Commissioned piece

[Crazyraceguy]

This one is way out of the range of what I normally do, nice challenge anyway. It's kind of a design-build type thing. The office manager where I work asked me if I could build a box for his granddaughter, which also happens to be the receptionist's daughter. They gave me some general parameters and a knob for the drawer pull.
I had some Ash laying around that was left over from an old job. It started out as 1/2", but most of it was thinned considerably.
This "box" is really more of a miniature cabinet (Armoire without doors) for Barbie clothes and a lower drawer for loose accessories. It's essentially done except for drilling/installing the closet rod, final sand-finish, and coloring in the engraving.
The main case is all 5/16" (8mm) except for the shelf above the drawer. I left it thicker to have more of a shoulder on the through-tenons, not sure it was necessary though? The drawer parts are slightly under 1/4" after fitting into the opening, with 6mm pre-finished Maple ply for the back and drawer bottom.
I got the Shaper Origin heavily involved on this one. The case and drawer have box joints, plus the engraving on the sides. I had the mom get me some copies of the logos that I could Trace and a sample of the child's own handwriting of her name.

 

[six-point socket II]

Very nice, that's going to make for a very happy girl once it is gifted.  [big grin]

Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[rvieceli]

Very nicely done. That will look lovely when finished.

Ron

 

[Imemiter]

So crisp and profesh. Lucky little kid! 

 

[Alanbach]

This is looking great! I made a piece very similar to this almost 30 years ago to house my daughter’s American Girl Doll. The only major difference was the top section had swing doors. Oh and mine had no super cool laser engraving!

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Thanks to all of you for the kind words, I've never done anything like this before.

[member=66185]Alanbach[/member] this style is actually inspired by something that was also made for an American Girl doll.
The engraving is not laser though, it's done with a Shaper Origin. The debate now is what to color to fill it in with. I assumed pink, the guy who commissioned it was thinking black (to enhance the contrast). It will probably be settled tomorrow by the girl's mom.

I throw away scraps that are bigger than this whole thing every day.  [blink]

 

[woodbutcherbower]

That’s lovely, mate.

Reminds me of something I made for my daughter when she was maybe 5 or 6 - also a mini-wardrobe for her doll’s clothes. I got her involved with the build (it’s amazing how enthusiastically a small child takes to a piece of wood and a piece of sandpaper [big grin]) and she was so, so proud of herself for helping. I fretted out a bunch of mini-coat hangers from thin ply and she sanded those, too.

She’s now 36 with a daughter of her own. She still has it, and my granddaughter now keeps her doll’s clothes in it.

 

[Rutabagared]

Great looking piece!  I've been meaning to cut some joinery with the Shaper.  It looks like it does clean work for this.  What bit did you use for the box joints?

Also, I'd recommend making a few practice pieces of the engraving to fill.  I've experienced the open pores of ash filling with colorant in all the surrounding areas of the inlay when using colored epoxy.  Before I could sand away all the epoxy from these areas, the inlay was ruined (see below), which is why I used a cherry inlay  .  I "pre-treated" the area before inlay with shellac, but it wasn't enough to fill the deep open pores.  If possible, mask the surrounding area as much as possible.

[attachimg=1]

[attachimg=2]

 

[FestitaMakool]

It came out great! Oozes quality and attention to detail.
I even like that it is light coloured, yet  [smile]

Must be a welcome “break” in between the larger builds?  [smile]

 

[Crazyraceguy]

That’s lovely, mate.

Reminds me of something I made for my daughter when she was maybe 5 or 6 - also a mini-wardrobe for her doll’s clothes. I got her involved with the build (it’s amazing how enthusiastically a small child takes to a piece of wood and a piece of sandpaper [big grin]) and she was so, so proud of herself for helping. I fretted out a bunch of mini-coat hangers from thin ply and she sanded those, too.

She’s now 36 with a daughter of her own. She still has it, and my granddaughter now keeps her doll’s clothes in it.

Thanks Kevin. This is going to a very meticulous 5 year old, so I imagine it will stay with her for a long time, possibly her own kids some day.

Great looking piece!  I've been meaning to cut some joinery with the Shaper.  It looks like it does clean work for this.  What bit did you use for the box joints?

