It’s 2006 so I’ve decided to start a blog! I think this will be a great bridge between Youtube videos and a little more in depth than Instagram posts. I’ll try to post once a week, maybe more, maybe less.
Our daughter recently turned 2 and I wanted to make her something special but still fun. She loves playing around in the parillaworks shop and even has her own little workshop: her closet! We have a little toy workbench and some toy tools in there and she gets a kick out of dragging us into the small closet— I mean workshop!
The idea was to make her a little toolbox or tote that she could carry around with all of her little tools. Maybe her sippy cup and pacifiers, too. I didn’t want to go too crazy with the design so I kept it fairly simple. The sides are about 3” tall and the ends the same except for a slight hump in the middle, which houses the leather strap. The ends also have some nice copper details, which is a material I’ve been trying to shove into one of my projects for a long time now.
The strap is held into a little mortise with a little copper pin. It’s not the strongest connection possible but it should hold up just fine. It was better than dousing it with epoxy at least. On the topic of the strap: this was the third one I ordered from Amazon. The first two didn’t have the right feel or texture. I wanted something with a matte texture and almost distressed look. In the end I settled on a 1” wide strap from Hide and Drink.
The engraving on the side was one of the main details I was excited about. I didn’t want to use the CNC router for it; I wanted it to be a little more personal. I used Microsoft Word to print out the letters and sized it so the letters were about 3/16” thick, which matched the little router bit I purchased. The font is called Amatic. I did a few tests freehand without tracing and then moved onto the actual workpiece. It was pretty simple because I wasn’t removing much material. The idea was a hand carved or hand written look. I think it turned out just right. I also added a little something on the bottom which was done freehand.
Once the toolbox was all done, we wrapped it up and put it with the rest of her presents. She was a little indifferent when she opened it but warmed up to it after a little while. A week or so later and she plays with it every now and again, stowing away her valuables and dragging them around the house. She likes containers and moving things around so this was a great addition to her collection.
I’ll end this first post here. I have a few big projects coming up including a desk and large tv cabinet. Those may be multi video projects on Youtube, which means they should be great for these blog posts. Anyway, thanks for reading!
-John
