Kosmo

Kosmo poses with his new family. Check out Lester Kong on youtube.

Kong's Kosmo Goes to his Home Galaxy

After a journey in my shipping case, Noah, Kosmo has settled down in his new orbit.

Gaia, Earth Mother continued

Inscriptions and poems to next generations of musicians are also inside.

Gaia's portrait is on the neck block inside the cello.

Gaia, Earth Mother

To

Above is the finished inside painting in Gaia, and here is the sketch.

Cinamon, the cat checking out the progress of Gaia as the ribs are being glued on.
Phil, for whom the cello is intended and George, the cat who has made a temporary bed inside the ribs.
The photos coming up will show Gaia, a cello in various stages of development. Here you can see the back of the scroll which is adorned with leaves and flowers twined among the strands of Gaia's long hair.

Aaron's Agenda

The entire interior has taken on shape and some of its color as I try to give life to the inspired ideas Aaron Baca communicated to me regarding his ideal instrument.

This tiny tower appears in the distance of the landscape interior.

The idea for a dome in the landscape came from the interior space of the cello and was confirmed by Aaron Baca, cellist for whom the instrument is being created. Aaron spent some time in Florence where Brunelleschi's famous dome was erected.

Challenging Cello

The statue is sketched in and the night sky looks foreboding. The grain of the wood helps to determine the lay of the land. Aaron Baca who ordered the cello and the theme is hoping to give a message to humanity as well.

The interior of the Angel Cello is to be painted after El Greco's View of Toledo and include a Brunescelli-like dome and the Angel of Grief statue.

The Blank Slate - Actually a Poplar Slate.

The back is glued onto the rib garland. After the clamps come off, the interior will be ready...

Viola, the Cat

The stray starving cat is named Viola because she came into my life five minutes before Sarah's viola lesson.

Abandoned Animals

I just rescued a tiny cat, skin and bones, 4.9 pounds - probably dumped by someone too lazy to take care of it in the open space behind my home. I'm supposed to be blogging about making violins, but this gross human behavior gets under my skin.

Sue Hunt arrives from London

Heartsease, a viola I made for Sue Hunt, waits among the spring flowers for her arrival.

Custom Fittings

Kong's Kosmo

For many of my instruments I also create fittings that reflect the chosen theme. These pegs and tailpiece are to be used in a violin with the cosmos as its thematic soul. First I inlaid the crystals, then incised the designs. Next I carefully pressed gold leaf into the contours. As a protective coating for the delicate gold leaf, I filled in the remaining design depressions with clear epoxy varnish. This should keep the decoration intact over many years and thousands of tunings.

There is a rainbow in all our lives

Rainbows are everywhere in my life even in winter.

As I was driving home a large rainbow suddenly appeared. Then it morphed into a double-bow.

It disappeared only to reform minutes later over a perfect little peak to the north.

I thought it was gone, but when I came home the rainbow had landed on Heart's Ease, a viola.

Maybe all this is just a post script to the magical inauguration we as a whole country just experienced.