Found Art • Always Look

Art and design are everywhere and once you open your eyes to it, you'll be amazed at what you see.  Certainly, using a camera and looking at the world through a viewfinder has helped me see things as compositions and not objects. It was back in my college days that I found this rusted spring in someone else's trash. I saw it as a dynamic line drawing, retrieved and have had it hanging in my living spaces ever sense.

It currently resides on the wall above the toilet in the bathroom.  It inspired me to keep my eyes open for similar treasures.  I am building yet another collection - this one of springs - to add to the humor and impact of it.

Alternative Christmas Tree - 2015

I don't have a Christmas Tree - yet. It is coming but I put mine up later than most. I am allergic to pine and it can set me off but I love having a real tree. So I wait.  But today I wrapped many of the presents - all that have been delivered so far and I got creative with the stacking.

I love all the alternative Christmas Trees shared on Pinterest. They inspired my madness!

Taylor's Titanic

We all know that Santa brings presents to good boys and girls on Christmas morning  - but in our family we also give gifts to each other. I knew my grandson Taylor was fascinated by the Titanic. He knows more about the Titanic than most adults never mind other 5 year olds. If you inquire, he'll tell you all he knows about it, and then continue onto the USS Arizona, and Captain Sully landing in the Hudson. He loves a good transportation disaster.  I decided to build him a Titanic like no other as his Christmas present from his Zee Zee (me ) and his Papa.

She is about 34 inches long and does float although there isn't much space left for Taylor in the bathtub!

This project was mainly mine as David was working to get his sculptures out, but he generally allowed me to work in his shop and several of the trickier tasks plus wonderful advice were all his.

This blog post is not meant to be a tutorial although if you want to build your own Titanic, it will help show you how we did it. This is more as a story for Taylor so he can see how his Titanic was built.

I started with a Google search of Titanic images. I knew I would need to simplify but I wanted the toy to have the essence of the Titanic. Working on the computer, in Illustrator, and at full scale, I drew up my plan. I had also reviewed my wood supply and knew what thicknesses of wood I could use. I made the hull from stacked 3/4" pine and the cabin stack is from 5/8" pine with routed edges.

I printed out the top view and glued that to the stack of pine which I had stacked and screwed together. The hull is four layers of pine.

I added another level and the bow and stern for the raised deck areas. Working on a band saw, I cut the outside contour.

I then shaped the stern on the band saw.

I spent a good amount of time hand shaping the hull using a belt sander. The sides were tapered and the bow and stern were sculpted.

After much sanding, I unscrewed the hull and decided how I would cut out the center of the middle layers. I knew if this boat was to stay upright it would need to hollow and ballast would need to be added. This Titanic has no keel on the bottom because it is a toy to be played with on the floor or in a tub. The bottom had to be flat. David and I knew we would need to experiment with ballast to make this ship float! Step one was hollowing out the hull. 

I cut out the center of the hull and screwed the layers back together. Meanwhile, David was helping with the upper decks. The upper decks are 3 more stacks of pine, each slightly smaller than the previous.

David routed the edge to create the over-hang at each level.

One of the important identifying features of the Titanic is the slant of the four smoke stacks. David created a jig on the drill press and drilled the holes for the stacks made from dowels.

Here is the Titanic with all basic construction completed. The hull is still only screwed together because we need to have float tests and determine how much weight needs to be added to the hull.

We wrapped the hull in plastic and tried the first float test. We started with just the hull and were thrilled because it floated!

We then added the upper decks and it was no longer stable. It wanted to tip over although still floated.

Back in the shop we started adding ballast to make the bottom heavier. We place a couple of brass rods in the hull and determined how much it would take to keep the boat upright. We then cut the brass rod into brass slugs and drilled holes into the hull bottom on the inside. Right up the center of this ship is a row of brass slugs.

After this step we again wrapped the ship in plastic and tried another float test. The Titanic continued to float and this time didn't capsize, but she was listing to one side. We added a series of smaller brass weight to the port side to offset the list. Once we had her floating well, we glued all the weights in place.

At some point I also made the life boats. Each was shaped using a belt sander from a small 1/2" dowel. All are held in place with a small dowel. The life boats can be lifted off and floated as well.

