'Embrace all that you are'

This one is about exposing different layers and parts of ourselves. It's kind of like the Russian doll idea. Each ball fits inside the one before and when it's all together you don't see what is contained.

It's (from largest to smallest), silver with sapphire beads, titanium, silver with red fluffy inside, gold, silver and enamel (like stained glass so the light shines through when you hold it up).

This one came about partly because it just appeared as these tend to do but also as a response to my life over the last few years. Peeling away the onion skin and exposing new bits. Maybe I should call it 'mid life crisis'!

Hidden Treasure

This is what I do...I'm a jeweller.

This is 18ct white gold with diamonds and sapphires...and titanium. It's part of a series of 'Hidden Treasures' that I am making. It's a long term project and they will make up an exhibition when there are enough of them. I love making them and have to steal time between more mundane orders and repairs. I am making one with a dragon inside at the moment although I have been too busy to pick it up lately. Gotta remedy that...

Meme

Oh NO! I've been got! Lucy has meme'd me - twice (actually I think it's fun...). So, here are some of my answers -

The first one was a middle name thing. Using each letter of my middle name I have to find a word that describes me. My middle name is Lucy (wouldn't you know!).

L - last minute. Never late but always by the skin of my teeth.
U - unruly. Tee Hee.
C - compassionate.
Y - youthful. Last time I got asked for my proof of age I was 34! Youthful is all very well except when you want to be taken seriously.

Next one is a series of questions.

1. If you could have superpowers, what would they be? There is no obligation to be unselfish, save the world etc.

Hmm, I would be able to fly. Apart from being a lot of fun (Johnathan Livingston Seagull eat your heart out...), I would be able to visit my family who are far too spread out around the world for my liking (UK, Australia, France, New Zealand and last time I looked, Mongolia).

2. Stranded on a desert island with a CD player and 10 CDs, what would they be?

1.Bob Dylan, probably Desire but I'd want more so -
2.Bob Dylan, my own compilation that I had burned onto one CD.
3.Tom Waits, The Black Rider although again, it would be hard to choose which one. Black Rider because when I listen to it it makes me want to dress up in deep red velvet.
4. Nick Cave, anything but how about The Boatman's Call. SO romantic in a very intense Nick Cave kind of way.
5. Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack, so I can have a good theatrical sing and dance around my palm tree.
6. The Black Crowes, Southern Harmony and Musical Companion. To satisfy the bluesy rock chick in me.
7. Meat Loaf, Bat Out of Hell. To satisfy the corny rock chick in me.
8. Bob Marley, Legend. This would go well with the scenery.
9. Pink Floyd, The Dark Side of the Moon. Love Pink Floyd anyway but I once heard this playing really loudly from someones parked car when I was walking on a track by a river. It was echoing magically through the whole valley. I would normally hate this but it was very mellow and beautiful to hear the music there.
10. The Cat Empire, album of the same name. An Australian band that most of you probably haven't heard of but lots of fun and something on it to satisfy most moods.

3. If you were a smell, what would you be?

Sandalwood.

4. If you were a bird, what kind would you like to be?

A hummingbird. Small, can't keep still, brightly coloured.

5. If you were a bird, whose head would you poo on?

Isn't that supposed to be lucky? Not in my opinion so in that case... all the stink boat (power boat) owners who tear around the no wash zones without caring/stopping to think about the chaos they leave behind.

6. Are there any foods your body craves?

Chocolate, potato, avocado. Perhaps not all at the same time!

7. Favourite time of year?

Summer so I'm warm through to my bones and autumn because it's the calmest most beautiful time out on the water.

8. Favourite time of day?

Sunset. All those colours (don't do sunrise but I hear that can be nice too).

9. If a change is as good as a rest, which would you choose?

Change. Sorry but resting is not as good.

10. If you could invite five people living or dead, past or present to a dinner party, who would they be?

My dad. My mum. My brother. My sister. All are living except my dad who died when I was 5. Think we would all have a lot of catching up to do. Don't think we would need a fifth person...

Now, the rules of this game is that I have to pass this on to four other people. First choice is obvious to me. Has to be Lee because he's always got something like this on the go.

Second is Julie because I have had lots of nice comments from her and it's about time I replied!

Third is an open invitation for anyone to reply. Get me untangling some of this blog spagetti.

Fourth is snowsparkle because I like her blog name!

