Make This Nostalgic Circus Elephant Seat

Illustration of the completed elephant seat.

       Your small child will take pride in possessing this gaily colored chair, and anyone can make it with a scroll saw and a screwdriver. All parts are cut from 1/2 -in. plywood and assembled with flat-head screws. These should be countersunk carefully and puttied over. The chair looks nice with the elephants finished in light gray and the blankets painted on with a darker gray and bordered with brilliant orange.  

• Antique and Vintage Elephants
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Enlarge elephant blueprint to scale.

Personalize a Handcrafted Tie Rack for Dad

      Using enlargements of favorite photos, you can make these tie racks for yourself, and they will be appreciated as gifts by your friends. A photo of the head and shoulders is glued to 1/4-in. plywood and then cut out with a jig saw. When finished, the photo should be about 7 in. high. If desired, silhouettes can be substituted for photos. In this case, the outline of a photo is traced directly on the wood, which is then sawed to shape and painted black. The rack for the ties is a block of 3/4-inch hardwood cut as shown and screwed to the plywood back near the lower edge. L-hooks to hold the ties are then driven into the edge of the hardwood piece.

• Tie Rack Tutorial from Poppies at Play
• Keep Your Ties In Tip Top Shape from artofmanliness
• How To Tie A Windsor Knot (so manly)

Build This Sailboat Lamp for A Child's Room

Process of putting the pieces together shown in
 the above illustration.

      "LIGHT UP" with this novel sailboat lamp means "Port your helm," with the rudder arm and rudder, which controls the toggle switch to turn the light on and off. The light itself is enclosed within a parchment shade, which is shaped around wire frames at top and bottom to resemble a ship's sail. Most of the construction concerns the hull of the boat. As shown in Left, the bottom part of the boat is a separate piece, while the upper part and the cabin are cut from a single thickness of 2-in. stock. By band sawing the deck line carefully, the cabin will fit into place perfectly. Shaping of the hull sides is accomplished by simply tilting the band-saw table to an angle of 83 degrees. A few strokes with a plane will round off the forward sections. After shaping the outside of the hull, the pieces can be taken apart and the necessary cutouts made for the cockpit switch and wires, as shown. It is advisable to make a full-size plan of second picture below, erecting the station lines on 2-in. centers, before commencing the actual construction.

      The sail is made from parchment paper, which may be purchased flat or cut from a discarded shade. It is laced around wire loops at the top and the bottom, and then can be laced to the 1/2-in. dowel which serves as a mast. The jib sail is merely a

triangular piece of parchment, cut to the size shown, and suspended on a string running from the mast to the bow of the boat. The boom and the gaff are made easily, and add to the sailboat motif while helping to hold the shade securely in place.

      The last illustration shows the switch detail. This is made by slotting the arm of a small toggle switch so that the brass rudder can be soldered in place. The rudder arm, which is made of 1/8-inch brass, is soldered to the rudder, the whole unit serving as the light switch. The light socket is carried on a 1/8 inch by 3-inch pipe nipple, which is held to the base of the hull by means of two locknuts. The pipe is cut near the lower end to allow the wires to be connected with the switch.

Plywood template, draw to scale before starting your projects.

       Additional finishing touches can be added if desired, such as port holes, a small anchor, mooring line, etc. As shown in the heading photo, the hull is done in white pine with a colorful lacquer finish. A varnish finish on hardwood would make up nicely also. The lead in the lower part of the hull makes the lamp "stay put," but could be omitted if desired. The bottom should be covered with felt to prevent the wood from marring polished surfaces.

Wiring and Switch Detail.

• Fun Nautical Baby or Toddlers Room Ideas
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• Crafting With Driftwood for Christmas
• Craft a paper octopus clock with your little ones
• Design and craft a sailor's Valentine
• Make an entire school of "Rainbow Fish" from paper plates; then, hang them from a nautical tree.

Craft a Prairie Schooner Mail Box

      Can lids for wheels, and four cut-outs of horses hitched to one end give this rural mailbox the novel appearance of a prairie schooner. The box is mounted on two wood blocks, which are supported by a 1 by 6-in. board nailed to the top of a post, the wheels being pivoted on nails driven into the bottom of the box. Horses, tongue and doubletrees are 1/4-inch wood, while the harness is strips of leather. The assembly is painted in appropriate color's.

• Design colorful, artistic mailboxes!
• Mission styled mailboxes
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6 Different Decorative Doorbell Plates to Craft

Click to see a much larger image.

      If you have a flush- type doorbell push button which guests find hard to locate, especially in the dark, an ornamental cutout placed around it will overcome the trouble and add a novel touch to the doorway. Several designs of cutouts for this purpose are shown here as suggestions, or you can make one to suit your own fancy. You can use just one piece of metal, or you can obtain contrast by mounting the cut-out on a plate of different metal, as for instance aluminum or brass over copper or iron painted black. Simple silhouettes in hammered iron, painted black, are very effective against , light-colored surfaces. The work can be done with a hand coping saw or on a power scroll saw. All edges and corners of the plate are carefully rounded with a file before starting on the paint job, or in the case of brass or copper, you polish the metal first and then apply a coat of clear lacquer. 

• Doorbell cover from NikkiDanielDesigns - love it.
• Miss Molly's Mosaic Doorbell Covers

Craft a Mexican Powder Box

       Concealing a supply of face powder in his rotund body and a lipstick in his sombrero, the colorful gentleman shown in the picture will prove a favorite on any dressing table. The lid and box are turned separately on the faceplate, turning out the inside of each and rabbeting the edges to fit together snugly. Then the two pieces are placed together and mounted between lathe centers to shape the outside.

      The lipstick forming the crown of the hat should fit loosely in a hole at the top so that it may be removed easily. Allow it to project about 1/2 inch above the top. The base is notched at the front and back to simulate feet. The inside should be sanded smoothly and shellacked. 

• Crochet a lipstick or lip balm cozy
• Pop Art chapstick holder

Craft a Toy Animal Box With Moving Facial Features

Click to see a larger illustration.

      Wagged from side to side by a pendulum, the head of this toy has interchangeable eyes, mouth, nose and ears, which can be used in various combinations to produce unusual facial expressions. Variations of these facial parts are shown in the squared detail. All parts have dowels attached for anchoring them in place, and they all fit in holes in the face except the ears, which slip into staples on the back of the head. The base for the head is a box with the front side painted to resemble the bars of a cage. As shown in the lower; left-hand detail, the head is attached off center to a dowel, which turns in a hole through the side of the box. Washers are used as spacers between the head, box and pendulum, which is fastened rigidly to the end of the dowel inside the box. The box of the original was painted yellow, bars black and face white with black features.

More Small Wooden Box Crafts:

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• Free puzzle box patterns
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