Now What? You May Well Ask...

This is sitting next to my work space; cheap foam board, left-over fabric, empty corrugated cardboard boxes. Now what?

My little candy shop has its tiles, and the shelves are glued in. I checked the fit of the jars I want to use as candy containers, and all is well. However, I need to do the marble counter top next, and that requires the Carpenter-in-Chief and his table saw. He is exhausted from everything he has been doing lately, and is napping, so I don't want to bother him until tomorrow.

So the last couple of days, I have been looking at tutorials on-line to see if I could, perhaps, somehow, craft a book shelf insert; I do have all the required materials on hand, I think. So I gave myself permission to start something new. If you are not familiar with Book Nook shelf inserts, do take a look! The ideas are just fabulous. No scale required, use cast-offs, and if you want to learn new techniques, check out some of the builds the gaming aficionados create. My favourite right now is a  fellow Canadian at Black Magic Crafts (I hope I have that right!)

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I LOVE fantasy and science fiction novels, and wore out my first set of Lord of the Rings a few years ago. The gap that Gandalf is defending, is slated to get a Book Nook insert. If it works I may do another, to dress up these bookshelves.



OK, this is the start. I measured the space in the bookshelf, and tailored my insert to fit. These are the walls, floor, ceiling and back wall of what I hope will be a passageway in the Mines of Moria. What does that mean? Well, I have 4" or 10 cm of width to work with, and 9 3/4" or 25 cm of length, and a height of 11" or 25 cm.. The plan, and there is one, is a view down a corridor. The lower portion will have carvings and pillars, a faux doorway, and a couple of torches. The upper portion will be rock, which I hope to imitate with layers of egg carton stone. The ceiling will have some small stalactites, probably some sort of clay, and my intention is to add subtle glitter here and there to indicate crystals and minerals in the rock faces. With luck, I can add an angled mirror to give the impression of further corridors.

The body is cheap dollar store foam board, the kind that you can peel the paper cover off of. The exposed foam is then banged and rolled with twisted baking foil. The whole is then painted with a mix of Mod Podge and black paint for strength. There is an outer body of corrugated cardboard, hence the packing boxes. The fabric will be applied last and varnished, to make the insert look like a book, and my daughter can make a title for the "front" and spine with her Cricut machine - once she gets back home!

The trick is that you sort of have to work flat, and hope you made everything to fit once the pieces are ready to put together. I hope to work with a floor, wall and back, with the other wall to be installed once everything is done.And I hope to have lighting....

It's a challenge; the "carved panels" in the walls will be made with built-up layers of cereal box cardboard in geometric designs. I hope to use cardboard to make the torch bodies too. The effectiveness of this Book Nook will depend on whether I am able to paint and embellish the space to create the right illusion, so I will be looking at further gamer gear tutorials.

I hope you will enjoy this new journey with me. Making something from nothing, or from things around the house, is kind of stimulating!