A Completed Mando with a twist

Last week while the kids & I finished up our vacation at the beach, Randy came back home earlier in the week. He didn't want to use all his vacation in one week & he had something else he wanted to finish up- his latest mandolin!
It's officially complete! And it's officially sold & out of the house as of last night! It's a little bittersweet each time this happens. Randy works so hard on these instruments & then he gets a little attached to each one. He ALWAYS wants to keep it on some level but gives it up anyway. He wouldn't let the buyer come pick it up until I came home from the beach because I had the camera with me & he wanted pictures. Can't blame him there... We need something to remember the details of each one. So here are the final pictures of Moss Mandolin No. 8...


And are you ready for a huge twist? About a month or so ago, Randy had a message on our answering machine from another guy who was interested in a mandolin. Randy called him back & told him that he was finishing up one soon & he could come take a look/listen when it was complete. That man (we'll call him Joe) came over Friday night & loved the mandolin that Randy had built for the original buyer (we'll call him Craig). In fact, he really wanted it. But Randy couldn't sell it to him obviously because it was built for Craig. However, Joe told Randy he would pay him cash on the spot for the one Randy plays (Moss Mandolin #7). Randy hasn't built a mandolin since right after Eli was born because life just gets crazy & he hasn't had the time (plus he built a custom guitar for someone during those years instead). So mando #7 is about 4.5 years old & has remained Randy's because it fell & got a crack in it. Randy repaired it & just kept it for himself & you'd never know it was cracked in the first place. Even with all this information, Joe still wanted the mandolin, though & offered Randy only $500 less than what the brand new one was being sold for. Seriously? This deal is getting sweeter & sweeter!

Hang on though... It gets even better! Joe not only wants #7, but he also wants Randy to build him one too. Is your jaw dropping, yet? Mine did when Randy called me on our last night of vacation to tell me this! I just know this is the Lord providing for us! It's been a tough year!

(#7 on left with no pick guard, #8 on right with pick guard)

Randy had no reservations about building another, but wasn't as convinced on selling #7. If Joe takes #7, then Randy won't have one to play (which he plays daily), nor will he have anything to show his craftmanship if someone else is interested in a mandolin. If he builds Joe one first, then it will be well over a year before he will have another for himself. But, we think we have come to a conclusion. Randy will sell #7, and then instead of building mando #9 for Joe and then #10 for himself, he will take a little more time to complete, but will build #9 & #10 together! Then in about 8 months or so, should have one to sell and one to keep! Let's hope this plan works out! :)

So, we of course, had to take pictures of them both before they were gone!!


This will be the last time for awhile that Randy holds one of his own custom built mandos! He looks thrilled, eh?!
But i have to say that I am so proud of his hard work and talent! He is truly a gifted man to be able to get something so beautiful in sound & aesthetics from one block of wood! It is crazy & magical all at the same time! Great job, babe!

Staining the Mando

Several weeks back, I posted that Randy was getting ready to start staining the mandolin, then the rest of the work would only be in the finish- meaning the sanding/laquering/sanding/laquering. Last week, he began the staining process and I took some pictures for you all to see how this goes!

Basically it is layering of two shades of dye and sometimes his own mixture of the two to get the shade he is looking for.
When he gets it pretty close to the way he likes it, he then takes an airbrush to fill in & fine tune the staining just the way he likes it. No pics for that - I think i was in the bed at that point! :)

While he is staining it, it is inevitable that he is going to get stain all over the white binding (the outer edge). So, after the staining is complete, he begins the dreaded scraping. He has to scrape all the dye off of the binding around both the front & back of the mandolin. (He hates this part & does a lot of screaming!)



It takes a lot of patience and concentration. Something I am not very good at myself, but we all know Randy is the more laid back of this pair, right!?

So now he has started the clear coat to seal it which means lots of layers of spraying and sanding in between coats. Once that is complete & dried/hardened for about a week or so, the mando will be finished! Wahoo! I will post complete pictures for you of course! So stay tuned!

Almost There...

Randy is almost ready to string up Mando #8!!