Very orange

I seem to be enjoying the sunlight on things (see earlier daffodil entry). I have recently moved into a very light sunny place and sunlight spills in here all day. I sat in that sun today and started peeling an orange. Looking at the way the light shone through each segment made me smile. It made me remember a meditation that I heard about a few years ago. It is from the Vietnamese zen teacher - Thich Naht Hanh

"I often teach "orange meditation" to my students. We spend time sitting together, each enjoying an orange. Placing the orange on the palm of our hand, we look at it while breathing in and out, so that the orange becomes a reality. If we are not here, totally present, the orange isn't here either.
There are some people who eat an orange but don't really eat it. They eat their sorrow, fear, anger, past, and future. They are not really present, with body and mind united.
When you practice mindful breathing, you become truly present. If you are here, life is also here. The orange is the ambassador of life. When you look at the orange, you discover that it is nothing less than fruit growing, turning yellow, becoming orange, the acid becoming sugar. The orange tree took time to create this masterpiece.
When you are truly here, contemplating the orange, breathing and smiling, the orange becomes a miracle. It is enough to bring you a lot of happiness. You peel the orange, smell it, take a section, and put it in your mouth mindfully, fully aware of the juice on your tongue. This is eating an orange in mindfulness. It makes the miracle of life possible. It makes joy possible."

Squeeze!

The workshop shrinks but the boat doesn't! Many times when people have seen my boat in this space they look worryingly at the doorway and ask if I will be able to get my boat out when I need to. As you can see, I got it in there and so should be able to get it out...

OK, yes, I was hiding something...

Here you go. This is specially for you Jonathan.

And now for something different.

So far I have filled my blog up with all things boats. So, here is a completely different subject...

Body painting! The local community arts group organised a body painting extravaganza. Having more than a little exhibitionist tendencies, Mikey and I shouted "Hooray!" and leapt in. Little did I know that Tom, my twin sister was coming on a surprise visit from the UK and luckily would be here too. Very useful having a twin for this kind of thing...we won first prize.

Mikey being a fire. Don't you think he looks hot?!

We don't have a car and couldn't get a lift so we had to catch the bus home.

It's really funny how well people can pretend you look normal when they get on the bus and walk past you. Maybe they were just being polite...

This one didn't fit.

When you do choose to build a boat that doesn't fit in your van (see previous post...) this kind of thing has to happen. This is the very beautiful 'Kamala'. Mikey (my partner) designed and built Kamala. It is 22ft long and is part of the reason I fell in love with him. This is Kamala being taken on a truck back to the water after coming out for some work. Whole other story but we had melted 750kg of lead in a bathtub over a big fire and made a new bit of lead keel. It's OK, we did wear respirators...and gloves...except for Al who couldn't resist running his hands through all that lead shot.

Phew!

We are on the move. Luckily my project is a small one. When moving boats it is far far easier if they actually fit inside your van...

Light

Hang on, this isn't my boat?! No, it's an interval in the story of the building of Bumble. It's not meant to be an example of spectacular photography. If you want to see some really fantastic photography go to Lucy's latest post - box elder.

I was given these daffodils the other day. It was very strange. I looked at the brilliant Australian sun shining on them and they looked very odd - to me. Daffodils are exotic here. In the UK (where I grew up) they come up at the start of spring and are native. They mass along the country lanes of Devon and cover whole hillsides in yellow. Sometimes it snows after they are in full bloom and they can be seen proudly poking their bright heads up above the snow. I love the bright light that I live in in Australia but my daffodils were like visitors just arrived from another place. Their yellow was brilliant but somehow unreal.

It's a boat!

With a small leap of excitement I get to turn my boat up the right way. It looks like it's ready to float but little do I know that I have all sorts of bits and pieces still to make. For now though I can see it's shape and can't help myself having plans about what colour I'm going to paint it. NO! STOP! That's ages away!

Boat hugger.

Hooray! All the planks are on. By this stage I have a good working relationship with my plane. It is great being able to see this little boat taking shape. At this point in the Bumble building project I shared my workshop with the previously mentioned shipwright (more about him later). It's an industrial unit with other light industrial businesses in the block, you know, steel machinists, carpenters and at least three surfboard manufacturers - it is Australia! Basically, I am the only woman around and so this small tool wielding female is a bit of an oddity. My mother brought me up well!

Getting there...

