Pegs aren't Boring . . . . . .

Who says Pegs are boring? Well this posting is all about a boring matter.

Just in case some of you were thinking that I was so obsessed with pegs that I couldn't manage to think about anything else, I would like to share a recent experience with you.

The other day DB and I went to a local timber yard which sells old railway sleepers and garden timber. In the corner of the yard was a steel cage containing off-cuts and scrap bits to be sold as firewood. The bits were all kinds of shapes and a number of them had been severely attacked by grubs which are known as "borers" in Australia. Initially, I had wanted to make a small box, using this interesting wood, but as you can see by the photograph, the borer had eaten most of the wood presenting a bit of a challenge.

We selected about ten pieces of red gum, paid the Japanese owner her $10 and I returned home with my treasures.

Back in the shed, I had doubts about making a box from something which looked like a sieve, but DB had a brainwave ......

She looked at the grub eaten brick shaped piece of red gum and said ....."Go and slice it like a loaf and keep the slices in order". I thought she had lost the plot a bit but never one to argue, and being quite an obedient chap, I did as I was instructed and attacked the wood.

When I returned, with 24 slices of grub eaten loaf/wood, she divided them into six groups of four and opened them out .... a bit like butterflies .. and placed them in symmetrical patterns. After a bit of shifting around, she finally settled on three groups of eight which I then glued to backing sheets of thin plywood and sanded them level.

At first DB thought they looked a bit like brain scans, but then (fortunately) she had the idea of rock pools and with the aid of a little acrylic paint, some liquid glass, and a bit of co-operation, we ended up with an artistic triptych. The photo shows the three panels together with a lump of wood filled with borer holes and also a grub .... it isn't a real one - DB made it from clay.

I know that all this has absolutely NOTHING to do with pegs, but I am so pleased with the resulting artwork that I wanted to share it with you.

........ what do you reckon we'd get for it on E-Bay??