Jewellery box for rings

The fleurs de lys on the lid make this one the perfect ring casket for my french baroque character. And as a countess needs a lot of jewelry (here I want to emphasize that it's highly recommended not to use real jewelry on liveroleplays and reenactments - after all, you don't want to have your decoration's material worth on your mind all the time!) it was high time for a box to store all the rings.

The manuals I found for that kind of jewelry boxes were completely insufficient, as the ingredients used (hair rollers or cotton-pad-covered cardboard) didn't give the look and functionality I intended. My experiment worked on first attempt: take some not too soft kind of foam (I used some from a outdoor seat cushion) and cut it exactly the size of your boxes inside dimensions.

Then mark horizontal lines at regular intervals, somewhere between 1,5 and 2,5 centimetres, and cut them to 2/3 of the foam depth so you get slits where you can insert your rings.

And as you will not want uncovered foam in your elegant jewellery casket, find some nice, non-slippery fabric, wide enough to stuff the raw edges under the foam and about twice the length of your piece. It works best to cut an ample strip of fabric and trim the excess. Start from the centre slit and tuck the centre fold of the fabric into it to the very bottom. Open the next slit slightly by putting the foam piece on the edge of a table, ease the slit slightly open and tuck the next fold. The important thing here is to allow enough fabric to keep the square shape of the foam edges (which will nicely hold your rings) instead of rounding them too much, but not have excess fabric forming bubbles on the surface. When you've finished both sides, secure the edges of the fabric on the back side with double-sided adhesive tape and also tape the complete block into the box. You should end up with something like this:

Bookbinding - in general

I finally managed to find a few spare hours to get rid of some paper from my "let's buy it, I might need it for a book"-storage and do some bookbinding again, after years. Well, actually I snatched a few spare hours when I should have been doing something else, but honestly, what's one supposed to do when time's always short? And promptly I discovered why I had taken so long a break from bookbinding: a few hurdles that still needed useful hacks. So here's what I found very helpful in an art where every millimetre has to fit and you can't allow yourself even the tiniest flaw that will in half a minute ruin a book that you have spent hours preparing.

The first book I made was a rather simple one in blue and white. The only reason: I could only find the blue-and-white headband, and as I said, with my books, every minute detail has to match...

The spine is covered in linen, the front and back in high quality Italian art paper. At the front, I decided to add some trim along the line where linen and paper meet. This is a nice way of covering up accidential glue blotches, but in this case I did it just because it looks nice. Just don't apply too much glue to the ribbon, and don't use glue that's been thinned too much. You'll end up with glue soaking through the ribbon and showing at the front. In which case you can use a contrasting, thinner piece of ribbon to cover up those blotches and add some additional colour accent...

Do, in any case, glue the end papers to the body of the book *before* you glue the bookmark and the headband, as you will have to cut the coloured paper to the measurements of the book and they will be in your way. So, end papers first, then bookmark and headband. Best would be to glue the end paper even before you have the rough-cut paper trimmed, but as I usually don't know beforehand what paper I'll be using for the cover, I have to do the second-best thing. So, glue the first end paper, trim it to the exact measurements of the book, then glue the second end paper and trim it. This way you'll never have anything in your way when cutting.

When you make the cover, mark the front end of the cover paper and fold it. It will facilitate quick orientation when the glue is on and you have to paste that sticky, curling thing to the cardboard. Put the slightly watered glue onto the paper first. The cardboard will soak it up too quickly to adjust the paper. When the front edge is in place, use a clean white paper napkin or a piece of white fabric to smoothen it over the cardboard and avoid wrinkles. The folding bone is too hard for this and will leave marks.

