5 MARCH 2014


Bad news! I got fairly good marks for my create! I got a 4 out of 6 in my create! He asked me what I thought I deserved and I said I think I deserve a 4. But deep inside I felt I deserved a 5. Honestly Mr. Wafula is a very harsh assessor (no offense). I told him that i deserve a four because of two reasons. There were many people around me and I thought if I said a 5 and I got a 4, it would be very embarrassing. Another reason I told him that I deserve a four is because, another person, who had a better product got a four. I know the reasons why i got four as my final grade. It is because, the wood pieces were not well sanded and there were gaps in between. I agree that there were gaps in my box which could have been a minus point. But the reason why the pieces were not well sanded was because the disk sander was not working. If it had been working, then my wood piece wood have been much even and smooth. I had to sand them manually which was very very very difficult and challenging. I also worked on the modifications. This is how much I progressed:

                                                                     4 March 2014 

Nothing very exciting today... We went to the CT labs today so that we could work on our evaluate stage! I think all the exciting parts are over because now its just the most annoying part, which is the evaluate stage! I find this stage very annoying and frustrating because it is supposed to be very lengthy and detailed! So today we just went to the lab and were expected to work while most of us were shouting, playing games and doing err random stuff! I wanted to do my work but since many people were making noise, I got very distracted! And since it looked as if they were having a lot of fun, I felt like fooling around with them or just observing them and laughing! I get very easily influenced by my surroundings! I worked on the modifications document and this is what I did:  

                                                               2nd and 3rd March 2014

The final entry for create stage! I am almost done! I sanded the wood piece as much as time allowed me to! I started sticking the wood pieces at around 5:00. I had to leave each piece for around 20 minutes for drying. I stuck the four faces first, then stuck them to the base, then stuck the grove joints and then stuck the “cool” joints with the top/lid! Each step took around 30 minutes including drying time. It was a lengthy process but very fun. This was the first time I was using wood glue to stick such big wood pieces. The wood has to be handled delicately and one should be very neat while gluing. I was quite neat and was not very worries because the glue will be eventually be covered with paint. Sticking the “cool” joints was a challenge because the surface area of the heart was small not allowing it to completely stick on the faces! I was tensed and hoped it stick successfully. I had to stick this particular joints around 5-6 times because every time I stuck them, they came out very easily (even after leaving them for 15-20 minutes)! This annoyed me very much! I tried leaving it under the fan, supported with an elastic rubber band around it, tightly, for 20 more minutes during which I had a short nap! When I woke up, I realized that it was not stuck yet! I had to give up until my brother gave me another idea! Why fear when super glue is here! I used super glue to stick the joints and to my surprise, it was all perfect within 5 minutes! The joints were perfectly working and this left me wondering “why didn't I think of this before?” I left it for the whole night to be on the safer side. I did not want to take any chances after all that I went through! I woke up at 4:30 the next day and began painting! Painting is my favorite part and I have been looking forward to it since the beginning! But I never knew that I would end up doing the most awaited part in a rush, early in the morning. But I did enjoy painting my box. I had not specific specifications for the color, just that more than 5 colors should be used, which was obviously very easy to follow. I painted different color for each face/piece of the box which made it look very colorful and attractive in the end! To be honest, I had a lot of fun and enjoyed a lot! I also learnt something that it does not matter if the glue comes out when applying as it will be eventually covered with paint! I also learnt how to glue neatly, how to paint difficult parts like the storage area of the box, neatly, how to make joints accurately and neatly! Now I have to do evaluate and modifications! I am not sure if I am supposed to hand it the modifications with create stage or evaluate? I will confirm with sire tomorrow! Here are pictures which were taken during the lengthy, frustrating and the annoying process: 

This was when I was sanding the wood pieces 

before I started sticking them 

This was when the joints were drying . As you can see in picture 3 the rubber bands are around the joints to support them and keep them in place. 

These pictures were taken when I was painting the box early in

 the morning. The storage area inside the box (the four square shaped holes) were a little challenging! 

                                                  THURSDAY  27 FEBRUARY 2014

Today was also a very productive lesson. My main aim for today was to finish the grove joints and try to joint my box together to see if everything fits in place! Fortunately I was second on the scroll saw and when it was my turn I quickly cut what I was supposed to, using the scroll saw. The smaller part was to be removed using the wooden hammer and a chisel. This took only about 10-15 minutes. Then I put together all my pieces and realized that the grove joints does not fit in properly and needed to be cut a little. I did that as soon and as accurate as possible! Unfortunately, the grove joints were too small now! If I had concentrated a little more, then I am sure I could have done a much better job. This happened because I was a little too hyper and excited! I feel very bad now! But it is not very bad but not very good too! After fitting it at showing it to sir, I went and helped others for the rest of the time. I helped people like Maryam, Ramyz, Asma, Paul, Akil and Yavan! This was a completely different experience. I enjoyed it but some people who needed help using the scroll, annoyed me a lot  at the same time! They told me to show them how to cut the wood accurately and when i did it, they go away and start doing their own things. I was not there to do their work for them, I was there to show and help them! Around 10 minuted before the lesson ended, I went and sat outside with Saumya! She really liked my box and appreciated it a lot! I was happy about that and felt very proud of myself. She also explained the mistakes I made and how I can still improve on them! The comments and the suggestions were helpful and it was really nice of her to do so! For the weekend, I am going to sand the wood piece, collect the saw dust, stick the box, paint it and stuff sawdust in the empty spaces! 

