October

Most of the end of September was getting my carving of San Francisco de Asis ready for the carving competition at Aguada. On September 30, Freyda and I go up earlier than we would have liked to make our way to Aguada for the event that said it would start at 9 am. that turned out to be the time that they began setting up the tents etc. for the live carving competition, to cover the 27 entries of the saint carving competition, and a separate tent to cover the carvers who set up tables to try to sell their carvings. We were not sure until we got there what exactly was going on that day, so we took our tools to carve, and our carvings to sell to cover all the bases. Turns out they had a live carving competition that started at noon. So we sat around for almost three hours until finally during the third hour they started having us sign up for the live carve competition. I signed up and received my block of wood and picture of what we were to carve. The image was of a small island bird that I have seen around our house. The wood was rectangular in such a way that the bird seemed to have to be carved in one particular way which would make for what I thought would be a pretty boring carving. So, as usual, I put my own twist to it and made the bird smaller (which it is) and more correctly in size. When I did this I looked at the block of wood and figured I would be lucky to be able to get the bird roughed out to even look like a bird in the four hours we had to carve it. I thought this because I did not have access to a band saw to remove large amounts of wood, and because I did not even have a "c" clamp to assist in sawing with my small saw I carried in my tool kit. It was with those ideas in my head that I made the decision to carve the bird in the more difficult position I had drawn even after Herminio, my carving buddy, told me they said to carve it in the more boring way since that way you could carve it as though it were on a nest or something and not have to deal with the legs and feet. I decided that since I probably would not get the thing done anyway, I would do it the way I had drawn it already.

After a hearty meal that was supplied to all the participants, the competition began at noon. Amazingly on time! Don't know what got into them. I decided that I would not look at anyone's carvings during the competition. The chips began to fly, and I heard some using hammers to chip off parts. I used my saw only a few times but the sharpened knife I was using sliced the wood off more rapidly than I had expected. Having no watch I could only guess at the time. A big rain storm came through and forced us all to move the table and I had to grab my tool bag from the ground as one of the other contestants suddenly got my attention as a sheet of floodwater suddenly approached the cotton roll up I use to store my tools. I grabbed them just in time as the water passed under us while some began falling on my back through a hole in the tent above. I kept on removing wood. I thought my bird was still a little fat when I decided that time was getting short, so I began to put finishing details on the bird. That was my downfall. As it turned out, I still had quite a bit of time. I was quite proud of the bird when I was finished, I looked around at the others and decided that yes indeed, not only had I been able to complete the bird, but I had done a more detailed and realistic bird than any of the others.

I had met one of the judges earlier in the day and he happened to speak English. he came up to me after the judging and began to tell me about how my bird was not in the proportion of the bird in the drawing although it was a great bird and I had done a great job. I had carved the best bird there, but it was not the one in the picture so I did not win. I did not think the winner was any more like the one in the picture either. Here is a picture of all the birds with my bird pointed at with the red arrow. Although I did not win the $300 prize, at least I dont have to finish the carving and paint it as the rules said you would have to do if you did win. So the upshot of the story is I had carved the best bird, but not the right species. I could have used the money.

Then they announced the winners of the San Francisco competition and I did not win anything there either. Here is an image of the group. Mine is number 13. I am going to talk with Isaac about what happened there, but it seems as though perhaps my style was not what they are looking for. Perhaps mine was not traditional enough. So what I learned is even if the carving is uglier with a crude paint job, looks like it has been carved out of a block of wood and still retains some of its rectangular appearance, you may win, otherwise you loose.

A few days before last weekend we visited someone in the ritzy part of San Juan and saw their collection of carved penguins. Apparently the ladie's father was the artist. He went by the name of Compestello since someone who was already famous as an artist had the same name as his actual name. They were very interesting and reflected many activities and themes as though it were a collection of Norman Rockwellian Penguins. We had a good visit and were invited to drop by any time we were in town.

