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.

How to make a continuous calander

Merry Christmas to all of you.   Hope your all warm safe and with family and friends.

 The days have flown by, and it is soon to be another new year.  What do we need to do?   Oh yeah, we do need a new Calander, don't we?   Every year.   I have a solution, we can make a Calander to last forever and it's easy, and kind of cute.   Best of all, everyone has little piece of wood to make it with.  

Not sure if you can see the tiny little Calander in front of the books there, I should have made it bigger.  But it is a little whale.  I made it for a kid's room.   The concept of blocks for days and months can be used to make it into almost anything or any size.  Maybe even an adult something.  

Let's see how easy this is.    I used the following:   A piece of 1" thick cedar that was cut off of a fence rail in the making.  It is about 7" long and maybe 2 1/2"wide.  If your wood is a different thickness you need to multiply your measurements by that number.  (for instance, If your wood is 2" thick make the whale twice as big and the blocks cut out will be 2 x 2 instead of 1x1   The  cut out of his back would be 2 2/3 x 4. etc)  I used 1" wood because 1st of all it was there, secondly it makes the calculations easy.   Here is the pattern below that works for 1" wood.     

The whale is cut out as a whole from the 1" cedar.  I used the Proxxon mini bandsaw to do this. And to cut the 2 vertical parallel cuts (Those should be 1 1/3" deep)

Then I switched to the Proxxon mini scroll saw to make the corners on the squares as it was a little too tight for the bandsaw.   

 The top 1/3" is cut from this piece we just cut out.  This will be the pieces used for the months.   Now after you get that piece it needs to be cut into thirds so there are 3 pieces which are 1/3"  x 1/3" and 2" long. 

 I used the Proxxon mini bandsw,  BUT, that is a little close for the fingers.  I recommend using the Proxxon mini scroll saw.    Now cut the remaining rectangle in half.  This gives you (2)  1" x 1" pieces.  These will be the days.

Now it is time to sand this pretty cedar wood.  

I used the Proxxon OZI/E delta sander for most of it.  

  

I also used the Proxxon cordless belt sander.

 

And the Proxxon cordless rotary tool to drill some eyes

I sanded the parts really well and then I wrote the numbers on them.    You need to know which numbers to put on the cubes.   On the first cube put the numbers 0-5.  On the second cube put the numbers 0,1,2,6,7,8,9.  Now you can make any number from 01-31

On the long skinny pieces write you months.

If I did it again, I would glue (2) 1" thick whales together and make it twice as big.  Also make sure you get a pen that won't run when you apply finish.  Or better yet wood burn those numbers and months in.  Then stain it or paint it.  

This thing is All done.   

I picked a warm day on purpose! 

It's been fun, sure glad you visited, and give this one a try.  It's a super easy one and let the kids help with the math. 

 

Take care everyone and have an awesome New Year!

See ya all next year...........Carol

Small cedar Christmas tree decor

 Let's see, It is November now and you know what that means.... time to get started on Christmas.  Actually we should have got started earlier, but now, better late than sorry.  Today let's do a little family Christmas tree.  I have some 1/4" cedar and that should work.   Also, I am still fasinated by my new Proxxon egraving set so maybe we can find something to do with that.  

 

Ready?   Let's get going here

Equipment and supplies

Scrap cedar wood, Im going little so I picked a piece with 1/4" thickness.  (You can make this as big or as small as you like---I think a big one would be great!)

Proxxon mini scroll saw

Proxxon OZI/E delta sander  and / or Proxxon cordless mini belt sander.  (either or both)

Proxxon mini drill press with small drill bit

Sealer of your choice

Small pieces of thin bendable wire

Plaid paints if you want  -optional-  

!st thing to do is draw your pattern.  If you are brave you can draw it on your  piece of wood.   A little less brave and you should draw it on paper, then transfer it to your wood pieces.  This is going to be 3D so mark a line half way up the tree trunk on one, and on the other mark a line from the top to the middle of the tree.  This should be the same thickness as your piece of wood.  In our case the thickness is 1/4"  The 2  flat "trees" will slide together creating a 3D tree that will stand.  

Cut the trees out using the Proxxon mini scroll saw.

Sand them very smooth with the Proxxon OZI/E delta sander and or the Proxxon cordless mini belt sander.  ↓↓  I started with 80 grit and then went to 120 grit sandpaper.  I then sprayed them with krylon crystal clear to seal them and make them shiny.   Next slip them together .

  

  Part 2

Using the Proxxon mini scroll saw, cut out some small rectangles from the leftover scraps of cedar wood.  

  

I used the Proxxon engraving device to engrave my family members names on the little wood pieces  The set comes with clear instructions on how to set it up.  I love it.  I kept my wood pieces a little long and could fit several names on each one, then cut them apart later.

