It’s so nice to have finally had the chance to make the cut-outs from the neck and chest. They’ve been drawn there in charcoal for a long time, and it felt great to do them. The cut-outs serve dual functions of making the overall piece lighter and easier to move and assemble, as well as also making the flat surfaces open to wind passing through, so she doesn’t become a sail or take on excessive side force. We also wanted the cut-outs to give her some “visual texture,” and to repeat a decorative shape in various ways across the body.

She is starting to show her personality, as we start working on features of her face. The eye is a bicycle reflector, and the ears are just templated in cardboard for now, but look at that pun-dog smile!

Testing an idea for the tail: The theory is that proper hinges seem like they might be too stiff and rigid for the tail motion, and they add a lot of weight. The hope here is that the set of springs will have enough stiffness to hold up the tail with more fluid motion. We’ll find out soon! It’s such a relief to be on to working on the tail.

Today I got to pull the Cutawl K-11 down off the shelf and put it to use. I love this saw. In commercial applications the jobs it would have been used for have moved over to CNC routers and laser cutters. This is a vintage and blades for it are hard to find and very expensive. But it’s really just the right tool for this job, and I love using it. Plus, I’m really excited that we’re progressing onto the tail!