Bird Outhouse (2013)

My father collects bird houses to put in this big walnut tree we have in our yard.

For his birthday I thought it would be fun to make a "Bird Outhouse".

Finished bird outhouse.

It's constructed from plywood. I tried pine wood at first but those pieces of board were to curved to work with.
I carved in some lines to make it look like it was made from several boards. And when it was finished I stained it with very diluted acrylic paint and gave it a nice mat varnish.

What you see through the door.

What you see from above.

Inside I made a little stool as you'd see in old outhouses. And I made a tiny toilet paper roll.
The door can be locked using a pin and the top can be opened to see if there's a nest or something.
The toilet stool can be taken out, making it more appropriate for a bird to nest inside.

I placed a little sign on the door that says "Vrij" (Free) and "Bezet" (Occupied)

Also on the side I glued a sign as a bit of a joke:

Fun sign.

A "Schijtlijster" isn't a real bird. It's roughly translated as someone who's chicken.
But the literal translation would be "Prohibited for shitty birds"

Stained Glass Course (2013)

This in the end assignment of my Stained Glass Course, which I followed next to the Wood/ Marble Imitation classes.

Finished piece.

It was an utterly awful design if I may be honest.

We had to pick our own pattern from the internet. I thought this one wasn't that hard because it doesn't have that many pieces.
In the end this happened to be the most difficult one of everyone. Even the teacher had a hard time to get the pieces without breaking the glass.

It became so difficult due to the bent lines. Bent lines aren't that difficult, but if you have to take a hollow shape out of something with a thin "neck" then it is extremely hard not to break things.

The other rookie mistake I made was to use patterned glass, it contains structure and some air bubbles. This glass will eventually break quicker than normal float glass.

In the end I think I tried like 15 times to make the lower dark green parts and about 10 times the orange curls.

I succeeded to make it all on my own, but then some pieces broke during the solder process.

Because we were running low on dark green structure glass, my teacher made the pieces from a different type and color glass.

I'm not done learning so I will make more stained glass items. The teacher is learning how to make stained glass with paintings inside of them (like those in churches). Once he knows enough we might get to learn it too.

Wood/ Marble Imitation Course (2011 and up)

 Some examples of my work from the Wood/ Marble imitation course.
To add:
Walnut Stretched Italic
Walnut Root Wood.

This year I want to learn Mahogany another marble and I'd like to learn how to gild.

St. Anna Marble (2012)

(Unfinished) Walnut Stretched Wood (2012)

Pinewood (2012)

Napoleon Rouge Marble (2012)

Napoleon Gris Marble (2011)

Teak Wood (2011)

White Marble (2011) Water base

Oak Wood Panel; Close up (2011)

Oak Wood Panel (2011)

Dressing Table (2013)

This has to be my biggest assignment yet.

An old colleague of my mother asked me if I was able to make a dressing table for her little daughter.

It didn't matter how long it would take me and she thought it would also be a good learning project for me.

I must say: it definitely was a challenge.

Finished product.

I started off my making a 3D Drawing.

This way I knew what I was capable of, but also how much material I needed.
Because it's a kid version of a dressing table, the legs are shorter than a normal table would be.
Roughly this one is 10 cm lower than an average desk.

3D drawing; I used pink to see things in depth.

3D drawing; I also made several items to show it's size.

After converting it to a 2D blue print using AutoCAD, I was able to calculate what the basic costs were going to be.

I also used the blue print to print out some crucial templates, like the leg, side pieces and the mirror stand.
These were later sawn out of 3mm MDF.

For the legs I there already was a problem: The thickness of the wood would cause trouble for both my fretsaw as well as our jigsaw.
Unfortunately I don't own a bandsaw yet.

The solution was to make the legs from 2 layers MDF which were sawn in shape and glued together after.
To make it seem like one single piece I used a band sander to even the edges.
With a router I made some decoration edges.

Different stages of making a leg.

