Everyone at work

I started pressuring Tom more today b/c of my nerves, to get more building into swing. He had started on his own yesterday in his wood shop but since I was at the Morgan, I was worried about our progress. Power tools always make you feel like you're getting more done than sewing with needles. He's trimming a piece of wood that will become the top of a couching surface.

I routed the pieces for the top framework of the vat. This bit makes a smaller round so it wasn't as satisfying as routing the vat itself, but it was good to clamp and go on three nice pieces of wood. This was after we had a big studio clean to prepare for Melissa's class and also to consolidate our work area b/c it had been creeping onto every single surface available and was making me crazy.

Jim worked on pulling all the staples out of this old piece of wood. Later I had him help varnish one of the side pieces of the framework before he headed out.

Cameron had the nasty task of using PVC cement to assemble the parts of the drain and plumbing. That stuff was TOXIC. A whiff of that was enough to get you hi ii i igh. He was cranky when I asked him and Jim to weed in the morning, but then he got to tool a bunch and work in Tom's wood shop all afternoon and evening, so I think the tradeoff was fine.

While dealing w/computer problems, Lauren took a break to help remove more stray staples in the soon-to-be couching table.

Then Spencer did a super job sanding it down and putting on a coat of varnish. I got nervous about it not being enough so I ran back out and did a second coat when no one was looking, after I gave him a one-on-one tutorial on three simple structures. I got a little driving tour of more parts of the city from Tony's car, and had a lovely dinner with him at Lolita. A late night, but at least I finished reading Water for Elephants this morning, so I am not as compelled to make huge headway into another book tonight. But there's still a bunch left to do before I sleep!