NO MORE NAILS!!!

Big bummer! I came home tonight and started to finish the fish, but ran out of nails! And it is freezing out! Don't think I am going to head back out just for nails, so that ends my work for tonight and tomorrow morning :-( Which leaves me 2 days to finish it before January 1st!!!

Here's what I got done before I ran out of nails:

The Pup is Happy I'm Home

KC is happy I'm home more now as opposed to working 65-68 hours a week as well as taking two classes (I know, crazy right??) She layed with me last night while I worked on the fish. She has also almost gotten knocked in the face a few times when she walks up to me while hammering. She just wants to see what I am doing. Then this evening she was checking out what I was doing once again, Kevin was in the bed room resting and she wanted to play so she kept coming over and dropping her plush Piggy right on the fish. She enjoys coming to check out what I am doing.

The Other Bottle Cap Project

So the other day I hinted at another bottle cap project that had me going though fish withdrawals because I needed to finish those before Christmas. I obviously couldn't let on to what those were until after Christmas, which is now! I made coasters! Here is a photo of the ones I made for Mara, with a bunch of her Australia caps. She started crying when she opened them, thinking she liked em :-) (Photo courtesy of Mara, you can tell, cus if it were mine, the coasters would all be going the same way)

What a Weekend off can mean...

Sore fingers, a very happy puppy that her mommy is home, and FISH PROGRESS!!! (which is good since I have a less than week to finish it!)

What the fish looked like when I started yesterday:

And here is what has been done so far this weekend (and it's only 2:40pm!)

Made my day!

Jokingly today I asked Kevin to bake the cookies I need for my work holiday party and to cut the nails off the back of the fish. To my surprise he came back with "the fish is done". Apparently he had already gone and taken off all the nails that go through to the other side, without me even asking! After realizing this I recalled him hinting about the fish and how I only have two weeks left to finish it (YIKES!). When all along he wasn't doing that to be a brat, but for me to go look at the fish and notice what he had done. This just made my day! Can't wait to go home and check it out after work! But will there be cookies?

Going through Withdrawls

I am going through bottle cap fish withdrawls! I haven't been able to work on it in what seems forever! I did take yesterday off of work and worked on another bottle cap craft, one that is due for Christmas, that was fun and a nice break but I am ready to start back in on the Fish. Which won't happen tonight seeing as I have a final tomorrow... I have taken the weekend after Christmas off and am crossing my fingers that I am able to get A LOT done then, seeing as the deadline is fast approaching.


Okay, now that I have that out, back to the school work!

Wild Blue

So I was just looking at some items for christmas gifts on Etsy (which I love love love!) and came across a blueberry beer soap made with Wild Blue beer, which goes with this cap!

Getting there

Getting there with the fish, will have to grind off the nails that are sticking through on the back pretty soon so that I can continue adding more caps. Next time will look into smaller nails!

Here fishy fishy fishy....

Do any of you remember that skit from Sesame Street where Burt & Earnie are fishing and Ernie isn't using a pole but has a fish call? "Here Fishy Fishy Fishy!" Believe it or not that skit used to scare me when I was little, the thought of all those fish jumping into the boat....
Anywho... got some work on the fish done last night, here are some updated pictures.

Nail Biting

Biting my nails in anxiety over whether or not this fish will get done by the deadline of January 1st!

Just got my work schedule for this weekend at the studio and am wondering if I will be able to fit in the fish at all!!

Fingers crossed, but I also have a lot of other things I need to get ready for the Holidays... guess I'll start on that list so that I can visualize what I have done and what I need to get done.

Proud of my Progress!

Proud of my progress, especially since I have worked 30 hours since Friday morning and Kevin has invited people over the last three nights since the hot tub is finally up and running.
Got the first row finished and thought about alternating the caps for the next row so that the twisted tea caps were upside down, but that would get tough to keep up. So I kept them the way they were and started on row two. Could have gone all day but my alarm telling me to get ready for work went off.

I haven't had a day off in 3 weeks, so I am very thankful for the 6 days off I will have around Thanksgiving. Might actually bring the Fish home to my parents to work on while I am there, but I'll have to leave it at home for when I am in Florida, don't know how I would get it on the plane...

When Cutting Sheet Metal Use Gloves

Added on the fins last night. They are cut from one of the pieces of copper my friend Dustin gave me. I learned a few things:
1) when cutting sheet metal use gloves, of course being me there I was cutting sheet metal on the kitchen floor still with my dress clothes on from the work day, to excited to put gloves on--until I cut myself, twice. Those edges can be sharp!
2) Kevin noticed that I was having a hard time hammering some of the nails in so he showed me that if there is a block of wood on either side of where you are hammering then the nail goes in easier. I grasped it immediately, that way when hammering the place where the majority of the force goes is onto the nail head because the two blocks damper and lessen any of the force escaping by vibrating off through the wood.
3) From now on I will attach the fins first, had a bit of a hard time getting the tail under the caps that I had already attached so I had to cut the edge so that it came flush with the already laid caps and not under it.
4) When hammering on the end point of a fin it is possible for the wood to split and splinter off, not ideal, but by bending the copper around the edge of the plywood it can be salvaged.
5) Hammering with the opposite hand is a bit difficult.

So here's the fish so far


As for my other bottle cap projects: coasters and Mara's gift I haven't started but have been brainstorming and have quite a few ideas. I'll be excited to start on those once I get a good chunk of the fish done, seeing as the other projects deadline is Christmas, and this one is New Years.

Ouch!

With the deadline of January 1st comming closer and closer I decided to jump in and start on actually attaching the bottle caps to the fish! I got a decent start with only hitting my index finger and thumb a few times -- the last thumb smash really hurt! May be loosing a nail here...
Here are some images of my progress.



I got 12 or so attached until the thumb incedent and I also had the issue that around certen knots in the wood it was extreamly hard to hammer the nail through. I think that putting the fins on first would be helpful, so before I get too far I will have to do that. Waiting for Kevin to get home to help me with the two nails I got hammered in 1/2 way. Then I can say he actually
helped me with it, besides drinking some of the beer to supply the caps.

Updated Mystery Caps

Know what any of these are? Help me out... they are mysteries to me...


From a Facebook Message I found out that this one: is Little Creatures, an Australian Pale Ale, thanks Katie!

Aussie Caps

First round of caps from Down Under:

From Left to Right: Crown Lager ~ Diet Coke ~ Mount Franklin ~ Unknown (1) ~ Chicago Blend ~ Unknown (2) ~ Hofbrauhaus ~ Unknown (3) ~ Coke Zero ~ Hahn Super Dry ~ Unknown (4) ~ Unknown (5) ~ Unknown (6) ~ Unknown (7) ~ Beck's ~ Unknown (8) ~ Smirnoff (1)~ UDL ~ Unknown (9) ~ Coke ~ Unknown (10) ~ Sprite ~ Smirnoff (2) ~ Unknown (11) ~ Corona