After the legs were finished I build the main part of the table. I had to keep room in the corners to fit the legs between. The front two legs would be in a 45 degree angle and the back legs would stand flat against the wall.

Bottom view of the table when it was being glued.

The table would get 2 drawers.
The drawer holders would run all the way to the back. This way it would give extra support to the table top to prevent it from sagging.

I used dowels for pretty much everything in sight to prevent screw holes that require extra work to mask them.

Bottom view to show how one of the front legs are connected to the table.

 The last part was to make the mirror bit of the table. This would have 3 functions: drawers, a stand and a mirror.
First I made the frame for the mirror and I used this together with the earlier made template to get a drawing of the backboard.
With a jigsaw I sawed the whole thing free.
Again I used dowels and glue to connect all the pieces.

 

The mirror piece without the mirror, drawers or frame.

The finished wood work. The mirror frame is only secured with double sided tape at this moment.

When I finished all the parts I assembled the whole table to see if things worked.
After that it was time to give it a paint job.
I spoke with the woman on the phone. At first she wanted it to be white, but her daughter didn't agree and wanted it pink. But because she needs to use it for a couple of years she was afraid pink would go out of fashion. Therefor she chose the color silver.

The finished table showing al the drawers.

I didn't do the inside of the drawers on purpose, this is never done because it wears down very easy.

But I wasn't finished with that. She also like to have a stool to go with it.

I designed a pretty basic stool that resembled the same kind of style of the table.

The legs were done the same as the table.
I did however use screws to connect this one, mainly because I needed it to me more secure than the table. Dowels might come loose over time and it didn't have as much connecting surfaces as the table does.

Because MDF is known for its ability to bent or sag over time I made two rods that connected the legs with each other, which makes things a whole lot sturdier.

The woman arranged some fabric for me to make a seat. The seat is made by glueing a piece of foam to an MDF board and then covering it with the fabric using a tacking device.

Perspective view of the stool.

Another perspective of the stool.

 Off course it was also painted silver.

Finished stool.

Coin Flower; Florum Denarios (2013)

A friend of mine had organised a house warming party.
It's normal to bring gifts and she told us she'd really liked to have a "Money tree" in their yard. She mentioned this for fun, she actually wanted money or gift certificates to use for their garden or for tools.

A "Money tree" isn't really original. I decided I liked a money plant way better and I started to design a basic plant using coins.

The Coin Flower, or Florum Denarios in Latin.

I ended up with a 6 leafed flower, that holds exactly 1 Euro in cash. (6x 5c + 1x 20c in the middle and 2x20c+ 1x10c at the back. 20 flowers were put on an iron wire and stuck in some dirt filled PVC pipes.

How to:

• Make a 6 leafed template and use it to cut the amount of flowers you like.
• Paint them in a copper color. I painted the backside black.
• Use hotglue to glue the coins on. Don't glue them to tight together.
• Cut the leafs up to the middle coin to create separate petals.
• Bent the leafs; 3 up and curl the edges
• Glue the 3 bend leafs to the middle coin.
• Add some stamen; 3 golden iron wire pieces with a gold bead glued on top. (You can also do this last, making it easier to connect the flower to the stem)
• Glue the base coins at the other side. 
• Bent a thick iron wire and bent a loop at the end. (The stem; use several lengths)
• Glue the flower to the loop 
• Take 6 pieces of PVC pipe and tape them together.
• Secure these in a flower pot and fill them with dirt.
• Put the flowers in the PVC pipes.

The flower in 4 steps

To finish it all I made a little information sheet and glued it on the pot.

Mine said: "Coin Flower (Florum Denarios). The Coin Flower is a very rare type of plant. It's a slow growing vegetation which grows the best with as less sunlight as possible. When the plant is placed in direct sunlight, there's a big change the plant will loose its leafs"

I played a bit with the fact that if you keep this plant in sight it's most likely someone will steal the flowers.

CD Storage Unit; Ammo box (2013)

Finished army box.

