Would They Be Surprised

The day that I received my china cabinet from my loving grandparents was the best day since it was the day I was getting married to my high school sweetheart.

That china cabinet has been packed up a few times and been traveling all over the place as well in the back of moving trucks. The bumping and rubbing that it has gone through, I could just imagine.

The biggest plan I had was to fix the china cabinet, go some sanding down, and refinishing. Then I decided to do some carving. I have never carved in my life, and it was going to be a challenge, but I wanted to do it anyways. I wasn't sure where to begin until I thought it through for a while, actually, it was more like two weeks. Then it was decided.

The first place I had to start, was thinking about what color of finish was it going to be? Since it was a very light beige color, it was not going well with anything I had in the house, so, that's where I made the first decision. The china cabinet was going to be a ebony color. It is like a dark deep black but not really black. It was going to be beautiful I thought to myself. No matter what color it came out to be.

Then the sanding down the bumps and cracks. The cracks I filled with wood filler that you can buy anywhere and it's cheap. It just needs to dry and then sand it down. It also comes in three colors. So I picked the light beige color and did just that. I filled the cracks and finished sanding them down.

The next step I took was to touch up the carvings, but when I realized that the boring flowers didn't work for me anymore, and that's where the carving for the first time came into action. I had to draw out the designs and that took hours. The perfect designs and the sizing had to be just right. I had to make eight copies of the same design, then once I had the designs, I thought what if I cut the designs out with scissors and then stick them to the china cabinet and use a carving blade to cut the designs into the wood. It was so difficult. I had pictured a whole different idea of the amount of time that would take. It was something like 8 days almost. The designs were so hard to get into the wood from the paper cutouts.

I finally got the designs onto the wood and then took off the paper and started carving from my imagination. I didn't mention how I covered the flower designs. I had to use wall putty and wait for it to dry and then sand it down all smoothly. That I did twice. The carvings of the flowers wouldn't cover properly the first time, so it took applications then it was covered completely and I had to wait to sand it all smooth. Then I started carving after I had a rough design on the wood.

The challenge had begun, and it was not easy. I am stubborn and once I dedicate my time to something I had to finish it. The carving was a new skill I learned, and through Google. I had to watch a lot of Google. I never knew that Google would have so many different videos on how to carve. That was a task on its own. There are tons of videos. So I thought, whichever ones had to deal with carving into china cabinets would be suitable. No way! There are tons of videos on that subject alone. So, I had to scroll through and find the ones that were similar to what I was doing. That took me almost three days.

Once I had the videos and saved them onto the laptop, the big day was upon me. The day I was going to be starting to carve my first design. I had bought a couple of different- sized chisels. A small carving hammer and a rubber mallet type. I bought also a carving kit, but that was a bomb. It wouldn't clear the area properly. So I used a drill and a small bit to clear the way and chiseled the rest. Let me say, that was hard work. I never thought that I would be able to lift my arms after doing that. The hammering made my hands a little numb, and my eyes were always so dry, I had to stop a couple of times and wash my face. The wood dust would get in them and dry them out.

Then after the first couple doors, I chiseled away and got the designs onto them, It was the corners and the middle part of the china cabinet. More like the middle top piece. It was so plain. The graphics were not chiseled all the way through, so I took the time and stood upon a stool for about five hours and chiseled ever so slowly and gently at the graphics on the middle piece first.

That middle piece was crazy hard to do. The details I had to be so careful about. Didn't want to take off something important, and I did it very slowly. I had no idea what I was doing. I was going along the designs and where I thought it needed to be more defined, I defined it more. I chiseled and chiseled until it stood out to me. I got off that stool like a hundred times, stood back and looked at it, even asked my friends and kids to check if it all popped at them. They all thought I was crazy, and would laugh. But they knew I was working hard and that if my grandparents were still around they would be proud of the accomplishments I had made to that china cabinet.

That's the whole idea, I wanted to do something that they would be proud of. I know they are not here anymore, but if they were watching me, I wanted them to know I cherished that china cabinet and wanted to do something that would be cherished by all. That china cabinet will be around after I go and to whichever a child of mine gets it, I want them to be proud of it too. I want it to be talked about for generations to come. And it will.

The fun part was carving and learning how to carve. I had spent about 32 hours altogether on it. Maybe a bit more. I had to cover up a couple of times the mistakes I made and chiseled a bit much out by accident. Nobody needs to know that secret. So nobody says if you're reading this.

I loved working on it. It was like my grandparents were still around and they would drop in on me ever so often to see how I was doing. My grandmother would probably be scolding me and telling me that I should do it her way and not be so stubborn. My grandfather, well he was a softy and would offer his time too. But it's my project and I wanted to do it for them. I know I would have gotten heck about covering up the flowers and adding my own creative designs, but I think they all worked out.

The designs came out beautifully. It was the best part of the china cabinet. I had so many of my friends ask me who I got to do them for me. When I said that I did, they wouldn't believe me. They all thought I had paid some carver to come in and do it without nobody knowing. I had to laugh, it was a great compliment I think. Eventually, after a bit, they believed me and couldn't stop talking about them. I still laugh till now about it. I am that good? I guess.

The sanding and more sanding were so much to do. My arms after a while were sore. I couldn't move them the next day and would have to take a break from the china cabinet. I would put frozen bags of corn or peas on my arm muscles and that help so much. I thought I was going to get frostbite after a while, but I never did. I sanded and completed that then I wiped it all down with a wet cloth and blew out the remaining shavings and other wood particles that were stuck. The vacuum helped out a lot. It was like a lifesaver. It got a lot that I missed by wiping it down.

Once that was done, I took out the dark finish and used a soft paintbrush. I didn't want streaks or leaks, so that took a little bit of time. Making sure to wipe off the brush when I got into the graphics and designs. Don't want to make puddles inside them and that would just ruin the whole thing. So it was gentle brushing around the carvings and delicate stuff. The rest got it good. It had to dry and I had to leave a window opened, it was strong smelling. But the finish came out beautifully and it had enough black to cover some mistakes I made, and it looks amazing in my living room. I am so proud of my challenge and I now have carving experience. Not that I would go out and get a job as one. I have to give those carvers a lot of credit. It's hard work everyone. It takes patience and really good hand-to- eye coordination. You hit the wrong spot too hard, well, you'll be getting a huge piece cut out. I had to cover as I mentioned before. I learned real fast the amount of pressure needed and whacks it needed.

I wish my grandparents could see what I did in their honor. I know they would be so proud and they probably would be talking about it to everyone. They would have seen me in my best and they'd know how much I appreciated their gift. I don't think I thanked them enough for it, but this project would say it all for me. I am sure it would say to them, how grateful and appreciative I am, as well as how amazing that my new talents are. I wish they were here to see my master piece.