Bookend Challenge 2.0

 Yes, I had to rethink my ideas; I began the project on the wrong side of the bookend! When I measured the height required for a porch scene with steps, the bookend had to be so high that it would tower over the books it was meant to hold in place. This one is just about done; the basic stage set is there, all that needs doing is to dress the set.

The scene is a door, in this case held together with tape, built on the narrow lip of the bookend. The bookend pair is intended in my case for a shelf on a stair landing. Our house is built into the side of a hill, which means that we have a full-height basement with large windows and glass doors out on to a patio. The shelf is actually the knee wall of the house, i.e. the concrete block foundation upon which the house is built. On the shelf, we keep a few lovely antique leather-covered books, and lately, the shelf has also been holding my growing collection of knitted gnomes.

Here, Tertius is demonstrating his height in relation to the door. At this point, the door and the wall in back are in place. Since this photo was taken, a canopy has been added above the door. Today I hope to shingle that canopy. Once that is done, I hope to add greenery, "moss", and the like to further bring the scene to life.

The wall and floor are made of twice recycled foam core, while the door is made of mat board, which I textured with a ball stylus to look like wood grain. The step is a piece of foam core wrapped in the edge of an egg carton, while the stones on the path are made of flat sections of egg carton. The bark texture was done by gluing torn sections of recycled gift wrap tissue, allowing them to wrinkle quite nicely. The paint job includes dry brushing with several colours of paint to look like tree bark. You have to imagine the door built into the base of a tree deep in the woods, in between the tree's roots.

I made four pairs of socks for Christmas gifts for family members, and I think that it would be fun to gift each of them a gnome made with left-over yarn from their socks. Sock pair 5 is almost made, and will have a gnome to match. Primus was made with yarn from my socks, while Secunda was made with left-over yarn from a doll's sweater project. I have another gnome (Quintus) on the needles, made of left-over yarn a friend gave me, but he is a much larger one and will not really fit into the bookend setting; he'll likely live on top of a piece of furniture in my living room. 

The edges of the bookend will be wrapped in one of my favourite mediums, file folder cardboard, to hide the edge of the foam core and the mat board. File folder cardboard holds up very nicely as edging, and was used in the desert garden project as well as the loft project. Now back to work....

A New Challenge Begins

 Marilyn D. issued a challenge to Louise M. and myself, to make a pair of bookend vignettes, and gave us the bookends to get going with. They're well on the way with theirs, but I was having a bit of a problem coming up with a theme. At our last get-together, a lighbulb blinked and I though it might be fun to do a front door/back door theme with the bookends. (Yes, that is deep snow in the woods outside my window!)

I'm using recycled foamcore for the body of the vignettes, and the first thing was to establish a base on which to work. Then you have to hollow out enough of the foam core for the base of the bookend to fit underneath seamlessly. It took a bit of experimentation, but I managed to do it to my satisfaction. I think that fabric may end up being the thing to best hold the foamcore to the metal bookends, once the construction is done, as anything thicker would make it difficult to use the bookends as, well, bookends.

By this time, it was dark and therefore the core shape of the steps isn't all that visible! I layered slices of foamcore to create a pair of three-step stairs, one for the front door and one for the back. There is still some experimentation going on in regards to how the steps will be positioned. My template for the basic design is from a Dutch website, minimaakje.nl (which you can find by googling that title), their project #76 for a raised veranda with a door and at least one window.

Next up, I have to make a decision using some doors in my stash, as to how high the foamcore walls of the project will be. The idea is that the front door step area is beautiful and therefore has high curb appeal, while the back door one is, uh, well, rather more utilitarian and may include dirty boots, a bag of garbage and, given the weather outside my window visible on the photos, perhaps a bunch of snow removal tools!

The vignettes will have a narrow porch with a railing, a door, and a window, as well as the steps. Then I get to play with the rest of it. Today I hope to measure for the height from the "ground" to the porch level and then add in the height of the door with frame, and of course of bit of "wall" above that. And I don't really like arithmetic....

It is my hope to once again use recycled/re-used construction materials, mostly foamcore and cardboard of various thicknesses, and things that already exist in my rather alarmingly large mini stash.

Posting is still difficult, as the Carpenter-in-Chief has to hunt and peck each time photos are uploaded to the computer, but I hope they can increase a little bit in frequency! Stay tuned.