hobbies – Page 6 – Foxes Den

Rock & Roll clock

Here’s what the listing stated:

The clock features a swinging pendulum and is a great addition to any music memorabilia collection. However, please note that the clock mechanism is currently faulty and may require repair or replacement.

It’s been a while since I’ve been tempted to fix something totally outside my comfort zone, so here it is a novelty “Elvis Presley” Rock & Roll clock. I quite fancy learning how to repair clocks, perhaps this is the best place to start with nothing too complex.

From what I can gather the clock is a fairly std mechanism with a separate mech that operates the pendulum “legs”. I know the wife won’t entertain this in the house, however my elder sister is a massive Elvis fan so I may even shove it in her general direction… if I can fix it.

No assumptions as to what is going to arrive at the moment as you never know what you will end up with from auction sites, so let’s just await the mail man’s knock on the door.

The clock has arrived and apart from having to just straighten the hands, a battery has been put in and the clock is ticking well and keeping good time. However Elvis isn’t shaking his hips as he should be even with a separate battery in place so there is an obvious issue there.

No hip shaking Elvis?

Well the issue is a bit of a pain in the ass one. The pendulum effect comes from a small electromagnet that opposes a magnet on the pendulum, hence when working the pendulum continuously swings. However this one has two of the wires from the coil broken. These wires are just about the width of a hair and had to be coaxed back into place using my microscope. I’ve tacked the wires back into place and the clock is currently working.

However, apparently these wires are known to break even if a butterfly farts in the vicinity of them, they don’t hold up to repair that well, so I’m going to order a new electromagnet replacement. Cheap as chips.

Elvis shaking those hips

So I’m happy a fix has been possible, I’ll just wait for the replacement magnet until I move it on to my sister. In the meantime the wife has to put up with it shaking its stuff in the conservatory.

Edit: New magnet 🧲 has arrived, Elvis really going for it now and shaking his booty like a mad man 😂

Shaking like a mad man.

Now he’s off to my sister. can’t stand that much activity around me.

Another item saved from landfill. Result.

Happy days 👍

Staying occupied

What things give you energy?

At my age probably a pair of jump leads to the..

David stop yourself 😡

No seriously, keeping occupied keeps me energetic, as my good lady would tell you, she even said that this week when we were on an activity based holiday that I was a different person.

Hobbies are my go to, and I’ve let them slip recently as I’ve sunk into a pit of self pity. Last night though I sat at my work bench and fixed two old electronic items and fault found another and I really enjoyed it. It was a kick in the pants that I needed, thanks to my wife who had threatened to clear my work area unless I got back in there, I love her for that.

That’s the thing with me. When I have a day off I always feel it is wasted if I haven’t done something productive, I’m slowly getting to learn that some days you just have to simply rest and turn off. However I do struggle with that and can be a right pain in the ass sometimes, I guess in a way I’m afraid of giving up and just jumping on to some slippery slide that I can’t climb back up again. It’s stupid I know as in all reality I’m not really that old, I’ve been in the company of some individuals during the last week achieving amazing feats and some of them are well into their 90s, all wonderful people.

I’ve got to stop imagining the worst, and calm down a bit, rest sometimes is just as important as food and drink, the body craves it and your body must be listened to at all times.

Hope you are all well on this fine day (Grey and damp in the East Midlands) and that you too have a superb day. Enjoy every minute. Stay safe.

Pinch pottery

This last week I have been away at a lovely location in Norfolk enjoying a few days away with the family.

There was an activity taking place that was an introduction to pottery, and here they were going to teach a technique that has been around for millenniums – Pinch pottery. I did pottery at school and was ok with it but I never made anything to write home about.

To be totally honest I had no idea as to what I was going to do, but everything I’m doing lately seems to be in memory of our little dog who passed away in August of this year. Still very raw, I think of him a lot, and I’ve made this little pot for him. Yep it’s crap but it’s my crap, it’s a reminder of good times for me, a cartoon representation of him and on the rear of it I’ve signed it and stated where I made it.

It’s my first attempt in about 45 yrs and everyone has to start somewhere. I doubt I will take it up as a hobby at home but I enjoyed it, and for a small period of time I was productive, something I have been lacking in of late. It was most therapeutic.

It’s now home, and in the next few weeks I will paint and seal it and hopefully have a nicely presented little keepsake. You can see the finished item here: Pinch Pottery Pt:2

I love trying new things, I loved doing this and who knows I may book a class and look at doing more in the future, just not at home. The missus would kill me 😂

Painting the Bob Ross way

In many ways and forms, no doubt about it, the Covid lockdown had people looking for other things to do for numerous reasons, for me it was to preserve my sanity.

I always enjoyed painting, however I was unsure of just what I wanted to use for subject matter, that’s when I looked for local painting groups in my area and stumbled across a lovely chap called Ray who offers tuition in the Bob Ross way of painting.

Ray states on his site that you can turn up at one of his classes and go home with a masterpiece and to be fair he’s not wrong, I have seen many attempts from his classes and all are of a very good standard.

I enrolled on Tays “Golden glow” course in Jan 22 and the result is below, I’m happy with this to be fair. Not fantastic but hey it was my first attempt.

The pictures are in stages from start to completion. When I took this home the wife didn’t believe I’d painted it and even contacted Ray via Facebook to check with him… what a cheek 😂

I booked a second course “ Crimson tide” with Ray and the results are below, I wasn’t so pleased with this one but I know where I made the mistakes. That’s the point of learning you learn from your mistakes.

A session with Ray is about 6hrs and the peace and tranquility is fantastic, it’s quiet the tuition is second to none and doing your own thing is actively encouraged when adding your own touches to your painting. For me I have found the distraction I wanted and now book in a session with Ray when the world is starting to get on my nerves. I’m overdue a session and must get another one in soon….

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