Author: Seb Palmer

We’re going to dad-sit for a few days: today (Thursday) through to Sunday. I’m taking several books, and my model in progress of our art studio

I’ve clad all the internal walls. And I’ve also done three of the external walls. I think I’ll rebuild the roof. As the one I’ve done just isn’t up to snuff!

And then it’ll be time to do the doors and windows. Phew!

Some time later…

At Dad’s, I finished cladding the ‘art studio’ model. After which we had pasta ready meals, with Pops (Sam joined us, but had already eaten), and watched some Colin Furze, followed by 12 Monkeys. I then gave the model an undercoat of off-white. And painted the exterior in Green Curry, a B&Q Valspar colour.

I’ve tried to edit Wikipedia entries before. But for reasons I now forget, I’ve never succeeded. Until today. I had to register anew. Bit of a pain. But once done, I created my first contribution to Wikipedia. Of which I’m very proud, and pleased as Punch!*

What exactly is it? I hear nobody ask me… well, it’s the addition of the 2022 book, listed below, in the bibliography section of Wikipedia’s entry on Marcus Hugh Tristram de la Poer Beresford, 7th Baron Decies, an Anglo-Irish hereditary peer.

Why? Because I’ve just read – and will shortly be reviewing – de la Poer Beresford’s very good book, Peninsular and Waterloo General: Sir Denis Pack and the War Against Napoleon.

With the author sharing the Beresford surname with one of Pack’s fellow Napoleonic-era generals, I decided I’d check if they were related. They are. And it turns out Marcus’ previous Napoleonic history book was all about his illustrious ancestor:

It also transpired that the bibliography on the Wiki page wasn’t up to date. Berefords’s Denis Pack book wasn’t listed. So I fixed that.

I’ve never really been that interested in the Commedia del’Arte (my pal Tim is!). Until now. Why so? Well, it turns out our Punch, of Punch n’ Judy fame, is a bastardised descendent of the Commedia character Polichinello (also sometimes spelled Polichinelle).

Anyway, I hope that now I can start contributing more to Wikipedia. We shall see, I suppose?

I’ve been working on this project about a week now. I still feel pretty shitty after the most recent Covid jab. But I think I’m gradually improving. And getting out to do a shift yesterday was, despite my fears, good.

Today I’m doing a slightly longer shift. I’m also expecting some thin sheets of balsa, from Amazon, to arrive some time today. When they do, I can start cladding the internal and external wall of the art studio.

But the main effort today, despite the aforementioned cladding, was putting sheets in the roof. Jeez… roofing is hard! Both on models, and real buildings. I know, ‘cause I’ve done both.

The roof was a bit of a nightmare, to be honest. And is far from perfect. But never mind. It is what it is. And it serves as a salutary reminder, if/when I transition to doing a real build, to put a lot of time and effort into getting the roof right.

The last thing I did, before turning in for the night, is the feather-edge style ‘shiplap’, pictured at the top of this post. There remains plenty more of that to be done.

Felt appalling, due to yesterday’s Covid jab. Slept most of the morning. But did a delivery shift in the afternoon. Surprisingly, I felt ok. And it was good to get out of the house.

And this arrived from Japan today:

When I got home, I resumed building the art studio model. The dual pitched roof has been very hard to do.

It took a lot of attempts to get the roof to work. And even now it’s a bit approximate, in places. But I wanted to have it separate from the base/walls. And it is. I’ll prob’ make two more A-frames, for a total of five.

Some time later…

After a delicious pasta meal, cooked by my darling Teresa, and some Richard Osman’s HoG, on’t tellybox, I went back to working on the roof of the art studio model.

I ordered the two CDs pictured above what feels like aeons ago! In fact, the Charles Kynard one should’ve got to me in a previous order. That’s for Dad. Casiopea’s Super Flight is for me.

We’re visiting dad – assuming I’m well enough? (which I’m not at present!) – Thursday through Saturday/Sunday. So I’ll take that one with me. Prob’ take Super Flight as well, for the journey.

Most years since I’ve been having flu and Covid jabs they’ve not been too troublesome. At worst a little ache at the injection site. This year? Holy cow… I feel utterly appalling.

And it’s not just physical. It’s made me ultra depressed. And it’s affected my sleeping patterns. Lasf night was a real struggle to get through.

Since a few hours after the Covid jab, around 10.45 am, I’ve felt aches and pains, a general ickiness – uncomfortable in my own skin (one’s own flesh kind of crawls!?) – a headache, continued coughing (this latter poss’ a legacy from my previous and ongoing respiratory stuff/colds?), unreal exhaustion coupled with a hyperactive mind, and profound anxiety.

Truly and deeply ‘orrible!

Reading about it online this morning suggests it’s quite a normal response. And poss’ a good sign; my body is fighting the infection, producing antibodies, etc.

