thistle burr @thistleburr - Tumblr Blog

I got some new pencils so I used them to sketch Lee. (And a bonus sketch of Dio too.)

#chinchillas #sketches #The new pencils are a Pilot Color mechanical pencil with light blue lead #and a mitsubishi two-color red and blue pencil that had defective blue lead :(#been a while since I posted any art on here #I am still drawing - the internet is just a real downer

Worked on this today with help from a crewmate, but not the cool part with the griffin things, just the maroon border. I did a great job color-matching the original maroon paint that was on there, but I didn't take a before and after photo so you'll just have to take my word for it.

#nautical stuff #painting projects #shipyard stuff #This has gotta be my last project for the season because the ship is sailing away soon #I had a lot of fun painting stuff this year #I never noticed that the griffins in here have HOOVES? But not even horse hooves - cloven hooves?#what the heck kind of animal are they supposed to be #cow griffins?

It's way too hot today!!!

#shipyard stuff #nautical stuff #nautical photos

I don't think my projects for this year are completely done yet, but this one might be! Look at those gold leaf letters! Thankfully I had some help with these!

#nautical stuff #painting projects #shipyard stuff #nautical photos #I always get so caught up in little details and in fussing around with things but it's good to take a step back for clarity #I'm amazed at how well this gold leaf project came out considering how it was done #(outside in the wind while standing on a ladder and clipped into climbing belts etc)#I think there's one more thing for me to paint before I'm done but that will be an ultra-rare PAINTING INSIDE THE BOAT project

The ship looked gorgeous today. But the weather is windy and cold!

#kalmar nyckel #nautical stuff #tall ships #shipyard stuff #nautical photos

Finished up the small letters! Next, the big letters!

I can't believe how well this is going. I was afraid it might actually be impossible to apply gold leaf outdoors like this until I actually tried it.

#nautical stuff #tall ships #painting projects #shipyard stuff #unfortunately it's windy and cold but what can ya do

Leo is back on the boat again! I'm so happy with him, and I'm especially happy about the new gold eye color!

#kalmar nyckel #nautical stuff #tall ships #painting projects #shipyard stuff #nautical photos #I wish I had a better camera to take better photos of him but alas

We were trying to apply gold leaf onto these letters on the stern of the ship today, but it's just too windy so we gave up on it for now!

#nautical stuff #kalmar nyckel #tall ships #shipyard stuff #I didn't post my “I'm done with my shipyard projects” post at all this year because I was sure I would get called back in for something lol #We switched to painting today which is at least a little easier to do in the wind #The freshly gold leafed letters are “LMI”#The problem I have is that whenever I'm on the boat I see all this stuff I want to touch up or fix and it drives me mad

Leo is done!

I'm really pleased with how he came out and I'm especially glad that the gold leaf eyes worked out well. I changed some things about him this year but I don't think most people will ever get close enough to notice.

Hopefully I can get some better photos of him in some better lighting before he goes back up onto the boat!

#nautical stuff #tall ships #painting projects #shipyard stuff

thistleburr

All of her masts are back!

madnessfromthemountains

I’ve never seen a crow’s nest on a bowsprit before. Is that unusual?

thistleburr

Hello and thanks for asking!

Those aren't actually crow's nests - they're called "fighting tops" because they would've held swivel guns or people wielding rifles. A crow's nest is more enclosed and is located higher up, because they're designed to be a lookout point. It is very unusual for a ship to have a structure like that on the bowsprit though!

We have one because we have an unusual sail called a sprit topsl, or a bowsprit topsail. The small mast you can see at the end of the bowsprit has an even smaller yard for the sprit topsl, which is a very small square sail. Here are examples of what it looks like, on a model ship and an illustration of our ship:

The lower sail is the spritsl or the bowsprit sail, and the higher sail, right above the small fighting top on the bowsprit, is the sprit topsl! It's not a particularly practical sail - it's small so it doesn't provide much extra propulsion, and makes it hard to see where you're going - so you will only see them on ships from a particular time period.

#radio chatter #kalmar nyckel #nautical stuff #tall ships #thanks for asking!#Looking at old sailing ship rigs is cool because you can see them figuring out what works and what doesn't and improving over time

More bad lighting, but look at that! Leo's mane is now covered in gold leaf. I'm not done yet though - There are still errors to fix and details to improve on.

#kalmar nyckel #nautical stuff #painting projects #shipyard stuff #Every year this site seems to be more and more dedicated to making me move this kind of stuff to my own website...#Not sure how much I want to post ship photos on here any more if I can't keep an eye on where my posts go and who is adding to them #but I'll finish out posting this season's projects at least

Rapidly approaching the finish line with Leo's mane! Just a little more to go on this project before I just have fussy details left.

#kalmar nyckel #nautical stuff #painting projects #shipyard stuff

All of her masts are back!

#kalmar nyckel #nautical stuff #tall ships #shipyard stuff

thistleburr

17th century cargo ship, passing a modern cargo ship.

#kalmar nyckel #nautical photos #reblogging my own posts #I was thinking about this photo today...#I think the cargo ship in this photo is Cap Blanco #Cargo ships are incredibly unappreciated technology

Nice weather for going aloft today! But I was working inside...

#nautical stuff #shipyard stuff

Today's Leo progress! And a reveal - his eyes are now gold! I've been wanting to change the blue for a while and gold seemed like the obvious choice. I finally put a layer of gold leaf on them today, along with a lot of details and edges. There's still a long way to go, but I'm pleased with how things are coming along so far.

#nautical stuff #painting projects #shipyard stuff #Gotta take a break from this project to go to the hospital for some health stuff........#Hopefully I will be right back at it asap though

Just another day at the shipyard

#nautical stuff #shipyard stuff

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