Deep Craft – Page 66 – Ethos of Making

Shopmade Tamales

I love having a kitchen in my woodshop, especially during the rainy season when I often have something bubbling away on the stove while I make things in the shop. As I was making my prototype Windsor Longboard over the weekend, I prepared tamales for about twenty people coming over for our monthly ‘dinner club’. Here is a simple recipe for shop-made chicken tamales, plenty for twenty:

Gently boil two whole chickens in just enough water to cover, about two hours or until tender but not too soft, occasionally skimming the fat. Remove chickens and allow to cool. Save the broth, keeping it warm and removing any remaining fat (I like to use smallish, lean chickens for better flavor, which produce less fat. If you use a fatty chicken, you may need to strain the broth through cheese cloth). Meanwhile, place about 3 pounds masa de harina in a large bow, and thoroughly mix in about a half cup each of ground cumin, chili powder, and sea salt, breaking up any clusters of spice. Mix by hand. Use your hands to mix in about 3 cups corn oil until the texture is like wet sand. Slowly mix in the warm chicken broth, cup by cup until the dough has the texture of thick peanut butter. Allow to sit for several hours while flavors infuse the dough.

Remove all meat from the chicken carcasses and shred by hand into bite size portions. Place the meat in a large bowl and thoroughly coat with mole sauce, about 2-3 cups (use your favorite recipe- Ene makes a mean mole!). Allow the chicken to marinate for at least several hours before building the tamales. Meanwhile, soak the dried corn husks in water to make them pliable.

Fill each corn husk with some combination of the masa de harina, chicken, poblano chilis, queso fresco and fresh pineapple. Keeping one end open, tie the tamales with a piece of string if necessary, or stack them tightly in a large steamer, with the open ends up. Steam the tamales for about 2 hours, then serve with your favorite salsa and side dishes. I made a fresh salsa with cherry tomatoes, onion, fresh cilantro, jalapeno pepper and lime juice. For our ‘dinner club’, friends brought Mexican Rice, Black Beans, a salad of fresh garden greens, lemon tart and brownies for dessert.Â Enjoy!

We served fresh meyer lemonade and Mexican beer.

Windsor Longboard

clamping the deck’s laminates over a contoured armature for camber

I made good progress with my longboard skatedeck experiment. I built a clamping armature with a gradual contour to give the deck adequate camber, over-compensating slightly for the inevitable ‘springback’. I reversed the camber at the tail of the deck to lift the rear of the board to clear the ground and for leverage to spin the skateboard or brake its motion if necessary. albendazole ivermectin brands in india I call this a ‘rooster tail’, although it functions more like a ‘chicken tail’. I’ve always followed the adage from boatbuilding that every design feature should serve at least three functions; the third feature here is really yet to be determined, but should be revealed with some test riding.

deck camber/clamping armature; cured deck, ready for shaping (above)

I was surprised and delighted to see the glue oozing through the pours on the exposed surface of the upper deck, indicating deep penetration. While I worked on the Windsor Longboard in the shop, I boiled two chickens on the stove of my shop kitchen (every workshop needs one) in preparation for making tamales for our monthly ‘dinner club’ with four other nearby families. I love cooking this way, when it’s an extension of other tasks at hand. how much 1% ivermectin for 145lb dog

The next day, I waited until all of the kids arrived for our group dinner before removing the cured deck from the armature, wanting them to help remove the clamps and see the process. The deck came off of the form beautifully, with very little ‘springback’. use of ivermectin subcutaneously in dogs The kids approved of the shape and agreed to help test it when complete.

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The Week in Bloom

A bevy of brunching bovine braved Dillon’s dangerous dunes, ingesting invasive Ice Plants (Carpobrotus edulis), already beginning to bloom.

The Ice Plant (Carpobrotus edulis), an invasive succulent, poses a serious threat to biodiversity.

