Crazy week.

It's been almost a week since my last blog post.  I have been trying to post more often but this week I have had a lot of personal things going on.  I have been trying out some new techniques behind the scenes though. 

I have posted before about my love of compasses.  I purchased a wood burner the other day at Michael's Crafts and I am trying some new styles and techniques with it.  This is a stain & burn combo.  This is only about a 5" square size compass,  my goal is to someday make a large one for a floor or table.  The top one has a touch of guilders paste. 

The middle is burn and stain only.  I am trying various looks with it in a small size before I commit to a larger and more permanent piece. 

The bottom photo is before stain and sanding.  I have also been working on figuring a better way to remove old flaky paint from furniture.  My husband is a sandblasting pro on metal so we tried a few techniques on my wood projects. 

Cleaning paint off of spindles is very hard with just sandpaper.  I tried using a chemical stripper but the results were not great.  The sandblasting works well but I need a better air compressor to do it for very long.  This detailed sandblaster was inexpensive at Harbor Freight but it worked well! 

The white sand piled up everywhere but it helped take a bunch of the paint off.  My husband showed me how to blast it and then I took over.  I am now coated in little beads and I feel sparkly and exfoliated. 

My sweet niece is sending me these knobs.  My last name is Hatfield and these say "Hatfield and Ross" on each.  How cool is that!   I am getting closer to doing the big reveal on the sofa table, I am hoping to reveal it next week sometime if I am lucky.  

Have a great day!  Love, Lori