nid_dabeille | mini sea chest (Reply)

I made a miniature sea chest for Stephen. From scratch!

I love making things look distressed. And I've found a new favorite technique - burnishing!
It makes things look shiny and worn without sanding away the stain or paint.

I remembered that I don't like hinges. They are a pain! They're so fiddly they try even my patience, whether with super glue or with nails. Argh! But they turned out all right in the end. Nails to attach them to the base, glue to attach them to the lid. The lid was too thin and the nails would have poked through. (And randomly, it's so brilliant that they thought of eyelets to replace brads for the tapewire system. Those brads nearly drove me batty, the closest I've ever been with miniatures. These hinge nails reminded me of them.) I love the way the nails look, though.

I'm pleased with how it turned out. I haven't made many furniture pieces from scratch, especially with moving parts. I feel fairly confident I can tackle more difficult things like an apothecary case and The Object (aka the Article), but I'm a little worried that I won't be able to make something nice from scratch that isn't distressed.

Also... I cut my finger while working on it, and I was bleeding, so I rushed to the sick bay and...