As some of you already know, I have a craft project where I’m coating the inspector’s desk in the butcher shop with postcards, stamps, drawings and money from people all around the country and from some other countries under a clear acrylic coating. Last year I completed the initial coating build up on the desktop that will go under the postcards – that layer sealed the wood. But the butcher shop got too cool in the fall to do the final layer where the postcards are embedded so that has to wait until warm weather – e.g. this summer. The clear coating is temperature sensitive during the reaction and hardening phase.
Later this summer during a break in production I plan to do the final layer which includes the postcards and coins, bills, stamps, etc. These were sent in by blog readers, friends and family. The trick is finding a window of opportunity when we aren’t using the desk. Ben and I have been discussing schedule for the fall and it looks like we’ll have a time when I can do the coating and let it harden while we don’t do cutting one week in mid-September. The acrylic I use in the desktop theoretically cures in two days but in reality I found it needs longer to achieve the final hardness and get rid of any tack.
Sound interesting? If you are curious about the epoxy you can find it at craft stores and on Amazon as a Clear Epoxy Resin for Bar Tops, Encapsulating, or Casting. I bought the big container but they also have smaller containers for small projects. I also used this on our floors in the butcher shop over the dungeon access plates. (Every good castle needs a dungeon or three… :) )
It would be fun to have some more small items to put into the desktop. I have a whole lot of postcards already which people previously sent in when I posted about this last year[1,2]. I would like to get a few more coins from outside the USA and interesting postal stamps to fill in the small spots between the postcards. So, if you are in another country, or you visited one and have some small change, here’s an opportunity to put it to an interesting use!
I need any items for the desk by September 1st 30th† so that I can do the epoxy that month.
Send small flat items to:
Walter Jeffries
Sugar Mountain Farm, LLC
252 Riddle Pond Road
West Topsham, Vermont 05086
Outdoors: 77°F/63°F 4″ Rain
Tiny Cottage: 69°F/66°F
Daily Spark: So I was at this western steak house and the waitress asked if I wanted rancher dressing with my salad. I said sure. Then this naked guy came out and started putting his cloths on!
†Extended as several people have things in the mail and then I have a friend who is visiting.
Walter Jeffries Tinker, Tailor… A bit eclectic & a tad eccentric, polymath, quantum mechanic & Farmer. Also lucky at cards.
I put something in the mail’
I didn’t have any interesting travel but have a Chinese and Russian coin to include in the desk. They are on their way to Sugar Mountain.