In my car I always have the problem where I can keep my collection of CD's. Normally I stall them in the placing in the door, but that wasn't the best option.

At a market I saw ammunition boxes on sale and I thought that would be a great option for storing CD's, but those aren't fit for that purpose, so I made my own.

I started of with by making a box suitable to hold 35 CD's. It's a simple basic box; a bottom, 4 sides + a lid which is constructed in the same way.

A simple, basic box.

This box got painted with acrylics in a nice rusty red. Lateron I can sand through the top layer a bit, which gives it a more rustic old look.

Rusty red.

After the red, it got an army green layer.

"not so army" green.

I wasn't happy with this color and gave it a better army color later on.

Next it needed some words. I looked online what kind of things are written on these kind of boxes. Mostly they contained codes of which I didn't know what they meant. Instead I made my own:
"35 CD Storage unit
120 MM, 700 MB
W.v. D. 30-04-1986"

And this says exactly what it needs to say: 35 CD's. They are 120 mm big and contain approximately 700 MB. My name letters are: W.v.D. I'm female and born at 30th of April 1986.

Cutting out the template.

However I made one crucial mistake: I used spray paint on a paper template. Paper curls up, what means that when you spray paint it, the paint easily gets underneath and blurs the lines.
I had to repaint the failed side of the box 3 times over!
After it was one color again I retried it using the dabbing technique with a paintbrush.

When everything was finished I screwed on the hinges and the lock piece.
And of course I added  35 CD's.

Closed box.

Opened box filled with CD's.
And no, that's not the symbol of a pokéball. I tried to make a CD symbol.

35 CD's alphabetical ordered.

Hatstand (2012)

As an assignment from my mother I was asked to make a hatstand with an attempt to make it look like old wood.

Front view

It's made from MDF and the 4 pieces are painted with the same techniques I did the drawers of the cabinet.
I choose to do some of the stamps only half, making the illusion these are separate boards instead of 1.

The hooks were taken from a different hatstand.

The hatstand measures about 100cm x 30cm x 20cm.

Semi side view.

Close up of the right side.

Bottom view, showing that I didn't forget about the top.

Cabinet cart (2012)

When I build the Painters Cabinet (see  previous post), I forgot to take account that in the end things might get quite heavy.

And after putting all the painting supplies inside it wasn't the easiest cabinet to transport things with.
It's perfect for standing in a closet or on a desk, but to take it with me every week to my course wasn't.

The solution is a cart, which off course, had to be custom made by myself.

Almost finished cart, it needs a front panel to be complete.

I wanted it to resemble some sort of trolley, therefor it got 2 wheels in the back and two "legs" in the front. This way it can travel but it can also stand solid on it's place.
For the design I took the decorational pieces as inspiration.
The side has an open space which is slightly wider than the ridge standing out the side of the cabinet. This makes it possible that the box slides perfectly in between and stays in place without the need of tying it down.

The cart is made from plywood, which is sturdier than MDF and it doesn't soak up moisture as much.

Unpainted front side

Unpainted left perspective

Unpainted right perspective

Unpainted right side'

Painted right side with the connection piece

Close up of the connection piece

 The lace like connection piece connects the two panels of the side. It's made from a solid board which I sanded/ grinded down to lace like strings.

A Painters Cabinet (2012 and up)

In October 2011 I started to follow the course "Wood/ Marble imitations". At this course I'm thought how to paint fake wood and marble on a plain surface; f.e.: MDF.

The Cabinet as far as I got this far. At the side you see Napoleon Gris with a frame of Teak and a Pinewood bar.

In the beginning I could fit all my art supplies in a standard tool box. But in a short period of time I gained a bunch more supplies and the box got too small.
With my wood working skills I decided to build a cabinet with several drawers to fit the different times of equipment.

I started off with making some 2D drawings at AutoCAD. This way I knew what I needed and all the measurements.
I decided to build it from MDF, something I don't recommend when I'd do this a second time.

