How to Make the Perfect Valentine's Day Country Chic Peg People Decoration

I'm never without holiday decoration since they are so easy and fun to make with Proxxon MICROMOT tools. With Valentine's Day right around the corner, these Country Chic Valentine Peg People are just right for the day.

Here are the supplies and equipment I used:

• 1" x ¾" x 12" blank (I used scraps that I had on hand, but you can easily scale this project.)
• 2" length of  1" dowel rod
• 3" length of 1/8" dowel rod
• 2" x 2" x 1/8" blank
• Liquid wood glue
• Acrylic paints
• Twine
• Proxxon Bandsaw MBS/E or Proxxon Table Saw FET
• Proxxon Scroll Saw DS 460
• Proxxon Delta Sander OZI/E
• Proxxon Professional Rotary Tool IBS/E
• Proxxon Flexishaft 110/P

Let's make the Valentine Peg People:

1. Cut the body blanks to length using the bandsaw or table saw. Mine are 6" and 5¼" long.
   
   
   
2. Cut two ¾" lengths of 1" dowel for heads. These need to be as long as the body blank is thick.
3. Mark the center of the end of the body blanks.
   
   
   
4. Mark the center of the height of the dowel heads. Use the rotary tool with the flexishaft to drill ~½" hole in the bodies and heads.
   
   
   
5. Cut the heart from the 2" x 2" x 1/8" blank using the scroll saw. Cover one side of the blank with painter's tape. Mist the back side of the pattern with spray adhesive, and mount on the taped blank. The painter's tape makes removal of the pattern easy without leaving any sticky residue. 
   
   
   
6. Sand the edges of all pieces using the Delta sander. I use the Delta sander mounted in the Precision Vice FMZ so both hands are free to manipulate the piece I'm sanding.
   
   
   
7. Apply the finish of your choice and let dry thoroughly. I painted mine with acrylic paints.
   
   
   
8. Cut 1" pegs from the 1/8" dowel for attaching the heads to the bodies with liquid wood glue.
   
   
   
9. Tie the peg couple together with twine and glue the heart on top of the twine.
10. Enjoy your Country Chic Valentine Peg People!!
    
    
    

Other Country Chic projects include:

• Country Chic Sheep
• Country Chic Pig
• Country Chic Bird
• Country Chic Chick
• Country Chic Three Cats
• Country Chic Cuts of Pork
• Country Chic Hen
• Country Chic Holiday Reindeer

Carole

How to make a dollhouse chair.

Hi everybody!   Guess you survived the holidays!    Time to get going onto something new in this brand-new year!   I'm in the process of helping a friend. refurbish an old doll house.  We have been working mostly on the structure and exterior, but now we are giving that a little rest and thinking about the interior. So, my project today is to make a little chair for this little house. It's very first piece of furniture.\

Ok, Let's get started, I saw a design for a chair and have redone it to fit my needs.   See below for my plan.

I see that it could have been darker,  sorry!

So the first step was to draw the pattern, as above.  This little chair is going to be about 4" tall.

Next it gets transferred to the 1/4" poplar plywood I am using and I begin to cut it out using the Proxxon mini band saw.   A scroll saw would work just as well, (maybe better), but I just love the little Proxxon band saw.   Anyway, there are parts of this I do take to the Proxxon mini scroll saw as it works better on the tight curves.

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I need to tell you on the patterns there are small tabs and slots where things will fit together.  This makes gluing so much easier.  After all is done there might be a bit of tab showing but that can easily be sanded off.  I like to use the Proxxon delta sander for this and pretty much all my sanding needs.

For the inside cuts on the chair back, I drilled some holes ahead of taking it to the scroll saw as a shortcut.  You do have to drill a hole in it someplace anyway, so it might as well make it do something.  Then I released the sawblade on the Proxxon scroll saw and threaded it through the hole to cut the sides.  The Proxxon scroll saw can use blades with pins.  This makes changing blades or releasing and replacing blade for inside cuts very easy!

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Once we get all our pieces cut and sanded it's time for gluing.  This can be little tricky but small clamps really help. 

And now we got a chair.  It's pretty sturdy and will look nice when I finish sanding and painting it.

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There, Now, there is a place to sit on the porch.😁

I really enjoyed making the little chair and look forward to constructing some more furniture for this many-roomed dollhouse.

Thanks for visiting.  Hope to see you back next time.  Carol.

Play safe everybody.!

Thanks Proxxon, I'm still loving your tools.