I Can't Believe I Did It

     I have been writing this week, amongst other things, but writing in order to finish up The Patchwork Knight. I think the chapter I wrote today, may be one of the best one I have written. It is bringing everything together, and getting ready for the culmination of the entire story. The next chapter is going to be filled with action and an event that will be the final turning point in the story. Then it is all a matter of wrapping it up and putting a nice bow on it. I know that I have at the very least, two more chapter to write, but that could turn into three possibly four. I'm not real sure as of right now, so it will all be up to how the story takes me to the end. Nothing is changing from my original thoughts of the ending, it is just a matter of getting exactly where I see it, and that could be 2 chapters or 4. Either way, it is all coming to an end very soon.

     I also worked on the bookcase wand stand, and I'm pretty pleased with what I accomplished today. I of course got all the wood and most of the supplies that I needed yesterday, and began working on it this morning. I cut out all the pieces, then sanded them into shape, and did a mock up of the entire thing. I have to say, that it looks better than I thought it would, and I still have a lot to do to it. I have changed my mind about exactly how I'm putting it together. I was going to use screws, but I decided against that, because it will just take away from the appearance that I want, so I'm going to create dowel pins to put it together, and yes, I'm making them myself. It's not going to be easy, and I have to go out and buy a dowel rod that is the right size for what I want tomorrow, then I have to cut the pins to the right size. A little sanding will be in order to get them to fit right, but once I have them done, I can begin drilling the holes for it, and to a partial assembly of the bookcase wand stand. I say partial, because I don't want final assembly to happen yet, I still have things that I will need to do to it, while it is taken apart. Anyway, I got some pictures of today's progress. See for yourself, and let me know what you think of it.

     I only have the Deathly Hallows symbol drawn on at this point, and that is my next task. I have to begin etching that out. I need to do that will it is unassembled so that it is easier to get to. Once that is done, I can do that partial assembly I talked about. When I do that, that is when I can get to some serious sanding, and get all the lines to match up. Right now it is really close, but it needs to be better. I'm also going to shape those hard edges too. I'm not completely sure how those are going to look when it's done, but I'm going to let the wood talk to me. It will let me know what it needs.

     I am a little shocked that I pulled it off so far. I really wasn't sure I could do this, even after all the test pieces that I did, but it looks pretty good. I even began thinking of how much I would sell a piece like this if people wanted one of their own, and I figured with the cost of the material, and the time I put into it. I could probably sell it for $99. It seems like a lot, but when you consider that Universal is selling a small wand stand that is either made out of metal or plastic for $60, that only holds one wand. I think $99 is a steal. Plus this will hold all the books as well. What better way to show of your fandom than a bookcase that you can display your wand or wands on. Speaking of the actual wand stand part of it. I simplified what I'm going to do for that. I had this idea for a very complicated way of creating my own stand, and I'm still creating my own, I just made it easier, by buying a think piece of dowel rod, that I'm going to sculpt for what I want. It's not just going to be a straight stick going up in the air, I'm going to put some fun curve into it. I even have an idea of adding something else to it, but I'm going to keep that a secret for now. I'll let you know what it is after I've decided whether or not to do it, but it could be fun.

     To give you an idea of what the entire thing will look like when it's fully completed, I clear coated those smaller test pieces, and finally finished them up. Here is what they look like now.

     I learned a lot during this whole process, and I no a few things not to do when I finally get ready to clear coat the bookcase wand stand. I'm going to take my time with that and get it exactly the way I want it before I hand it over to Elie. As for that piece on the left, that will be given to her the next time I see her. I still haven't figured out what I'm going to do with mine yet. It's a little too big to use as a coaster, but it will serve some kind of purpose, once I figure out what that purpose is.

     That's all I got tonight. Peace in and goodnight.