4 poster bed

Finally! After more then 3 years, working on it on and off... I'm proud to present the first version of the 4 poster beds. 

It's been a fun collaboration piece I've made together with my clever and dear miniature friend Gerry, who used his inquisitive mind to learn how to mill with the aid of CNC. Lots of parts were drawn on his computer and milled out by him. Just look at the marvelous job he did on the delicate tapered and two sided twisting pencil posts with petit finials.

The fun part was to combine both our skills so I added more detail with hand carved acanthus leaves in the mid section of the posts. And the same theme returns in this version with the centre rosette on the headboard.

The bed is a miniature version of a modern day king size.

Wish I could jump into it, but even beter; instead I'm getting ready for short holiday that I'm really looking forward to :D

Have a wonderful Good Friday & Easter Holiday

From hibernating to napping

After waking up from miniature hibernation and with most of the workshop up and running again, the first thing I did was to get back to the four poster beds. A project that had been on the back burner for far too long!

Imagine! It was over a year ago I'd made a start on carving the centre decorations... but fortunately fresh wood chips were scenting the new shop again.

I also had to find a way to make them portable, so just like the real thing I designed miniature hardware, or bed hooks, to be able to dismantle them. I carved the recess that would take the hardware áfter staining the pear wood or else the end grain would darken up too much. 

While a bed was taking shape I simultaneously worked on a matras. Not a fan of needle and thread this job was quite a challenge for me. Cos my sewing machine couldn't perform to the standard I was looking for, all the stitching needed to be done by hand :/

With tiny stitches I added piping round the edge...

... and padding when the matras was closed. The pillows were filled with bird sand. It's such a fine type of sand that it requires minute & tight stitching, but when that's in place anything stuffed with it will 'sit' like the real thing cause of its weight. One could opt to glue the seams for this particular use, to avoid the wee sand grains from falling out. But that can cause stiffness where it's to be avoided most of all. Again, anything to make it 'sit' and 'fall' naturally.  

And there you have it; a comfy and cosy crash pad. Anyone care for a little nap?

a choice of design

Hi dear miniature friends,

Here's a little update on the design for the head boards of these 4 poster beds. It's not a huge progress as carving is very time consuming and time hasn't really been on my side lately. Still, it's fun to show you where it's at and because I would like to hear your thoughts on a few things at this stage.

Before building even commenced we'd designed a classical theme of acanthus leaves decorating a simple yet elegant 4 poster bed. 2 Versions of the head crest are already chosen and are in process of being carved right now.

One is a bow ribbon tied to a bundle of flowers. Not finished yet, but these pictures will give you an indication.

Another one will receive a round centre piece. Very different in appearance and overall feel, as you can see from the mock up below.

Pretty too in its own right, with the decorative theme of the leaves continued. Yet, the overall feel is a little more rigorous than the top version with its frivolous flowers and ribbon.  

Here's my question; If you could pick one, which one would that be? Would you go for the romantic look, or perhaps the bit more masculine one? 

The reason I'm asking is because I'll be finishing 5 beds in total. The one with the ribbon is already taken. The other 4 are up for sale too. One with the round crest which leaves the remaining three having a headboard that is still open for suggestions or variations of the 2 above. In other words; here's the chance to get your own 4 poster bed with a custom designed head board crest. 

I'd love to hear which one you prefer! And if you're interested or have any questions about the beds, feel free to contact me anytime. 

sneak peek

Over the weekend I found a little time slot in which I finished the railings and made a start on staining the lovely pear wood to a mahogany color. Not there yet, color wise but I wanted to see what it looks like after the first wash. And I did a dry fit;

Still all loose panels and the head board will be decorated with a hand carved top, so there's still loads to do. Just thought I'd share a sneak peek :)

Have a wonderful start of the week!

closing the ends

Finally I have some time to get back to the four poster beds I was working on. These trimmings will become the top rails on the head and foot boards. But I wanted the ends to be molded too. So here's how I did it;

I've cut some wood to fit (real tight) and try to match the grain as well.

Then cutting away the excess, and creating the hollow shape first. 

Giving it a little step, before cutting the round part that follows.

And then the molding goes all the way round as I designed it.

fancy mikado?

fancy mikado?

Here is the result so far of a really fun collaboration; a bunch of front and back legs that will turn into four poster beds. It started out as a wild idea between me and a dear miniature friend from the other side of the globe. What if we could combine his milling skills with my hand carving??? We came up with a design that would incorporate both and have an overall elegant feel to the finished bed.

first mock-up drawing

The milling took place with the aid of a CNC mill, and for that he had to draw up the design in a CAD program (computer aided design). That program then translated the dimensions and shape of legs the to CAM software that generated the commands (or G-code) to control the milling machine. Do you still follow? I know I was confused too at first ...

detail of CAD drawing

Here's a detail of the some of the many drawing that he'd made before final milling. It might you think at this stage; "Hey! That is easy, anyone can make a miniature this way". But believe me, it not as straight forward as you might think.

Besides this stage there is still loads of (manual) construction work afterwards to do. I just look at it as just another power tool, something each of us probably use every now and then. Maybe not as high-end but still a tool that doesn't work without human input. In this case one still has to come up with a design and be able to draw. Mastering the (drawing) software to drive the mill is just as challenging as mastering the potential of a table saw or a drill press and make that work for you. As this was his first project on a CNC mill I'm very proud of the steep learning curve he's undergone ever since. 

a set of legs

test pieces for shape, color and finish

Because the milling was quite a challenge at times, being long and thin and with the fragile finials at the top. I think his results so far are just amazing! After that I added even more details by carving the acanthus leaves with the aid of his milling. As you can see we used small strategically placed indicating cuts that helped me place the 4 leaves equally around the circumference. They were an enormous aid as i could focus completely on the carving and not have any worries bout spacing. 

the carved centers

It will be a while till completion, but already it's been great fun to work on. Although i must confess carving over 20 legs was a teeny weeny bit tedious, i look back upon it as a great way to get practice, practice and even more practice. On to the next stage, the head and foot boards!

detail of a test piece

To be continued...