Letting the creative out.

I was looking around recently at a gazillion headphones online and noticed something odd. It appears that no-one has ever made engraved or carved headphone cups. Pipes, bowls, guns, knives, glasses and such like have a long and illustrious history of fine engraving work... headphones? Nothing! Well, if that's not an opportunity I don't know what is. So off I went to my local woodcraft store and bought a small Proxxon engraver to go with all my other Proxxon mini tools. It's a nice little thing, 12v, very light and much easier to handle than the pro rotary tools I already had. I also bought myself a variable temperature wood burning kit with three pens. A little pricey but much better than the cheapo soldering iron variants. Between these two I should be able to do some interesting things to my cups because sometimes, even expensive wood needs some help. There are a couple of examples of this work on my site, I think it looks pretty nice myself and breaks up the monotony of general cup work.

I haven't done any proper woodburning yet, just practice boards until I get the technique down. The engraving or power carving is also a bit of a challenge because the bits are constantly trying to worm their way out of your desired target. A spinning cutter going at 20,000 rpm can wander or catch if you're not concentrating so it makes a good zen process. I find it oddly relaxing in an intense way and it's very rewarding if it goes right. I have a whole bunch of 'went wrong' practice cups now ;) The biggest problem with all this is that it can be a bit distracting when you really need to get things done and finished. I always seem to be backed up and few things go as quickly as I plan or imagine. I guess that's the same with most peoples projects. I'm working on more realistic targets to keep on top of things.