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Holiday Gifts

5654 Views 6 Replies 2 Participants Last post by Sioranth, Jan 1, 2016

Sioranth

Discussion Starter · Oct 29, 2015

Inspiration and Ideas

I inadvertently have found myself in a position where there is an expectation of woodworking gifts for the holidays this year. I guess that's what I get for posting all my little projects on Facebook where my family can see them.

So, for my father I am going to be making a six-pack beer tote out of mahogany and quarter sawn sycamore. I'm hoping it looks as good as I envision it will when it's finished. It's going to have rare earth magnets for catching the bottle caps but I think I might add a little basket at the bottom as well just to have a place to knock them all or in case a magnet misses one. I'll be filling it with beer as well, of course.

For my mother, I'll be making Sheila Landry's rocking reindeer out of curly maple. I started cutting these yesterday actually. I'm also going to make a storage box for them since they're only going to get pulled out once a year. I was going to make a ribbon box, but I can see that the ribbon might not stand up over time with storage, so instead I'm just going to go with a flat-topped box and maybe put in some kind of wintry or Christmas inlay.

My sister is going to get another Landry design of a set of sled ornaments and hopefully I'll have time to make a box for those as well.

I've also been working on my own designs for ornaments and hope to be posting some of those soon, but I think they're just going to be for my own tree. Here's one in progress. I just used clip art and Photoshop brushes for the horse and holly/ribbon and then added the hanger on top to the ribbon and kept it circular like a Christmas ball. I'm going to experiment with other ornament shapes though. This one is made from 1/8" cedar which I don't think I'll be working with again on something this small (it measures only 2 inches).

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helluvawreck

· #2 · Oct 29, 2015

Sioranth said:
Inspiration and Ideas

I inadvertently have found myself in a position where there is an expectation of woodworking gifts for the holidays this year. I guess that's what I get for posting all my little projects on Facebook where my family can see them.

So, for my father I am going to be making a six-pack beer tote out of mahogany and quarter sawn sycamore. I'm hoping it looks as good as I envision it will when it's finished. It's going to have rare earth magnets for catching the bottle caps but I think I might add a little basket at the bottom as well just to have a place to knock them all or in case a magnet misses one. I'll be filling it with beer as well, of course.

For my mother, I'll be making Sheila Landry's rocking reindeer out of curly maple. I started cutting these yesterday actually. I'm also going to make a storage box for them since they're only going to get pulled out once a year. I was going to make a ribbon box, but I can see that the ribbon might not stand up over time with storage, so instead I'm just going to go with a flat-topped box and maybe put in some kind of wintry or Christmas inlay.

My sister is going to get another Landry design of a set of sled ornaments and hopefully I'll have time to make a box for those as well.

I've also been working on my own designs for ornaments and hope to be posting some of those soon, but I think they're just going to be for my own tree. Here's one in progress. I just used clip art and Photoshop brushes for the horse and holly/ribbon and then added the hanger on top to the ribbon and kept it circular like a Christmas ball. I'm going to experiment with other ornament shapes though. This one is made from 1/8" cedar which I don't think I'll be working with again on something this small (it measures only 2 inches).

It looks like you are going to try to 'outdo' Santa this year. Nice work.

helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com

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Sioranth

Discussion Starter · #3 · Oct 29, 2015

Sioranth said:
Inspiration and Ideas

I inadvertently have found myself in a position where there is an expectation of woodworking gifts for the holidays this year. I guess that's what I get for posting all my little projects on Facebook where my family can see them.

So, for my father I am going to be making a six-pack beer tote out of mahogany and quarter sawn sycamore. I'm hoping it looks as good as I envision it will when it's finished. It's going to have rare earth magnets for catching the bottle caps but I think I might add a little basket at the bottom as well just to have a place to knock them all or in case a magnet misses one. I'll be filling it with beer as well, of course.

For my mother, I'll be making Sheila Landry's rocking reindeer out of curly maple. I started cutting these yesterday actually. I'm also going to make a storage box for them since they're only going to get pulled out once a year. I was going to make a ribbon box, but I can see that the ribbon might not stand up over time with storage, so instead I'm just going to go with a flat-topped box and maybe put in some kind of wintry or Christmas inlay.

My sister is going to get another Landry design of a set of sled ornaments and hopefully I'll have time to make a box for those as well.

I've also been working on my own designs for ornaments and hope to be posting some of those soon, but I think they're just going to be for my own tree. Here's one in progress. I just used clip art and Photoshop brushes for the horse and holly/ribbon and then added the hanger on top to the ribbon and kept it circular like a Christmas ball. I'm going to experiment with other ornament shapes though. This one is made from 1/8" cedar which I don't think I'll be working with again on something this small (it measures only 2 inches).

Mrs. Claus is stepping in for the big guy.

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Sioranth

Discussion Starter · #4 · Dec 7, 2015

Reindeer Fail

So, after several weeks of trying to make SLD's Rocking Reindeer, I have given up on them entirely. Everything was going fine right up until gluing on the legs and rockers. I finally decided I was going to use toothpicks to stabilize the legs just like the antlers (after repeatedly having to glue the legs back on every time I touched them). I never did manage to get two rockers on a reindeer because the contact points are so small I just couldn't get them to stay glued, even when taping them for clamping. Tonight, I was going to switch to an epoxy resin to glue them up and I dropped one and smashed it to smithereens. I guess I could try to make two rocking reindeer but right now it's just too depressing to contemplate. I never thought glue would be my arch nemesis.

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Sioranth

Discussion Starter · #5 · Dec 12, 2015

Reindeer Reborn

So, after taking some time to get over my hissy fit about the rocking reindeer, I once again approached them - this time with a tube of E6000. I carefully glued all the broken bits back together and then proceeded with FINALLY attaching the rockers to the legs. This time everything stayed together (thank you epoxy!).

I've had them sitting on a shelf for a few days now to let the epoxy cure, and I'm going to, with some trepidation, to take them back to the shop today to try to very, very gently remove any glue spots from the broken pieces and then coat them with some lacquer. I'd like to finish them with tiny red bows around their necks, maybe even some extremely small jingle bells but we'll see. I need to take a trip to the craft store first.

My father's project is still in pieces in the shop. I didn't have the right arbor for drilling the holes for the bottles and I had bought the wrong size magnets. I have the correct things now and just need to get over there and get working on it.

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Sioranth

Discussion Starter · #6 · Dec 26, 2015

Not This Year

Unfortunately, I didn't get the holiday gifts for my parents done in time. They just kept breaking every time I touched them. My dad's six-pack holder was probably more glue than wood at this point. Maybe next year.

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Sioranth

Discussion Starter · #7 · Jan 1, 2016

So Glad...

...To be done with these planned gifts. I believe I must have been cursed from the beginning as I've never had such a horrid time trying to make something. I had to completely scrap my father's first six-pack holder and make an entirely new one (after several childish hissy fits on my part). My mother's gift was still being glued back together tonight, so it just needs to hold until tomorrow then they will be in their possession.

Sheer stubbornness is the only reason these projects ended up completed. I was ready to toss in the towel and throw them against shop wall more than once. I think going to the barn kept me sane. I'm glad that I can get back to projects that are just for myself so I don't feel so disappointed and distraught when things don't come out perfect.