My Viola Progress

Several of us pooled our shekels and bought a bending iron for bending the wood for violins, guitars, cello and so on. Bethany and I have both started making violas, and since she's away and I have the bending iron in my hot little hands (Well one finger is hot. Ouch!), I got busy bending the sides and the linings of my viola.

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Inside of the maple sides of the viola are thin strips of wood (lining) that makes the edges of the sides sturdier and provides a surface for gluing the back and the front on. You can see in this picture that I've installed the linings on one side (the one showing). After I remove the sides from the mould, I'll put the linings on the reverse side as well, they're all prepared, they just need to be glued into place.

I've got a decent start on the scroll and neck too. Now I can go back to carving the front and back.

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When I made my violin, I was at this stage after two years, it's amazing that I only started it in June. It really makes a difference knowing what to do and how to do it.

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The Home Wreckers

Today I went to Bethany's place so we could work on our violas together. After I got there we talked about where we each were with our projects. She adjusted the sound post in my violin, fixing up a bit of a dead sound when I played the A string.

We talked about varnishing my violin and my next steps. Then we both started working on our violas. I began carving the scroll on mine and she busily started working on the back of hers.

Bethany needed the drill press so she put it up on the work bench, and started to use it. It didn't seem to be working properly. She stopped and looked it over.

With a surprised tone, she exclaimed, "There's a mouse in my drill press!" I looked over to see Mama Mouse peeking out at us from the underside of the pulley housing on top of the drill press. We both stood staring at it for a few moments, then I said, "Shall we take it outside?"

"Definitely" she replied", as she picked it up and headed for the door that I ran and held open.

She set the drill press down on the ground and opened the pulley housing. There was poor Mama Mouse frantically running around with a baby in her mouth. We stood there staring for a few moments at the nest made from fibres from Ernie's jacket, with several more babies in it. Then we both looked around as if there would be some sort of solution standing nearby. It reminded me of a couple of guys staring under the hood of a car that just quit, not having a clue what to do next.

We agreed that we wanted Mama Mouse to be able take care of her babies, so we would relocate them. We got a bucket and moved babies and nest into the bucket, but Mama Mouse wasn't so co-operative. She evaded us for a few minutes, but finally we outsmarted her and ultimately she left Casa Drill Press. She grabbed one of her babies and bolted up the wall and out of sight between the wall and the deck. We left her to sort her life out and when we checked back later, she had moved all of them to an undisclosed location.

I wish I could have been a fly on the wall and watched the two of us.