Thanksgiving, Stick Carvings, Being poor and social mobility

Thanksgiving

I used to be a Jehovah's Witness. They don't celebrate holidays. This week was one of the first Thanksgivings I've had. Others I've had didn't really count because they were either meals I cooked for myself only or I was out to eat with one other person. I ate with my mom and her boyfriend's family. It wasn't all that special and I regard it as I do most social situations -- I don't care much for people. Almost all social interactions are full of lies. You greet people attacking and defending yourself with lies and fake smiles. People faux empathize and participate in synchronized emotional mimicry out of the need to be 'socially appropriate'. Luckily, I didn't stay long enough to participate in this.

On the Unlikely Success of Stick Carving

My woodwork using mostly stick is not likely to make money, not because it isn't attractive, but because social circles have it that its not cool to pay for sticks. The story of my life. Nearly everything I do is good but unconventional and therefore likely to be ridiculed.

Tooth Fillings

I've been experimenting with tooth fillings.

 

I tried both the Eugenol Zinc Oxide Powder combination and Dentemp. Both work about the same, Dentemp being slightly better at hardening. THEY ARE TEMPORARY so it will be a weekly procedure. In Georgia dental health is pathetic. Most people have either lost a tooth or have a rotting one in their 20s.

Unstable Home

I am currently 'homeless'. That is I do not live in one particular place. My stuff, time, and sleep is spread out between my Dad, Mom, and Dad's house. With people being strapped for cash AND happiness (can't emphasize this enough) they tend to seek victims onto which to pour their misery in the form of a sort of torture. When you live with someone else it is customary to first define rules and limits SO AS TO KEEP THE PEACE. However, in my case there are no rules just invisible expectations. So if I can not be satisfactory one day I get berated and possibly threatened to be thrown out. Basically, if the house owner is angry they can come home and make up a fault they have with me and begin to release their discontent with their lives. This comes mostly from the WOMEN who have any sort of authority in my life. My grandmother is SO FAR an exception.

On Being Poor and Social Mobility

I do not mind being poor. I do not mind staying poor. POVERTY is NOT the problem. The extra stuff that comes with being poor is the problem. It is difficult to elevate yourself from being poor but the problem of social mobility is much more subtle than that. It seems that no amount of culture, knowledge, or skill can absolve your from the despair of OTHER poor people. I am a highly educated guy. I dibble and dabble in everything so IN ISOLATION I enjoy myself well. I will always have a hobby. Right now it is listening to Maurice Ravel and carving. I'll eventually get back to physics textbooks and before that perhaps I'll survey 'black' music. However, my relatives and friends don't have this vision and they inevitably disturb me.

Quick Carving, Mannequin, and Moonshine

Quick Carving

I have come up against a wall. The wood with which I'm working is in terrible shape. Basically it is sticks previously inhabited by ants and other bugs. So most of the hardness has been compromised as well as the 'carve-able' amount. I HAVE BEEN LIMITED! I can pretty much only carve small and quick items: rings, earrings, cuff links, necklace charms, etc. Bracelets and three piece composite crafts...but bracelets getting back to my original train of thought CAN be done BUT I have to be EXTREMELY lucky. Making bracelets especially bangles OR any bracelets with any considerable thickness or width, that is, the length from the wrist bones to where ever the bracelet ends on the arm above the wrist bones, REQUIRES incredible amount of skill. Its possible but tedious and I REPEAT I WILL HAVE TO BE LUCKY. It is rare to find fallen branches, sticks, and etc that haven't been inhabited by ants or is mealy/crumbly.

Mannequin

As part of my hustles I've decided to use a sewing machine my grandma gave me to make dresses and anything else for that matter. Here's a picture of my mannequin.

Moonshine

I have had the opportunity to try Midnight Moon Apple Pie Flavor. NOT BAD! THE BEST LIQUOR I'VE HAD EVER. Beware! It is strong in both flavor and alcohol content.

Heart

I had high ambitions for this piece of woodwork but the wings and halo are difficult to make and I had to sacrifice them for the need to produce in short time. I still have to find some elegant way to hang it around a neck.

A Few Notes on Wine

I DO NOT LIKE OR I LIKE LEAST OF ALL WINES I'VE TASTED MERLOT. TOO BITTER.

Ok so I only wanted the Hold up wait a minute part but the point is I'm not done yet.

Tooth Filling

I did a temporary filling this week. I have quite a few fillings to do actually. The temporary filling works pretty well. I got the video off of youtube.

Cigarette Paper

Another thing I've been working on is cigarettes. I've come up with smoke blends and I need papers and either mouth pieces or filters. 

Food Chart and Shoe Rubber

I signed up at the local food bank last week. They don't give you much. I got a lot of green beans, squash, some stale cookies, trail mix, peanut butter, canned beans, a box of cornflakes, and some other canned goods. I'm trying to save as much money as possible. This would be a lot easier if I had food stamps. (I'm working on it.) I managed to come up with a tentative plan for what to do with all of this food. In theory it is supposed to last me until Dec. 19. That is when I'm due to pick up more food from the food bank. I made a spreadsheet document:



So far I've bought:
1 pack of chicken drumsticks $2.68
bag of garlic                           $1.69
1 pack of mushrooms             $1.89
1 rutabaga                               $2.18
1 tomato                                  $0.72
1 onion                                    $0.62
1 butternut squash                   $2.02

A butternut squash and a rutabaga is a surprisingly large amount of food used in this manner. The file is mostly a list of ingredients to use for certain meals of the day. The creative process is simple. Diced veggies with or without meat sauteed as they are or as part of a sauce and eaten with or without a side dish. The key is to work with the inherent flavors of the ingredients and build a final taste based on what spices and condiments you have on hand. So far I've made:

Etsy Store

I opened an Etsy store this week. Let's see how this goes. Go to Etsy.com and search for TheFern. That's the name of my shop. You'll find all of the rings I've made as well as the bracelet and their prices. I've figured out that if this is the only thing I can make try and make money from I'll have to speed up production significantly. A temporary ambition is to produce about $300 worth of crafts a week unless my dressmaking skills manage to be decent.