Using the Proxxon mini drill press I put small holes in the ends of the branches of the Christmas trees and also in the top left corner of my little name tags.  I slipped a small wire through the hole in the name tag and bent it into a hook I could use to hang it on the tree.  Look below.  A little plaid paint around the edges for contrast. 

For some crazy reason people feel so special when they see their name on something like this.   Well if it makes them happy... It makes me happy too! 

Almost forgot.   I added a star.   Now you  can paint or whatever you like with your new decor.   Have fun!

That was fun, I highly reccomend making some of your very own Christmas decor.Every year when you bring it out you will remember how much fun you had making it.  

Thanks for visiting!    Carol W

 

How to make a kitty cat gourd bowl using Proxxon tools

 Hello again.  As promised I made another project using gourds and Proxxon tools.  I have been doing gourd projects for many years and have never found a better line of tools to do the work.  The tools are smaller and easy to handle yet have the power to tackle the job.  Anyway today we made a kitty cat gourd that I think you might like.  And it wasn't hard to do.  

Equipment and Supplies.

1 nice gourd that will sit well as a bowl.  (In other words it has a flat bottom or can be made to sit flat)

Proxxon mini jigsaw

Proxxon OZI/E delta sander and Proxxon mini bandsaw  (optional)

Plaid paints  Lots of different colors.

Proxxon mini torch or woodburner   + press abd seal + sharpie pen (optional)

Cat pattern or your choice of pattern that will fit the gourd.

gourd cleaning tools.   ie- any thing that works.  scrapers etc.

gloss spray sealer.

Let's get started.

The first thing I did was to get my pattern onto my gourd.  I use press and seal plastic wrap, a sharpie pen and and proxxon's mini torch as a  wood burner to transfer my pattern.  I traced my pattern onto the press and seal with my sharpie pen then laid the press and seal on the gourd and woodburned my pattern otno the gourrd.  You could use a pencil and simply draw your pattern if you prefer. 

The next thing I did was to cut off the top of the gourd.,  I didn't do any fancy cutting yet because I will need to clean out the gourd and I don't want to break any small pieces off.   I cut the gourd top off using the Proxxon mini jigsaw.  Note the adjustable speed dial in the first photo below.  

Next I want to cut out the top of my bowl.  I used the Proxxon mini jigsaw again.   This works so well since I can slow down the speed at the intricate parts.  I have connected parts of the picture so as not to have to cut too deep into the bowl.

Using the Proxxon OZI/E delta sander and my new proxxon cordless belt I sander I can get in all the nooks and crannies and mke everything smooth.  

Next it is time to paint.   This took a little while but was fun.  Plaid makes so many colors sometimes it is hard to choose.  

That is it.  I sprayed it with a little krylon crystal clear gloss to make it shiny and help protect the paint.

thanks for visiting.   Thanks to Proxxon and Plaid for awsome products

Till next time play safe    Carol

How to make fun salad tongs

 Hi everyone.   Today I have a fun and silly yet possibly useful project.   It's hard sometimes getting the kiddos to eat their vegetables isn't it?  Maybe this will help.  We are going to make some salad tongs that hopefully appeal to the kids.   Hoping they have fun using the salad hands, and this will get them to eat more salad.  Farfetched??? maybe, but one could hope.   Anyway it is a fun project, and features the Proxxon long neck angle grinder.   Lets get started.

Equipment and supplies

5/8 -1" pine board

Proxxon mini bandsaw

Proxxon long neck angle grinder

Proxxon OZI/E delta sander

Plaid paints

Butcher block non-toxic food safe sealer

Wood glue

Dust mask

The first thing I did was to pick out some scrap wood, this is 1" pine left over from some other project.

I drew an outline around my hands onto the wood pieces.  (If you have kids, get their hands involved).

Next we cut out the hands using the Proxxon Mini bandsaw.  I love that it is so easy to use.

Next we will use the Proxxon long neck angle grinder to grind the hands slightly concave and the tips  of the fingers into a grasping position.   (see photo below).   Caution,  be careful and keep your hands away from the grinder.  This step is NOT for children!  Please use a dust mask for this part, It gets a little messy and a lot dusty.

When I got the basic shape, I took my hands over to the Proxxon disk sander and continued the shaping, ie smoothing the joints of the hand and rounding all the edges.

To add handles, just cut out a half circle from the leftover wood.   Optional- grind out the middle a little bit to make hand holds.   Then glue it on to the back of the hands.

Finish the smoothing process using the Proxxon OZI/E delta sander.

I used watco butcher block sealer on the palm side of the hands (non-toxic and food safe) and I used Plaid paints on the back of the hands for decoration.  

Once dry we are ready to dig into the salad, or better yet the kids will dig into the salad!

Thanks for visiting.  Hope you enjoyed this little project

Thank you Proxxon and Plaid, 

See ya next time....meanwhile, eat your vegetables!   Carol