A Twist Fold Christmas Teefes Coloring Puzzle

Merry Christmas, ok I tried  to find a different twist fold just to keep from repeating myself, but I was running out of time since these have a bit of a Christmas twist. 



"No, if I were lost I'd                                                                             Even on a short trip it's
be under a pillow".                                                                                   nice to have your own                                                                                                                toothbrush along.

In case the twist fold is new to you this is a quick tutorial. The last post has the template for a paste-up coloring guide, and this link is to my earlier twist-fold exploration article. The pictures on this twist fold coloring sheet are from "My First Hundred Teefes" by Chatty Silvers. 

  

Duck Ma, A Twist Fold Coloring Puzzle

While I was figuring out what ended up where and which way it faced for the patchwork twist-fold quilt, the coloring pages below came together.

 In order to find out what the images are and decide how to color them before  folding, print the blue/green template (to assemble the pictures on, glued or not) then print the center image, put it back in the printer face up, tail first, and print the right image on the back. Now cut out all the pieces (they don't overlap) and assemble them on the template.

The two pictures together give hints for coloring the two pictures scattered out on the two sheets on the right. They're set up to print back to back. Print the Duck Ma first then put it back in the paper hopper face up, tail first, to print the scattered bee on the back side. The Folds are set up from the Duck Ma side. The edge gets trimmed off all around and the long lines are all mountain folds. The big triangles sides are all valley folds. the picture to the left shows how I did mine.  

Planning A Twist Fold Patch Work Quilt

This is the first patchwork triangle twist fold quilt I've begun. After the 99 button baby blanket experiment I am very eager to see a larger example. It has proved to be a bit more involved than I expected, but every bit as interesting. To the right is a view of the backside of the top of the rosette throw. Below a section of the same symmetry is shown in a paper model. 

This test section proved that three rosettes with different colored centers separated from each other by green would work. Early on I was shooting for a multi-colored back too, but while I was working it out I realized a solid color would be quite enough. 

2011 M37S iNFINITI Glove Box Latch Fix

This is where the picture of the damaged latch should be, but I didn't know we were gonna fix it till we started putting it back in. It's shorter arm was mashed in from being forced open while locked. The longer arm still worked when unlocked and sprung back when pushed in. I took it out to find a new one. I took it apart to keep from having to re-key it. It didn't have many parts and only one was broken.

My friend Kevin (a dentist) micro sandblasted the break and the base of the tooth and ran a screw up through the bottom to pull it down into the super glue join. 

While supported by a block the pin can be forced out by a nail and pulled loose with pliers.


Once exposed hemostats can free the disk.

Putting it back was as picky as taking it out. 

once the liner teeth cleared the dash I was able to get at the screws below the wedges with a short screw driver.

With only the short leg and no back disk in, it's fairly easy to fish the handle in. screwing it down will have wait for the long leg to angle in spring first.

With it laying in place, it was just a matter of getting the long tooth in the correct hole (it only clicks down one way). Then its just counting sponges, screwing everything down,and closing up.

ta da

Smoking Z Cornbread, Yes?

The Thassos marble disk survived the heating up of the charcoal without bursting, but I did wear saftey glasses that first try. I oiled and heated the frying pans up in the oven with the other pans. I was making a whole batch of cornbread, but when they went back in the oven the frying pans went on the hot marble of the now hard smoking grill. 

The gap around the edge of the grill was to allow  the smoke up to cook and flavor the corn bread, while the marble was supposed to shield the pans from most of the direct heat. 

The frying pan handle was too long to allow the top to close all the way down, but it balanced well enough to not fall off.

I wrapped the whole grill in foil and let it smoke for about 10 minutes (as long as we'd been giving burgers on one side).

At that point I pried the smallest portion up to check the bottom and found it was already a little too dark. Since the big pan was looking barely brown I moved it to the 425 degree F oven where the other pans had already been cooking for 10 minutes and let them all cook for another 15 minutes. I pulled the mini loaves and sticks then the frying pan. It was all great. The skillet cake wasn't very thick, but it was golden on top, and not too dark on the bottom. The hickory smokey taste was surprisingly subtle and definitely                                                    worth another go.

I Blame Foldilocks

 I've made numerous test folds yet the triangle twist fold has continued to tease me but after moving closer and closer, the twisty bits finally touch each other. 

Like all the triangle twist fold networks, the back side is all woven hexagons. One odd thing though is, even after all these tests the triangle twist fold hasn't gotten easier.  

 Some have torn apart, some burst corners. After hours of creasing, tugging, gathering, pulling, flattening, taping etc, some have resisted collapsing for days (like the one in the lower left). I was slowly learning how many layers were where, and how to isolate different colored adjacent rosettes, and where to place buttons to stabilize the folds. Still some of the models have refused to collapse. I was beginning to feel a little obsessed, but I thought Foldilocks wouldn't give up. 

