The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

 Apr 18th- A few of my favorite things...

~The quest to turn parts in a box to a ship with her sails

~The patience it takes to paint, glue, and rig together the ship

~The pride that goes into making a ship you've learned so much about along the way....drum roll, please...meet the Cutty Sark!

The Cutty Sark...

sailing with the flag of J Willis and Son on the main mast,

the British Nautical Flag,

and Letters that Spell out JKWS

(for the tea company who owned her)

on the halyard line...

and the numbers 2 on the foremast

and 2 on the mizzen mast for '22,

the year Thea built the model....Great Job Thea!

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

 Mar 23rd- A few of my favorite things...

~Securing the mast sails to the ship

~Tying the gaff sails which help steer the ship

~Attaching the flags to ID her from afar

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

 Mar 5th- A few of my favorite things...

~The satisfaction of rigging all five staysails without throwing the ship into the sea

~Finishing and and installing the anchors just in case

~Attaching the four jib sails leaving only rigging lines and flags to attach: almost done!

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

 Mar 4th- A few of my favorite things...

~Tools and "rope" to rig the stay sails

~Securing the sail between the masts

~Figuring how to attach the first one, for "Well begun is half done"

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

 Mar 1st- A few of my favorite things...

~Beginning to set the gaff rig sails to the mast

~The patience it takes to let the glue set on a sail or two

~Getting the next set of sails ready for rigging

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

 Feb 26th- A few of my favorite things...

~Three masts and sails ready to be set into place

~Helping a young shipwright set the rope ladders

~Watching a ship come to life as the bowsprit is set into place knowing there is still more work to do

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

 Feb 24th- A few of my favorite things...

~Eyes that notice that the Cutty Sark has no flags in the illustration, but 3 flags on the model

~Going down the rabbit trail of nautical vexillology to find some answers

~The fun of making your own miniature flags with some help from mom

One thing we've noticed while working on them is that in spite of the these being models, historical accuracy isn't always there. 

The Cutty Sark rarely flew a flag on its mainmast and none on the foremast or mizzen. 

Its flags were usually on the line from the foremast to the bowsprit on the halyard. 

So we chose the flag of John Willis and Sons, the flags of his initials, and the Nautical flag of the UK (like the example we found in the above pic). 

History is definitely in the details. 

Another fun rabbit hole.... Alice would be proud 🐰