Big praise for small stones, Part 1

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I gravitate to (but don't necessarily enjoy) projects that require 1) a lot of time and 2) little bits of things to be rearranged into something else.  I'm also cheap (these days by necessity), so if I can make something out of little bits of nothing, I'm pretty happy.  The adobe walls of the cabin are set on a concrete block stem wall which sticks out on the exterior and is indented on the interior. How to cover the unattractive concrete and spend little money?  The original idea... rocks, stones & pebbles.

Scrounging around my mom's house looking for furniture, I found a box of small saltillo tiles.  These are low fired unglazed tiles that have colors very similar to the brick floor and burnt adobe walls - perfect!  I cut the tiles into triangles, sealed them thoroughly and set them with thinset.  I made sure to leave a large space under the tiles to allow for expansion of the bricks during the winter when the solar gain through the windows will heat the room, and the rest of the cabin. 

The rest of the area was filled with small stones and pebbles from around the yard, again set with thinset.  It's a puzzle finding stones to fit the spaces, but the overall look is quite nice - very natural.  Of course, the hard part will be the grouting...  Stay tuned for Part 2.

Dividends in the form of caps

After collecting over 17,000 caps from friends and strangers around the country, I have quite a nice bottlecap collection - an unforseen dividend from the mural project.  I wanted to display the collection, but cruising the internet only provided unattractive (coffee tables) or permanent  (glue and epoxy) options.  I wanted something attractive, with the ability to move my caps around.  I came up with the following design - easy to do and not too expensive.  I had all the materials in the shed; the only purchase was the magnets (about $30 for 400).

The caps are placed on magnets set on top of wooden disks.  The extra height provides some dimension to the display and gives good finger grip when moving caps.  The 389 disks were cut from wooden dowels.


The back of the display is a piece of 1/2" plywood.  I measured out 1 1/4" squares in an offset grid so that the magnets (and caps) would be evenly spaced.  After making the grid, I glued 1/2" square trim around the edges, nothing fancy, but it gives a nice border to the display board.



Glueing the disks was pretty straightforward.  I used wood glue since each disk wasn't going to hold a lot of weight. I wasn't too worried about centering perfectly because the caps could be moved around on the magnets - tweaking would be easy to do by hand.






Glueing the magnets was a bit trickier.  When designing the board, I forgot one of the most important aspects of magnets, their magnetic properties towards one another.  Adjacent magnets would repel one another and slip off the disks before the glue (E-6000) set.  So, the magnets had to be glued every other row - it took about 3 days to finish this step.



Here I am placing caps on the finished display board.  Quite nice, if I say so myself.  The finished board has room for about 25 more caps, but since everything is painted black (see the top photo), you don't really notice the empty spots.  I can move caps around to my hearts content and everything is at eye level.  If the caps get dirty, I can pop them off and wash them.  The only downside to the board is that it is quite a bit heavier than one would expect.  I wouldn't suggest using thinner plywood, however (it warps easily). 

The ghost dog in the kitchen

Excuse the mess, I'm working!

Things are progressing in the kitchen, and before it gets too built up, I've decided to install the mosaic above the counter in the kitchen.  As described in a previous post, the idea was to have a long mural placed over of the bond-beam concrete.  As it is now (see photo above), it's pretty unattractive; half is a strip of concrete, half is a mix of concrete, stones and brick.  The colors of the mosaic will blend well with the burnt adobe and the overall darkness of this corner.

An aside: eventually, I hope to make wine here and when that day comes, I'll need a label.  In a previous post, I described the Ghost Dog, and I've been thinking about logos.  I've come up with the design shown at left.  The main body is ceramic tile with bits of mirror for stars and glass nuggets for leaves.  The ghost dog will be cut from pale yellow glass.

The mosaic has made ahead of time in IL, using the same technique used on the mosaic on the kitchen floor (see previous post).  The mosaic will be cut into manageable pieces, packed into a box, and taken to NM for installation.

Stay tuned for photos of the installation and end results.



By the way, big Yea! to Southwest Airlines for allowing me two free boxes of weird stuff each time I fly to Alb.  I have slowly moved  nearly an entire household box by box on SWA over the past two years and the airline staff have never been anything but super positive.

Garden Update / May 2011

Boxes of chilies, off the plane and ready for planting

Another gardening year begins in NM, or more accurately, began last month.  The big issue this year will be the drought (so far no rain since last November) and the browsing in the garden and orchard as they search for food.  My sister checked the garden this week and said some of the lavender plant have been ripped out and the veggie beds have evidence of "tampering".  The footprints were from javalina, and I know they move around a lot looking for water when the creek stops running. Things are going to be tough until I get the fence up in back and the wall up in front.  Sigh.

One old bed and one new, before planting

The garden is in and growing well.  We have 5 varieties of chile this year, along with some beans and squash.  Last fall, the javalina ate all my pumpkins and in their rummaging tossed a few popcorn cobs around.  My sister said some of the corn is volunteering this year and I'm happy about that.  Last year was the first time I ever planted strawberry popcorn, and it was hands down, the best popcorn I ever tasted.

This year I made two new vegetable beds and they, along with last year's bed, were augmented with manure from Sally, the horse next door.  Because I have limited fencing, only two of the beds were planted.  Still, that's a lot of beans and chili!

Grape cutting with cobble mulch & deer protection

The fruit trees are ok, but the dry winter was tough on them.  I turn the irrigation off in Nov, so they had no water through mid April, when I turned on the system again. It looks like I may have lost a few, but it's too early to tell for sure.  My sister reports that some of the trees are sprouting now, but she can't tell if it's from above or below the graft union. If those trees are gone, I think I'll plant some blackberries in their places.  Amazingly, the one tree (a peach, Rio Oso Gem) that has given me the most trouble from the beginning (poor growth, resists training, ect) is doing really well; silly tree. The grapes from my mother's house are quite happy and very cute.