Posted by Dave Bull at 4:06 AM, April 6, 2010
The other evening, just as I was getting ready to close up the exhibition at seven, a phone call came from the young guy who is heading up the team working on the cases. I heard traffic noise; he was calling from his cell phone, "We're on the way. ETA at your place is a couple of hours from now ..."
They thought they were going to 'surprise' me, but unfortunately, they were the ones who got surprised, as I had no choice but to tell him that I had been invited to a yo-zakura (evening cherry viewing) party by one of my important collectors, and there was no way I could/would cancel out.
But there was also no way that they could/would turn around and head back to their workshop, as they had already been on the freeway for an hour or so. There was no other solution but for them to make their way slowly to my place and wait there until I arrived. When I was finally able to get home - just before eleven - they were snoozing in the cab of the truck ...
Anyway, we got the large cartons into my basement, and away they went.
210 cases makes quite a pile:
Here's a closeup of the carton we cracked open ...
The work seems to have been done very well, and I'm very happy with the result. The sample has been on display all week at the show, and the reaction has been very positive. The single most common comment has been kawaiiiiiiii! (the same word that you get from young girls when they talk about Kitty-chan).
Not sure if that's the image I had in mind, but I'll take any kind of praise I can get!
(Exhibition is over, and I'll post a bit about it later, maybe tomorrow. Today is a carving day! If I keep at it, I should be able to get the block set done by tonight ...)