And when at last, in a great and risky finale, you're ready to attach the cover to the book, which means that you have to paste the end paper to the cover almost by instinct and ruin the whole book when this is not perfect, here's today's most clever find. Put the loose book into the cover and adjust it neatly. Then glue just the binding strips to the cover, very diligently on both sides. Let dry sufficiently with some plastic foil inserted to keep it from sticking to the end papers. Then, when it keeps in place, apply slightly watered glue to the end paper with a broad brush (not needing more than ten quick brush strokes at the very most is fine), having inserted waste paper between the paper and the rest of the book. Whisk out the waste paper and glue the cover to the end paper very diligently, trying to get even edges inside. Normally there's no glue now where it shouldn't be, so you don't risk glueing your book shut ;)

Usually you can loosen and re-position the paper up to three times if you're quick. Close and press the book evenly, open again and smoothen creases or bubbles using your clean napkin. Do the same on the other side, thank whoever you believe in if everything worked nicely, press the whole book over night and have tea to relax ;)

Or, as in my case, move on to the next book.

It seems I'm longing for the summer, as all my current designs are light in colour and summery in design.The second one is in shades of yellow with a print of yellow broom.

Wall stencils

So I'm moving. Again. And this time I'll be doing some serious painting, including stencilling. So far I've made up my mind on the design for one room out of four and prepared the design for lasercutting it from plastic - to be precise, from laminating film laminated without any paper inserted.

Works perfectly well and is cheap. I'm working in white on yellow (I admit, the yellow turned out a bit very yellow, but hey, I wanted a cheery, bright bedroom!) on two walls and in yellow on white on the other two.

Three important points for stencilling:
- Keep your measuring tape and your spirit level at hand when working a border.
- Never hurry. Better take a break and have a cup of tea.
- Don't use too much colour on your paint roller, the time you want to save will be spent double and triple correcting the stains.

And just when you've grown familiar with the work process and know what mistakes to avoid, you're done!

The stencils in the living room will be spray-painted. I was very successful when I sprayed the golden stars on my last flat's toilet ceiling, and as long as you keep the stencil close to the wall (use cardboard or secure the plastig meticulously, and cover the area around your motif well) you don't risk getting spray paint anywhere you don't want it.

Historic book reproduction

I do collect antique books, but using the really old ones at a larp would be a matter of negligence, so I reproduce some works to add to my characters' libraries. In the case of scanned books, the process is simple: digitally retouch and clean the pages, print them on nice paper, bind them. Making a nice cover is the hardest thing, because even though books were bound in all manners, from leather with gold print to plain paper covers titled with ink, I as a perfectionist want to have as many reproductions as possible and in as nice a shape as possible.

Two of my first repros were Couperin's treatise "L'Art de Toucher le Clavecin" (1716) and de Lauze's "Apologie de la Danse" (1623).

Usually I bind them in coloured paper, using mute colours like browns, greys or dark greens, doing the spine and the corners in slightly contrasting colours. Tags with author and title are usually just added to the spine, I've never seen any original that has a title at the front. There also exist copies where the title is written directly onto the paper of the binding, not bothering to glue on an extra tag.

If you want, however, to bind the book in leather, make sure you use the thinnest, softest leather available. Glove-thin leather is just fine, a bit stronger still gives good results, and it should never be suede.

For the first cover of leather-bound reproductions I chose George Silver's "Paradoxes of Defence" (1599), brown pre-embossed leather, fleur-de-lys end-paper and, not necessarily authentic, metal corners. As my baroque character is not a novice with the sword, this would be one of the most-used books in her library, so better make it sturdy.

When I do half-linen covers I sometimes don't bother to join front, spine and back with a strip of paper before putting on the linen, but with paper-only or leather it's advisable, as paper isn't stable enough and leather rather flexible. So join the three parts of cardboard before you glue them to the leather. Before you fold in the edges you have to thin out the leather to get a smooth transition beneath the end paper, otherwise you'll have a bump beneath it where the leather ends. Cut or scrape with a very sharp blade (razor would be better) at an angle until you've thinned the cover all around.

Then glue all edges up. The corners cannot be folded like you would with paper or linen. Fold them and cut them well along the line where they meet.

Fold up and pinch slightly together

Cut along the line; still a bit too pointy here

Point removed, ready for finishing

Draw the corner endges firmly together with a folding bone and smooth them exactly edge to edge. There should be no glimpse of cardboard visible between them. Leather is very pliable, just force it to do your bidding. Deto the topmost corner tip. Smooth it down between the edges to form a nicely rounded corner. Press until dry, then attach the body as usual.

