The New Year in Russia...

Well, not exactly "in" Russia. I just got back to work on the Russian cottage this morning. It's Walter's birthday and he is going to play golf in weather under 30°. I am staying inside where it's warm and cozy. I think that that makes more sense.

The first thing that I did this morning was paint the orange bead with antique copper Folk Art paint. It is going to need a few coats, but it looks pretty good. I have to hunt up the other bead that size. Tessie is already whining that she doesn't have samovar. "Why does April get a samovar and I don't? You like April better than me...."

You know the routine. Now I am just waiting for the paint to dry.

While waiting I hunted around and found the Faberge egg and the hedgehogs that April claimed on Christmas day.

The egg was a kit that someone gave me years ago. I have never had any place to use it, so it spent a long time in one of the printer's drawers on the wall of the workroom.

After looking at it, I am thinking of trying a few of my own. I am not sure what the original egg was made of, but I don't see why I couldn't use poly clay to do that part.

The stand is a couple of jewelry findings and the decoration on the sides is just a very small finding and a stick on "diamond". I suspect that that was originally a fingernail decoration.


I did find the balalaika. I had put it in the leftovers basket. Not a good place for it. It did survive though.

The hedgehogs started out as kittens made from pussy willow seeds. At least I was calling them kittens.

When April saw them, she imediately christened them hedgehogs. She is right. They do look a lot more like baby hedgehogs than kittens. Poke the photo if you want to see them closer.

The only serious work that I have done this morning is...I finished bricking the foundation. As soon as the glue is a little dryer, I will use a ball stylus on all of the seams and then paint them.

I guess I had better go back to work.

Happy New Year!!!
See you tomorrow.

No Strings Attached....

The balalaika is finished....Except for strings. I am going to have to see if I can find some mono filament nylon at one of the bead stores or maybe fishing line....I am not sure that either has it this small. This may be a problem. It is as fine as my hair!

The original has the strings stretched tight enough that when you use the attached pick to strum, you actually get a nice plinking sound.

I am not sure if I am going to be able to duplicate that part.

I did fair on the rest. Next time I will give it a coat of varnish before I start the decorative painting. The fine tipped pen that I used fuzzed out a bit.

Tessie is pleased and has temporarily fudged by putting a spell on the instrument so that it "plays" without strings.

After I finished the balalaika, I decided it was time to glue the stove addition to the cottage.

Tessie and Zar decided to celebrate. Any excuse for a party. Zar drifted in with a jug that I suspect is filled with vodka, in honor of the occasion.

They are settled in the cottage singing and drinking and waiting for the glue to dry.

Meanwhile the real world is crowding in and I have gone back to Monday cleaning and laundry.

I would much rather be working on the cottage, but I don't like being buried up to my neck in dirty dishes. So....First things first. Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

For Your Entertainment

This morning I received a note from my friend Drora, telling me that I needed a balalaika for the cottage. She pointed out that they are, many times, painted in the manner of the ceramic hand that I showed you yesterday.

I told her that I do have one, but I am not allowed to take it out of it's frame. April wouldn't be happy if I did.....So.....I decided to take a try at copying it.

I measured it, made notes and started cutting wood. It is a complicated little thing. Mine is not going to be nearly as nice as the original, but I am going to see what I can come up with.

There are a lot of very small, little, fiddly pieces to contend with.

I cut the body from a piece of 3/8 balsa. That was the only wood that I had that was thick enough. I think that the original is a chunk of either cherry or maybe mahogany. It's hard to tell with the thing pinned down so that I can't turn it over. I used maple and cherry for the face and end of the body. The little neck piece is also cherry. All of the knobs and bridges were cut from toothpicks. The more that I looked at the original, the more pieces I discovered that had to be cut.

After all of the cutting was done, I started putting the pieces together. I got as far as getting the neck on and the little tuning keys for the strings in place. I clamped it together with hair clips and went away to let the glue dry.

I still have to put on all of the details, varnish and do the decorative painting.

I think that is about as far as I am going today. The rest of the day is going towards finishing socks.


When I went back to check on the progress of the glue, here's what I found....

Tessie was "pretend" strumming what there was of the balalaika and singing "Moscow Nights" to herself.

She looked up at me and announced...."This one is MINE. If April wants one, tell her to get her own!"

It looks like I may be making a second one. Oh well. The more that I make,hopefully, the better they will be....Let Tessie have the first one.

See you tomorrow.