Uber Old School

I’m making a longboard skateboard deck as my first experiment with forming elm into complex contours. I like thinking of the deck’s shape as continuing in the evolution of the morphology of weapons pictured above (not because they are weapons but because they have a common ancestor in the stick, or branch).

My plan is to cut two identical shapes from a rough cut board of quarter-sawn elm. I’ll press the laminates over a curved form while the glue sets to give the deck some camber for more strength and ‘bounce’, then I’ll hand shape the deck to its final form, mount trucks and wheels and give it a spin. I’d love to hear from anyone, especially skateboarders, for tips and comments.

Laying out the longboard deck laminates on quater-sawn elm (Ulmus hollandica)

Windsor Redux

“Windsor”, wood burning on oak veneer by Joshua Miner III

I’ve always loved traditional Windsor chairs, as much for their structural invention as for their comfort, durability and elegance. The general form evolved regionally throughout the UK in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Many speculate that the chair originated as a byproduct of the charcoal-making industry, and were collectively manufactured by itinerant woodsmen who seasonally managed woodlots and copses. These woodsmen, or bodgers, would work with simple tools- axes, froes and pole lathes- to make a range of products directly from the forest including wagon wheels, rakes, pitchforks and woven ‘wattle’ for fencing and house construction.

Each tree would yield a product unique to its material attributes. Some woods were easily split, some bent when steamed and some, like elm or oak, were remarkably tough and were sawn into boards.

from “The Seasons and the Woodman” by D. H. Chapman

Each process of manufacture would require a distinct set of tools and skills. The early Windsor chairs synthesized many of these into one form, and were typically made by many hands, often geographically disparate. The ‘hub’ of the Windsor chair, its major structural component, is the seat itself, which supports the legs, backrest and armrests as well as the sitter.Â Typically made of elm, the seat of a traditionalÂ Windsor chair best demonstrates this wood’s structural attributes- it is exceedingly difficult to split, is dimensionally stable, and its cell structure binds fibers across the grain. Elm shapes well, and a board can be carved thin and still manage to support a load across a relatively wide span.

I’m beginning to experiment with a contemporary reinterpretation of the Windsor chair, starting with a series of tests press-forming thin laminations of elm into complex contours.

Ultralight Treepod

Spending time among trees helps in my thinking as I develop a portable, ultralight treepod to use as a dwelling during my residency at Mildred’s Lane. Like a folding kayak, the unit would disassemble, packing into two backpacks to be brought to remote sites. The treepod would have integral solar panels on the roof, and would harvest rainwater for an outdoor shower and collapsible, fabric sink inside. ?????? ????

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Among the Redwoods

Sequoia sempervirens

Spending time among the Northern California coastal redwoods can be equally inspiring and disquieting. The trees have a presence that exceeds their scale in both time and space. The forests are supremely silent, supporting little habitat for creatures that produce sound. how often can you give ivermectin to dogs The redwoods exude a boundless patience and wisdom; they are perfectly adapted to their surroundings, taking most of their sustenance from the sea fogs that breathe in and out off the Pacific and shape the contours of the forest edge. ivermectin for sale cape town

Few things compare to being in a redwood forest during a heavy fog, when the trees come to life and break the silence after a silent day of uneasy stillness. Just before dusk, the temperature drops as a Gaussian smudge of silver grey floats down through the branches, depositing shiny pearls of water droplets on the needles. The treesâ€™ downward-sloping branches curl upwards slightly at the tips, seeming to fan their needles to catch more of the sweet condensation. Within minutes, the droplets fall around the trunks, raining a cascade of cool spray into the thick duff underfoot. The earth offers a musty note to the dry needleâ€™s resinous odor as the ground soaks up the water harvested by the web of glistening branches overhead.

As dark sets in, the rain-fog gets louder, with larger drops punctuating the white noise in a panorama of muffled drumbeats. infobae ivermectina The saturated ground completes the circuit of moisture; the atmosphere cools into a Northern humidor. Soon is heard a slow, low hissing as the tree trunks audibly suck up the new groundwater.

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