My mom had come for a visit and noticed my craft caddy. She was telling me about taking her stuff to stamping parties. She said she had pencil bag like ones kids use for school. And that when she got to the party and got her stuff out it felt messy. If she emptied the pencil bag stuff was spread all over, if left the stuff in the bag she had to rummage through it to find anything. As we were talking about ideas I showed her a smaller one I had found at T.J. Maxx. She decided that it was the perfect size but it was open and not designed to transport.
So I had an idea to create a cover for it. Making it able to be transported without spilling the contents.
On one of our trips to T.J. Maxx we found the basic pencil holder she liked complete with a rotating base.
The goal was to create a lid that secured the contents but was still light weight. It needed to be durable. I wanted it to be a show piece, something unique. My first though was of snow whites glass coffin. I had some Plexiglas around the house I thought I’d try. I looked online to see if anyone had posted something like this. I did not find anything. I’ve done other projects with plexi but nothing like this. My hope when I started was that it would take a few weeks tops. That was not how it went. But it was my fault because along the way I became discouraged and would set it aside to work on other stuff.
The fist step was to measure and cut the plexiglas. I needed one panel for each side and I needed the lid to be slightly larger than the holder so it would slide on and off easily; but not so large it did not rest on the lip at the base of the holder. I measured the sides, added an 1/8 inch, cut the plexi and hoped it worked. Once I had my individual panels I had to figure out how to glue them together. I ended up using an all purpose plastic/PVC glue. I wished that I had been able to find a better alternative. The glue did not go on smoothly and left the edges looking rough.
I used clamps to hold each panel in place. I test fitted all the panels first. I ended up having to shave a bit off of two. My plan was to glue the edge of one to the neighbors back because when I tried to glue edge to edge the bond was not strong. I had to shave two panels down in order to keep the symmetry and still have the panels rest on the lip. If I had an alternative method of gluing I believe my edges would have turned out almost seamless. I believe a two part liquid glue that is able to be poured into the seam would be a better alternative.
Using a small paint brush and a toothpick I pushed the glue into the seam. I taped the front side to prevent leaking but with the thick paste like glue I used it wasn’t necessary. The gluing was time consuming. I would let each panel set for a day before removing clamps and adding the next. I also found that my clamps were not quit long enough towards the end. I had to get creative and double them and add bits of wood to make it work. If I had thought of it at the time I should have made a corner that I could have clamped onto.
Once all the side were glued together I removed them and the clamps from the base. Since the panels were clamped to the base I was only able to glue the area not touching the base. So I glued the other end of the seams and filled in any spaces I felt needed a little more glue.
As I said the seams were messy, rough. This was discouraging and I set the project aside for a while. My original plan was to have something that looked kinda like a bell jar or a terrarium lid. My result was this.
One day the idea came to me to make it look more steam punk or antique. The sides where already a little rough, what if I made them look worn, forgotten. Like a piece that was found in the attic of a long forgotten estate. With that idea in mind I had to figure out how to achieve the look. I did not want to loose all transparency; that would defeat the point of using plexi in the first place. I tried sandpaper, I tried nail files, I even tried chemical cleaners. None of them gave me the haze around the edges I was hoping for.
I decided to move forward. I needed to add a top. I knew the plexi I had would be to thin and weak to have a handle on it and hold all the weight. We cut out a piece of wood to fit. This actually took several tries. Since I had to alter two of the panels they were no longer square to the original shape. The way I glued them also caused them to be off skew. I did not realize the issue until I had tried to cut the top twice. Then realized that I had to place the top on the panels on the same end that I drew the pattern and the panels had to fit onto the base the same way I had glued them. To get a secure bond between the wood and plexi I grooved out space in the wood to counter sink the plexi. This was done with a router. It can also bee done with a table saw, but would have to have multiple passes to accommodate the width of the plexi. Mark all pieces in a way so you know what fits where in which direction. Using wood putty fill in open gaps. I prefer a sandable plastic putty that can be stained or painted. I waited to glue the plexi and wood together until I had sanded, pained and sealed the wood. Plus I still wasn’t sure how to age the plexi yet.
Often when working on a project I have end up surrounded by chaos. Here painting the base, the plexi panels and trying to measure ribbon.
The answer ended up being paint. I used gray, silver, and teal sponged on to create a worn, aged, type of look. I found images of old silver mirrors that had some of the silver worn off. Windows that were dingy and worn from time. The seams I had sanded down and rounded out. I added a bit of silver to the base and painted the outside of the wooden lid silver. The next task was to connect the top and base. Keeping with the steam punk style I though of garters. I wanted snaps but had to consider placement and the fact that the plexi would not withstand the pressure of pushing and pulling.
Some of the images that inspired this project
Creating the garter look. I needed one long piece of ribbon and elastic. I found a ribbon with gold flexes. that was 3 inches wide and a spool 8 feet long. I folded it in half and sewed it together. I sewed the elastic to the one end to close it before turning right side out.
As inspiration struck I would work on little bits. I planned to use grommets to attach the ribbon to the plexi. I though it would give it a neat look to have an open hole with a metal frame surrounded by the ruffle of the ribbon. However the grommets I was able to find were to narrow to go through the ribbon, the plexi and round over onto the back part of the grommet. I planned to use snaps to hook the ribbon to the base so I ended up using the decorative face of the snaps to attach the ribbon and plaexi. I had to pre-drill all the holes and use a brace under the plexi to prevent cracking while I hammered the snap parts together. Since the ribbon was going to be fixed to the plexiglas top I had to determine the distance between each snap. I started in the center and figured I could cut off the extra if needed. I had to create a hole in the ribbon to pass the snap through. The first snap attached to the plexi, then I pulled the ribbon taught to determine the placement of the next one which would end up snapping into the other half already screwed to the base. I then attached the base snap on the other side the starting plexi snap. And continued around alternating from one side to the other.
I found a few embellishment to add here and there. The top just being silver was bland. I knew I needed a handle of some type. I wanted my mom to be able to carry this but still have her hands free. So I decided on a basic leather strap. This way it can be carried on the forearm.
Drilling a hole through a small wooded button I found allowed me to attach the metal D ring to link the leather strap to. I marked the center of the top and drilled a pilot hole to screw the button on from the under side. I found these small wooden swirls in the craft store. They are painted gold and then glued down with e6000.
The very last thing was to glue the plexiglas and wood together. I used e6000 glue in the channel of the wood, then pushed the plexi down and secured it with clamps.
Well the last part of the plexiglas top. As I went I felt the base was just to plan. It needed to be personalized.
Using my cricut I was able to add there custom made vinyl stickers.
I finished this just in time to give it mom before everything shut down from the covid scare. So she still has not been able to show it off……yet. Hopefully when things open up she will call and tell me that this is exactly what she wanted. I hope it holds together and that the snaps are not to difficult.
