I have been thinking about something from Cozy Minimalist Home which says that our furnishings should have both presence (style) and breathing room. That was why I was working recently on decorating and painting a cardboard box for the children's paper supply: the papers are in a very central position on the bookshelves, and without the box, they tended to spread widely.
The puff paint embossing worked out well, aside from the paint coming out of the bottles rather unevenly. I did have to wipe off and redo a few parts before it dried, because I smeared them while working on other parts. After it dried thoroughly, but before painting over it, I did a pencil rubbing, to see how the relief turned out. The paper stuck to the paint in a few places, but only slightly.
The whole thing got two coats of paint, with paint that I wanted to use up as the undercoat, and craft paint for the top coat. Dried and in place, the box does add style to that part of the room.
I also made one or two other small changes to the arrangement of things on the bookshelves, to help with the breathing room issue.
Showing posts with label box. Show all posts
Showing posts with label box. Show all posts
Monday, May 4, 2020
Friday, May 1, 2020
House arrest continues
The governor extended the stay-at-home order until May 18, while allowing retail businesses to open up curbside service and delivery. Earlier this week, many non-retail businesses were allowed back to work.
The problem with opening businesses, is that their customers may or may not come back. And many businesses have other businesses as their customers.
The governor believes that Minnesota’s coronavirus peak has been delayed until late May or early June. I believe that it is likely to come a bit later than that, just because of the time needed for it to spread that widely. Even when things are opened up, people will still be doing a lot of social distancing.
The best analogy here is to the way that a fire spreads, by fits and starts, flaring up under some conditions, while barely smoldering under others. I have been wondering about computer models of fire spread. They are probably not very accurate either, because of the element of chance that must frequently come into play.
At present, they are doing more tests and finding more positives, but the ICU population is remaining just about flat, reflecting the fact that the worst cases are coming out of the nursing homes, and aren’t hanging on to life very long after hospitalization.
In any case, I finished up a household inventory this week, and we clearly have plenty of things that we can be doing at home. I sewed a baby sling from fabric that I was intending to use for quilt backing. I divided one hosta plant that really needed it, and moved another that was awkwardly situated in relation to the other plants.
I also used the legs of the coffee table as a frame for winding rug warp, for the little rug that is half woven. This time, I have real cotton rug warp yarn from the thrift store; I had a lot of trouble before with the crochet cotton breaking during weaving.
There are a number of little mending, maintenance, and repair jobs on my list. I have been making progress on those.
Finally, I have been looking for something in the house to paint, and noticed that the box holding the children’s paper supply could use some embellishment. My plan is to lay on a design with puff paint, and then to paint over it all.
The problem with opening businesses, is that their customers may or may not come back. And many businesses have other businesses as their customers.
The governor believes that Minnesota’s coronavirus peak has been delayed until late May or early June. I believe that it is likely to come a bit later than that, just because of the time needed for it to spread that widely. Even when things are opened up, people will still be doing a lot of social distancing.
The best analogy here is to the way that a fire spreads, by fits and starts, flaring up under some conditions, while barely smoldering under others. I have been wondering about computer models of fire spread. They are probably not very accurate either, because of the element of chance that must frequently come into play.
At present, they are doing more tests and finding more positives, but the ICU population is remaining just about flat, reflecting the fact that the worst cases are coming out of the nursing homes, and aren’t hanging on to life very long after hospitalization.
In any case, I finished up a household inventory this week, and we clearly have plenty of things that we can be doing at home. I sewed a baby sling from fabric that I was intending to use for quilt backing. I divided one hosta plant that really needed it, and moved another that was awkwardly situated in relation to the other plants.
I also used the legs of the coffee table as a frame for winding rug warp, for the little rug that is half woven. This time, I have real cotton rug warp yarn from the thrift store; I had a lot of trouble before with the crochet cotton breaking during weaving.
There are a number of little mending, maintenance, and repair jobs on my list. I have been making progress on those.
Finally, I have been looking for something in the house to paint, and noticed that the box holding the children’s paper supply could use some embellishment. My plan is to lay on a design with puff paint, and then to paint over it all.
Thursday, April 23, 2020
Improvements
The neighbors handed down their children's outgrown bikes to us. They have been enjoying them.
I made another fabric-covered box, for storing baby clothes. The box I used was a bit shallow, so I measured the depth of the box plus the width of one flap, divided it by two, and scored a line across the flap at that point. This enabled me to fold the each flap down into the box so that it just came down to the bottom, making the sides taller and stronger.