Shoe Rubber

I bought a pair of $13 shoes at CitiTrends a while . I like them a lot. They're a pair of Lions Crest by English Laundry.

The problem is that the bottom is too slippery. When I drive with them on they tend to slip off of the pedals so I just drive with socks and slip them on when I get out. I found a solution or I hope.

The local high school once had an asphalt track for track and field. They recently topped it with rubber made from old tennis shoes. Some of the rubber is off to the side of the track in crumbles.

I picked some up and with some gorilla glue

Lets see how this goes.

Twisted Flattened Torus and Dress Material.

Twisted Flattened Torus

After I finished the ring with slant grooves I was inspired to do a more complex design. The original conception was a ring around a ring. That IS what it is technically. Upon trying to find a more accurate name I got close with a Google search for twisted torus.

It turns out a twisted torus Google search hit close to home -- I'm a physics major -- by having this 

as an image result. RELATIVITY! Relativity is perhaps the most difficult stuff I've ever studied (In my free time) notation-wise. I didn't get to take a course in Relativity while I was in college. Enough of that though. Here's the ring

You see the green stone inlay wraps around the ring. It goes at an angle around the inside and outside. I'm sure there is a more accurate mathematical description and much more mathematical and theoretical physics related implications of such an arrangement. (unbounded geodesics of a torus) I should look into this. The stone is a chlorite schist. I was lucky enough to find this in my mom's driveway.

THERE IS BEAUTY EVERYWHERE. THIS is how the person who represents himself with the AYA is able to subsist. Resourcefulness is born from creativity and the perception of beauty/usefulness everywhere. Hey! This could begin a philosophical treatise on the link between beauty and utility. But wait! Last post I painted myself as a child-like explorer of the world who loves cartoons. Ha! It is still the case. So after I write this treatise I can 

Dress Material

So in addition to my found wood carving I am trying to make dresses and possibly other clothes. This

is one of the dresses I designed. I picked up the fabric this week. Both are polyester. One is costume magenta and the other is satin black.

 My grandmother gave me a sewing machine ten years or so ago and so I figured I'd use it.

Okra In a Can

Okra In a Can:

One day this week I  wanted to have some fried okra with my meal but I was low on cooking oil. When I say low I mean low. I only had about a quarter cup of oil. So I took an empty condensed tomato soup can ( It was skinnier than the standard bean can. It was the 10 3/4 oz size ... very important ) and put the oil in it and fried a few okra at a time. Here's a picture:

I laughed a bit while cooking. So unconventional. It worked. 

SUCCESS!

Two Rings:

I made two rings this week. This one:

and this one

Both are made from sticks. The same one Evennnnnn ...

The first I stained with English Chestnut woodstain and did an inlay with citrine -- an orange quartz. ( I think its citrine I'll have to do more research to be sure.) I finished it with a clear satin polyurethane. The second is just one with slant grooves. It too is finished with a clear satin polyurethane. Here are some templates all from the same stick:

They'll fit ring sizes around 8 to 9. 

Plums, Black-eyed peas, & rice:

Lastly, I wanted a snack one day as I cooked some rice and black-eyed peas and made a plum sauce. The plum sauce had garlic, seasoned salt, pepper, and sugar. I drank some cheap red wine with it. Hey! Why does wine taste better warm?

Food & a Bracelet

Quality groceries are almost always scarce in these times. This past week though I was able to make meals from some unexpected ingredients. Examples include: Tacos & Meatloaf.

Tacos

I had sesame oil, used canola oil, Louisiana hot sauce, cheap chili powder, expired mixed salad greens, some mild cheddar, some cheap sausage patties, a can of corn, a can of Del Monte diced tomatoes, salt, and pepper. I had to defrost the sausage and chop it into cubes. I sauteed it in 50/50 sesame oil and canola oil. I added the seasonings along with the tomatoes and corn. I let the liquid cook off from the tomatoes. I filled my shells withe the result and topped it with the salad and cheese. The salad greens were still reasonably fresh. I gave them a quick rinsing before use. This is the result.

Meatloaf:

Before I begin here is a picture of the ingredients I used.

I used more of the sausage patties. I diced the sausage, mixed it with diced squash from a food bank, three eggs, some crushed sesame bread sticks and placed in an oiled pan. I had mashed potatoes also from a food bank, and canned spinach. Canned spinach is TERRIBLE and difficult to make tasty unless put in a soup of some kind. Anyway, for a gravy I cooked about a handful of lentils sauteed them in the canola sesame oil combo ... CAN YOU TELL I LOVE SESAME OIL ... added some chicken bouillon, flour and water. Oh the spinach was just seasoned with soy sauce.

Bracelet

I'm broke. I'm just being honest (in my Future voice) ... so what did I do? I found a possible way to make money. I figured well what do I have lots of? Sticks! Fallen lumber! I'll make things with a knife and a few other tools. So far I've made this bracelet you see. I'm gonna try and sell it on Etsy.