Book Nook Workshop

A.I. Initial Image

After doing a plethora of purchased kits, which are still great fun, I wanted to try and do something more challenging. Unfortunately I thought I had no artistic talent but I have done a lot of research, with lots of help from ChatGPT I feel confident now. My wife is hyper talented artistically and does wood carving, oil painting and elaborate birthday cakes and there is no way I would ever compete with her so I thought I would try these models.

This will be an ongoing project where individuals steps and phases will be included as I reach that stage, so look back every week 

The hpfirst question is what should I build and who should I do it for? My Father-in-law is 93 and he and his wife, now sadly departed, are passionate cricket fans. They went every week to New Road in Worcester and became life members. They also spent 6 weeks in Australia visiting every test ground!

I therefore thought that I would base my build around W.C.C.C. I spent around 2 weeks discussing with ChatGPT and visualising different concepts until I arrived at my final design.

At this first custom build model I still decided to use a book nook shell that I got from Calico Craft for the XL kit the dimensions are  140mm wide x 180mm tall x 230mm deep. This comes flat packed but is high quality MDF with all the edges primed; this is generally a weak point.

The first step is to prime the MDF. Be careful, if you are using wood stain on the exterior walls then this should be on the untreated MDF. After first coat has dried, lightly sand and do a second coat. I was also having a window in the rear wall so I cut this out and stained the floor in black so no light colour shows through after I attach the floorboards

Interior painting and floor boards

I have selected a cream interior wall colour which I used 20 parts of acrylic white paint with 1 part of ochre, gives an off white effect. Light sanding before the second coat.

I cut out approximately 5mm strips of basswood for the floorboards; it was not necessary to create identical size boards as this is created around an old fashioned pavilion where there would have been gaps. I used a teak stain for the colour. Apply with a cloth, wait 40 seconds, then wipe with a dry cloth. After 2 hours apply the second layer

The back window

One of the most crucial parts of the interior was to create a rear window looking at the cricket with Worcester Cathedral in the background. I used acrylic black pen on inside of window pane, attached Perspex behind the frame, added a 3mm frame to add the picture, which creates depth and then attached the picture. I use matte photo paper so there is not much of a reflection

The initial steps have been completed so I checked out where sanding on the floorboards was required so the joints were clean and then I dry fitted the shell

The next steps will be to add an oak beam over the window, build a small bar shelf above that and cover the exterior walls.

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