Who Am I? An inside look at this blogger.

Who Am I?  A rambling bit of my thoughts about things.

I just completed watching "Musical Minds" on Yuma's Public cable TV channel 8.  The program was about how music had intertwined with the minds of handicapped people and changed their lives in this narrow section of their lives.  Music has almost always been part of my life, from family times around the piano with my father playing his violin, to piano lessons on and off from age 5, to school bands - trumpet, drums, bass horn, French horn, choirs - soprano in 4th grade to base in college, organ concerts and finally ragtime washboard.  The piano has always drawn me and I am hard pressed to not set down at any keyboard and play - always in the key of C and always by "ear", mostly improvised - just a melody in my mind expressed through my fingers.

By now you probably think "Wow, an accomplished musician," until you realized I disappointed many music teachers by never going beyond the basics - "I can play the instrument, now on to something else."  On the keyboard I quit reading notes as soon as I learned the melody.

But, back to handicaps.  Among my accomplishments were; not lettering in sports in spite of going out all four years and playing my freshman year on a football team of only 13 players, screwing up my 8 note French horn solo on "Over the Rainbow" in 7th grade, never making the honor role, almost flunking college English because I couldn't pass a spelling test, etc.  When our boys tested gifted in grade school, we learned about the stress of raising and teaching gifted students.  Sometime later I tested for, and was admitted, to Mensa, the high IQ organization.

Yes, being intelligent can be an handicap.  My spelling is bad - in college I typed with the dictionary next to me, now it is spell-check.  Finding most things easy does not prepare you for the tough things.  I can't read music or transpose keys.  I have had about 35 jobs in 60 years, most less than 2 years.  I finally graduated from uiversity in 1999 at age 60.  I have no friends beyond my last three years of high school in Nebraska.

But, through it all there has been music, not always accomplished music, but music.  My first record club was classical, I sang a solo at my confirmation, remember a sacred harp concert featuring The Holy City, went to a theater organ concert in the fifth grade, first "popular" record was Al Jolson's  "The Jolson Story".  My first rock purchase was a CD, Eric Clapton's "Unplugged".  In the late 1940's I could have aced "Name That Tune", and still knew all the WWI songs my parents did, and they were both born before 1900.

Whether music is in your soul, or heart, or mind, I don't know.  But, I know that it is "there."  In the late 1980's we lived in Sedalia, Missouri, and attended the Scott Joplin Ragtime festival.  During the festival I would come home feeling creative and would sit down at the piano and play.  When I was sad the music would become more somber, when happy more joyful.  I had an opportunity to play a $35,000.00, 9 foot, concert grand and could feel the music coming out of my fingers, it just flowed and it was GRAND!

The TV program also investigated why some people like music and some don't.  They found that the brain not only distinguishes between pop and classical, but even between Bach and Beethoven.  Maybe that is why I have all five albums of Mitch Miller's "Sing Along With Mitch" and have no knowledge of, or desire for, all the 1960's through today's popular music.

 

Well, now you have taken a little peek into who you are reading; a bit odd, a lot sarcastic, quite opinionated, intelligent, but not street smart.  My first car was a 1937 Buick Special, 2 years older than me, my present car is a 1983 Datsun 280ZX.  I live in Yuma, Arizona, where Summer has finally arrived, it will be over a hundred degrees all this week.  Maybe the sun has fried my brain a bit.  And people think you are crazy.

Building a Diorama - Part #7c - Basic Ground Cover Application

Basic Ground Cover Application:  As we progress on our Diorama you may see that it is becoming more of an Art rather than a Science.  Where at one time we had measured drawings, we now have a handful of this and a squeeze of that.   And remember, Art is in the eye of the beholder, and we don't all behold things the same way.  Be prepared for someone to say "That doesn't look like a rock to me!"  It is your Diorama and if you someday say "He's right, it doesn't look like a rock!", you can always change it.  It isn't chiseled in stone, only plaster cloth and spackling.