With the proliferation of both economic insecurity and cardboard boxes from deliveries, it reminded me of the Seventies books Nomadic Furniture and Nomadic Furniture 2, which included a lot of cardboard structures...all the way up to a cardboard car seat, which would not be at all legal today.
Another idea I had for the fabric-covered box was to use clothespins to help hold the fabric in place until I could sew it. They were helpful.
Since the toddler is learning to open doors, we needed to pull out one of the plastic childproofing doorknob covers that we have. The problem was that the stem of the doorknob was too big for it to close around. But I was able to trim the doorknob cover with a pocketknife to make the hole large enough to fit.
I also used a pocketknife to trim some sharp edges off the plastic lid of the dish soap bottle that my husband likes to refill and re-use. One less tactile annoyance.
I made another fabric-covered box, for storing baby clothes. The box I used was a bit shallow, so I measured the depth of the box plus the width of one flap, divided it by two, and scored a line across the flap at that point. This enabled me to fold the each flap down into the box so that it just came down to the bottom, making the sides taller and stronger.
With the proliferation of both economic insecurity and cardboard boxes from deliveries, it reminded me of the Seventies books Nomadic Furniture and Nomadic Furniture 2, which included a lot of cardboard structures...all the way up to a cardboard car seat, which would not be at all legal today.
Another idea I had for the fabric-covered box was to use clothespins to help hold the fabric in place until I could sew it. They were helpful.
Since the toddler is learning to open doors, we needed to pull out one of the plastic childproofing doorknob covers that we have. The problem was that the stem of the doorknob was too big for it to close around. But I was able to trim the doorknob cover with a pocketknife to make the hole large enough to fit.
I also used a pocketknife to trim some sharp edges off the plastic lid of the dish soap bottle that my husband likes to refill and re-use. One less tactile annoyance.
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
More deliveries
Another week of having people grocery shop for us, because of Symptoms. Again they were more or less able to get everything on our list. People from church dropped off some additional things, which were welcome.
I have been learning how to make artificial flowers from coffee filters. Except that I don’t have coffee filters. What I do have is several boxes of unused letterhead paper, which is harder to cut, so I’ve been making one less fold than in the video. I also don’t have food coloring, only paints.
I’m also planning on covering another cardboard box with fabric, for prettier storage.
The trend of confirmed cases in my state remains more or less linear, with gradual increases in the numbers currently hospitalized and in the ICU. The state has a summary of available medical resources up now.
The state is also publishing a list of the larger senior living places that have confirmed cases, which is now over forty, and scattered over many counties. The median age of confirmed cases has increased slightly, as expected.
I have been learning how to make artificial flowers from coffee filters. Except that I don’t have coffee filters. What I do have is several boxes of unused letterhead paper, which is harder to cut, so I’ve been making one less fold than in the video. I also don’t have food coloring, only paints.
I’m also planning on covering another cardboard box with fabric, for prettier storage.
The trend of confirmed cases in my state remains more or less linear, with gradual increases in the numbers currently hospitalized and in the ICU. The state has a summary of available medical resources up now.
The state is also publishing a list of the larger senior living places that have confirmed cases, which is now over forty, and scattered over many counties. The median age of confirmed cases has increased slightly, as expected.
Friday, March 27, 2020
From before
Last weekend, I did several quick little decorating projects.
The first was to take the painted string that I salvaged from my temporary wall decoration a while back (string wetted with paint and coiled onto a big sheet of graph paper in a large oval) and make a wreath out of it. I decided what size I was aiming for, and then found a book of corresponding size to wrap the string around, to keep the length of each turn consistent. When I was nearing the end of the string, I slipped the wreath off the book, and then used the rest of the string to wrap and hold the coils together.
The string had some entrenched tangles in it, from when I was wrestling with it while the paint was still wet. I arranged those as best I could, and painted them pink and green to simulate flower accents. The finished wreath went on the front door as spring decor.
The next project was to cover a cardboard box with fabric, for prettier storage of toddler clothes. Last weekend, my mother-in-law dropped off a considerable load of toys, books, art supplies, and fabric from her house. My initial idea was to cover the box with paint and fabric, but then I found a piece of fabric that I liked. It was large enough that I didn’t want to cut it, but to allow for it to be re-used for something else later, so I decided to skip the paint and gather the fabric up around the box instead, securing it at the top edge by sewing it directly to the cardboard by hand. The tradeoff is that the box’s lines are softened, and lose some visual tidiness.
