making me work hard, but he is teaching me much!

Am I eating, you ask. Well yeah. Fruit and nuts for first breakfast. Cereal and fruit for second breakfast. The rest of my cereal, some cheese, crackers, and garlic for lunch. Two peanut butter sandwiches and a banana for for dinner. And a nighttime snack of grapes, croutons, potatoes, the sharpest cheddar ever, and some garlic. And I'm still loosing my waist. My size 34 Can't Stop the Crooks jeans are too big. Oh boy.