Also, I'd recommend making a few practice pieces of the engraving to fill.  I've experienced the open pores of ash filling with colorant in all the surrounding areas of the inlay when using colored epoxy.  Before I could sand away all the epoxy from these areas, the inlay was ruined (see below), which is why I used a cherry inlay  .  I "pre-treated" the area before inlay with shellac, but it wasn't enough to fill the deep open pores.  If possible, mask the surrounding area as much as possible.

You should give it a go. I like it a lot, for a somewhat odd reason, you can make them fit any size you want. With a typical box joint jig, you are limited to the size of your "pins" matching the width of the boards. Doing it with Origin, your parts can be any width and the machine calculates the sizes of the pins to make it come out even. I just used a normal 1/4" up cut bit this time, but I have used the 8mm bit that Shaper sells in the past.
That bleeding through is unfortunate, but probably the Ash's openness? I have done some cutting and filling with somewhat mixed results too. I have tried a few different sealers. Shellac, water-based Poly, and vinyl sanding sealer have all worked ok for me. I find that the material you use as a filler has some influence on this too. Thicker paint doesn't soak in as much. I have even had good results with Red Oak, using a more gel-like filler.
You did a great job in recovering it though.  [smile]

It came out great! Oozes quality and attention to detail.
I even like that it is light coloured, yet  [smile]

Must be a welcome “break” in between the larger builds?  [smile]

Thank you. Yes, most of what I normally do would be considered huge by most standards. Something that you can lift with one hand is rare.

 

[Cheese]

That's nice stuff CRG...a real change in scale from what you normally do... [big grin]

How do you remove the fuzz from the engraving?

 

[Rutabagared]

Great looking piece!  I've been meaning to cut some joinery with the Shaper.  It looks like it does clean work for this.  What bit did you use for the box joints?

Also, I'd recommend making a few practice pieces of the engraving to fill.  I've experienced the open pores of ash filling with colorant in all the surrounding areas of the inlay when using colored epoxy.  Before I could sand away all the epoxy from these reas, the inlay was ruined (see below), which is why I used a cherry inlay  .  I "pre-treated" the area before inlay with shellac, but it wasn't enough to fill the deep open pores.  If possible, mask the surrounding area as much as possible.

You should give it a go. I like it a lot, for a somewhat odd reason, you can make them fit any size you want. With a typical box joint jig, you are limited to the size of your "pins" matching the width of the boards. Doing it with Origin, your parts can be any width and the machine calculates the sizes of the pins to make it come out even. I just used a normal 1/4" up cut bit this time, but I have used the 8mm bit that Shaper sells in the past.
That bleeding through is unfortunate, but probably the Ash's openness? I have done some cutting and filling with somewhat mixed results too. I have tried a few different sealers. Shellac, water-based Poly, and vinyl sanding sealer have all worked ok for me. I find that the material you use as a filler has some influence on this too. Thicker paint doesn't soak in as much. I have even had good results with Red Oak, using a more gel-like filler.
You did a great job in recovering it though.  [smile]

Thanks.  I'm going to give it a go with the box joints.  I've heard of others using clear epoxy as a filler with success.  I imagine you would have to take care avoid the engraving.  I suppose if it was thick enough it may be easy to control (but would take some patience  )

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Final pic before giving it to "mom" on Monday. I put the top handle and closet rod in, waxed up the running surfaces of the drawer, after a de-nib and second coat of Polycrylic.
I was decided last Wednesday that mom and daughter would do the final painting of the letters, hoping that  her participation would make it more "hers". I don't know how much care you can actually expect from a 4 year old? It may end up covered in stickers and crayon marks

 

[woodbutcherbower]

That’s really sweet buddy. I’m gonna start using those drawer knobs on everything I make from now on. I’m sure she’ll be thrilled with it.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Apparently it was a huge hit! Her mom came in this morning all smiley, telling the story, with pics, of how she played with it all evening. She took the clothes off of all the Barbies and filled the thing up  [blink]
She called it a "Naked Babie Party". Now mom needs to buy more hangers  [unsure]
Unintended consequences  [wink]
Who knows what may happen when word of this gets out? She's got a cousin about the same age....