It's all his fault.

OH NO! I've just realised I am creating a 'how to build a small sailing dinghy step by step' guide. Um...oh well...can't stop now!

The edges of the first planks need to be planed at the correct angle to take the next planks. The boat is built up symmetrically. Can't really picture a wonky boat sailing too well. Here I am tidying up a plank before it goes on.

The planks are glued with epoxy and all the oozes of glue are cleaned up very well with a rag with meth...meth...um...meth...o.

Language translation required. "Metho" - its taken me ages to be able to say it but once I got it in my brain I am unable to revert back to my roots and say "methylated spirit". I am having a culture crisis. My UK roots are fighting with my adopted Aussie identity. 'Methylated Spirit' just seems so long and unnecessary but I can hear my sister laughing at me if I say 'metho'. Bloody Aussie shipwright, he's a bad influence.

Plane sailing.

It now becomes clear why I needed to suffer all that head scratching and brain ache in the lofting stage. On go the first planks! Of course, because I did do the maths, they can be cut out and bent around the moulds falling exactly along the neatly planed edge of the bottom sheet of the boat....or that is the idea anyway. Actually mine weren't too bad, considering I hadn't quite got the hang of a plane. Not a tool that is called for much with precious metalwork!

Tricks of the trade.

The bottom of the boat gets cut out and laid on the top of the Stegosaurus (note said creature in pictures). It gets fastened and glued down to the bow and transom (the ends) which are also cut out and form the ends of the moulds. The moulds are the vertical sheets spaced along the whole thing. In the bottom of these two pictures I am planing an angle so that the first planks can go on without big gaps.

Now, at this point I need to explain something about myself....I am a jeweller, for those of you who don't know, and in jewellery you do not leave gaps in surfaces to be joined, it's not a choice, it just doesn't work. In boat building you technically should make things fit properly but there is this stuff called epoxy. It's the glue you use to join everything. It's basically horrible, sticky, bit poisonous stuff but it is also GREAT at filling gaps! So, my helpful shipwright has been heard to say more than once "you don't need to be a jeweller about this, you can use epoxy". All very well though, his joins always meet perfectly.

The Stegosaurus

Finally, the bit I do understand...tools! The lofted lines are transferred onto a bit of 'soon to be boat' and cut out. Oh, actually, before this you need to build yourself a Stegosaurus. One option for building a boat is to start upside down. A structure - the Stegosaurus - needs to be built to hold the boat. It is a strong central spine with legs. On this you need to attach your moulds. They are spaced shapes of wood that follow the inner profiles of your boat. They allow you to lay the planks in the right place. Standing away from your creation once it is ready to support your boat you realise you have built a Stegosaurus.

Then...you can start cutting the base of your boat. Bumble has a flat bottom with three planks on each side. It is a very simple clinker hull.

Maths

I know, I know, after all those years of boring maths lessons when I complained that 'I would never use it in the real world', I found myself with a sore brain. Being a pretty creative being and able to visualise in 3D easily I discovered that that is not good enough when it comes to boat building. No, in boat building you have to sort of twist it all on it's head and have something that doesn't actually exist yet in your head in 3D. Then you have to translate that into 2D. That, my friends, is where the maths comes in.
Fortunately for me I had set about building a very simple boat and had my own personal shipwright to pester.
My boat, already named 'Bumble', was to be an 8ft long, very cute little sailing dinghy. Unique in it's design. All wood and a perfect size for a little fella like me to handle.
Anyway, where were we? Oh yes, the maths...It's called 'lofting'. You lay a large bit of paper or sheet of plywood down, and draw all the different angles and lines you are going to need to build your boat. Lines do not necessarily follow the curve you think they will, for example, a plank that in 3D curves nicely in a straight line around your boat, in 2D could actually be a wavy S shape. Like I said - maths - Pah!
So, there I was with a sore brain and although I couldn't do it again without help, I managed to loft my little boat.

Once upon a time there was a girl, her cat, a man and his dog. They all lived in a very special and magical home, a sailing boat called Gymea.
They had many adventures in their wonderful home.
The stories of this floating family will be revealed as we go along with my blog.
Suffice to say now, that for them, the time on Gymea has come to an end and there is a new horizon to head towards.
The girl is temporarily on dry land and is very much feeling the need for a dose of lapping water and wind in her hair. So...here begins the story of 'Bumble'......