Last fall, one of our IEL instructors approached me and asked if I could make a sliding barn door for her loft in downtown Chicago. After a little research, I agreed. She found a restoration outlet that sold her the reclaimed barn wood and brought it to school. Being that I am still shopless, I worked on the door at Kipp's and Tony's garages. The design of the door was simple, but milling the wood was tricky as there were still a lot of very old and rusty nails everywhere. I managed not to nick my planer blades and got them to reasonably uniform thickness (I do love working with "rustic" projects as imperfections are part of the deal, whether I made them or not). I attached the cross boards to a piece of 1/2 in plywood then attached the outside trim. Finally, I placed a nice, clean piece of 1/4 inch plywood over the back so she can paint or stain the back. Tony helped me deliver the door to her loft and we are just waiting for pictures after she finishes it and her handyman hangs it on a rail. I think it looks great as it is.
While I was working on this project, I found a design for a condiment/beer caddy that I really liked. I made the first out of walnut, but then decided to make an industrial influenced caddy for Kipp. I used scraps from the door an some hardware from Home Depot. Funky but cool (not referring to Kipp btw).
A few weeks ago, Carmela, Meg, and Nina went to and Adult Ed conference in southern Illinois. While there, they stopped into a craft shop and noticed a crayon holder made from a block of wood. I guess they liked it, because Carmela came back and asked me if I could build one for Nina's kids. By coincidence, I had some left over wood from the door project that was perfect. I cut it down and laminated two pieces to make a three 3.5 by 3.5 blanks. The wood was really chewed up (100+ years on an old barn will do that) and I knew they would look neat for people that like that kind of stuff. Tony helped me drill two inch holes in the blanks then I spent four or five days sanding them and applying polyurethane. I bought some crayons and brought the three holders in the other day.
Carmela gets the smaller version as Kiera is her only grandchild to date
Hortencia, who sometimes has to stop and count how many kids she has, gets the most rustic version. Tony chose it.
Nina gets the other larger one for her three kids.
I have a few more ideas for these small craft project for the near future. Stay tuned :)
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