I decided to  make a mirror since we have enough clocks and we found an old mirror in dads old wood working stuff so this was gonna save mirror cost. Well after wife cut the glass to fit the inside curves of the carving she naturally cleaned the glass. Whups. This big smudge was not visible to either one of us but if had to be made with something like some kind of pottery sat there forever and moved around too much. 

 So yes now I find out I could not go through life without making no mistakes.

Tell people that it's a magic genie that's manifesting inside the mirror. 

 

Or go buy another piece of mirror and have wifey start over.

 

Whichever is easier on your health and well-being. 

 

Looking good, though!

I decided to hang it for a while to see if I can get used to the smudge.

 

Well, I find if I look the other way I don't ever know it is there!

 

I still have lots of work on the carving but wanted to settle down my thoughts first before I finished it.

Can't see the smudge from here. The carving is wonderful. 

Turned out nice...

 I think I need to trade my mind in for one that can remember things..  

Some how I forgot to fill the screw holes before I did the finishing thing...so this is where I decided not much can be done so I figured why not learn a little more about making wooden flowers.

  So instead of cutting small strips to make the petals I used 3/16, 1/4, 5/16 and 3/8" wood dowels for the petals and let the scroll saw do its thing.  My drying rack is a good way to loose a few sockets so after I was through making this batch I found an old 2x4 and put a few holes for the next drying session.

 Daughter gave me a new phone for my birthday and I just now realized it sets its self on the objects that are in the background. I suspect there is more to this camera than the last one. 

  More later if I can remember.

Hey Jesse, thanks a lot for the serindiptious flower petal idea. A perfect example of "I don't make mistakes, just design opportunities."

Gene those holes were from the screw holes that hold the backer board and the carved pieces together and when I carved down too far I expose some holes. I have to remember and shorten the screws before every thing goes back together. Well I ground down the screws and left the open holes there.

  I am finding out the more I get wild creating the ups and downs of the wood the better the piece looks when I say I'm done. I do two things to the end of the dowel before I start laying the petals in the glue. I first drill an  1/8" hole for the stem thing to glue later and drill it 2 or 3 inches down then I use a larger bit to round out the top of the dowel to hold some glue for the petals and I use the non run thick stuff. The experiment with the hot glue was too big of a mess. Then after the flower gets painted I cut the flower off the dowel and there is the hole for an 1/8" stem to glue in to the carving that I drilled earlier.  So when I start a new petal base the 1/8 hole is already there.

  I hold the dowels in a jig for drilling. I drill a few different sizes of holes in the wood then slice it in to with the band saw. I use the right size bit for each dowel to fit tight after the band saw took away some wood. Then use one side of the jig to hold the dowel while cutting the small dowel using scroll saw.

The wood in the wise is split down the middle with the band saw