Pound Designs

7/09/2009

Dulcimer - All together but not quite there.

Everything is put together and looks pretty good, but the nut and bridge are in need of work. I'm getting lots of buzz down by the bridge, it sounds almost like a sitar. (there's another project!) My fret placement is correct so that's at least good. Even with the problems I'm still happy, and it's nothing I can't fix! I'm thinking some string trees and a new bridge are in order.

7/06/2009

Cigar Box Dulcimer Ready to Finish

I added a 6 1/2 fret today after doing some more research on dulcimers. I also added some t-nuts to hold the strings, they seemed to work pretty good for my last build. So it's all glued together and ready for a tung oil finish!

7/05/2009

Cigar Box Dulcimer Frets and Body

I cut the notches out of the body today and stained it. I also drilled a few sound holes. For the frets I used matchsticks! I don't know if it will work, but they seem pretty sturdy. As a long time guitarist I have to say that the fret spacing for a dulcimer looks pretty strange.

7/04/2009

Cigar Box Dulcimer Neck

I carved the headstock, drilled holes for the machine heads, and rounded the back of the neck today. It's looking good so far. Now I need to clean up the mess I made since I work at the kitchen table and it's dinner time!

7/03/2009

Illustration Friday - Shaky

Too much coffee!
Ink and watercolor on cold press watercolor paper.

7/02/2009

Cigar Box Guitar T-Shirt

Cigar box guitar t-shirts, mugs, stickers and other goodies now available. They can all be found here.

6/30/2009

Hurray For Owls!

I've been working on an owl linocut. Part of my inspiration is childhood memories of some of the owl decor my parents used to have in the 70's. I was lucky enough to inherit this really cool cookie jar from my mom. I love that owl stuff has become popular again!

6/29/2009

Illustration Friday - Worn

Ink and watercolor on cold press watercolor paper.
Thanks to Anne Roberts for the amazing photo I used for inspiration!

Cigar Box Guitar #1

A few weeks ago I made my first cigar box guitar and I've been playing it everyday since then. I made it from an old wooden box I had that was once used to store chess game pieces. Here's a few pictures of my build:

8/14/2008

Rag Quilt Finished!

I just finished my quilt. It frayed perfectly! I had to hang out in the laundry room to empty the lint trap every few minutes though.

8/05/2008

Making a Rag Quilt

About a month ago I picked up an old Singer sewing machine at my local thrift shop. It was just $20.00 and works perfectly! I've done a few small projects so far and am now starting my first big quilt.

Here's the layout, now I need to cut out all my backing squares. Today I'll head to the craft store to pick up some batting and more thread. When the quilt is finished it will match perfectly with the pillows I made over the weekend!