Next step: embossing the cover myself. Punches are already ordered...

Carved wooden box no. 2

I admit, I tend to buy in bulk. So when I found another carved wooden box at that flea market, in similar condition and almost as nice (the carving is not as fine, and there's an ordinary hook and eye to close it, but still it's pretty enough), I also bought this one. Here the carving had once been backed with burgundy felt that had now become moth-eaten. I discarded the felt and the moths and mused which colour to use here. The dark red felt too dull for the carved butterfly the lid shows, even though the wood got a little lighter when I sanded it, and I still have some yellow silk left, so yellow silk behind the butterfly it'll be!

Carved wooden box no. 1

At the last flea market I found a really nice, carved box showing a stag, woodland animals and some floral work on the lid and the side panels. The lock is exquisitely sweet - it's a tiny handle looking like a door handle that, if pushed, opens the lid. The filigree elements of the carving were obviously backed with blue paper that must have made a smashing background for the light colour of the carved wood.

 At the time I bought it, the box was in a mild state of disintegration. Only fragments of the paper had remained, the glued-on carving on the solid lid had come off, and one of the lion's paws it stood on, as well as one of the glass stones of the decoration, were lost. The lock, however, was in perfect working condition, and the wood itself stable with only slight damage to the bottom plate.

After some time for inspiration I decided to restore the box almost exactly to its former glory - with some exceptions: I won't use the lion's paws (one is missing anyway, would be hard to come by, and they are kitschyyyyyyy!!!), and I won't use the same royal blue for the backing because I think green will fit the woodland-inspired carving better. And it will be done in fabric-covered cardboard, which won't be as prone to damage as normal paper. As the box will be for one of my larp-characters, I actually intended to stick with the blue and add some golden fleur-de-lys to the inside fabric. But as I recently discovered how simple woodcutting is if you have access to a laser cutter, I can make my own design to match the royal blue. With fleur de lys ;) Of course there's no such fabric at hand, but I happend to buy some stamps in that design and will do my own fleur-de-lys print. Some golden trim as adornment, and also that box will be fit for Madame la Comtesse! ^^ I've been busy making jewelry so she'll need two boxes anyway.

But that's just the plan (or, actually, two of them), and there's quite a long way to get there.

First, the whole thing had to be disassembled and freed of the remnants of the paper. At which point I realized that one of the hinges had been repaired most meticulously by using a small lead clamp to keep it on the broken piece of wood. An interesting thing, but as I want the boox in full working condition and not as a museum piece, I had to content myself with documenting it in some pictures and moving on. I will move the new hinges (the old ones were rather cheap and fragile work) a little more towards the center of the box so they have fresh, undamaged wood as a basis.

Then I started sanding the panels with very fine sanding paper to give them back the natural white colour of the wood without abrading too much of the surface. I quickly moved to less fine paper to get the job done in an amount of time that is acceptable with a human lifetime and a shedload of things to do ;) Especially for the reverse side of the lid where still remnants of blue paper and glue were stuck, the rougher paper did its job very well. Finish will be made with fine sanding paper and wax polish.

Two vintage chairs

...dating from around 1900 (or a bit earlier). If they are slightly damaged, you get them rather cheap, so I decided to invest a little handiwork and would soon have two splendid old chairs to add to my collection of old and semi-old junk.

Or so I thought.

Removing the old layer of varnish from every nook and cranny of the carving by hand was more time-consuming than I thought, so the "soon" will more likely be a "in a couple of years", considering my creative schedule! But let's see...

...and in the meantime I have found two more of exactly the same style, same low price, same condition. I have removed the broken cane (and the gruesome plywood seating surface that must have been a quick repair solution) and am currently looking for an affordable sander as I need the chairs for my new flat and sanding by hand takes ages...

...and I'm not the most patient person...

...and I only got six more chairs just so, not the same style and in even worse condition (covered in worn velvet that has to be removed), but how could I decline the offer of antique chairs and a table for free! So we're currently at a round ten chairs to restore asap, thankfully the table is almost ok...