Saturday, May 29, 2010

I won't be blogging for awhile, Fidget passed away this morning. I don't know why, I loved him very much.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Another Quilled Project, A Shelf


Hello to everyone, here is another project for you to try.



This is a bathroom room box I made a long time ago. My husband made the box for me.











My oldest daughter, Katie, made the lady soaking in the tub. Before she started college she was quite the doll artist. She had an article in "Dolls in Miniature" some time ago.












The lady has cucumbers on her eyes!



































I am going to show you how to make the shelf on the wall using quilling paper.




























You first need to make a form for the sides of the shelf. I used 1/4 inch thick basswood. You can use a shape already made that you find in packaging. Sometimes mints come in packaging that can be used. The shelf doesn't have to be my size.
To start I used a circle template, you can use an oval template, too.









I traced a 9/16" circle, just to the halfway marks.

Slide your ruler to the end of the circle and make a mark there and at the 1/2" mark and at the next inch mark.












You see the top half circle, then you see the marks in the middle at the 1/2" mark. Make another half circle at the last marks you made.















There should be an inch between the bottoms of the half circles.

Now, remember this is just the size I chose to make, the size is up to you.











Now, place your ruler on the drawing and match up the middle mark on the drawing to an inch mark on the ruler. Measure 3/8" on each side of the inch mark, make a mark on the drawing. This is where the shelves will go.











I have drawn the scrolls onto the drawing, you will refer to this later.

Cut this drawing out and glue to a piece of 1/4" thick basswood. I don't cut on the lines, I leave paper around the drawing. Using a scroll saw or band saw cut your pattern out following the lines on your drawing.
If you are using something else as a pattern just disregard this.






To keep the glue from sticking the paper to the wood use wax to coat the side of the wooden pattern.















Use 1/8" wide quilling paper and Elmer's glue, apply a little glue on the paper, smear it and wrap it around the pattern.
You don't have to have glue on the whole length of quilling paper, just enough to get you around to the end to secure.

I got my glue bottle from www.paperwishes.com, under "Cool Stuff", under "Quilling Paper Crafts Supplies". I comes with a stainless steel straight pin.


I wrapped my paper around the form 3 times applying glue as I went.















Make one side and let it dry a bit, remove and make the other side. You can put the first side back with the other and let them both dry on the form.














With the markings on the drawing that was glued to the form you can transfer the shelf marks to the paper sides.

I used 1/16" thick basswood cut the width of the diameter of my circle, 9/16". You can use mat board or any thick card board you have.







Glue your shelves into the sides. I used Elmer's Wood Glue. It grabs faster than Elmer's White Glue. That doesn't mean it's like Tacky Glue! I just mean the wood glue is going set up faster than the white glue.
You might be wondering why I am using white glue. It dries hard and stiff, tacky glue always stays flexible. We don't want this shelf to be flexible, we are imitating metal.





Now, we add the scrolls. Cut 4 pieces of quilling paper 1 inch long. These are the top and bottom scrolls.


Use the quilling tool to roll the paper up. In the quilling blog about the paper pottery I explain how to make a quilling tool instead of buying one.

Unroll the paper slightly, place a little white glue on the inside of one of the half circles and with tweezers pick up and place the scroll into a half circle.




Refer to the diagram above for the direction of the scrolls.

















Next we are going to make the reverse scrolls that are glued in the middle.
Cut 2 pieces of quilling paper 2" to 2 1/8" long. You can play with the length, it depends on how curly you want the scrolls to be. Measure and mark on the paper 1", it's the middle of the piece.
Use your tool and roll the paper up to the middle mark. Remove the tool and roll up the other end, rolling in the opposite direction this time. Remove the tool.

Slightly unroll the scrolls. Apply white glue to the shelves and the inside of the sides where you see my reverse scroll glued. The scroll will be glued in 4 places.
You can play with the curls with a tweezer to adjust the looks.













For the inside scrolls that are glued to the middle reverse scroll cut 4 pieces of quilling paper 1/2"long.
Use the tool to roll these, again unroll them slightly. Apply glue to the middle of the reverse scroll and place the little scrolls on the top and bottom middle of the reverse scroll.








This is the finished shelf. You can paint it with acrylic craft paint or enamel paint to make it shiny like a metal shelf.



I hope you have fun trying this out.

