The woes of making a harp

[Nya Halcyon]

Don't ask ... (obviously this is a rhetorical statement)

I spent last Friday night and all day on Saturday carving a piece of ash wood to make my daughter's harp for school. If you've never carved anything, let me just say this: carving ash wood is the rough equivalent of trying to gouge a hole into a piece of rock with a wooden spoon.

I got about 1/3 done. I would have gone on if my wrists hadn't felt like they were separate, throbbing entities that didn't listen to me anymore and just wanted to get away from that place of torture.

On saturday night, after driving home I wasn't sure if I'd be able to pry my fingers off the steering wheel because they were so stiff and cramped and painful. I finally managed, but I spent a long time doing so, and I'm sure my howls of agony could be heard on the other side of town.

Yesterday I sat around with both wrists bandaged, high on painkillers. Today only one wrist was still in constant pain (the right one, of course), so I went to my GP and had him confirm what I already knew: that I have a nasty case of tenosynovitis...

So now I've got my wrist and arm bandaged up so I can't really move it, and I've got to leave it like that for a couple of days. It hurts a bit less now, and I'm going to go back to school tomorrow.... not sure how this bandaged-up arm is going to fare whilst driving, but I'm keeping the painkillers close...

Uhmm.. yeah... so no serious posting from me for a few days. Typing isn't going so well either...

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Why on earth do you have to carve a harp for her?? O_o School in Germany sounds so bizarre to me. :lol

Hope your wrists are better soon. :hug

[Nya Halcyon]

Because this isn't an ordinary school. Of course I could have found one for sale on ebay, maybe, but it's not the same as giving your child the chance to be proud of you for making something yourself.

Today things are better. Having that rigid bandage around my wrist even for a day helped a lot, although I had to take it off because my skin doesn't like it all that much and it was a bit too tight. But I bandaged it up again less tightly and it's okay now.... I'm going to have to stop by the pharmacy in the morning, however, and have them put on another tight one so I can attend sculpting class since I do have to finish my sculpture tomorrow....

[Razielle Alastor]

When you're done will you make me one too?!:D:D:D

-runs away fast-

I kid! :p Take care of those wrists. Chamomile is a good anti-inflamatory if you steep some it makes a great soak. Hang in there!

[Nya Halcyon]

Okay so here is the finished harp. Took me about 7 days all in all, spread out over 3 weeks. I've got to add that I was the only one who was crazy enough to do any "decoration", and that's what took forever.

Anyway, I'm quite proud of myself, and Nya's showing it off to everyone. It sounds really really good, too.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Wow that's incredible! I can't believe you carved it yourself. I carved Mt. Shasta into a bar of soap once, but that was a lot easier than wood I imagine. ;)

[Dasquian Belargic]

It looks great! All the hard work seems to have paid off :)