How to make an expandable book shelf

Hi everyone.   Today I want to show you how to make an easy expandable book shelf using some amazing tools from Proxxon

This is a super easy project.  What makes it different is how versatile and customizable it is.  The bookshelf can be long or short to  hold a few books or a bunch of books.  And  the bookends can be cut and decorated any way you like.  Design them for a  formal study or a child's room... Be serious or whimsical, you choose.  But most importantly, lets have some fun building, using these fun tools that make it so easy.

Equipment and Materials needed:

                                              

Proxxon mini table saw

Proxxon delta sander

Proxxon jig saw or Proxxon scroll saw

Drill and drill bits

1" wood screws (8)

screwdriver or screwdriver bit for drill

wood board, I used pine 1" x 4" approximately 16 " long

pine or similar wood 1/2" x 2"  length is how long you want your book shelf  (need 2 pieces)

plywood or pine 1" x 8" x 16"  (may need bigger for large bookends)
Plaid paints
wood glue

Ok, lets get started:

Here is the plan I created and used.   This shape can be used for the book spine look or the tree design.  

Start by cutting out your pieces.   I used the proxxon table saw to cut all the straight pieces.  It was so easy using that tool.  The bookends were cut first with the table saw then shaped using the proxxon jig saw.   I bet the proxxon mini scroll saw would do the job as well.  I chose a tree shape for my pattern this time but you could choose a different shape if you wanted.   I actually made 4 of these, all different.  They might end up as Christmas gifts.  😄  Here I am cutting the balloon shape with the proxxon jig saw.   Next I am sanding the tree shaped one using my new favorite tool, the proxxon delta sander. 

 

Putting it together is easy.  Simply place the bottoms on the bases and secure them with wood screws.  I predrilled the holes then countersank the screws and applied cover buttons and glued them in to cover the holes.

Now, take the bookends you've cut, and painted to your liking and turn them sideways and slip them in the slot.  Turn them 90 degrees to hold the books. The slight tilt backward will keep them from sliding wherever on the base you put them.

It will hold a few  books...

                                            or a bunch

Now get creative.  Use your imagination on the bookends.  As you can see I made 4 different sets.  I painted them with plaid paints.

Hope you had fun with this.     I did.  See ya next time.  Carol

Spooky Time Sign

Hi everyone, Steph Ackerman here today with a fun Spooky sign you can add into your Halloween décor.  It was easily created with the help of some amazing Proxxon Tools.

At the end of last season I found this funky blue sign and picked it up knowing I'd be able to create a fun project with it.  Every wood project needs to be sanded and the Delta Sander is perfect to sand down all imperfections, no matter the size of your project. 

The panel was blue so I painted on several layers of Plaid Folk Art Paint - Brushed Metal Silver to create a frosty background effect.

I used a Plaid Folk Art Stencil to add some faux dimension to the sign with Brushed Metal Copper. 

Then I added letter stickers down the center of the sign.  In place of the Os I used skulls which I painted with Brushed Metal Copper.  Once dry, I added some wiggly eyes.  To the sides of the sign I added flourishes that had been painted with Brushed Metal Bronze.

 

To finish I used the Bench Drill Press to drill holes so I could hang my sign.

The drill press is amazingly easy to use and drills perfectly round holes!

 

 

I added some funky threads to use as a hanger.  But I could also use the sign amongst the pumpkins on my front porch to welcome all the Trick or Treaters.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

How to Make a Triangular Picture Frame

Who said that picture frames have to be rectangular??? What about a triangular picture frame? A triangular frame is easy to make, and perfect decorated as a Christmas tree.

Supplies to Make a Triangular Picture Frame:

• Scrap lengths of ¼" MDF (medium-density fiberboard)
• Scrap piece of ¼" MDF about 3" x 1½"
• Wood glue
• Gesso
• FolkArt Peridot Extreme Glitter acrylic paint
• FolkArt Brushed Gold Brushed Metal acrylic paint
• Wooden skewer
• Hot glue
• Acetate
• Cardstock or light weight chipboard
• Photo

Equipment to Make a Triangular Picture Frame:

• Proxxon Table Saw FET
• Proxxon Bandsaw MBS/E
• Proxxon Professional Rotary Tool and Drill Stand
• Proxxon Delta Sander

Instruction for Making a Triangular Picture Frame:

1. Decide on the dimensions of your frame. The sides of my equilateral triangle measure 6½", and I cut the MDF into ½" widths. 
2. The rabbet is a step-shaped recess cut along the back edge of the frame to receive the protective acetate, photo, and backing. To make the rabbet: Adjust the blade height on the table saw to about 1/8". Make a cut 3/8" from the edge of the board. Make successive, parallel cuts moving toward the edge of the board.
   