To apply our Colored Sawdust Ground Cover to the Diorama we may use most common adhesives.  I like to use a Yellow Wood Glue, thinned about 2 parts water and 1 part glue, mixed in one of my empty Pill Bottles. Select an area on the diorama where you would like some Grass or Weeds, select a suitable color and size from your Course, Medium or Fine, paint the area with the thinned glue and sprinkle with the ground cover.  Cover well as the excess can be vacuumed off.  Repeat as desired with color and size to suit.  If you decide it is not good, scrape it off and try another combination, until you can say "That is good!", and then rest.

What I have described so far in 7a, 7b & 7c can also be used with sandy dirt, dried leaves and grass, tree bark, almost anything that can be ground to a suitable size.

By now you have a Diorama structure built from Foam-Core Boards, covered with Plaster Cloth, textured  with Lightweight Spackling and some house or craft paint, a roadway or path running through, maybe some rocks laid in, and finally planted with various colors and sizes of grass and weeds.  It looks GREAT!  Just what I wanted!  No changes needed!  Well, if I were to do it again I might want to change this a little, and not try that again, that color is a little off and "That" doesn't look like a rock.  Welcome to modeling

This might be a good time to review the earlier posts because Part #8 will be about how I changed my diorama, and, I think for the better

Building a Diorama - Part #7b - Basic Ground Cover Sizing

Basic Ground Cover Sizing:  Now that we have produced a variety of colored sawdust it is time to sort the products into usable sizes, ie, Course, Medium and Fine.  For this I use two tea strainers, one finer than the other.  This can be a bit messy so use the cookie sheet as your base.  Place a spoonful of one colored sawdust into the course strainer, shake lightly and use your finger or spoon to work the sawdust through the strainer until little more goes through.  Dump the remains into one of your small container - this is your Course.  What has sifted through is Medium and Fine.  Continue sifting until you have sifted all your first color and dump the tray into a container.  Now take the finer tea strainer and repeat the operation with what sifted into the tray, dumping what remains in the sifter into a second small container - this is your Medium.  What has sifted through into the tray is your Fine, now stored in the third small container.  You now have three small containers of one color green sized into Fine, Medium and Course.  This simple procedure is repeated for each color you have selected.   Note:  I often re-sift the Course and Medium to collect more Medium and Fine.

Building a Diorama - Part #7a - Basic Ground Cover Production

Basic Ground Cover Production:  There are several commercial sources for ground cover scenery material, but I am going to describe how I, and you, can make your own from sawdust or ground foam.   While I have not used ground foam, the process is very similar to that of sawdust, though foam must be ground in a blender to produce the small size required.  Most find their source of foam as scraps at upholstery shops.  I find my sawdust in my wood shop or a local lumber yard.  A couple of coffee cans will keep you going for quite a while.  Try to find common pine or fir dust and stay away from treated or exotic  woods because of possible toxic reactions and colorful stains.

 Supplies:

• Sawdust
• Craft paint in several green colors
• Tea strainers
• Quart jar and lid
• Cookie sheet or cake pan
• Several small storage containers with lids
• Some old pill bottles

 Note:  For supplies I go to "dollar" type stores and haunt the kitchen area for cheap items.  This is easier than using your mates "good" kitchen items and having to replace them with quality items.  (spoken from experience)


Procedure:

Place a loose handful of sawdust in the quart jar.  Place about a quarter cup (2 oz.) of water in a pill bottle, squeeze in some green paint, cap and shake.  Pour the paint solution into the sawdust, screw on the lid and shake, shake, shake.  If the mixture is too dry add more thinned paint, if too wet add more sawdust.  In a few minutes you will have a somewhat consistent color.  Pour the contents onto the cookie sheet to dry.  I like to place mine in the oven, preheated to 150F, to speed drying and also kill any bugs, etc.  Now repeat with the other colors and save in your storage containers.