March 7, 2013

Antique coffer/trunk/chest

I finally finished the coffer/trunk I was working on. I love how it turned out, and my mother already decided it's going to be hers so I see I'll have to make a few more.

First of all, a definition of coffer from Wikipedia:
A chest (also called coffer or kist) is one of the oldest forms of furniture. It is typically a rectangular structure with four walls and a liftable lid, for storage. The interior space may be subdivided. The early uses of an Antique chest or coffer included storage of fine cloth, weapons, foods and valuable items.

I think I'm going to have fun with more of these someday soon!

The only trouble I had: hinges! I actually managed to make pretty decent hinges, and they opened perfectly. But when I glued them on the coffer they didn't want to stick to the wood. I actually glued them with superglue, which is supposed to hold everything.... yeah right! And now I'll have to think of some other material for making these. I cut up a thick alluminium tray for these and it was flexible enough so I could make the hinges easily, but still strong enough to hold it's form. If only they would stick to the wood!

I was thinking I might try putting a layer of gesso on. I think that sticks to everything :) And then they might hold better with superglue.
If anyone has any other suggestions for hinges (besides buying them) then please put me out of my misery :)

Well, here's the finished thing (with broken hinges for now).

The coffer measures 10,7cm x 5,5cm and is 5,2cm high.



My homemade hinges. They actually didn't look all that bad and I was so proud of myself, and then disaster struck! Grrrrr!



These are possibly four little legs. I'm still not sure if I want them but I will dry fit them and see how it looks. Or perhaps these will be used on the next coffer, perhaps a little lower than this one. If I do add the legs they'll add another centimiter to the whole height.

And I also played around with some new fabric - faux fur! I went shopping today and found this fantastic faux fur. I'm not entirely sure it works on the books but I'm sure I'll be able to use it for something or other. It was just so pretty it had to come home with me!




And another addition. mini drawers. I found this great drawer unit for 2€ and of course I had to have it. It's going to be great for storing my mini supplies, or even minis. The drawers aren't all that small really, so I'm guessing I can stuff quite a few things in here.


Well, this is it for today. I'm not sure I'll be able to fix the hinges tomorrow. We'll see if I'll have some time for minis. 

Until next time!

*Poof*


2 comments:

  1. ese baul me parece una preciosidad, has hecho un trabajo increible, que buenas compras la piel y la cajonera que buen precio

    besitos

    Mari

    ReplyDelete