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I just wanted to share my latest handiwork. Here is a picture of a shelf that I made for my daughter's room. It's six feet long, and it allows my wife to put breakable and pretty girly cra^H^H^H stuff in our daughter's room without worrying about it getting broken.
It's not perfect, and the shelf board warped some, but all in all, I think it turned out well.
One of my goals is to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on power tools and wood so that I can build mediocre furniture for my wife.
I like to look at shelves like this in craft stores and woodworking shops. I've always wanted a set to go around the top of one of our rooms to hold my son's "old pop bottles" collection
However, the prices of them at most shops is way out of my league...
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We went through a phase of acquiring thousands of dollars worth of woodworking tools. The idea was to make massage tables and sell them to the students and the 3 or 4 massage colleges here in Utah. But they had policies that prevent the students from shopping elsewhere. The Massage education system is suprisingly creepy, considering that they are trying so hard to raise the image of massage therapy.
I've thought of using it to make wood jewelry and hairdo-dahs to sell on the internet. Woodworking is cool.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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My husband loves woodworking. It's one of those things he will do one day when he has more time.
When Natalie was little, he used a scroll saw to make her 3D puzzles. He would take a picture in a coloring book, make a pattern, cut the puzzle out, then sand and paint it.
We gave a bunch away for gifts and had people clamoring for him to make them to sell, but he spent so much time on them and made each one individually that he figured he'd make about 50 cents an hour. Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Belle -- could you explain this a little more? Did he paint the picture from the coloring book on the wood? Or did the wood shapes match the outlines of the pictures?
Posts: 143 | Registered: Apr 2004
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The wood shapes matched the outline of the picture.
If you took the wood shapes and placed them on the page, they would fit inside the outline of the picture.
In one case, he made lions from a Lion King coloring book.
The puzzle stood up, it was about an inch and a half-thick. It was in three pieces, the base with the lion's feet and the tail curled around, the middle, and the lions head. The child had to fit the pieces together exactly right before the lion would be able to stand up again. Does that make sense?
The front of the puzzle was flat, the features of the lion were only painted on.
Then he painted the lion, so that it was an exact replica of the Simba cub from the movie. If he'd try to sell it, Disney would have been screaming trademark.
Once finished, it could sit on a shelf, and only looking at it closely would you know it was a puzzle at all.
He made an elephant and a tiger pair for my brother and his wife (Alabama and Auburn fans, the animals are the team mascots) and he painted a red blanket with a white A on the back of the elephant, and had the tiger wearing a sweater in orange and blue.
Cute, cute stuff. He loved it. If only he didn't work two jobs, he'd probably do more of it.
(One reason I'm going back to school, so when I start working again, he can quit one job and have more leisure time!)
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Truthfully, Mr. Head, I'm all thumbs and band-aids when it comes to power tools.
That's why I was asking - I'm told unfinished wood has a tendency to warp or rot from exposure, so I was curious as to your choice and reasoning behind it since I have no practical experience in the field.
Belle's husband might have a more meaningful answer though.
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Cool shelf! Mr. Opera is currently building a canoe, which as far as I know is his first real attempt at woodworking of any kind. It's really cool and has been amazing to watch this boat take shape from some pieces of plywood. He says he'd like to build a sailboat eventually.
I know we don't have the lion ones anymore, we gave them away when our kids quit playing with them, but I think my brother and sister in law put the elephant and tiger on display in their house, I'm pretty sure they still have them.
I'm been meaning to ask him to make some more, I loved them, and I'd love to build up a collection that I can put one day in my library when I actually get one. (I am hoping to have a church library up and running soon, and of course, my main goal is one day to be an elementary school librarian)
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Oh finishing. I come from a family of woodworkers. you should see the gorgeous quilt hanger/shelf that my uncle made for me as a present when the twins were born. His wife, my aunt, made me a quilt for teh babies' room, and he made the hanger for me. Has a shelf on top, it is so beautiful.
And Wes' father made step stools for all the grandkids that they could use in the bathroom, so they could reach the sink to brush their teeth.
Pine can be finished with any type of stain or even a wax. On my shelf (though it was oak) I just rubbed in wax, because I loved the natural color of the wood and didn't want to change it a bit.
Pine will darken if you don't do something to protect it. Even just a clear coat will work, just to protect it. Myself, I'm not a fan of high gloss finishes on natural wood. Look for a low gloss or matte finish poly. Minwax makes a good poly and it's cheap and readily available.
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I'm pretty much self-taught when it comes to wood-working. Which means I'm pretty clueless. Thanks for the finishing suggestion. I think that I'll go ahead and do that.
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My step-father-in-law (my wife's step-father) was a woodworking genius. He created beautiful inlaid cabinets, three dimensional large wooden bows (which he attempted to patent) and other great things, many of which I have at home.
It sounds like an easy way to make money. It wasn't. He and my mother-in-law spent a few years making these things and trying to sell them at local markets (this was before the Internet offered inexpensive world-wide store fronts). After working their fingers to the bone, and adding cutesy crafts my mother-in-law made, they still did little better than break even.
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Yeah, unfortunately it's very difficult to make any worthwhile money handcrafting stuff.
When I wasn't planning to start back school and working on building a church library from the ground up I sewed and hand-dyed items and sold them on Ebay.
If you calculate the cost of my equipment into it, I lost money. I didn't do it for the money though, but because I found it fun. And even though I didn't bring in a lot, I did bring in something which made my hobby not too much of a monetary loss for us.
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My Dad makes furniture. We have several bookcases, my computer desk and a dresser that he built. My sister has even more. He does really great work, but he's also a perfectionist. Even flaws that would end up on the underside or the back that no one would ever notice, he'd throw the piece away and start again. What he does is done for love, certainly not because he can do it cheaper.
I've started trying to build furniture, but it will take a while to get skilled at it. I should have paid more attention to what he was doing when I was growing up, but he comes up and helps when I'm working on something. Every time I build something, I learn something more and am a little bit better the next time.
The very first thing I ever built was a coffin. Yeah, I'm a Halloween nut.
Your shelf looks great, Porter. Making curvy stuff takes some skill.
What kind of tools are you thinking of getting?
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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All you've made so far is the shelf, but you're already getting a jointer and planar. I'm way behind. Did you do that shelf with a jig saw or a scroll saw?
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Hmm. While I would see nothing wrong with selling the tools, I know my husband has been dragging around a non-functional snow blower for about 6 years now. Tools are his velveteen rabbits, and I would be very suprised to see him part with one.
We learned woodworking through the recreational centers they have in the air force. We do make a very nice, very solid massage table out of maple and poplar, with baltic birch surfaces.
I haven't done much with pine. Softwoods tend to be sappy and they gum up the blades. Though I tried to make a caged ball out of a redwood 4x4 once, and the grain end was a beast to carve. So do you watch those woodworking shows on PBS?
As far as crafting for money goes, we already have all these tools, just sitting out there.
Heh. My husband even made a wood treadle drive pottery wheel. Now that thing is psycho. It was modelled after one a lady bought for $2,700. I think we probably put $500 into it in hardware and wood. He took a couple of classes at the U and really loves pottery. Now that I think about it, I'm sad that his life has become completely consumed with trying to make a living.
Man, I've turned into one of those people who reflects on the things they used to enjoy.
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Wow, Belle, your dress is so very pretty!!That takes talent. MPH, I love the shelf.
Karl Ed, very cool beadwork!!!
I make soaps and chocolates ( I don't know if they count as crafty) but I don't have any photos online.
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Thanks for the finishing suggestion. I think that I'll go ahead and do that.
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