Wood Turning: The King

Remember last year when I learned woodturning? I was going to make a chess set for my final project but that didn't pan out. I did, however, get myself a birch dowel (1-1/8 in by 3 ft) from Woodcraft for $7.99 and a metric measuring tape. Why metric? Because the design I found for my chess piece was from the UK.

Specially, from Ridgeway Woodcraft.

Given that I'm about to graduate and I had a couple of free days after finals, I decided to put my wood turning skills to the test.

The original dowel

The blank, measured to 100mm.

Up on the lathe. I'm still not convinced this was on straight. 

Straight cuts are the easiest. So good, so far.

Here's where things got weird. I didn't have a tool that was 3mm in width so I guessed at the angles and the smaller diameter rings.

Frankly, I'm surprised the dowel didn't break at the thin points. I shaved down the angled parts and the ring that will become the cross. Part of the cross snapped off (you can see the middle ring isn't circular) but that didn't matter.

The middle ring was cut with the bandsaw on two sides to form the cross. I then sanded down the top and bottom edges. 

My piece isn't, strictly speaking, straight - I'm bad on both the bandsaw and the sander. I do like my king, though, and I'm glad I took the two hours to work on this project.

The Celtic Cross Counted Cross Stitch - Part 10

*trumpets*

It's done! The stitching is done!

By the end of April 25, no less. 

I'm not *technically* done. Beyond ironing it flat, I also need to stitch it to horizontal poles to finish it. 

Still, the stitching is done!

The Celtic Cross Counted Cross Stitch - Part 9

The outline was completely done by Wednesday. The only thing left to do is the inner decoration.

Sadly, I do prefer working the outline to working the inner part. It's easier to do. Luckily the inner decoration doesn't take long nor does it use much thread. I'm almost out of thread.

The Celtic Cross Counted Cross Stitch - Part 8

One week left to go...

The Celtic Cross Counted Cross Stitch - Part 7

Some of the stitches are loose and I can't fix it easily. They don't look bad but it still annoys me. They also aren't that noticeable so I'm going to leave them alone unless they start coming out.

The Celtic Cross Counted Cross Stitch - Part 6

It's slow going with two weeks left...

The progress looks more impressive than it is.

I figure if I can finish both arms, the center part, and some of the top by Friday, then I'm in good shape.

The Celtic Cross Counted Cross Stitch - Part 5

After nearly six months, I'm back to work on this project.

This is what it looked like last October:

The left arm was over by one to the right and I didn't know where the mistake was. My near panic attack made me put the cross stitch down for six months.

But now I'm back! I found the mistake, removed most of the left arm and restitched everything.

I'll put the end date as... April 25? Two and a half weeks seems reasonable.

The Cypher Cross Stitch - Master Post

The Cypher Cross Stitch Master Post

The Cypher Cross Stitch Part 1 - March 1, 2014

The Cypher Cross Stitch Part 2 - March 2, 2014

The Cypher Cross Stitch Part 3 - March 4, 2014

The Cypher Cross Stitch Part 4 - March 10, 2014

The Cypher Cross Stitch Part 5 - March 11, 2014

The Cypher Cross Stitch Part 6 - March 12, 2014

The Cypher Cross Stitch Part 7 - March 15, 2014

The Cypher Cross Stitch Part 8 - March 17, 2014

The Cypher Cross Stitch Part 9 - March 20, 2014

The Cypher Cross Stitch Part 10 - March 24, 2014

The Cypher Cross Stitch Part 11 - March 26, 2014

The Cypher Cross Stitch - Part 11

Hark upon the gale, y'all.

This project was finished last night on Tuesday March 25, 2014, one day ahead of schedule. Of course, I originally thought I would finish this by March 8 - over two and a half weeks ago!

I still need to iron and frame it but that's not going to happen until May. As far as I'm concerned, the cross stitch is finished.

I'm taking the rest of the month off before restarting on the Celtic Cross Stitch.

The Cypher Cross Stitch - Part 10

~William and Mary, loved of old~

As of Saturday March 23, 'William' is finished! That leaves only the royal crown to complete before Wednesday. I got this.