Before I sewed it, I decided that I might as well line the inside of the box with fabric as well, and found a piece from my stash. It was tricky to drape and pin it so that it followed the inside contours of the box, with the raw edges gathered and tucked in at the top, and the grain of the fabric more or less aligned with the box. I whipstitched the outer and inner fabric together at the top edge, and it was done.
The third project was to repaint a wooden tray that I use to hold baby blankets. I still had a little of the white string paint left from back when, and I wanted to use it up. I mixed in a little craft paint to tint it, and gave the tray a coat.
These painting projects turn out much more nicely if you unload the excess paint from the brush each time you fill it, and put the paint on in thin coats. I only did one coat, and called it good, although I do have enough paint left to do another layer; the original color of the tray shows through a little more than I would like.
A further tip would be to do some surface preparation beforehand, and give it a light sanding, and possibly even prime it. In this case, the piece was old enough to have been pre-roughened, so it’s not a big deal that I didn’t remember to think of that.
The first was to take the painted string that I salvaged from my temporary wall decoration a while back (string wetted with paint and coiled onto a big sheet of graph paper in a large oval) and make a wreath out of it. I decided what size I was aiming for, and then found a book of corresponding size to wrap the string around, to keep the length of each turn consistent. When I was nearing the end of the string, I slipped the wreath off the book, and then used the rest of the string to wrap and hold the coils together.
The string had some entrenched tangles in it, from when I was wrestling with it while the paint was still wet. I arranged those as best I could, and painted them pink and green to simulate flower accents. The finished wreath went on the front door as spring decor.
The next project was to cover a cardboard box with fabric, for prettier storage of toddler clothes. Last weekend, my mother-in-law dropped off a considerable load of toys, books, art supplies, and fabric from her house. My initial idea was to cover the box with paint and fabric, but then I found a piece of fabric that I liked. It was large enough that I didn’t want to cut it, but to allow for it to be re-used for something else later, so I decided to skip the paint and gather the fabric up around the box instead, securing it at the top edge by sewing it directly to the cardboard by hand. The tradeoff is that the box’s lines are softened, and lose some visual tidiness.
Before I sewed it, I decided that I might as well line the inside of the box with fabric as well, and found a piece from my stash. It was tricky to drape and pin it so that it followed the inside contours of the box, with the raw edges gathered and tucked in at the top, and the grain of the fabric more or less aligned with the box. I whipstitched the outer and inner fabric together at the top edge, and it was done.
The third project was to repaint a wooden tray that I use to hold baby blankets. I still had a little of the white string paint left from back when, and I wanted to use it up. I mixed in a little craft paint to tint it, and gave the tray a coat.
These painting projects turn out much more nicely if you unload the excess paint from the brush each time you fill it, and put the paint on in thin coats. I only did one coat, and called it good, although I do have enough paint left to do another layer; the original color of the tray shows through a little more than I would like.
A further tip would be to do some surface preparation beforehand, and give it a light sanding, and possibly even prime it. In this case, the piece was old enough to have been pre-roughened, so it’s not a big deal that I didn’t remember to think of that.
Monday, January 12, 2015
Boxes
I did a lot of little moving-preparation tasks this morning, and used up all of my ambition and energy. But I did play around with making boxes out of some large pieces of paperboard that I don't want to move.
The first idea I had was to coil a long strip into a circular box, and poke holes through it to secure it with yarn. But really I wanted a rectangular box, for more economical use of space.
A rectangular box is simple: four sides, a bottom, and maybe a top. I cut a long strip and folded it to form the four sides, plus some overlap. I stapled this in place. Then I cut another long strip, which became another layer of a side, then the bottom, the opposite side, the top, and a flap. I stapled this in place, too, and I was done. I am leaving it plain and undecorated.
The first idea I had was to coil a long strip into a circular box, and poke holes through it to secure it with yarn. But really I wanted a rectangular box, for more economical use of space.
A rectangular box is simple: four sides, a bottom, and maybe a top. I cut a long strip and folded it to form the four sides, plus some overlap. I stapled this in place. Then I cut another long strip, which became another layer of a side, then the bottom, the opposite side, the top, and a flap. I stapled this in place, too, and I was done. I am leaving it plain and undecorated.
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