Acacia Couchtable

2 weeks ago I helped my friend Brian with setting up his new Kitchen.

After all the work was done he gave me the cut offs from his countertop because he is a really nice guy.

so when I got home I found 4 wooden legs that I cut off a chair a couple months ago because i liked the shape. 

So I started with laying out the Material to figure out a shape and the proportions to make it work with what I had. That really is my favorite way of designing. It is so much easier to come up with a concept because you are limited and not overwhelmed by possibilities. Also it is very rewarding to build from scratch!

 

That´s the rough layout.

I started with building the underconstruction and attaching the legs...for me it is easier not to worry about the next steps when i start building. In this case I wasn´t even sure how exactly I wanted the table to look like when I started. That keeps the design process very flexible and fun because you design on the fly. 

...and yes, that is the carpet from "the shining"...

Couchtable

This is a table I built a month ago but I haven´t had the chance to post about it.
Simple design but I think it works quite well.
The tabletop is made from Scaffoldingboards that I took to my friends at the woodmill to have it planed.
My favorite thing about this table is the edge of the tabletop - there is no endgrain visible because i covered the crosscut with a really thin slice cut off from the side of a board. it´s a little detail but effective because it looks really clean.

But this table already found a new home. So next week I will post my new Couchtable that I built last weekend.

UO "Motel-Sign"

I am a huge fan of signs especially the old Motelsigns in America - i like everything about them- the shapes, fonts, lights, materials, rust, colors...all of it.
When I built the "Spacelord Motherfucker Sign" a while ago i knew I had to do more stuff like this...and now I finally found an opportunity to do so.
I have to mention that i built the entire thing out of recycled materials i had lying around in the workshop. The only thing i needed to buy was a sheet of 0,5 mm steel. it was around 30 euros. the rest was "free".
That is why the proportions are slightly off. If i´ve had enough budget to buy everything i needed, i would have build a bigger "outfitters-lightbox" to match the Urban better...but i think it´s fine as is. 
"every little defect get´s respect"

 

This is the finished sign...

 

I started with this ugly green sheet of MDF I never used because I hate the color.

In this case it doesn´t matter because it will be covered with a sheet of steel. 

 

I used lots of Sprayglue.

 

Here I roughly scetched out the type.

    I never worry too much about being super exact it´s more important to get a feel for the size and the proportion.

 

If your steel is not too thick you can simply jigsaw it by hand. I used 0,5 mm steel - it worked fine.

I started with cutting one side of each letter and used this jig to make sure all letters have the same width. that was a huge help!

 It is really important to make the letters look old, as if they were hanging outside for 30 years. That way the Sign will look authentic. I left all the sawdust on the steel and spraypainted over it. when the paint is dry you can sand over it and it will get a really nice distressed finish. It´s cheap and easy.

I also used acid to get a bit of rust.

And that´s it.

Next I started building the lightbox for "Outfitters"

This is the same technique i use to build the "thank you for the music lamp" (i posted a making of video a while ago. so if you´re interessed in how it´s done please check out the video)

After that i cut out and painted the lightningbolt...the same way I build the Urban.

And that´s it.

I cut some 2x2s to build a frame where all the elements can sit on and wired up the lightbox.

i´m really happy with it.

And I got some new ideas for the next sign during the build.