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Saturday, December 8, 2018

School Daze

Some of us look back on school days with nostalgia, and some not so much. School rooms give lots of challenges, for both design and construction.
Our mini group decided to create a 50’s primary school room.
This is our inspiration.


First came the desks. In my stash, I had a desk part, which was our starting off point. From this came the pattern.
And the prototype done with card.

Then to cut out a gazillion pierces of desk legs from cardboard., glue 6 together.
Coat with wood hardener. (This is optional. I don’t think it made the paper that much stiffer!) Sand edges smooth

The card prototype



This is the underside with supports for the book shelf.

And the other side showing supports to fasten the seat.


Now for the real thing. The pieces before being gessoed and then painted.
Clamping jig setup, painted pieces in place.

What do you think of the wood used for the desk? Can you believe it is made from foam core?  Just cut to shape and sand the edges. Use a steel brush to create the texture. I have a tiny one I found at a garage sale, but you could use a pet brush. The ink wells are air dry clay, rolled thin and cut to shape with a large straw. Place on double sided tape, glue a small bead on top, allow to dry and paint the whole thing black. Then glue in place.
Several coats of Modge Podge and the desks are ready for occupants.
All the desks in line. Notice anything? We had planned for 6 students, and there are only 4 seats! Doggone!  Back to the drawing board to make 2 more seats. Cut down the desk supports to make a chair, went through the whole process again.
Now the kids in the back have a seat.
Remember those blinds that would all of a sudden flip up and make a terrible racket as the spring took control? They were never straight, either!

 
This was a fun project.




Friday, November 2, 2018

Remembrance Day 2018

This year is the centenary of the Armistice signalling the end of the Great War, with hopes that this kind of carnage would never happen again. Well, we know how that went!

This is an excellent article explaining what reality was like on the battlefield. Imagine not being able to tend to your wounded friend, who would have to wait for the stretcher bearers! Attack at all cost!
Many conscientious objectors were allowed to play in a non-combatant role as  a stretcher bearer, not participating in the slaughter, but providing aid and comfort to the wounded.
http://guysboroughgreatwarveterans.blogspot.com/2013/07/stretcher-bearers.html

The bravery and dedication of the stretcher bearers who risked life and limb to rescue wounded and dying soldiers is recognized in this painting by Brian Lorimer.



This is a room box with poppies in the foreground using Brian Lorimer’s painting as backdrop.



Thursday, October 25, 2018

Nutcracker Sweet

Once upon a time, I came upon this sweetfaced doll at a garage sale. Then I came across these nutcrackers at the $ store. Hmmmm.......

The little lady was somewhat strangely bulky around the waist. And once her clothes came off, what did appear! Gee, aren’t there smaller music boxes?

So to reshape and dress.


Then sit her in a dome to admire her nutcracker.





Before and After Gazebo

Now how great a garage sale find is this for 25 cents!
I had some small scale figures in my stash, a couple of trees, and a large cake container, and this is how it ended up. The base is foam core cut to fit the container, lawn is a mix of paper mache, sawdust, glue and paint. The bushes are moss, dabbed with glue and sprinkled with flocking. The walk is paper mache, painted after it dried.



And then the cake containers for storage....a nice little project, kept me busy and out of trouble for a week!

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

King Sized Bed


There have been a lot of photos on the Net referring to a manger as a king-sized bed.
It was a simple Christmas project,starting out with some stir sticks and toothpick.
First the frame, 4 sticks and a toothpick.

Once the basic frame is dry,it is easy to fill in the sides.
Note: the sticks forming the x shapes were not thick enough,so extra strips were added
This is a picture of the finished manger, painted a Dresden blue and dry brushed with tan.

 
The base beside it was started using the video below


The base was cut to fit into this container, from the grocery store.


The finished project...