WINTER CHORES PART 2

                                
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THE SLED

                

You will need:  print out of patterns on plain paper (set printer to print at 7.51W x 2.01H)  +  .080 (approx. 3/32” thick)  Davey Board ( Davey board is an acid-free, strong, warp resistant  board sold in art supply stores with book-binding supplies. , Daniel Smith http://www.danielsmith.com on the west coast & Hollanders http://www.hollanders.com on the east coast are two good suppliers).  It is an excellent alternative to wood but you may choose to use wood if desired  + glue stick or repositionable glue + needle file or drill + acrylic craft paint + fine sandpaper or and emery board  + Delta Gel Medium  mixed half and half with a Raw Umber acrylic paint +  1/16” dowel (round toothpick) +  quality craft glue + thin jute or cording in natural color for rope.

Instructions:
     
       1. Rough cut runner patterns and lightly adhere (using a light coat of glue

stick or repositionable glue) to Davey Board with bottom edge of runners

flush with bottom edge of board.  Use a sharp craft knife to cut out runners;

it will take several passes with your knife.  Keep your blade sharp with a

sharpening stone and cut away from your fingers.  Cut sled top and braces

 from the same Davey Board.  Slightly round-off corners of sled top with

sandpaper.  Cut dowel to size.

2.  Use a needle file or drill to make rope and dowel holes in sled runner fronts

3.  Paint pieces with craft acrylics, your choice of colors…forest green used

here.  When paint has set use fine sandpaper or an emery board to sand

back paint on areas that would naturally get the most wear…remember this

is a “working” sled.  Coat the runners with brown antiquing medium and wipe

back off while still wet…this will age you piece.

4.    Insert the dowel into the holes in the runners, outside edges flush and

holding with glue if necessary.

5.    Glue the top piece and the braces between the runners, top piece flush with

 top edge of runners and braces placed as shown.

6.   Cut approx. 8” of “rope”.  Put some craft glue in your fingertips and run it

along the rope as you slightly twist it.  When glue has set insert one end into

rope hole in runner from the outside, tie a knot to hold.  Repeat for other side

when you have determined how long you want your rope to be

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7.   You may add a carrier box to the sled if desired.

8.   Optional:  You may add faux nail heads to the sides of runners by using

a toothpick tip to dab on the tiniest of dots of craft glue.  When the glue has

almost set, flatten it with a fingertip.  Color the glue dot with permanent

marker pen in brown or black.

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WOOD BOX FOR SLED

From 1/16” sheet basswood (I used Woodsies) cut a bottom 1-1/16” x 1-11/16”;

two sides 1-9/16” x 9/16”; two ends, 1-1/16” x 9/16”.  Glue the edges of the sides
and ends to the face of the bottom piece and to each other to form a box. 
Age/weather as desired.  As seen a mixture of half and half Raw Umber Acrylic
paint & Delta Gel Medium was applied and wiped back off while still wet. 
Add graphics of your choice or use the label printie given here.  Fill with firewood.

PRINTIE (Click to enlarge and save to computer)

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Mailbox

1.      Make a printout of the two mailbox pieces on matt cardstock.  Make

 printout of mailbox color sheet on bright white paper.  Cut out pieces.

PRINTIE (Click to enlarge & save to computer)

2.     The colored side of the pieces are the inside of the mailbox.  Score all

the back section.  Clip tabs around back section & fold them inward; fold back

section forward on bottom line; do not score or fold front section.

3.     On mailbox top piece score on tab lines; fold tabs inward.  Lay top piece

 on a slightly giving surface and roll over its center section with a round pencil

to slightly curve it (colored section inward), this will prevent creasing.  Glue

tabs of top piece to underside of bottom section of base & back edge over

the tabs around inside of the mailbox back section.  Check to make sure that

 the top is curved evenly and make any adjustments as necessary. 

4.     Tightly wrinkle up two sections of the rust colored paper.  Unfold it and

smooth out as much as possible.  Cover the bottom of the mailbox and what

would be the front of the mailbox in one piece of the prepared rust color

paper, using glue stick.  While the paper is still damp from the glue smooth

out more wrinkles.  Trim paper to fit.  Use the 2^nd prepared piece of wrinkled

to cover the mailbox top, smoothing and trimming as needed.

                       PRINTIE (Click on picture and save to computer)

5.     Use a brown watercolor pencil to add rust/age to the inside of the front

door of the mailbox. 