TTYL Kris

Monday, May 17, 2010

Casual Classics Easy Chair






Hello to everyone. I have finally finished a piece of furniture. Still not back up to speed, and raising a baby, too. Fidget is doing fine, he sleeps through the night and is walking on all fours, now. I will take a picture soon so all can see.

The new piece is what I am calling Casual Classics with a bit of British Colonial flavor. It's body is woven rattan and the cushions are silk painted to look like aged leather. It's over at the CDHM site. I am trying to get out more furniture, need to update!!!

The chair is setting on a rug I copied off the internet using the suede paper I bought from Dragonfly International.

Back to work! TTYL Kris

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

questions

hi, i am holding fidget so i am typing with one hand. fidget is fine, he is done teething. i did take him out to visit the chickens and one of them managed to peck him in the eye. chickens peck at anything and i didn't catch it quick enough, he's fine. will go out again when he can see better to avoid being pecked.

for the windsor bench i used basket weaving round reed for the "dowels" in the back, that's all i had at the time and it worked. as for the sewing machine cabinet, you should have seen the look on my husband's face when he saw me prying off the wood table that was on it. you see he bought it for me and it was expensive, i assured him i knew what i was doing and it would turn out fine. what he didn't know was that i wasn't sure about how to proceed after the top was off.

i love clarice cliff!! found this pattern in one of my many mini stitchery books. i don't know why i keep buying them, i don't like doing it. the bulletin board is a copy of mine. i took stuff off and reduced it. you won't believe what i used for the push pins, they are from an old dog brush. it was the kind that has metal pins for bristles and are stuck into a rubber base. one of the pins fell out and i noticed that the bottom looked just like push pins, so of course i kept the dog brush for future use. i used to quilt, i still have one i need to finish, my cats always were in the folds as i quilted.

the blue cabinet is one i designed from many i have seen in catalogs and magazines. i had a hard time with the finish, must have done it over 3 or4 times. i did make the quilt, i used a technique call english piecing or paper piecing. this method is tedious, but it makes for exact piecing. i am especially proud of the quilt hoops. i sawed very, very thin slices of basswood and glued them around a form to the right thickness, it's called laminating.

i made the plate rack from wire. i wish i could solder, i glued the wire together and it is fragile. i painted the plates. lisa engler, lisa's little things, i don't think i have that spelled right, is an inspiration for painting them, i think her dishes are so pretty.

the yellow chairs are from a pattern from "The Scale Cabinetmaker", Kitchen Cabinets, Vol. 2. I have put Fidget down to nap. Peter F. Westcott distributes them, 6256 N. 85th Street, Scottsdale, AZ 85250, phone: 480-948-6885. I think they cost around $10.00 per volume. The set isn't too hard. You use the legs and stretchers already made, and I think you can get them from Hobby Builders from the online catalog. Chairs are difficult, but hang with it, let the glue dry and you will be satisfied with the results.

Bozse, that is how I like to make my scenes, just as if someone has left the room. Then you can imagine yourself in the room, all tiny in a perfect spot to enjoy.

Thank you for all of the kind words. TTYL Kris

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

www.windsorcottagedesign.com

I found this site looking for images of palm trees. It it sooo good. When you are on the home page look for the highlighted word: environments, then click style guides in the tool bar on top. It lists all kinds of decor styles with ideas. The whole site is good when decorating in a certain style, and the murals, I am sure we can copy and paste them and use them outside our windows and doors.

I want to thank you all for the wonderful comments. None of the furniture is from kits, I usually copy everything from magazines and catalogs.

Check out this site!! TTYL Kris

Quilt Cottage


Hi everybody!

This is my quilt cottage. I am working on some furniture but I didn't want you to think I had forgotten about you, so I thought I would give you some pictures to look at.

I didn't make the pottery and I didn't make the sewing machine, but I did make the cabinet for it. The plants and flowers were kits from Hanky Panky. I didn't make the cats, Mini Me is on the front porch and there is another cat sleeping on the quilt.
Yes, I did make the blue secretary's chair, used mine to copy from, mine is orange, though. I made all of the other furniture and most of the accessories.

If you have any questions about this room box, please ask and I will try to answer your questions.








Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Hi Guys!

I have a cold and not doing much. Fidget has opened his eyes. I am trying to get another project out for you, the shelf using the quilling paper. Just need to get some rest. TTYL Kris