So, I know it's been a long time since I have posted, so I should post the New Year's letter to Caleb or the cute things my kids are doing or some profound thoughts, but instead I thought I would post some pictures of projects I have done either to get Alison to notice me (in the case of the earlier ones) or get Alison not to stop noticing me (in the case of the later ones). These are roughly in chronological order. Not pictured are a serious of increasingly better-made roses crafted from Mamba candy sculpted with a miniature ruler (they fell apart or were *ahem* thrown away unknowingly during a freezer clean-out), and a picture of Alison I drew. So, without further ado...
Back when we were in high school, Alison and I were in a large choir class together. Although she was next to me in concert order (which led to some hand-holding later on), I routinely sat a few rows in front of her. I liked to draw and had attempted a couple rather clumsy portraits in the past, and I opened my yearbook to find girls I thought would be good to do in pencil. Alison's face was one of the ones which stood out, especially with that gorgeous and still-captivating hair, so I drew her picture and passed it back one day during choir. The hours spent shading her upper lip* got me noticing her more than I had in the past, and in an effort to get her attention I began sending back/taking to her house little projects. I didn't get a picture of that drawing, and I really don't like looking at it now because it isn't perfect, so it isn't included here. While I'm on the subject of art, I also didn't get a picture of a pencil drawing I did of Caleb's hand holding Christ's hand that I gave Alison for Mother's Day in 2005.
I was getting into woodworking on a small scale, so I began making little objects out of balsa wood. Back then, the only tools I had to work with were one of those snap-off razor blade knives, sandpaper, and wood glue. The first few were weapon-themed; don't ask me why. Here are a broadsword and a halberd, each about four inches long.
I tried mortise-and-tenon and rabbet joining with this fine 3-inch chair. I think I was also up until about 2 am on a school night working on it.
I gave Alison this set around Easter of our senior year, and the note it came with was detached so she thought it was a crucifixion kit, which understandably was just a bit disturbing. In fact, it's a vampire killing kit. I think the mallet is about an inch long.
The summer after graduation I worked at the Phillips Petroleum refinery in Woods Cross, and one of my coworkers showed me some trees he was making out of copper wire. He showed me the basics, gave me some wire and started it for me, and I added some telephone wire to make this sort-of bonsai.
This one is just a Burger King kid's meal toy to which I added a balsa Book of Mormon. I gave this to her before I left, and technically it wasn't inspired by her since I made it before I really knew her.
A had also made this heart from lava rock before I really met Alison, but I gave it to her so I suppose it belongs in this post.
I rode almost three miles each way to get the materials to make this ring, which I used to propose to Alison in my apartment on May 2, 2008. We like to tell the other proposal story (when I used the diamond ring) because it's a better story (it involves my car headlights and paper cutouts of a Mitsubishi Eclipse and the moon), but I like this ring better because I made it.
I made this card out of construction paper while we were engaged. If you can't read it, the outside says "My hands may be freezing..."
and the inside says "...but my heart burns for you!" You can't really tell from the picture, but the little heart pops out when the coat is opened. The card reflects the outfit I was wearing the day I made it.
The park bench and lamppost (it's not a virus, I promise, although it sort of looks like one) were on the top of our wedding cake and were made from some sort of wire. Benches and lampposts have significance for us, which we could explain upon request.
This next one is the most special to me. While Caleb was sick, I had an image of this carving pop into my mind even though I knew I had nowhere near the skill to actually make it. I blocked it out anyway with my sad little tools, then for Christmas a couple years after I had the idea Alison gave me some carving tools for Christmas, and I was able to do the figures. I finished the base after my excellent coworker Russ gave me his old Dremel when he bought a new one. I gave it to Alison for Christmas of 2007. I didn't realize when I got the idea for this carving that Caleb was not going to live, so of course it is much more significant to us now as a promise of the future.
The Dremel has really expanded my horizons (so would a spindle sander and a drill press, if anyone wants gift ideas...). Last year was our 5th anniversary, which is the wood anniversary in the traditional gifting calendar. I just did these over the past few days out of bocote (an African hardwood) for us to wear, although I will need to either redo Alison's or do a couple of reinforcing dips in polyurethane because it has a small crack.
So, there you go. Oh, wait, there's one more. I made this for my nephew Tanner for Christmas; I'm including it because I think it's cool. I am planning one for Aaron, with bigger wheels. You can't tell how cool this really is because all the engineering is hidden.
So, yeah.
*Extra points if you got the allusion