6.     On another color piece draw a line 1/16” from one long edge and score

along the line.  Put glue on the 1/16” section and fold it over for a double

thickness of paper.  Cut the doubled 1/16” section free.  Make three of

these strips. Color any exposed white edges with watercolor pencil. Glue

one around the mailbox back edge, starting and stopping at bottom edges;

 repeat with another strip for the front edge.  The third strip is used to face

 around the edges of the mailbox door, bottom edges flush with, overhang

to top.

7.     Make a triple thickness of the rust color paper with the top and bottom

layer having the color on the outside.  When glue has set, cut a 3/32” wide

strip.  From this strip cut & form the door pull and the  latch. Cover exposed

edges with water color pencil.  Glue in place on the mailbox top and outside

of door as shown.  Also from this piece cut a flag and glue in place on side

of box.

8.     From 1/16” thick wood (I used Woodsies) cut a mailbox base 1 ½” x ¾”,

from 3/16” thick wood (I used triple thickness of Woodsies) cut a post

support ½”square, and  from 3/8” square stripwood a post 2 1/2” long. 

 Color all three pieces with a mixture of 1/3 each of black acrylic, raw umber

acrylic, and Delta Gel Stain, wiping back off while wet for a weathered look. 

Glue the base centered under the mailbox; glue the support centered on the

base.  Cut a hole in the snow and thru the Styrofoam in the base to fit the

post.  Glue the post in place and when set glue the mailbox assembly atop it

.

9.     Add a bit more snow around the bottom of the post.  For added interest

poke some snippets of dried foliage in the snow around the post.  Add snow

to the top of the mailbox…I know, it is a bit scary to do this after the hard work

of creating the mailbox so to make things easier make a “frost” a sample

piece first and us that as a sample.

10.  Note: For lettering on the side of the mailbox you may use iron on

iron-on transfers, hand paint or print over the top of the color sheet using 

your computer before assembly.

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SEED CATALOGS

Cut out covers.  Score and fold on spine.  Cit a faux "pages "
piece, slightly smaller all around than the cover from cardboard,
foamcore, or what-have-you, depending on the thickness you
would like your catalog to be.  Glue page piece into cover.

 

PRINTIES (Click to enlarge and save to your computer)

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BIRDHOUSE

1.  Print birdhouse pieces, except for House Platform, on cardstock (I prefer

Epson’s Matte Premium Presentation Paper  http://www.epson.com/ ). 

2.  Before cutting out, score house between tab section and side, & between

back & front & sides; score from the center top of front section down to the

front/side corners, repeat for the back section.

3.  Carefully cut out.  Use 1/8” and 1/16” round paper punches to punch holes

 in house front.  

4.  Color the wrong sides of the house and roof with a dry colored pencil in dark

gray (this does not have to be a perfect job; it is just too lightly cover the white

of the paper). 

5.  Fold house inward on all scored lines.  Glue back section over tab to hold;

glue bottom tabs to inside.

6.  Cut out roof piece and score along eave/roof sections on all 4 sides; score

across center of roof.  Clip eave section to roof at the center score, on both sides. 

Fold the eave sections in at approx. 45 degree angles to roof.

7.  Glue the roof, centered over the top of the house, on the triangle tabs and the

edges of the sides.  When the glue has set a bit make sure the front & back

eave edges are at 45 degrees to the roof and then glue one clipped end over

the other at both the front and the back peaks. 

8.  Carefully crease the side eaves inward so the corners are in line with the

corners of the front & back eaves; add just a tiny dab of glue to these corners

from the underside to hold them together.

9.  For perch, cut an approx. 3/8” length from a round toothpick, starting at a

 pointed end.  Round off the fat end with sandpaper.  Color the perch with

black and brown water color pencil for a weathered look.  Glue the pointed end

of the perch snugly into the 1/16” hole in house front.

10.  Cut platform piece from mat board.  Using glue stick, cover the bottom

smoothly with printie cover paper and then the top & sides with the 2^nd larger

 printie cover paper, clipping and trimming for a smooth, neat finish.  Glue the

house to the platform, back edges flush.

11.  Add a bit of sawdust to the platform to act as birdseed.  You may just tuck

the birdhouse into the tree with a bit of glue or you may choose to add a wire

or string hanger to the roof.

