I saw an opportunity today and so I volunteered to join the duplex construction crew on my house for a few hours as ... Guest Stainer. Staining isn’t high on the chain of command, but it’s an honoured position, nonetheless. (Being given a large brush, a pot of colour and a stack of wood, is honour for me)
My brief : Stain a stack of shingles
The context: For the porch of our cordwood masonry house.
Our house is made of wood, mortar, glass (windows, of course), metal (metallic-hued) and then some siding that’s made of cementious product painted cement colour.
It’s all natural looking.
That’s good, I like natural.
(Yawn)
Whispering now... we’re planning to wake up the neighbours with a little ... surprise!
Shayne’s been cooking up something special in his mind and inspiring the rest of us (his future housemates) for awhile now. Showing us samples, giving us ideas.
“Colour is it!” he says.
The rain is drumming on the roof of the bunker silo where the staining operations take place. But what do I care if it’s raining, when I have pots of stain before me? I pry open the lids and take a look ... the colours jump out! ... Safety-railing Yellow, Hopping Frog Green, Carmen Miranda Carmine and I-have-to-close-my-eyes-it’s-so-bright Blue.
What was he thinking?? Are these the colours we chose ourselves ...each, a different one? What have I got myself into?
Another surprise is the smell from the tins. Not chemical. It’s fragrant, and sweet almost.
Looking good ... looking wonderful!
Alan (the) Carpenter brings some cedar boards to the table saw that’s next to my work area. He’s cutting them down for the trim around the windows. I help, as I have done so many times in my Work-Mate past ... receiving the sawn length and lifting it gently to the floor.
I watch Alan’s working hands, covered with a fine dust, finessing the knots in the boards through the straining saw blade. And then I look at mine ... mulberry-pink-stained.
Ours is a handmade house, hand-coloured too!
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