October 7

This wekend was one of the worst weekends since I have been down here. Everything was going wrong. I found out that the wife of a college buddy died of cancer, our alternator on our car went out, our washing machine broke, and our blender broke. I think that was about it. We managed to contact the mechanic who put a new alternator on the car about a year ago and was out a car for a day while he rounded up a part. He replaced the belt as well (probably to make some money since the alternator had a warranty covering parts and labor). There was a threat of not having any more coconut ice cream when I tried to make some starfruit juice and the blender did not spin. I took the thing apart and tried to bypass the switch and have it wired "on" all the time, but that proved unsuccessful - ther ewere too many wires for different speeds and my first attempt brought about some smoke and an ozone smell. I hooked it back up and messed with the push buttons a bit and got it running once again. The carving group will appreciate the ice cream. The washing machine stopped working and I tried to bypass everything and see if the motor was good but had the same problem as with the blender, so I stopped and had a "washing machine repairman" come over and test the motor. It was good. I paid him $10 to tell me that, but now I could start checking other things. Well, now I pretty much know how a washing machine is set up, and found that the problem with ours is in the timer unit. I managed to repair it enough to get a couple of loads out of it so far with many more to come I hope.

I have spent a lot of time over at Isaac's this past week watching him carve a new project. He is carving the Virgen of Providencia for a competition in November. I am not shoeing it at this time since I don't want any other carvers to see his work yet, but it is amazing what this guy can do in just three days! Two more days and it should be done. I hope to see the final finishing in progress, but this thursday I have to see about getting a job at an upholstery place in Hatillo.

October 17

I started a job October 15th. I had gone over to check out an upholstery shop that I had inquired about work several months ago, but this time the guy referred me to another shop where the guy had plenty of room, spoke English, and supposedly had a Victorian set that needed to be upholstered. He also told me that it would be more profitable if I were to get paid by the piece rather than by the day, as he thought the most I would get by the day was $50.
I went to scout the place out after contacting the other shop, owned by Tomas. Tomas could speak English, he was raised until ninth grade in New Jersey before moving to Puerto Rico. We seemed to get along fine, and he showed me the Victorian set and after some thought, I shot him a price, and now I have a job.
There are a couple of other guys working at the shop as well. I think both can understand English, one more than the other. The one who speaks and understands it used to live in Chicago. He reminds me of Danny Devido, somewhat short, and partly balding on top. He tries to whistle along with some of the Puerto Rican music that they play on the radio. His whistling is of the kind that does not change key much, the kind of whistle that is made with your upper front teeth and your lower lip. When he is not whistling out of key, he is making the sounds of a Guido, a Puerto Rican instrument made out of a gourd and inscribed with ribs that are stroked with a metal comb to make a sound. Of course he isn't actually using one. Today he was belting out a tune and trying to sound like a troubadour. His name is Nick.
The other guy's name is Chelo, or something like that, and is more pure Puerto Rican looking. In a way he reminds me of that cowboy in the movies with the big thick mustache - "something" Weaver I think his name is. He makes buttons for me and gets whatever I need to get the job done. They must be getting paid by the day or the hour since they are ready to go when it is 5 pm. I am ready to go too, but I can leave at anytime - earlier if I want.
It seems as though I have met every upholsterer in the surrounding area as they all seem to come into the shop for some reason or another. They all say that they have plenty of work. Customers come and go quite often as well at this shop so I guess business is good. The price of fabric is definitely less than in Illinois, you can still buy some nice stuff for $16 per yard, and standard vinyl, although prices are rising according to Tomas, was about $10 per yard. He has a roll of six foot wide screen that I inquired about the price since it seemed just what I would need for the screened in area on the second floor if I ever get around to building it at home. $3 per yard seemed to be a great price. He said he just wants to get rid of it. I may have to buy some.

Of course all this work and time spent last week watching Isaac finish his competition carving of the Virgin de Providencia has taken its toll on my attendance at the exercise workouts in the morning. I have not been there now for about two weeks straight. I have started a competition piece at the suggestion of Isaac, but now that I am working I don't know if I will be able to finish it on time. I think it needs to be ready by November 13th or so. It is much larger than the other figures I have done and I don't have some of the necessary chisels to rough the work out like a sculptor using a hammer. All my tools are for more fine work.

Oct 18

I finished the victorian sofa and chairs, and a set of four dining room chairs today. I was unable to totally complete one of the three victorian chairs since we did not have enough gimp to trim them all out. The white chairs were covered in a fabric I had never worked with before. He called it microfiber. It looked and felt like suede leather.