PRINTIE (Click on picture and save to computer)

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SNOW SHOVEL

1.     Cut the shovel blade and 2 top supports from cardboard (the type/weight

that backs tablets).

2.     Use a pointed stylus to indent the lines as shown on the front and back of

the shovel.

3.       Use fine sandpaper to slightly bevel the edges of the short ends of the

fronts of the top support pieces.  Glue the supports to the front and back of

the shovel, top edges flush.

4.     To age & weather the shovel use a mixture of 1/3 each of black & burnt

umber acrylic paint and Delta Gel Medium to paint onto shovel;  Wipe back

off while still wet until the finish pleases you. 

5.     Use thin sheet aluminum (a perfect use for those metal containers that

hold tea candles…simply cut the sides free and flatten it) to cut a bottom

piece; score it lengthwise with a pointed stylus and fold it in half.  Glue it

encasing the bottom edge of the shovel, using E600 glue, sparingly. 

Use a pointed stylus to indent lines across this piece and to add faux

screws, as illustrated.

6.     Cut two shovel braces from the aluminum sheeting, slightly rounding off

corners.  Use E600 to glue to front of shovel.  Indent screw faux screw holes

7.     Lay the blade on a giving surface, such as your knee, and roll over the

bottom half of it with something like a round dowel or pencil to slightly curve

it forward.

8.     Cut a 3-1/4” length of 3/32” round dowel.  Note: as seen the dowel

handle is smaller but I decided it needed to be bigger, so do as I say

not as I did.  Sharpen one end to a point and round off the other end. 

Use the aging medium to weather.

9.     From the aluminum sheeting cut a handle ferrule ½” x 5/16”.  Wrap the

ferrule around the pointed end of the handle, seam to back.  With the handle

on a flat surface press down on either side of the pointed end, causing the

sides of the ferrule to flatten.  Pull the handle out of the ferrule, add a dot

of E600 glue and insert it back into the ferrule.  Glue the handle by its ferrule

 to the blade.

10.  From aluminum cut a handle brace 3/32” x ½”.   Slightly round off the

corners.  Lay this brace over the handle, placed as shown.  Press down on

each side of the brace to flatten it on either side.  Use E600 to adhere the

 brace in place.  Emboss a screw head into each end.

11.  Use the aging medium to weather the metal pieces.

SNOW SHOVEL PATTERN/DIAGRAM

Click on picture and save to computer

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WILD BIRDSEED BAG

Print out bag on bright white paper.  Score between bag back and tabs &

between front and back of bag.  Glue bag front over tabs.  When glue has

 set scrounge up the bag a bit. Fill bag with sand.  Glue top closed.

PRINTIE

Click on picture and save to computer

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TREES

The trees are stems from commercial dried foliage.  I have found that there are

many types that work well.  I always seem have lots of stems left over after snipping

off the foliage…and in the mode of a true miniaturist, one never tosses anything. 

 After choosing your stems strengthen them by painting them with a half and half

coat of craft glue and water.  Some stems may need a bit more bulk, especially

 towards their bottoms.  To add the bulk, wrap with layers of brown floral tape

(craft store purchase...if you have not worked with floral tape before, the process

involves stretching the tape as you twist it on…it is self-sticking).  Brush on Spackle

snow.

Plant trees in place on the base with a bit of glue, poking down thru the Styrofoam.  

DOG & SQUIRRELS

The handsome female St. Bernard is a 1:12 figure from Schleich 

http://www.schleich-s.com .  There is also a standing male to be had.

Either could be harnessed to the sled if desired.  Their site will find a dealer

in your area.  I found mine at our local feed store.

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The two squirrels under the trees are cut from a Lemax figurine.  Lemax has

quite a few animals that are in good scale and with the aid of a Dremel Moto

Tool (and good dust mask) can be cut from their original bases.  They are

then embedded in the base with Spackle filling in as needed.

Woodland Animals # 12516, Set Of 4 Polyresin Figures

http://www.lemaxcollection.com/Home.aspx 

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No sledding here in the lowlands of the Pacific Northwest, but lots and lots of rain.  It is what keeps everything so green in this lovely part of the world, but oft times I do worry about my feet morphing into webbed toes.  For me rainy and dreary outdoors is the perfect excuse to hole-up in the studio and create to "brighter days"

So although it seems like I just packed away Christmas it is almost time to think

of hearts, cupids, and such.....ah yes, Valentine's Day....

Expect an invitation to a Party!

Joann

Joann