I need a hobby

[cjsmith]

...like tennis, or philately... ok, no really. I'm doing way too much reading of books that don't interest me. Time for something new: something that can be done in small chunks of time and with little prep (or the prep can be left lying around the house ready to go), something that is okay to interrupt, something that does not involve standing up.

Some possible new hobbies for the CJ:
- beading*
- yoga (the seated poses)
- yet another new language to learn a little

Some past hobbies the CJ could revive:
- flying**
- sewing*
- photography
- baking**
- Japanese language study

* needs planning to pass the "can you fill just fifteen minutes with it" test
** fails the "can you fill just fifteen minutes with it" test

Comments

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

What is egg carving?

I've got some half-finished model airplanes lying about. Most of my effort on those in the past couple of years has gone toward protecting them from the cats. :-) Maybe I should go finish one!

[tsjafo.livejournal.com]

I carve holes in chicken eggs and make scenery to go inside them...sailing ships, light houses, spacecraft and airplanes.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh my! Those would be some very tiny ships and light houses and such! What do you make the scenery out of? How big is the hole through which you get it into the egg?

[tsjafo.livejournal.com]

The hole is a bit larger than a quarter. I make the scenery out of just about anything. Water can be made out of crumpled and smoothed foil, painted blue. Ships are made from small scraps of wood and wire with cigarette paper sails and invisible sewing thread for rigging.

The idea was that I could use scraps and things laying around the house. I use nail polish to harden and paint the outside of the eggs. Craft wire to line the hole, lots of super glue. Tweezers to make the hole and emery boards to smooth the edges. Just whatever I can get my hands on.

You can see pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/41719098@N00/sets/637639/

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh man! Those are incredibly detailed! It must take forever to complete one egg. How long does it take you, for example, to do all the wire decoration around the hole?

[tsjafo.livejournal.com]

It takes a lot longer to think up what to put in the egg than it does to put it together. I can do a simple egg, from start to finish, in about an hour. Complex eggs can take longer.

There is only a single strand of wire superglued around the hole, the rest is cheap ric-rac from the fabric store white glued around the wire.

The hobby is cheap and simple. You've probably already got everything in your house to do a simple egg.