But as someone whose everyday baseline health has been a state of physical and mental war with oneself, for most of my life, the desire for equilibrium – peace and good health, etc. – grows ever stronger. And, perhaps counter intuitively? The threshold of tolerance might in fact decrease.

Up to a point the constant ill health develops a tolerance. Beyond that point? One starts to get fed up of feeling fed up.

Thank goodness for Teresa. I went downstairs to tidy up a bit – my mind was freaking out (about clutter in particular!) – and try and sleep on a sofa. Being upstairs, in our bed I was simply getting more and more wound up. Our room seemed to smell very weird, and very strongly so…

Sometime around 2 am we were all downstairs, Teresa and Antonio using the loo, me on the couch. Teresa persuaded me to go back to bed. And she gave me a long back massage, which helped me get to sleep.

Thanks, my love!

Tragically my mental state is so volatile and fragile that episodes like this are potentially life-threatening. I’m so fed up with being fed up my mind immediately goes to ‘how do I end it all’ trains of thought. Sadly these trains run all too frequently, in my head. Not good!

I was reading about hanging – medical studies on how suicide-attempters view it, and suchlike – and seriously contemplating heading down the garden for a third attempt. Sheesh…

I wound up missing my afternoon shift yesterday. Whether that was a good or bad thing I really don’t know. But I do know I feel so shite now, I won’t be booking any work today. A day of rest is indicated. I believe.

I don’t look forward to that, to be honest. As activity, and especially my current work, is one of the things keeping me together. I really did think, last night, that I was falling to bits.

I’m very glad that hasn’t happened. And – tho’ I’m not religious – I ‘pray’, fervently, that I’ll get better, ASAP.

It’s 7.15 am. Antonio’s out, on one of his super-early swimming sessions, at the local pool. Teresa’s just left to catch the train to work. I’m in bed. Totally shattered, typing this. And hoping for a swift recovery.

Thanks also to Teresa for a nice hot cup of cream of tomato soup. Where would I be without her? Dead and gone, I reckon.

Later…

Well, I got off an hour long chat with The Samaritans. Thank goodness they exist! It’s great to be able to talk to someone who is supportive and non-judgemental.

Then I made myself some lunch: mango and kiwi, followed by a cheesy baguette (Red Leicester!). With a cup of Valerian tea.

And, whether this a a good idea or not I don’t know, but I have booked a short shift, 2-3.30 pm. Having missed a shift yesterday, I really need the money! I just hope my mind and body are up to the work?

I’ve been thinking about how our home needs improved drainage around it (and all the guttering needs renewing/replacing!). And the above cropped up in my YouTube feed. Well worth watching.

I’ve no idea as to if/when we might deal with this. But at least I’ve learned a bit more about the subject. Some good new info (new to me, that is!): plastic crates wrapped in a membrane create, in effect, a large tank like space, to take rain water run off.

A membrane around the crates allows water through, but stops dirt getting into the crates. Soak away pipes need to be 110mm diameter. And there are certain special junction boxes, with dirt collection traps, for east access/maintenance.

The one ton digger these guys used was ‘only’ £80 for a days’ hire. Which, whilst not super cheap, is less than I expected. Lots of food for thought here. Anyway… back to my art-studio model build, for now.

Some thoughts on this project…

Unlike the video that inspired me to do this, where a guy uses lolly sticks as they are, I decided to use them to create 1:20 scaled timber. Another difference is that he used hot glue to fix everything together, but I’m using wood glue.

My choice entailed a whole additional tranche of work, glueing and cutting the lolly sticks to create my timber. Could I have bought some ting closer to the right dimensions? Say, balsa, perhaps? Well, possibly.

Balsa – and I have bought some for this project – is very expensive! And the popsicle sticks are, by comparison, much cheaper, esp’ bought in bulk.

Truth is I don’t mind the repetitive processes the creation of my lumber/timber involves. In fact I like it! It’s very calming and meditative. ‘Grounding’, even, to use some contemporary parlance (I won’t go so far as ‘earthing’!).

Neil Paskin, aka Pask Makes, whose YouTube videos I often watch, and who I find very inspiring, often does projects with similarly mind-numbing levels of repetitive stuff. Such as when he adds kumiko to his already amazing hand-built canoe:

One thing that’s quite intriguing, is how this current project – my ‘art studio’ scale model build – is taking over my mind. It’s hard to switch off from, to such an extent I’m having to be careful about how I wind down from the work, at days’ end. So as not to disrupt my – blessings be! – recently improved sleep routines.

Compared with panel D, panel A has differently spaced vertical members. This is to allow for the door (centre), and two tall windows (possibly floor to ceiling?), in the second and sixth gaps.