We had an additional series of float tests. We had to wrap the hull in plastic because the wood was still raw without finish. It would soak up the water.

Once the Titanic was floating well, it was time to glue her hull together. It all came apart and glue was added between all layers. The layers were placed together and the entire hull was clamped tight and allowed to dry. We had hollowed out the upper decks and glued those on as well.

Looking good.

We determined the angle of the smoke stacks to add the fore and aft masts. I took a little artistic license here and made these masts much heavier than on the original in hopes they would stand up to play.

Here she is with the masts added and all the smoke stacks glued in place.

I then moved the Titanic to the "paint shop".  She was going to need many, many coats of paint and be allowed to dry between each. I set her up in a location for painting.

First came 3 coats of white primer.

I then used Frog tape and taped off the bottom of the hull. That received 3 coats of shiny red paint.

The taped help create a nice clean line.

I again added more Frog Tape, this time to outline the black areas.

 And the Titanic got 3 coats of black paint.

I loved peeling off the tape because with each added color she looked more beautiful.

The last color added was the ochre of the smoke stacks. I wasn't exactly sure of the color of the smoke stacks because all the original photographs of the Titanic were black and white. The artist's drawings had a variety of yellow and orange shades for the smoke stacks. I choose a yellow orange.

The painting of the windows was time consuming. I made stencils in the Frog Tape using my Silhouette cutting machine. That helped but I also spent hours touching up the edges.

The last coats were 3 coats of polyurethane over all sides. The Titanic rested upside down as I coated the hull.

And here is her maiden voyage, complete with paint!

She then went back to the shop to have her rigging added.

Boxing her for Christmas wrapping was a challenge. Papa made a triangular box just the right size.

And it was waiting for Taylor Christmas morning under the tree along with all the gifts from Santa

Taylor started opening it and peaked in the front. Just from a quick peak of the bow he knew it was the Titanic and had to stop unwrapping to jump up and down with excitement. A little later Christmas morning Taylor showed us that there is plenty of space for both the Titanic and a five year old boy in the tub at the same time.

Merry Christmas, Taylor and Bon Voyage! 

©2015 Ashbee Design, Marji Roy

Perfect Socks for Crocs • Laurel Burch

I found them while traveling the back roads of Vermont! The perfect socks to wear with crocs! What!? Socks with Crocs? Already posted about that here and the vote is against it especially from my daughters but that hasn't stopped me. When I found these socks I knew I had a solution.

What else but brilliantly colored Laurel Burch socks to go with crocs?  Note those crocs. I wore them while I was spay painting my Dancing Red Sticks so they now have a spray coating of red. I think I need new crocs - and that they should be hot pink!

©2012 Ashbee Design, Marji Roy

Adirondacks in Brilliant, Beautiful Colors

I went to my local hardware store yesterday and just had to smile. Out in front were a slew of Adirondack chairs in a rainbow of brilliant colors.

I am not generally one that is drawn to bright color in decor. I tend to the natural wood tones with a little bit of sage green or denim blue thrown in for variety - all very earthy. But something about these chairs just made me smile.

I am absolutely not in the market for outdoor furniture. I have several sets already (all in earthy tones) but oh, I was tempted. But which colors? 

And I was so tempted to rearrange them on the sidewalk and put them in rainbow order!

But I didn't. Instead I went in a purchased more bright red spray paint for more dancing sticks. Hmmmm. Maybe color is starting to creep into my style. Interesting.

Birch Reindeer

"When what to my wondering eyes did appear but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer!" It wasn't exactly eight but on Christmas Day one reindeer did appear on my lawn...

Handcrafted by my 87 year old Dad out of fallen birch trees, this reindeer appeared Christmas Day certainly looking for snow! Instead he found my daughter and grandson who took him for a ride.

The design is a classic and others have created online tutorials on how to make a log and stick reindeer. Here is a link to one at DIYorNot.com. Below is a detail photo showing how my Dad used a tendon maker and shaped the ends of the logs before assembly.

This little reindeer looks right at home on our wooded hillside.

Previous Posts of Interest

• More Birch Ideas
• Birch Trees • Using a Windfall
• Birch Bark as a Theme

©2012 Ashbee Design, Marji Roy