                                                   WEDNESDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2014

Today was the most productive lesson I have ever had! I had a lot of fun at the same time! I finished what I was supposed to, in 55 minutes! As soon as I entered the class I got out all the wood and booked for the scroll saw after 3 people! Then I used the coping saw to try and cut the grove joints. Unfortunately it was not looking neat, so I decided to wait and use the scroll saw. As usual, people were not following the queue for the scroll saw. But today, I waited for my turn which came very soon! I hate it when people skip the line and not follow the rules! I cut one part of the grove joint and left the other part as people behind me were fussing a lot! After that, I went to sir and talked to him a little about the "cool" joints! Okay! Now I need to explain what the "cool" joints are!  There are two parts. One has an extension and the other has a empty removed part. At the end, I have to make sure, the extension part goes into the empty, cut out part! It is something like a mortise and tenon joint! Then I drill a hole through it and piece and tooth pick so that I use it as a joint to open and close the lid of the box. In other words, the toothpick will allow the joint to rotate (flip). I had taken a toothpick to school as a sample and realized that they are a little too thick. So sir told me to use a sand paper and make it thinner. I was not the one who drilled the hole because I was too scared that I might break both the blade and my wood piece! After a lot of convincing, Waffles agreed the drill the hole.  I somehow felt magical today! I enjoyed the whole lesson and look forward to such productive lessons in the future! Here is a picture explaining the technique: 

It looks something like this except that it is made out of wood and the center part is  a tooth pick allowing to to flip! 

                                                  TUESDAY 25 FEBRUARY 2014 


Yesterday night, I drew some cool joints and the partition (the grove joint) on a wood piece, so that today I can cut them out and be finally done with the box. But i had completely forgotten that the class consists of around 26 people, everyone will be using the equipment and careless people break the equipment! I entered the class as soon as possible and realized that the scroll saw already had a long queue. It had around 5 people before me. But fortunately, I got hold of a coping saw and started doing my work. I made another grip which will help hold the top/lid of the box. To my surprise, this took a long time! But after that I just cut the queue for the scroll saw because each person was taking fifteen minutes to cut their piece. I cut the cool joints and when I had just begun cutting the groove joints, it was time to leave. Today I learnt something new. When I was using the scroll saw, I saw smoke coming out of my wood piece. I just ignored it, thinking that it was just friction and nothing serious. But when my classmate came and saw it she looked peculiar. But it was not anything very serious. But  she said that my wood pieces were burning due to the friction. Then she said that the high speed of the blade is causing all this trouble. I realized that it was faster than normal! I had not idea about increasing or decreasing the speed so she showed me! This is what I learnt today and I am very happy. For tomorrow, I am going to cut the grove joint and try my best to use the drill and make the hole for the joint. I know I am not being clear about the cool joints that I keep talking about because it is a surprise! 

                                               THURSDAY 20 FEBRUARY 2014 

Today was a lot of fun! I was the only one in the room for 2 hours. I was working very fast and independently. I never knew I could finish making one box in just two hours! I was shocked! I did not take anyone's help! For today, I had decided to just cut the wood pieces as I thought it might take up the whole time. But to my surprise, it only took around half an hour! Then for the rest of the time, I was cutting the fingers for the finger joints. This was quite  big procedure. Firstly, I have to cut the wood piece using the scroll saw and then use a chisel and a hammer to neatly hammer the fingers out. This was a long and a tiring process. But the joints turned out to be neat and quite accurate even though it was the first time. I knew the way to do it as I had observes others do it during class time! The box came out very nicely and neatly and I am very proud of myself! After making the box, I started working on the base and the top/lid of the box. This also was very neat! While cutting the lid of the box, the scroll saw blade broke and I did not know where to get the spare from! So I started using the copping saw to cut the rest. Even though I did not use the scroll saw, the lid was still quite accurate! After that, I started making the grip which helps open the box. This grip was heart shaped, which made it difficult and a very long procedure! When I was cutting the last part, the blade of the copping saw broke too! I used another copping saw to finish the work and then went home. Tomorrow, I will sand the pieces using a sand paper and also fill the empty areas with saw dust! This is how my box looks like and I am very proud of it: