Winding Down

I cannot believe that I'll be heading home in less than two weeks! I've been in Rochester since early June, so I'm just going to call that six months, just like anyone under the age of seven or over the age of eighty does when telling you how old they are--round up.

This is my latest build. It really is the prettiest of the three I've made, and its tone is lovely. I was lucky that I found this gem of a piece of black walnut for the back. It even had some worm holes from when it was part of the tree. This is easily the prettiest instrument that I've made. My craftsmanship is improving overall, like my carving.

The scrollhead on this machine is much rounder and softer. Dwain likes hard, crisp lines, and I did that for my first one. But I was allowed to change it up after that, so I did. There will definitely be modifications to what I do to my instruments, just as Dwain changed what he learned from Walt as he developed his own practice. But the overall beauty and grace will not change. I still dream of burning images onto the machines, and I did practice a little while I was here. So I will definitely pursue that as I build on.

Even though I've started working on the fourth instrument I'm not sure if I will finish it or not. I spent the day today making templates and a template holder. I've still got to build the mold to build and other stuff that I really want to learn.

Dwain has been away--up the river! Dwain is really one of the most self-aware persons I know. As a seventy-five year old I guess he should be standing on pretty solid ground, as far as who he is as a person.

When he came to me some weeks ago to say that he felt compelled to protect NY from frackers and planned some civil disobedience, I told him that it warms my heart that he would do so--after all, I've spent time in jail for protesting (My deployment to Iraq showed me the horrors of war.). He said that he faces up to fifteen days in jail if he goes through with the action, and this would cut into our time together. I said that this is the final session, where I gain my independence; I went on to say that I wasn't expecting him to purposefully put a bulwark between us so that I have to work on my own, but if he had to... He patted me on the head and said it wasn't about me.

So Dwain went to jail

And away I worked. It really was good for me to have the time to struggle. As I was building I had to refer to my sketchbooks for the notes that I've been taking since I started. I'm going to turn them and this blog and other dulcimer information into some kind of building compendium. Maybe. Who has time for that, really?

I've been looking at a lot of old illustrations in old children's books, and I've practicing my drawing with ink and watercolors. I'm not sure why, but I think that this will have something to do with drawing on the instruments with heat. What if I can color them, too? I could use dyes or shellac. I'm just not sure.

One lesson that I learned, and probably the most important lesson, is that something is going to happen with the wood or a tool or me and I'm going to mess up whatever I'm doing. The trick is to not fixate on that and move on. Fix the problem and go. I do this in my own art practice, but it didn't occur to me that I'd have to do it with sculpting and building, too. But now this is my art practice. Wood is my medium. Even if it is contemptible, like the peghead that I'm carving now!

After I knocked off part of the scroll I had to glue it back on. Then I was just done. It was all I could do not to fall down and sleep. I wasn't sure what was happening, and then I realized I haven't had chicken for a few days, chicken or fish only, please, just like in China. I need meat. Sure, I've had protein through fake meat stuff. But I need some flesh. So I didn't want to do any more damage to the carving and decided to make all of the templates that I'd be taking home. I made most of them, but I still have more to do. We'll see how I feel tomorrow and if I'll carve or prepare to work at home.