Thursday, July 25, 2013

Tortations

I’ve been a little out of the loop for the past couple of weeks, first with a long weekend with our church youth group, and then another five days helping my dad after hip replacement surgery. 

Although I have several projects yet to be shared (and about two dozen waiting for completion), I thought I’d show a little something I treated myself to recently…

May I introduce you to the Red Hen Tortation!

Red Hen #1

I have an extremely talented niece who recently started creating these one-of-a-kind creatures called “Tortations” and selling them though her etsy shop.

Some she creates out of her own head, like Seymour here…

S'more Turtle Figurine

Name: Seymour
Gender: Male
Breed: S'mortation
Fun Facts: If you're anything like me, roasting a perfectly bronzed marshmallow takes an act of insufferable patience, and more often than not, I end up dunking my roasting stick into the flames to speed up the process. That's where Seymour comes in. When you place a marshmallow in Seymour's care, you know he's going to bring it back to you crisped to perfection. By placing the marshmallow on his back and turning in slow, deliberate circles, he'll make sure one side is neither too black nor too pale for your discerning taste.

Or Chamomile

Tea Set Turtle Figurine

Name: Chamomile
Gender: Female
Breed: Teatation
Fun Facts: There's nothing Chamomile the Tortation likes more than an old-fashioned tea party. If and when you receive an invitation, do remember to bring all of your dolls, your embroidered handkerchief, and your white lace gloves. Chamomile likes to do things properly.

Others are created based on famous literary characters like Harry Potter:

tortation harry

Name: Harry Potter
Gender: Male
Breed: The Tortation Who Lived
Fun Facts: Much like his literary counterpart, Harry Potter the Tortation is the best Seeker the Gryiffindor Quidditch team has ever seen. Although the broomsticks are mostly for show (Tortations are afraid of heights), Harry uses his to advantage when a rival Seeker gets between him and the Snitch. A good whack upside the head is usually enough to make the other player forget where he is, which is good for Harry, who was never very good at memory charms to begin with.

**Note:  I had to include the descriptions she writes for a few of her creations…they are works of art in themselves!

Or if you are a video game fan, you might recognize Link (he’s sold, but there’s also a Bowser available):

tortation link

Her genius further comes to light when she’s presented with a request to make a “graduation Tortation,” and she comes up with one dressed in appropriate school colors and even a logo!

tortation graduate

She’s even made an LDS missionary Tortation, complete with a bike helmet, which really tickles my funny bone!

tortation missionary

A couple of family members have received their own custom Torts, like my dad, the hunter:

And my sister, who is feeding an unhealthy McCoy obsession (sorry, Rachel…and yes, someday she wants Kirk and Spock Torts as well).

 

But enough about everyone else…let’s get back to me.

I asked my niece what she thought a Red Hen Tortation would look like…she said, “Something with a paint brush and a hammer!”  I added to that the request that she include something to do with cooking and knitting, and this is what I received in the mail about 10 days later…

Red Hen #2

Isn’t she the cutest thing??

Red Hen #3

Every little detail is amazing.  A chef’s hat.  An apron.  A ball of yarn and knitting needles, all made out of clay!

Red Hen #4

A shell that looks like feathers!  And don’t forget the big yellow feet, just like every cartoon chicken you’ve ever seen.

Red Hen #5

Oh, but the hammer and the paintbrush.  Too cute for words!

I hope you enjoyed meeting my newest treasure! 

If you think you or someone special in your life would appreciate their own custom Tortation, you can find out more on Etsy and on Facebook. 

Monday, July 15, 2013

New Signs

I took a break from other projects last week to make some new signs for Ruffles & Rust in Snohomish.

The “Mercantile” Sign is one I designed several weeks ago, but hadn’t done anything with!  It was fun to see it come to life.  It’s bigger than you think, about 2 ft x 10 in.

signs 001

This one was my daughter’s favorite.  It’s on a scrap piece of 1x8 wood, and would be perfect on a kitchen wall or shelf!

signs 004

I used another piece of scrap wood for this “Guest Cottage” sign.  I played a little with adding some curves, and I thought it made the sign a little more interesting.

signs 006

The “Herboristerie” sign is huge!  It’s 4 ft x 10 in.  Wouldn’t it be great above some patio doors?

signs 008

Which one do you like best? 

Can you guess which one is my favorite?

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Visit my Etsy shop for custom signs and canvases!

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Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Modified Kentwood Bookcase

A couple of days ago I showed the last table and bench I made for some newlyweds.  The husband also wanted a bookshelf for his office, and I got to build that, too!

We chose to use Ana White’s Kentwood Bookcase plans, although of course I always make some modifications!

bookcase 005

My version is both taller and wider—approximately 72” tall and 32” wide.

bookcase 004

That allowed me to have five shelves rather than four, and I made them adjustable!  For that I had to buy a new toy—the Kreg Shelf Pin Jig, and it worked great.

bookcase 002

I love the look of the planked back for this book shelf!

bookcase 007

The stain is a custom mix of Minwax Weathered Oak and Early American.  I think of it as a “champagne” color—it’s very soft and not at all orange-y.

It was fun to be building again!