The good sides of MDF are:

• It's easy to work with. (No splinters, no nerves etc, easy to sand.)
• Not very expensive 
• The board comes in big sizes and several thicknesses.

The bad sides about MDF are:

• It's heavy!
• It's fragile; the corners will break or wear down easy.
• Due to the lack of nerves it has the property to bend easy. This is nice when you want to have something curved. But you don't want this to happen between drawers, because your drawers will get stuck (I learned this the hard way)

After having everything set, I sawed all the pieces I needed from the AutoCAD drawing.

Make note that the thickness of MDF might differ sometimes. It might say 3 mm, but in reality it's 3,5 or even 4 mm. This might alter your measurements.

I glued everything together. The drawer holders are MDF plates that are snugged into a saw line in the sides and back of the box.

The wooded skeleton

It was later on I discovered that these MDF drawer holders weren't a good plan due to the bending it did by its own weight.

I removed them and replace them by small strips of pinewood.

I wanted special handles for my cabinet and came up with the idea to make old keys.

Close up of some decorations.

These are made from 3 types of wood: MDF for the head part, a rod from pine wood and the connection pieces from plywood.

Finished keys next to the sawn out decoration pieces.

They were given a black base color and depending on their final color a dry brush coating. I also added rust and the oxidation of copper with basic acrylics. After that they got a layer of mat varnish.

Also I made some decoration pieces, as shown above. These are sawn, but I haven't painted or placed them yet.

Then it was time to paint the sides. Because this was for my course, I used all the techniques I learned at that moment in time. I did: Oak, White Marble, Napoleon Gris, Napoleon Rouge and Pine.
I left room to do Mahogany, Walnut, St. Anna and a light type of wood. That last one will be replaced for Walnut because I wanted that at the handle, but I have already used a different solution for it.

Back "Napoleon Rouge"

Front without lid

Front with lid

Top; White marble with Oak frame.

Left side; St. Anna

The front was a slide in board. This could function as a color pallet and it would keep the drawers from falling open during transportation.

For this I used plywood with 2 layers of varnish.
I used transparent foil out of which I cut several elements, f.e: the logo I made on my computer.. This would in the end look like fake "laid in" pieces of wood as they remain the original wood color.
The final pieces were painted in, like the letters and the darker paint brushes.

If you thought I would be finished by now, then you guessed wrong.
The insides of the drawers were still plain. Here I tried to make an antique look of pine wood.
This is basically the normal techniques for pine, but with a different base and a different finish.

Because I wanted it too look like old wood I needed some stamps. I made 3 out of foam. "Willow's Woodworks '12" (my nickname + something woody) "Geldermalsen" (my place) and "1986" (my D.O.B.)

Inside the drawer

As said I had different plans with the handle. I wanted it to resemble actual bark. This I made from an isolation tube and the left overs of a scrub sponge.

Steps of painting

The tube is carved in. Then I gets a dark brown coating, followed by a dry brush lighter coating. To add some moss coloration I added some light and dark green tones. To make it look more decayed some scales were pulled off and painted a lighter reddish brown color.

The scrub sponge leftovers were cut,  plucked, soaked in green diluted acrylic paint. Then It was plucked en mangled again because it got quite stiff after it dried. Some extra highlights were added and glued on top of the "wood" to resemble moss.

Finished handle part with hand painted lady bug.

The almost finished handle (I need to paint the ends)

The moss was too bright of color, therefor a darker tone of green was used to cover it.
A few tiny mushrooms were made from the same isolation foam as the wood. With the creative use of a lighter they were melted into shape.

2 wooden rings got a rusty red base which was covered with silver paint. I sand it down a slight bit to reveal some of the rust and I dry brushed it on some places.

Sisal rope was colored a bit to look a bit older and then wrapped around the rod using double sided tape to keep it in place.

This project is still in progress. I hope to finish the sides of the cabinet this year.

I'll add extra pictures when I'm done.