Blackboard

Quick, is there an amusing Blackboard related pun? Hmmm I can't think of one so I'll assume there isn't. So, straight to it.

For work I made a small blackboard to use at events. I liked it and so decided to made one for my nephew's birthday, for him to draw on. Made purely from scrap or recycled wood (the doors of some old cupboards and part of a futon) and a tin of blackboard paint.

This is how it turned out:

and thus, a blackboard. Looks better with his drawing on it...

How the tables have turned.

Spring is finally here and so I can stop trying to make my kitchen double as a workshop. Now I can get back outdoors, where I belong.

In celebration of this fact I decided to make a mini garden table. The equivalent of a coffee table, but for outside.

I've had a big slice of Pine (possible the Scottish variety) burning a hole in my shed for a while. Seemed like it was about time I did something with it.

Read on to see how it turned out.

Also, just so you know, my evenings now look like this:

I love Spring!





Anyway, I digress, back to 'table' making. I got a nice new saw for the occasion;

It's quite sharp! As i discovered when I dropped it on my shin.

It was about the only thing that was going to let me get through this log though:

I had to use some quite creative clamping techniques. Turns out it's quite hard to saw a straight horizontal cut in something that's only vaguely straight in places, and bumpy in the rest.

I do prefer my new workshop though, the kitchen was getting tired..

And thus I created somewhere to put my beer.

Just as a side note, this was the first use of some very nice tools I got from my Grandad, which he is no longer using. Including the highly useful combination square set. Aprat from being useful they are also making my shed look retro and cool, I assume.

More Establishments for Bees

More Bee Hotels!

Due to the (assumed) popularity of my first Bee hotel I have endeavoured to make a second, slightly more elaborate, version.

This Hotel is a birthday present for my talented other half who made me this lovely gift for Christmas:

Could probably do with more chocolate and less chisels but you can't have everything in life.

As I explained how amazing bees are and why you should make them somewhere to live in my earlier post (lazyprojector.blogspot.co.uk/byobeeb), I won't go into it here. Instead here are some pictures of the latest addition to my ever growing empire of hotels, B&Bs, hostels and rented spaces for the discerning bee.

Again made entirely out of recycled (or upcycled?) material, mainly an old pallet and a fruit crate. You can find the original design here.

 Thank God for Instructables.

A Lazy Projector Christmas

Like many others recently, I had the fantastic idea of making my Christmas presents this year.

Brilliant! I thought that my presesnts will be cheaper, thoughtful, give me the opportunity to make things (which I love) and practice some skills (which I sorely need.)

It was, lets just say, not as easy (or cheap) as I thought. But anyway, results as follows:

Firstly

A planter for my Mum.

A fairly simple design that only involves some lengths of wood, 8 screws and a length of metal wire.

In retrospect I could have done with the ability to make straighter cuts, as this is what the whole design hinged on (also, about two cuts from the end -having sweated my way through all the sawing with my hand saw- my next door neighbour's gardener swanned over and said he had a circular saw in his van and I could have used that. BIT BLOODY LATE BUDDY!) However, it turned out alright in the end.

Once all the cuts were made it was a simple case of drilling the holes (with my shiny new drill) and feeding the wire through. A few more clamps would have come in handy at this point!

Then simply a case of oiling it for protection and attaching a base (made using simple mitres for which my friend kindly leant me his mitre saw.) In a further stroke of excellence I forgot to take a photo of the finished product, oh well, I'll get one from Mum at some point.

 

** I forgot I have a picture of it finished now.. see below:**

 

 

Next, a rustic clock for my Dad.

This involved a lot of trial and error, mostly becasue it took about 3 different clock mechanisms to find one with a long enough spindle for the depth of the wood, that would also fit with the hands I had. Amazon and Ebay got some good business out of me that week! However, as the mechanisms are only about £2 each it was hardly a crippling investment. Chiselling the recess for the mechanism was fairly simple but also reasonably time consuming.

The slice of Ash was purchased from a nice man Scottish man on Etsy.



I decided to keep it simple - no numbers and very little sanding (I figured, knowing my Dad, he wouldn't notice any extra sanding anyway.) So simply - A Clock:

Next on the list: A hamper for my partner's parents.

Starting with a simple box made from old pallets (which hopefully will be useful in other ways once it served it's purpose as a hamper.)

Full of (potentially) tasty things. Including: truffles, mince pies and chilli jam. Also a little reindeer fellow (Rudi) who may appear later.

As part of future hampers: Mini Mulls (something like a tea bag for making mulled cider or apple juice.)

Drying the cheese cloth post wash.

Contents: Cinemon, Star Anise, Black Pepper, Cardomom, Cloves

Lovingly Packaged

Possibly the most frustrating: Chrismas Cards. Time contraints meant there were only two designs. Tree:

and bunting:

Finally for now: A Christmas Tree Decoration: Rudi (The Red Nosed Reindeer.)



Please accept my apologies for poor photography - it's dark in my kitchen (slash workshop) and I was too rushed to bother making much effort.

Merry Christmas All,

The Lazy Projector.