Big News and Big Changes and a New Home

This post is going to be a doosey, so:

First things first, I want to show you the finished version of Cato. I only have the shot I took with my phone, so I'll have to get a higher res shot for the Gallery. I like the way that the carving turned out and the customer really liked the color (although I have other thoughts on the matter that I'll talk about later.) 

As most of you know (or don't know) I recently graduated with my BS in Electrical Engineering from BYU. It feels so good to be finished with college for the time being. While being graduated is great, it also brings a lot of changes. First would be my employer: I have since finished my time working with Physical Facilities at BYU (the place I've had such wonderful access to saws, paints, and stains etc) and will soon be a proud employee of Intel Corp.

 The big snag from this is that we have to find a new place to live....in Oregon. I was originally sad to find out I had to leave home, but I've come to terms with it. We'll be able to start a new home for our family and make a new name for ourselves in the Pacific Northwest. While it's great and nice to move and start over, it also means that I'm losing all of my connections I've been using to finish and dye the signs thus far. 

As of now all signs that I make will have to be a natural color. 

You would think that this would make me somewhat upset, but I'm not too bothered with it actually. I've never been the biggest fan of the unnatural colors, and it's really tough to get them to be even on the Bass Wood. Rarely did I get a color that was even and not splotchy. So for now, at least until I find a solution to this, we'll have to go without them crazy colors.

Along with no stains, I don't have a saw. (At the moment.) I'm trying to get my hands on one that I can take with me, but I may be up a river for a while. If it comes to that, I will still be carving, I'll simply have to do a different style for a while like chip carving or doing walking staffs. I don't know when I'll know about the saw, but I'll be sure to say when I do find out.

Another piece of the moving to Oregon package is that I'm going to be a DAD! My wife and I are awaiting a little girl to join our family in a few weeks. She will undoubtedly take the majority of my spare time, but I'm going to promise that I will be doing my best to keep on top of everything here at S.H. Carving. But if I do get a little behind, you'll understand why.

Now, possibly the biggest news of all. SH Carving is moving! I think I've finally outgrown the blogspot hosting and figured I'd move into my own website and spiffy URL. The new site is currently in development, so I can't unveil it just yet, but it is coming soon. The posts here will stay, but I will most likely redirect visits to this page to the new site. I'm really excited about this, I've always wanted to have my own site that isn't a blogspot. 

Posts will still be coming in the meantime, so don't jump ship just yet.