3. Cut three ½" wide strips for the sides of the frame. These need to be cut longer than your desired finished length to allow for cutting the corner angles. Since I was using scrap, I cut my strips to about 8½".
4. Set the angle gauge on the table saw to 60°.
   
5. With the strip help securely against the angle gauge, make the corner cuts. After making the first cut, measure and mark your desired length along the edge of the strip opposite the rabbet. Repeat for the remaining two sides.
   
6. Use wood glue to glue the three sides together.
   
7. On the back side of the frame, mark the center of the bottom strip. Drill a hole for the support piece, taking care not to drill all the way through to the front of the frame.
   
8. Print the star pattern and adhere to the small scrap piece of MDF. Cover the surface of the MDF with painter's tape. Next, spray the back of the pattern with spray adhesive, and adhere pattern to top of the painter's tape. The spray adhesive holds the pattern in place, and the painter's tape makes for easy removal. Cut the stars on the band saw.
   
9. If necessary, sand any rough or uneven edges with the Delta sander. Often when using MDF, you don't need to do any sanding.
10. Cover the frame and star with a cost of gesso.
    
11.  When the gesso is dry, paint the pieces. When the pieces are dry glue the star to the top of the frame.
    
12. Cut acetate, photo, and cardstock to fit the frame. I secured these in place with a bead of hot glue.
13. Insert a skewer or toothpick in the hole you drilled on the bottom strip of the frame to serve as a support. 
    
14. Enjoy your triangular frames!!

A wonderful Halloweenie/Fall Mask

My Proxxon Tools have helped me make a really awesome Fall/Halloweenie type mask for this post! I love the Fall time of year with all the colors and smells and food that goes with it, not to mention the Holidays. This mask pretty much takes you through a large part of Fall.


These are the supplies that you need:

Proxxon Delta Sander
Proxxon Jig Saw
Alcohol Inks
Acrylic Paint
Glitter Paint
Paint brush
Pencil
Fall foliage
Leather lace

I started out with a cleaned gourd (outside). I then cut it down the middle and cleaned out the insides. We know by now what the messy insides look like don't we? Please wear a respirator whenever you cut, clean or carve on a gourd. Anything which causes dust from the gourd to be discharged into the air. You really don't want the gourd dust to enter your lungs because it can cause what they call gourd pneumonia. Once I had cleaned the insides out of the gourd halves, I sanded any rough edges and I painted the back or inside part of the gourds orange and when that dried I painted glitter paint on top of the orange paint. It made for a nice glittery orange color on the inside of the mask. After that was finished, I inked the front or outside of the halves with alcohol inks in an orange and then a caramel color. When all was dry I drew a jack-o-lantern face on the front or outside of the gourd and cut it out.

These are the gourd masks finished to this point. I then drilled a hole in the top front of the gourd and

a hole on either side of the gourd at the top. I used some black paint to paint the inside of the cutouts. I then put the leather lace through to make a hanger. The first hole that I made I put some floral embellishment in.

Now isn't this just cute?  Put you a battery powered tea light inside the mouth and I wouldn't just hang it for Halloween, oh no I would hang it from the first day of Fall to a couple of days after Halloween or until I could get something up for Thanksgiving. See how simple some things can be made with the aid of Proxxon Tools ? You need to really think hard about that Proxxon Jig Saw cause it's perfect.

Barbara

How to create a Fall Theme Folding Screen

How to make a decorative folding  Screen using my  Proxxon tiny Tools

Finished  Project Titled Happy Fall Ya,all

Designed by Misty Orlove

Materials used and needed

!. Suitable wood for screen,  size your discretion.

6 hinges

Templet for making perfect curves. Not required but handy.

Krylon Crystal clear Spray

 Plaid paints I used many colors which I will discuss later.

Wood burner (Optional)  

Tools,

Proxxon Delta sander

Proxxon Jig saw

proxxon   tiny Table saw

First steps

The wood was measured to a size I wanted the screen to be and cut on the proxxon tiny table saw.

