my father's T-square (cutting more cement board for tiles)issued twice..

marking the durock for the first cut (with my father's T-square)

This is a lot of visual reference for a fairly simple procedure, but since the earlier post about cutting cement board (durock, and other trade names) has had a number of views, I'm repeating the process, here.  I also wanted to say a few things about my father's tools.  Before he died, one month shy of 94, he had passed on to me his tools--he was a heating and cooling engineer, and also made beautiful wooden furniture and smaller wall pieces (out of orange crate).  He had memory loss which began to affect his everyday work for about 10 years before he died; still, he was able to physically do a lot of different things, and was the main person helping me paint the old tables that I was tiling and taking to fairs to sell.  Here, I'm using his T-square to cut up a thin sheet of handyboard or durock (a cement board with fiberglass thread reinforcement).  I want to cut a circle, so I begin by cutting out a square, and then cutting off the 4 corners, and then nipping the extra with the old pair of pliers he gave to me.  I think the yellow cutting knife was his, too.  The cuts are made by scoring the surface of the board with the blade of the knife (fresh blades are good!)--pressing the blade against the metal ruler edge while dragging it across the surface of the board. Then I break open the cut by laying the cut along the edge of the table and whacking down on the part which hangs over the edge.  It won't be cut all the way through, so you need to score the back side, as well-----along the inside of the now folded line.  Once the cuts have made the circle round enough, able to fit into the chair circle, the circle of durock can then be glued down/or in to the chair form with some Liquid Nails.  It's also held there by bolts that come in from the outside of the round metal form.  I will post the final 'look' of the tiled chair on the next post. 

Breaking the board open after scoring the top side

marking for the second cut

cutting away the edges of the circle

nipping off the curved area between the straight cuts

fitting the circle into the chair base

Behind My Studio

the corn is being cut; fall is here!

Rickye's garlic

Peter's ginko trees

....there is a changing area which evolves, year by year, depending on what I have to throw into the ground, and how energetic I feel about weeding it.  It's not the organized plan that our son, Pete, did in the 90's, just north of the sheds, laid out with brick paths and planted with all sorts of cultivars of kale, tomatoes, mesclun, beans, peas, mustard greens, grapes, ( a handful, compared to all that was planted), and whose compost pile has inspired the yunomi pots for the Akar Gallery (see the link:  http://anntubbsmaiolicapottery.blogspot.com/2009/12/getting-ready-to-decorate.html).  This garden, behind my studio, no one sees but me, and the occasional farmer plowing or taking in the corn (and I doubt that they're paying much attention to this little area, while driving).  I planted a wild cherry to the west side, so there is shade, and a sage 'bush' grows underneath it, and some rescued roadside sunflower-type plants struggle, and straggle along the wall, under the window.  On the other side is a viburnum bush, whose berries have inspired decorations, and a tomato patch, with some cilantro that will winter over if I put a semi-clear plastic box over it.  In the spring (this year?  last?  two years ago?)  I planted all the unnamed, leftover seeds that had been residing in a box out in the laundry room. I'd hated to simply throw them out; they were from Peter's plantings!  So I began planting them in the area behind the studio--a sort of 'setting out' garden.  Then, this fall, while clearing the area out so I could plant the wonderful garlic given to me by a friend and customer, Rickye Heffner, I uncovered four or five baby ginko 'seedlings'!  Who knew? (and now, I believe these ginkos were actually from the memorial service for Dr. Robert Brundage, a wise and gentle man from Toledo,OH,  who died several years ago--and on the memorial program was a ginko seed--I collected Bruce's, Pete's, mine, and probably several others--Here's to you, Robert!