He is ready for it to be over too! This has been a tiring process this go round! This is the first mandolin he has built since being in our new house so the set up isn't nearly the same as having his own shop back at Ironwood. Add that to the month long hiatus when he had Bells Palsy & this has been quite an ordeal. He has been sprawled out over the dining room table for months rather than having his own table to work at out in the garage. I guess we know what he needs for Father's Day- his own shop! Wishful thinking, though!!

But, I am ready to have my dining room back, and I think Randy is ready to have some of his spare time back - not to mention compensation for his labor of love!

Here are a few pics I took tonight so he could email the latest progress to the customer he is building it for....

The hardest part is over- the inlay work. And yes, he cut it out by hand! He is so talented!

The scroll has also got a beautiful crest to it now as well!

The F holes....
After he strings it up to make sure the sound is right, puts one final piece of binding on the back, & then begins the staining & varnishing, it will be done! Can't wait to see how much more beautiful it will become! (That's when it gets hard for him to give them over to someone else! :)

Randy Bon Jovi

Who needs Jon Bon Jovi, when you are married to Randy? This video is just a little snippet of my life with him. And this is one of the reasons I love him so, because he keeps me laughing. And i am sure this is a side of him that many of you could have never imagined. Those of you who only see him in his shy, reserved self. But, at home, he lets loose...... Here's the proof. This was the boys bath time & I couldn't resist recording once he started singing....

2 Forgotten Projects!

When i was uploading pictures to my computer to update the blog- i realized that i had forgotten 2 projects that i wanted to share. The first one i completed MONTHS ago & i have it hanging in my laundry room. I have always had a problem with where to put that single sock when it is missing it's partner. Now i have a place.... introducing my "lost socks" board....
Not only is it cute, but it is super functional. It really works to help me keep the socks handy until the wayward sock shows up. The kids even look for their socks there if they are missing one. This idea wasn't original to me- i , of course, found it in the blogosphere somewhere! I painted a scrap board we had, then adhered the vinyl letters (cut with the Cricut). I painted & covered clothespins with scrapbooking paper & then glued them to the board with E6000 glue. That stuff is amazing. Voila!

The other forgotten project wasn't really forgotten as much as set aside. Randy made this table for me from plans we found at www.knockoffwood.com . We LOVE that site & have gotten very inspired by it. I wanted a Lego table & the plan was to make the table, paint it & then adhere a lego mat to the top. Randy did his part, but i dropped the ball. BIG time. It has been in the garage for about 3 months now. I started to paint it red, but i hated it that color & i had to brush the red on which was taking too long & i would have to use several coats. Blahhhhh. So i left it alone. Then i decided one day that i had looked at it long enough. I grabbed the can of black spray paint that i had in the garage & got to spraying. In less than an hour (including dry time)... the sucker was painted. So i glued on the lego mat (again with E6000 glue) And hauled it upstairs to the playroom & stashed the lego bin underneath. The rest is history. The kids have done a LOT of building already! SUCCESS!
Although, Jackson did mention this morning that he wished it was blue. Sorry, buddy!

Never play Play-doh with an artist....

.... unless you want to develop an inferiority complex. Seriously! I was working on a sewing project (more to come on this later!) one evening & Randy took it upon himself to join in with the boys, playing with Play-Doh. I came around the corner & this is what i found....He said it was "calming" playing with the dough. He also told the boys that his sculpture was an old man because every old man had a big nose! LOL! Here is the completed OLD MAN....
About 10 seconds after i took this picture, he put the old man in his hand & squished him all up. It was a sad moment- and i could have NEVER done that!

Built from scratch....

Brace Yourself:

We built a bed.
From Scratch.

