Workshop Diary: Design & Testing

The last several I’ve been doing a lot of design and testing. And I’ve been having so much fun doing it too. So I thought I’d quickly run you through some of the highlights. 

At the tail end of March and into April I was working on some books. One was an experiment in how to make a handmade book that could expand so I could add more pages over time and the other one was decorating the cover of a cheap composition book with red brocade fabric. I love using composition books for journaling. I never feel bad modifying them with how easy they are to get. Though since I glue in entries they get really thick by the end, but at this point I think that is just a part of the appeal. 

The expandable experiment worked really well and I used what I learned from it to try and make a tiny book which is something I have been trying and toying with for years now. I’m still not there with a miniature book design, but I am happy with what I made.

More recently I’ve been playing with the cardboard from cereal boxes and other stuff that would have otherwise gone into the recycle bin or the trash. Finally pulled out the template for my nightstand design and worked to refine it. The original top didn’t sit flat enough and parts I had added for stability weren’t necessary, so I tried it without them. I think the test will go well in my holiday living room. A pretty pink and gold thing. 

I’d like to make another and try out different shapes. But that meant I had to make my own matchbox drawers, since I was almost out of empty matchboxes. That was fun. It took a lot of tries because I didn’t want to deconstruct one. Next in that line I am thinking of altering the size of the template to get different sized drawers. I should be able to do larger and maybe ever smaller scales too. 

After that I fell down a rabbit hole with another idea and problem. 

How much paint do I need to cover the walls of a miniature room? 

Because I keep not having enough. 

And…

Could I make a scaled miniature paint bucket that I can actually put paint in for progress photos of the painting process? 

How cute would that be? 

Luckily I am a math nerd and I enjoyed an afternoon of research and calculations. 

I asked lots of other questions too. Like how much paint would fit into a 1:12 scale paint bucket and how much would it cover.  I am half way through a test of trying to make a paint bucket now. 

This has been a lot of fun and I look forward to showing you more of the results for now enjoy these snapshots.