Aww yeah Wednesday

So

Plenty has happened since my last post (of which I was negligent in crafting on time, but that's besides the point), so I'll spare no time filling you in on how life's been.

First and foremost, my mom's crisis is pretty well over. Her leg was trampled on Tuesday (last week), which was also the first night in the hospital with her legs cut open; 9" and 8" incisions, one on each side of her calf. She was in the hospital two days while the doctor's let the leg to drain out enough that they could sew her back up; waiting because the incisions opened out on their own to 4cm and 3cm on their own, and with them that wide open, there was no way to stitch her back together. Friday rolled around and they had the swelling down enough to sew her up (yay), and she was finally released on Saturday. Tough bird that she is, she went straight to work on Monday, crutches, propped up leg, and all. That's finally evening out, leaving me to worry about the other things in my life, like recent purchases, and college.

I may or may not have mentioned that I am enrolled in, and will be starting, my college experience this fall. Huzzah! It's been a year in the making, between figuring myself out and making the necessary funds to pay for my education, but here I am, near the end of the tunnel (and straight into the next one). By the by, if you haven't looked recently, colleges are extremely expensive now; as a figure, $26,000 a year is the price for a small state university. Needless to say, the conniving rogues will pluck me dry this year (I've only made enough to fund one year of school, oh boy), but nevertheless I will come through this (somehow!). Fortunately for me, the direction of a history major is much less expensive in books and materials then that of an engineer. Maybe because math keeps improving and moving on, while history is history, no matter how long it's been, so the history books don't need to be revised every year. That's my theory anyways. It could also be that colleges are finally realizing that their textbooks and materials are outrageously expensive, and the prices are dropping due to a little bit of pity and humanity. You never know. It's still expensive, but at least now the prices are starting to decline.

Which might factor into me going an buying some instruments on Craigslist recently! Okay, the declining college book prices has nothing to do with my purchases, but I thought it would make for a smooth transition. I've wanted a lute for a couple of years now, and like most things I want, I get sticker shocked when I see it's a minimum of $700 for a lute, not including the strings, or guarantee that the tone is nice. Like most things I get sticker shocked about, I tried to make one myself, which ended in absolute shambles (looks like I'm not going to be a Luther any time soon.).
For whatever reason, I went to Craigslist on Father's day hunting for a lute. What did I find? A lute and a pair of mandolins being sold as a set, without a set price tag. I was intrigued, so I contacted the owner, and after talking for a while, I got the three for $300 a little bit of money, compared to what they would/should normally cost ( $1000 close to double, at least). I'll make the transaction and pick the instruments up sometime soon, so I'l let you know how that goes.

Aww yeah. I can't make a lute, but I can make other things, namely sharp things and small carvings, but I hope to start making trunks, simple instruments, and other more useful things. Some of these pictures were taken from a phone, so excuse the quality if you would.

 So this is a compilation of my desire to be cheap. I love nice things, but I also love making things, and not spending money. These three work both in my favor, and to my deficit at times; I either fail to make the purchase of a lifetime, or I make a wonderful thing at a fraction of the retail price. I vehemently detest paying high costs for unnecessary things in particular, like the things that I typically make. An example of this would be the mace in images 1-3; it's a rock bit nailed and screwed to the end of a broken shovel handle, with the flair of a turks head knot in leather just beneath. All in all about 20" long, and costing me nothing but time. The poignards (long knives) in image 3 took more time and effort, but again cost me time and nothing more. The spoon, face, and nine men's morris board were just for fun, to see if I could make them. As to the knife in image #4, that was bought used at Kittery Trading Post in the used knife section. It originally had a wasp shape to the blade and a leather wrapped handle, but due to my preferences, a simple jute twine handle and bade straightening was all I needed to make the knife uniquely mine.

That all being said, it's good sometimes to pay full price for something. I do when it comes to the things that matter to me, such as the food I eat, or the music I listen to. Not everything is supposed to be home made, nor should everything be at a bargain price; artists have to eat too!

Huzzah for Wednesdays, and huzzah for the goodness of soon picked up instruments. Happy Wednesday, everybody.

~Andrew