If it seems creased, it's because I had to unfold it to get a picture of it finished. There are not quite a hundred buttons, (including the ones on the other side that mostly stabilize the edges) most of them are on the back. Once the buttonholes and buttons were in place the folding became a matter of buttoning and straightening. It still took over an hour, but it went smoother than most of the paper models.

  These two pictures show the buttons from the top (front) side. They demonstrate an alternative placement that buttons a topside button through two buttonholes. This keeps the flap joining two rotated triangles from lifting so easily. I only did one for a test, but I like the effect.

  

Thin Brick Exceeding Expectations

At the beginning of this project I was thinking I'd use whatever they liked. My expectations were modest. Even after seeing the corner pieces I was slow to warm to the thin brick.
 



After first appearing a washed out looking grey to me, I was surprised to see it begin to take on a rich nutty brown even before pointing. 
                                                   

Back-cutting and          
notching allow the 
corners to wrap
deeper into the
fire box.
 

   Once the ends had wrapped
a full brick thickness beyond the face, their apparent lack of support was spoiling the effect.
                                                                          

The face now supported strongly by a hearth that seems to have always run half a brick deep into the wall, seems quite solid.

The "Ironworks" (thin brick) came from Alabama Brick Delivery and will be pointed with Argos Lite Beige mortar and                                                            struck concave.

                       
While checking the copy above last night I noticed that I had stumbled the running bond-ness of my last minute under pin. Duh? I got embarrassed and reverted the post to a draft till I could correct it and update the picture. 

Instead, today when I arrived the plan had changed again. Apparently the corner pieces made the front too wide for the already purchased mantle. Once the corner pieces had been cleaned, beveled, and installed in the fire box opening, the under pins didn't seem to matter much anymore.

   
Oh well, "Keep moving forward". I've cleared the firebox opening, set the ledger bridge in place and I'm set to top out and point up tomorrow. Woo-Hoo!

                                On the next to the                                        last cut I finally tried  
                               out the nippers for a cut.
                               First a squeeze on one                                    edge then a harder one                                  on the other side. My                                    last cuts were neat and                                  quiet. 

 Even without the corner wrap around pieces the under-lap faux  foundation sells the face bricks as bricks that have plastered ends. Oy, whatta look!

                               
Still not dry enough to reveal its final color, it's already selling the brick look with it's concave struck joints.  The deeply back beveled corner bricks look like the ends of bricks. Each one had to be trimmed as well as back beveled because of the sharply angled sides of the firebox.

  
This 33 or so square feet of thin brick would have taken about an hour to grout. It took 3 hours to point and strike. I don't know if I'd do it again, but I like the look.


 

Pizza Oven Leftovers, Too Good To Not Save

Since last Monday morning started rainy I went to Iron City out by The Golden Rule in Irondale (hardly delicious at all) to find a capstone.



I fitted my paper pattern onto several 
likely stones looking for one with good
 color (it's orange on the other side)
and an acceptable shape.

Having a tree fall on it wasn't a good thing, but it may actually save this ten year old, backyard, pizza oven. The ragged hole next to the flue doesn't look new. 

Water working it's way out had weakened and eroded the mortar in many places leaving voids. Orange sand that had once been buff colored mortar was sprouting weeds in several places.

Careful picking, and deep moist re-pointing in stages were required, before more serious repairs could begin.   

                                     
   









With a scaffold in place re-pointing and repairing the chimney face went quickly.

The oven door arch and the top the dome went back together like they'd always been that way, even though with no picture and lots of extra rocks around it was guess work. 


Some of the largest cavities were around the lower oven.








Filling them helped strengthen the whole oven face.

After plugging the flue to keep any 
mortar or stone debris from falling 
out of reach David (Orange) and I         

hoisted the capstone onto the scaffold settled it into place. Chinking around under the capstone and supplementing
the pointing used up the last bucket of mud and the rest of the day.  



                                                   It would have been way too risky                                                      to lift the capstone over our heads                                                    with a hole in it. Also the vibration
                                                   of  cutting it in place might have                                                        caused the mud to migrate  under                                                    the stone so we waited till the next                                                    day to cut the new chimney hole. 



Once the chimney hat was re-fitted, the scaffold was returned and the footing was exposed, all that was left was to make a new door for the oven. 





The oak from the stone pallet made a sturdy slow burning (especially when wet) replacement door.                                                    

                                                  

Ok, now if we could just get some moss to grow on the Doggy Dome

                                     Oh yeah, back off pizza                                        boy.