A window over the door would also be nice. The more natural light in an art studio, the better!

A bit later…

Well, I had my Covid booster jab this morning. And now I’m back home, before my afternoon shift, I’m working on the end panels, C and D.

Panel C will be a bit different, as I’ve got a pair of glass and timber doors to install on that aspect, facing west, down the garden.

I cut a solid base out of marine plywood. And made a course of balsa bricks, to lift the wooden frame off the ground. One of the reasons for the rebuild is that the original shed framing, sat directly on the concrete floor, is rotting away.

Some timber cross members, to support the floor. The gaps in the real build would – I hope? – be filled with insulation. I glued some floor panels onto the cross members, and glued up the four external walls, A, B, C and D.

And to finish off today’s work, the framing for all the walls is now glued to the base. as pictured below.

The plywood base is the ground. On that is a rectangle of card, which is the concrete base. Then there’s a course of bricks. Inside the bricks is a supported floor, with (altho’ not in this model) insulation between the cross members. On top of all of that is the main structure.

Next I need to fabricate doors and windows, somehow. I did try cutting up some Perspex today, for ‘glass’. But my puny efforts with the quite thick plastic were all to no avail!

The walls will need cladding, inside and out. Probably feather-edged weatherboard outside, and thin plain card (standing in for whatever material we use) inside.

Gaaah!!! Some time much later…

I’ve not been able to control my efforts very well, on this project, today. I’ve kind of over intensely binged on it. And I’m recognising that my mental (and physical) health requires gentleness and moderation!

I hadn’t really meant to start on the roof. But I did. And I really ought to have come to bed and rested. Spesh’ as I feel pretty grotty, post Covid jab.

Anyway… here’s where I left off tonight. I’ll try and … oh, shit! I just realised. How will I do the interior, if the roof is on!? Erm… hmmm!? Well, it’s a good job I’ve finally stopped. As I’m clearly not thinking straight any more. I’ve frazzled my brain. And my hands hurt. From all the sanding, sawing and gluing.

Everything in moderation, Seb… fer Chrissakes!

Today we went to see Teresa’s mother and sister, at their home, in Stanmore. As well as just being a social call, we are helping them de-clutter. This is the second Flo’-load we’ve taken away. Some stuff to keep. Some stuff to dispose off.

Jean (Teresa’s mum), always feeds and waters us very generously. We had chicken curry, with rice and salad, for lunch, followed by peaches and evaporated milk. Lovely! And tea and coffee aplenty.

Very nice!

But two hours each way, and about three and a half hours there, meant there was very little time available today to make progress on my studio model.

Still, a little every day will get us there. Schooner or later…

Today I cut down enough ‘timber’ (174 mm for horizontals; 113 mm for verticals), to frame up – nearly – the first panel. This would be the back panel.

The only pieces currently lacking are the seven small horizontal joining bits, that will frame a ‘clerestory’, along the top of the panel. I should be able to get these from the off-cut bits visible at upper right in the picture at the top of this post.

A bit later…

So… I decided to construct the first panel. Pictured above, a set of metal squares help keep everything nicely aligned.

To align all the little horizontal beams, shown above and below, which will frame ‘clerestory’ windows, I used a little spacer block. I moved it side to side, within each aperture, to make sure everything aligned properly.

Being so full from Jean’s feeding, we didn’t have any dinner (Teresa had actually prepped a roast!). But we did finish off a cherry pie, from last nights meal, with custard. Mmmm!

Then we both had a bath. And Teresa started re-watching some Rings of Power. Whilst she did that, I decided to finish the first panel. And I’m glad I did. It’s good to be finally doing something!

And so, to close of play for today. Up the wooden hill, to bedfordshire, as Jeffers likes to say. Awaiting me tomorrow, the wherewithal to construct the next panel.

Ironically I’ve completed panel D first. The back or south facing wall. Tomorrow I’ll build panel A, the front or north facing side.

Today I spent a lot of time – I must be mad? – cutting the lumber (top right, above), into timber (left and centre), using the notched jig (above saw), and my ‘gentleman’s saw’.

A further cutting of the lumber will yield more than enough timber for the carcassing. In fact, I won’t have to do anything approaching all of it, as I have almost enough framing timber already.

I’m thinking I might make a raised plinth, or floor, so as to have underfloor insulation. If I do, I’ll work with the lolly sticks as they are, rather than doing any more of the gluing and cutting to size.

The set of eight – or two blocks of four – placed horizontally, above the cutting jig, are to be the lengthwise horizontal members. So they’ll need joining and then cutting down to size. I might do a stepped joint, for added strength?

I’m also wondering about fixings. Do I just glue it all together? Or shall I go the extra mile, and use tiny tacks/pins, as nails? I’d like to do both, really. I wonder how small a nail type pin or tack one can get?