Can you believe it? I hardly can! I have been stalking this blog for awhile called Knock Off Wood. You have to go visit this site! It is a woman, Ana, whose passion is carpentry (self taught) and she comes up with knock off plans that match the high dollar pottery barn, crate & barrel, etc furniture for next to nothing compared to the real deal. She gives the plans for free & loves to compare the finished peices to the real deal. Our specific plan for this bed was called the farmhouse bed with an arch... you can view it here if you are interested! What would have cost us literally thousands from pottery barn, we were able to build ourselves for $150- total. That includes screws, wood putty, wood, wood glue, nails, etc. ALL for $150. And it looks fabulous! We started with all this wood....
We borrowed Randy's brother's miter saw because his had a laser & would make a bigger cut than his. So then, Randy gave me a "miter saw tutorial." I have to admit, at first just the noise was intimidating. But once i did one cut & saw how easy it was, i insisted on making all the rest of the cuts! It was empowering!! Yep- that's me working a POWER TOOL! It was quite easy, actually. Knock off Wood's plans made it simple. She laid out all the cuts you needed to make & labeled them with a letter so that the plan to put them together worked just like a puzzle. First off choose the right size wood piece (i know way too much about cuts of wood at this point...2x4, 2x6, 1x6, etc....) and label your board.... (by the way, if you wanted, the home improvement store will cut your peices for you for a minimal price per cut if you didn't have a saw)Then measure your length.....
and line up the laser on the miter saw- slightly to the right of the mark (according to carpenter Randy) for a more accurate measurement...Then, (if you want to be organized about this whole affair) stack your like pieces together (all A's together, B's together, etc....)

Then you get out your nail gun & wood glue & get to work! The only hang up we had with this project was the 4x4 posts. Lowes didn't have any 4x4's that weren't treated. So, we made 4x4s out of (2) 2x4's. But this was a lengthy process. It took Randy the entire time it took me to make ALL the cuts for the project just to make 4 bed posts. First he ran each 2x4 over the joiner (for a more flush connection between the 2 boards... Then, he glued & screwed the 2x4's together (countersinking the screws so we could putty over them later & you wouldn't see them). Then he ran them over the joiner a second time... Here is the difference in how they looked before....
and after.... (see? You can't really tell that they were glued together! Perfect! And after finishing the piece of furniture, you really can't tell at all!) I have such a smart hubby!



And what were the kids doing while we were working??? Well, They played a lot in the garage with us while we worked AND covered their ears when we had to work any power tools!
Anyway..back to the project! We took each panel piece for the headboard & footboard & chiseled off a little on the sides to give it more of a finished edge before attaching the piece.
When we attached... we used wood glue first & then the nail gun to secure it immediately. This is the beginning of our headboard!
The arch to the headboard was "free form!" Randy drew out one half with a pencil, then cut it out...
And he used the first half for a template for the second half to make sure the arch was even. Again.. SMART hubby!
Proud of the arch!!!
Then we used the nail gun & some more wood glue to attach the arch & the bottom of the panel. Again, that's ME with a another power tool. I LOVED the nail gun!
Here's another look at the headboard in progress....
We had to predrill some holes on the 4x4 posts in order to attach them to the headboard & foot board panels.... I don't love the screw driver as much. I used it a little, but mainly left that to Randy!

Here is the finished headboard!! (Jackson took this picture for us!)
After this, we moved onto the footboard & completed it just the same as the headboard minus the arch. Then attached the side rails & cleats. We decided we had better check to make sure our bed fit it properly before doing any sanding/finishing stuff. So, we moved our box spring down to the garage for a few minutes just to be sure!!
Once we knew it would fit, we puttied all the screw and nail holes and sanded....
Then we painted it an antique white that we scored off the return paint section at Lowes awhile back. ($5!!). After that i painted on a faux glaze.....
And then wiped it off... can you see the difference? It makes it have a much more "aged" look to it. I loved it!

Once it dried.... we hauled it upstairs & set it up!! Isn't it fabulous? I don't think i've ever been so proud of a project (or loved it so much!!)


We are going to paint the walls eventually, but for now, i am totally pleased!! It is a MUCH higher sitting bed now, which i have always loved. Jackson had to give Eli a lift up there! And you see who else was working on getting up there too....

Don't worry, Zack got his turn to try it out too...


He even got to stay there until bedtime! Lucky dog!