Stools galore and more

Since that piano looked a bit lonely so by itself I decided I'd make a piano stool as well.  I can't finish the piano anyway at the moment, because I thought it lacked something and that is some more decoration at the top half.  I am setting up a wood lathe at the weekend, with the help of my son, who kindly lent it to me and then I will try my hand at some turning.

I could have also turned some parts for a piano stool, but I wasn't going to wait.  I have started on a more modern one with a leather seat and room underneath the seat for sheet music.  I don't have a picture yet, but one of the hard parts was a decorative strip of a half round that I wanted to fix around the seat.  When talking about it it was suggested that I sand back a toothpick, so that's what I did, and with success I might add:

Sanding back a toothpick

In a perfect life I would by now have finished the stool, but my stain was very old and had become quite watery, the good stuff sitting on the bottom of the tin.  As I didn't want to go out and get a new tin I used the old one, but had to put on quite a number of coats to get the darker colour.  Impatiently I didn't let it dry enough between coats and the whole stool fell apart, the water based wood glue having dissolved!  Well, a lesson learned.  The stool is now drying properly on my workbench.

In the meantime I wanted to try and finish a few more of the numerous kits I have lying around.  This time a modern little kitchen stool-cum-stepladder.  It is a copy of an original one brought out by Ikea.  The kit wasn't designed by me, but it's very cute:

One day I will make a modern kitchen.  Till then I'll just look at the result with satisfaction.  I also have a kit for a fridge somewhere, but I'll leave that one till I actually start this kitchen.  That'll be a long way off yet.

Last night I have started on another kit: a basket with garden gloves and such.  Yes, I am on a roll while I have the time...  I am not happy with the basket, I've done a better job in the past, but I am nearly finished with the gloves and just love them:

This is one of the two.  It's made of real leather and I was even game enough to separate the fingers, so it's a correct into the very detail.  It was fiddly work, to be honest, so I leave the other one till tomorrow and go off to bed now.  See ya...