Something different

As you may be aware, I am a member of the Bribie Woodcrafters' and learning a lot of new skills. I like working with wood, and I like my machines even more. I have acquired quite a collection and the corner in my garage was getting rather crowded. Everything was on trestles and a small Triton workbench, but since last week I am the proud owner of a real workbench:

I have sorted everything out and tidied up and I am hoping that I can keep it quite as tidy as it is now...

Having such, may I say unusually small, machines for woodworking it has attracted quite an interest at the 'Woodies' and I was asked to come around on market days to demonstrate, which I happily did last Sunday, together with my other half.  I took a number of my miniatures around to display and it is amazing when you realise how few people actually know about this hobby.  Frank demonstrated the milling machine and the router(table), I worked on my thicknesser and table saw.  We took a kind of Unimat system with us as well, although we were not working on it, but had it set up for wood turning.  Everyone commented on the size of it: so small!  Anyway, I did some preparation work for workshops, so time wasn't wasted and we had a lovely day overall.  Who knows, we might eventually get some more people interested in miniatures.

Before Sunday I had also made a little cabinet.  Since it's meant for the Florist go and have a look at my other blog if you haven't already done so.

On Monday I had a lucky escape while doing my cabinet making course.  I had been working on almost all the more dangerous machines during the day, but managed to damage my hand on a simple band sander.  I had switched from one sander to the one next to it, not realising that the support for the wood had a bigger opening underneath than the other one.  The piece of wood slipped through and so did my hand.  It got really stuck under the metal frame and I can tell you, it was a huge relief that I could wriggle all my fingers when my hand was finally freed....  I am now badly bruised and have lost a bit of skin on the inside, but I am using all ten fingers to type this, so it's not too bad after all.

Now it's back to the drawing board as I am trying to design another little cabinet.

Bye for now and thanks again for stopping by.

Workshop enamel spoon rack

This is roughly what you need:
metal ruler
fine paint brushes
pencil
shaping tool
mouse mat or other soft surface
scalpel or sharp hobby knife
pair of scissors
wire cutters
pliers
wire (0.6 mm ø)  piece of 65 mm long
hole punch (ordinary household punch with hole of 5.5 mm ø)
cutting mat
piece of card or very thick paper
paint of your choice including black
tacky glue
tweezers

Save the above image onto your computer and from there print it onto card.  The pattern itself should measure approx. 38 mm from top to bottom.  Cut it out around the outside black line.  Cut a strip of paper approx. 30 mm long and 2 mm wide.  Punch out two circles.  Cut a piece of wire approx 65 mm long.

The second black line is not shown on the above cut-out but you should try and shape your wire into the shape of the black line on your card. When done it should look like the wire in the above picture.

With your shaper (I use a glass one, but metal will do as the glass ones are hard to come by) follow and indent the black line carefully.

Place the wire in the indented line and glue in place with tacky glue.  I know this is not the conventional way of making enamel spoon racks, but it shows up nicely at the front and it stays.  Just indenting the card with the shaper is not enough as it would loose its shape.

Turn your work over and follow the contours of your wire on both sides.  Go carefully so that you don't crinkle or split your card.

Get a skewer or something else that is round and not too thick and roll the bottom of your card carefully around towards the front.  Roll a few times till the card keeps its shape.  You can now also glue the strip of card at the top.  Measure the length from the outside of the wire from one side to the other.  Make the two folds approx. 2 mm deep and glue outside the wire.

Next cut the two circles in half, but just above the halfway mark, say at approx. 3 mm. and glue them on the outsides of the curled up bit at the bottom to form a sort of a gutter, like in the picture below.

If you want to you can finish off the edge at the bottom with a length of thread or wire, but I don't find that satisfactory, so I shape a very thin edge with tacky glue and paint over it.

Paint the rack in the colour of your choice and with a bit of black and/or brown paint make the enamel look chipped at the edges here and there.

Also have a look at the white one in the picture below, which shows up better than the dark green.

Below are the spoons and other implements that I have made from a Dutch workshop, which you can find here if interested: http://minimarilo.punt.nl/?gr=791430

And this is the result of an afternoon's work:

Have fun and if you have questions, just ask! :-)

Bye for now.

An addition to the kitchen

As I was placing lots of items in the kitchen I discovered that 'lots' was still not enough, so I had a good hard look to see what a complete kitchen would still need.  First I discovered the dishwashing mop, or rather lack thereof.  I remembered the one my mother used in her time so that was the start.  I happened to discover a workshop on it somewhere on a blog, but unfortunately I wiped my history and cannot remember who's blog it was.  If I remember I will mention it here later.

The hardest part was not drilling the tiny little hole, but trying to thread the 'twine' through which is needed to hang the mop on the hook.  Even my thinnest needle wouldn't go through, but I finally got it done.

Next I needed a little enamel rack to hang enamel spoons on.  You know: a ladle and one with little holes to scoop the foam of the surface of a liquid (don't know the name for it) and a kind of sauce ladle.  Anyway, I was quite happy with my first effort although it was a bit short.  When I tried it against the back wall I was disappointed, because it didn't stand out against the white wall.  No problem, I made another one.  This one shows complete with the set of ladles:

I am quite happy with the results, although the ladles were quite a job to make.  I am not good at cutting round shapes.  The rack was made after a picture I saw on Ebay.  The ladles I created after this workshop: http://minimarilo.punt.nl/?gr=791430  Marie Louise, if you ever read this: thank you for your handy workshop.

And after all that, the rack is now hanging, not on the wall, but on the side of the fireplace!  So I could have used the white one after all, but...  I leave it as it is.

Now I am making a few canisters and after that I will make an old fashioned sand-soap-and-soda rack.  I have made one before, but it resides in another kitchen.  I just have to stop borrowing and will have to make things twice or more if I want them.  Such a rack is also enamel and contains three little cups: one for each sand, soap and soda.  In the olden days used for cleaning and scouring in kitchens.

Now it's time again to welcome my new followers.  More every time I look.  I am humbled and very pleased that my blog seems to attract such interest.  Great! Thank you very much for visiting.

My latest followers are:

Judith at Cherry Croft

Dangerous Mezzo at The Tudor Medieval Jacobean Queen Anne Dollhouse Project

Hannelore Strehler-Baur at Meine Miniwelt 

Michelle at Michelle’s Mad World

Els de Kom

Mieke 

Christina

? at Encourage One another

I love your blogs, in particular Meine Miniwelt which deals with my favorites: toys!  However, there are other interesting blogs too.  I have visited all of them.  One I'll leave out, and the person concerned will know why.  I have visited her blog and left her a private message.  Els, welcome to you too.  I know you don't have a blog, but can't remember your website (it was on my pc which crashed).

My next blog will have a workshop on it.  I am preparing it right now and will add it when I have a moment.
Till then.