My own news isn't nearly so exciting. I did finish that editorial yesterday (finally, around midnight), as well as finally getting around to reading Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, which was much fun. Good work, Cory! I like it when people I know write good things. :-)
Not sure what else I actually did yesterday -- the day disappeared. Kev and I did swing by The Container Store (hangers, plastic thingies to put under bathroom sinks for organizing, a shelf for the bedroom) and Home Depot (a level (in an oddly-attractive magenta-purple), some magnets to assist with the whole make Kevin's birthday present actually work properly). Oh -- I never told y'all what that present was, did I? I built him a chalkboard for his birthday!
It's 3 x 4 ft, with hinged doors that close and which are painted in a sort of mottled clay underneath with Victorian brick on top. The interior makes a 8 x 3 chalkboard surface when opened up (painted with several layers of Benjamin Moore's black latex chalkboard paint). The mathematicians who came to his birthday party all agreed that it was way cool. :-) I was pleased. To make the doors stay closed and open properly, though, I need to add magnets (which I hope I can then paint over? Will magnets work if they have paint on them?). So it's not quite usable yet, but soon. And it looks so pretty -- though I'm going to have to remove the gorgeous decorative wrought-iron handles I put on because they prevent it from lying flat enough when open -- ah well. I can use them for some other project at some point, I'm sure.
Sounds wonderful. Can we see a picture?
I mean of the chalkboard, not necessarily Jed’s house.
I’ve gotten painted magnets at cons, so I think they should work fine. I don’t know about painting the side you want to stick to whatever, though.
Putting a couple coats of paint on a magnet shouldn’t affect it, assuming it’s not one of those paper thin, weak magnets they use to put your local pizza joint’s phone number on your fridge. Also, if you make the body of the chalkboard deeper, the doors will have more room when you open them up, and the handles might not prevent it from opening flat.
Thanks for the help, guys. I’ll post photos soon, when it’s all finished. I’m afraid it’s too late to make the body of the chalkboard deeper; that would have been a clever solution if I’d thought of it before building the darn thing. 🙂