Goma Laca

Funny title, but that is what I did all day in class on Tuesday. I put goma laca or shellac on the doors of my cabinet. It looks beautiful but I think I put about 40 coats. My arm, wrist and hand hurt after the class. Lord knows, this was only the doors. I still have the whole piece of furniture to do. At one point the teacher came over and told me I was doing it wrong and corrected me. I felt stupid but then again, I am in this class to learn not to be sensitive and have my feeling hurt. I love all my colleagues in the class. Everyone came over and admired my work. After 40 coats, I hope it looks good.

Next Tuesday is a holiday so we won´t have class, but I promise to take pictures next time. I also promised to bake muffins for our holiday coffee on the 16th.

Sanding

Now that I have finished stripping all the varnish, I have to sand. I love to sand. It is so therapeutic. Miguel makes fun of me and how much I love to sand. I lose myself in the process. Maybe I like it because you can see and feel an end result. For me, I love to run my hand over the wood to see if it is smooth enough. Now, the legs were a bit of a challenge, but I still enjoyed sanding them.

I had to glue one of the doors because the veneer was coming off. We used white Elmers glue (Cola blanca). The teacher had dyed it brown so that if some showed, it wouldn´t be white. Clever.


The teacher is interesting. She is young and has a very dry sense of humor. Actually, no sense of humor at all. But, on the other hand, is amazing with all of her knowledge. She knows so much, I guess I can forgive her for not joking around.

My Cabinet

So, first day of class, I didn´t have a piece of furniture. I headed out to the Second Hand Shop here in Torrejon (which was just around the corner) and found myself a cabinet. I didn´t think to take a before picture of it, so here is a kinda before picture. I have already stripped off all the old varish (some idiot had put two coats of varish on it and very unprofessionally..), cleaned it with alcohol and am now in the process of sanding it. I picked this one because of its beautiful wood design on the top.




Here are a couple photos of my fellow colleagues with their work projects. Chairs are a popular item. Not for me. too many designs and curves. I like big areas to work on...

Baby Items for Sale

Stroller from the USA: Lightweight with a big basket and a tray. I have two rainshields that I will throw in that work with this stroller. You can close it with one hand.

Boppy nursing pillow with cover. Great for propping baby up when they are starting to sit up. 20 euros

I couldn´t have lived without this swing. Runs on batteries. The price includes 4 re-chargable batteries. It was the only place my baby would sleep.... You can rock back and forth and side to side.

70 euros

Chicco Quick Adjust Chair. 20 euros My baby sat in it when I was preparing dinner.

Backpack. Baby isn´t sitting against you, which is great. He is just too heavy for me to carry in it.