Concrete and more concrete

Concrete and more concrete

Oct 08

 

Yep, it’s been a really rainy Summer over here in good ol’ Ohio.

It’s October and I’m just now finishing up a concrete project here on the property that I planned to have had done in June or early July at the latest. The weather was more of a challenge than I anticipated this year.

This all started with a concrete pad that the previous owners had installed. The pad had cracked diagonally, and a chunk of the cement had to be removed last year to access the clean out port to our septic system (yes, they poured the pad over one of the septic system clean outs… sigh). The pad was an eye sore as well as a safety hazard with the chunk of concrete removed.

So I decided this was going to be the year to resurface the pad. Yeah, any normal person would buy a couple bags of cement resurfacer and squeegee it over the cracks and stuff to pretty it up and call it done. Nope, not me. I decided I’m going with a European worn cobblestone look with a hidden removable trap door over the septic clean out.

As I’m selling the idea to my wife, she requested I expand the project to include the grassy area between the sidewalk and the pad (from 100 sq. ft. of hardscaping to 254 sq. ft.). That turned out to be a great idea. Not only does it eliminate some precarious mowing, but it also makes for a much more natural walking path to the pad. It also gave me an excuse to use my Quickrete Country Stone Pattern pathmaker along with the new European Block Brick ones to add some extra detail to the project. Awesome!

I used about 70 eighty pound bags of Quickrete Crack Resistant concrete, 2 Quickrete European Block Brick forms, 1 Quickrete Country Stone Pattern form, 1 gallon of Quickrete High Gloss Sealer, and most importantly a concrete mixer from Harbor Freight to pull this project off.

The following pictures show the before and after of my efforts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I still need to put polymeric sand down to lock everything in place, but for the most part all the really hard work is done and this Summer long project is finally done.

 

—– Brandon

 

A Griffin

A Griffin

Sep 13

 

Here’s a very rare Griffin nutcracker that came into the shop recently for some repairs.

Some of you may recognize this piece from the 2010 Nutcracker Club Convention that was hosted by Mike and Linda Pickwick in Connecticut. Mike and Linda have a fantastic collection. This is one of the pieces I took a ton of pictures of at his house. So I was thrilled to have it here in my studio for repairs. Yes, I took even more pictures of it while it was here. I really like this piece.

The Griffin came in missing a right foot, had a piece missing from the shield, and was missing the left wingtip. There were also some older repairs on the tail, right rear leg, and around the pin that needed to be removed and fixed correctly.

This piece came out great and is flawless now.

Here are some before and after photos (be sure to click on the photos for a larger view):

 

 

 

 

This piece was a lot of fun to work on and is really stunning in person.

Thanks again to Mike and Linda for sending this piece in and allowing me to make it perfect for them.

 

—– Brandon

 

 

2014 Geauga County Fair

2014 Geauga County Fair

Aug 31

 

Missy works for Great Lakes Outdoor Supply in Bainbridge and they have a booth (tent) out at the Geauga County Fair this year. She’s been out there all week so Dane and I decided to head on over there to pay her a visit. Well, Dane mainly went for the Turkey Leg. 🙂

She got out a little early so we got to go do some Fair stuff. It was a great night for it and we had a good time.

Here are a few pictures I snapped while wandering around:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Man on a Horse

Man on a Horse

May 10

Here’s a great piece with an even better story behind it.

There’s no way I could tell the story and do it any justice. So here’s the great story directly from Arlene Wagner (Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum):

 

“After the  antique shops closed on Portabello Road in London, George and I went pubbing with David Levi and Rik Gijsen.  After a few, the guys were all feeling good and one antique dealer asked Rik if he was interested in buying a nutcracker he had with him.  Said it would be 100 pounds since it was just “half a horse”  whereas a whole horse would be about 500.  A bit of dickering went on, and Rik agreed to buy “half a horse” without seeing what he was getting.  Well, indeed it is just that, the horse’s whole head and the rider’s R arm is missing!!  I have kept this thing all these years laughing each time I see it, and remembering the good times we used to have antiquing with Rik.   I think it is time to have it repaired!!!

The picture shows what I believe is a donkey, but to go with the story, I think you could make it into a horse!!    Arlene“

 

So I did just that. Sticking to the story, I added a horse’s head and tail to this piece, stabilized and repaired the cracks, carved him new arms, and gave him some rope to fit his new role as a horse rider.

The pictures below show what the piece looked like when it came in missing all its pieces and parts. I also included a picture of what it is supposed to look like in regards to him riding a donkey then what it looks like now all converted over to a horse.

This was a very challenging piece to do, but the story behind it made it fun.

Arlene is thrilled with the piece and can’t wait for Rik to see it when he visits her this July.

 

The shop still has a steady flow of repairs coming through.

Stay tuned for some more really great pieces!

—– Brandon

ANRI Ram

ANRI Ram

Apr 06

Here’s another fantastic piece from Arlene and the Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum.

This ANRI Ram came in with its bottom jaw broken. Yes, another bottom jaw repair. Told ya broken jaws are common. 🙂

Here are a few before and after pictures. Click on the images to see a larger version of them.

 

 

 

 

The shop has been really busy. I can’t thank everyone enough for the steady flow of business and support.

Lots of great pieces and repairs coming up.

Stay tuned!

—– Brandon