A Stack of Jacks

 Another Halloween, another carved pumpkin or two.

The pumpkin patch was a sorry thing this year, and the pumpkin ladder wasn't even put to use, so the ones here are shop jobs - a simply H-U-G-E one purchased for a birthday party on the same day by my sister-in-law, and a small buttercup squash for Jet Jr's use and design. Here they are:

Junior's brief was "like some of the stars in the sky", which is a noble endeavour. I, on the other hand, went for the minimalist approach, somewhat fearful of the enormous fruit and its elephantine hide. It's based on an oval; the non-pith part must have been 4cm thick. Oof!

A Pallet Bench*

 

Lo - another microproject embarked upon! And this one was finished!

This used to be a pallet, and now it's a seat. I did it all myself and I can't tell you how satisfying it was to turn a pile of scrap wood in not-entirely a great condition, into something that looked and felt rather nice to sit upon, and is now weathering away in the back garden. I made that! And all I needed to buy was enough screws to put it all together, and some wood stain to finish it off.  I think my hand saws are rather blunt now, though - but it got me using a circular saw given to me by the father-in-law too many years ago. He was pleased about that. 

It was slow work - I listened to a lot of podcasts all the while as I measured twice, cut once, and swore several times before taking the odd left turn to remedy some blunders. But there weren't many, and it was a lockdown project ticked off. Well done, me!

Plans were based on this one here (with some adaptation and NZ measuring), for those of you who wish to play at home. 

I think the next thing will be a different kind of bench - either a work one or a weights one. And, glancing at the back yard again - I can see a planter that might need replacing soon...

(*It's a legal joke. Yeah, and a bad one)