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Monday, July 8, 2013

The Other Solomon Table & a Bench

After my table-building frenzy this spring, I’ve been in a bit of a dry spell.  Too many other projects going on, although I have a couple more tables in my head that are dying to come out!

Last week, though, I built a bookcase for one of the couples who bought a table from me, and I realized I never showed off their table, so here it is!

Red Hen Home Solomon Table 11

This table is a slightly smaller version of the Solomon table I built for myself

You can see the details of the brackets I cut for each corner.

Red Hen Home Solomon Table 3

I love the look of my doily runner on the wood!

Red Hen Home Solomon Table 5

They wanted a bench for one side of their table, and we chose to do a modified version of Ana White’s Providence Bench

Red Hen Home Solomon Table 9Red Hen Home Solomon Table 12

This one has a top made out of 3/4” thick boards to match the table top.

They sent a picture of how it looks in their new home…I love that!

Red Hen Home Solomon Table 14

I’ll share their new bookcase in a couple of days!

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Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Gumball Terrarium

Red Hen Home Gumball Terrarium 9

Once upon a time I found a treasure at Goodwill.  A red metal gumball machine (a reproduction, not a vintage one), and it liked me and needed to come home with me. 

Red Hen Home gumball machine

It came home and sat in my closet for a month or two, until I started redoing my son’s room with accents of red.  You may have seen it on his dresser, although nothing was in it!

Red Hen Home Handbuilt Bedroom Dresser 5

I don’t know how it happened, but one day inspiration struck!  I swear I heard a whisper on the wind…"I want to be a terrarium!”

When I was a little girl, my mother had a terrarium that was one of those big glass jars turned on it’s side and made to look like a pig.  I used to think it was so cool!  But a gumball machine…even cooler!

I started by taking everything apart.  At that point I was committed, because I couldn’t remember how to put it back together.

Red Hen Home Gumball Terrarium 1

I raided my kitchen cupboards for something with which to make a waterproof bottom.  The likely candidates:

Red Hen Home Gumball Terrarium 2

The whipped topping container won out!  I cut it down, drilled a hole in the middle, and squished it into the bottom of the gumball machine.

Red Hen Home Gumball Terrarium 3

I used waterproof silicone sealer to seal the edges and the hole in the middle.

Next step was to fill it up!  I put a layer of small gravel on the bottom, followed by activated charcoal (apparently it inhibits mold growth and odor—both big pluses in my book).

Red Hen Home Gumball Terrarium 4

Next came the dirt, and the plants!  I searched on the Internet for low-light terrarium plants, and then got some help at a greenhouse to find them.  My son’s room doesn’t get a lot of sun on the best days, and in Seattle, there aren’t that many bright days period

Red Hen Home Gumball Terrarium 11

I could have spent a lot of money on cute little accessories for my my son’s terrarium.  I found all sorts of cute miniatures meant for fairy gardens that wanted to come home with me!

Red Hen Home Gumball Terrarium 8

I limited myself to one small turtle on a rock.  My five-year-old thought he was real, and then she wanted a terrarium of her own!

Red Hen Home Gumball Terrarium 10

I think his dresser looks much happier with a touch of green, don’t you?

Red Hen Home Gumball Terrarium 6

 

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Monday, July 1, 2013

The Handbuilt Bedroom, pt. 6: Drawers

Last night I was visiting with a friend and she told me she had missed seeing anything new on my blog!  It’s been two weeks since I posted last—two weeks of crazy business with lots of projects inside the house.  So it’s not that I lack for things to write about, I just lack motivation to write at the end of the day!

It’s time to get back to “The Handbuilt Bedroom” projects.  You can see the other posts here:

The plan was always to build drawers for the queen-size storage bed, according to Ana White’s plans.  The drawers for the dresser were SUCH a royal pain in the patootie though, that it took me a while to work up the ambition to tackle the project. (You can see the bed frame build here.)

projects 002

Here’s what I learned, though…it is a far, far easier thing to build drawers out of plywood rather than boards.  Far, FAR easier!  Gotta love those nice straight pieces.

2013-05-06 12.28.41

I chose to use 1/2” plywood for my drawers rather than 3/4”.  It’s only a little cheaper, but significantly lighter!

Above you can see my little drawer modification.  Ana White’s drawer plans have you build a four-sided drawer box, and then you end up attaching the drawer front to the box.  It uses a LOT of wood, and your drawer faces are so thick that the bolts that come with the drawer pulls are too short to use without countersinking them.  When building the dresser drawers—I found that incredibly annoying.

So rather than building a double-thick drawer front, I used scrap plywood (and 1x3’s when I ran out of scraps) to build just enough of a short front piece to hold the drawer square.  For the six BIG drawers I built for the bed, it probably saved a half-sheet of plywood.

projects 004

The drawers are not deep back-to-front, but they are VERY deep top-to-bottom!  I lot of people modify them to make them deeper, but in my son’s narrow room it simply didn’t make sense.  He still gained a ton of extra storage.

projects 003

I used 3/8” hobby stock birch to trim out the drawer fronts.  It’s expensive—but so nice that it’s already perfectly smooth and straight!

projects 001

So there you have it…drawers for the Farmhouse Bed.  This is a great bed thanks to Ana White’s terrific plans, and I think it could outlast an earthquake!

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