I then used the templet to add the curves to the wood.

Templet for making perfect curves.

Mark the curves on all boards

Cut the curves out using proxxon   jig saw

Don't forget your mask when sanding or cutting.

Next a proper and careful sanding
using a proxxon delta sander

Using colors, you can choose your own favorites. I will share a few of the ones used throughout this project.

I started by drawing the design free hand on each board.

This was the progress on the design.

I chose to do the fence first, if had it to do again I would do background first.

Colors used for the fence

folk art Pickling Stormy Sky

Pickling Driftwood

and Folk art Steel Gray

For the sky I used

folk art Baby Blue mixed with True blue

I used Plaid Paints for the entire project. The Martha Stewart's paints were new to me.  I really love them as well as the Pickling Paints. When I found the paint was a little thick for what I wanted I used an additive blender to thin to a suitable point.  Love the coverage it gave me.

For the grass I used Plaid Paints Old Ivy and Thicket Green folk art paint. I added some Cinnamon to get shading and Apple Barrel Pale Daffodil  by plaid for highlights.

I mixed colors to get the golden background & fields and also for the  floating for pumpkins.

For the Pumpkins I used Martha Stewarts Blood Orange and Apple Barrel Pumpkin.

Blanco mimbre (white) was used throughout the project.

I completed the three boards

Almost Finished

Almost Finished and adding hinges

Completed Project

Please feel free to use any design to fit this board can be used for all seasons. Can add two seasons, one on front one on back.

I just used a solid blue background.

This makes a great Christmas screen or Halloween witches and cats if you prefer.

The idea is to have fun and enjoy.  Projects are easy using Proxxon tiny tools.

Thank you for visiting and leaving your comment.

How to Make a Whimsical Chick with Proxxon Tools

Whimsical and primitive home decor items are great items for a beginner to make using their Proxxon tools. The lines don't have to be perfectly cut. Finish designs allow for wide interpretation. In fact, a bit of irregularity adds to the charms of fanciful decoration. Here's a whimsical chick to get you started.

Supplies and Equipment to Make the Whimsical Chick

• 10" x 4" length ¾" MDF
• 7" x 3½" length ¼" MDF
• 6" length 1/8" dowel rod, cut into twelve ½" pieces
• Gesso
• FolkArt acrylic paints and ColorShift acrylic paints
• Wood glue
• Beads and baubles for decoration
• 6" rat tail cording
• Whimsical Chick pattern
• Proxxon Table Saw FET
• Proxxon Bandsaw MBS/E
• Proxxon Scroll Saw DSH/E
• Proxxon Professional Rotary Tool and Drill Stand
• Proxxon Delta Sander

Instruction for Making the Whimsical Chick

1. Cut lengths of MDF on the table saw. The ¾" thick piece is for the chick's body, tail, beak, and comb. The ¼" thick piece is for the wing and feet.
   
2. Print the pattern and adhere to the appropriate pieces of MDF. Cover the surface of the MDF with painter's tape. Next, spray the back of the pattern with spray adhesive, and adhere pattern to top of the painter's tape. The spray adhesive holds the pattern in place, and the painter's tape makes for easy removal.
   
3. Use the band saw and scroll saw to cut out the shapes. I like to cut the straight lines on the band saw, and the curves on the scroll saw.

   

   Cutting curves on scroll saw

   

   Cutting straight lines on the band saw

4. Arrange the body, tail, beak, and comb pieces for adding positioning marks for support pegs.
   
5. With the pieces in position, scribe two matching lines on the body and accessory piece. Additionally, mark two holes on the bottom of the body piece and the center top of each foot for the "leg" cords that attach the feet.
   
6. Transfer the markings to the sides of each piece.
   
7. Mark the center of the width.
   
8. The intersections of the positioning marks and center line mark the holes for support pegs.
   
9. Using the professional rotary tool and drill stand, drill 1/8" holes for support pegs and cording to attach the feet.
   
10. Coat all the pieces with gesso.
    
11. When the gesso is dry, paint the pieces in your choice of colors.
    
12. Glue the support pegs into tail, beak, and comb pieces, and attach to body. Glue cording for the legs in place at the bottom of the body and top of the feet.
    
13. After the glue is dry, have fun decorating your whimsical chick. I used a combination of vinyl, paints, and beads on my chick.
    

Carole