WHAT I DID THIS WEEKEND - IN ADVANCE

Okay it's been a little while since i have done any kind of serious & worth while 'HOW TO', especially since i moved over to doing them in video format & posting them on YouTube. Everything, well vertully everything i have done before has been either strictly art or art related. I think it's time i did a HOW TO that was also 'useable' this time. Let me explain this a little...

Through my blog here by way of keeping something random but interesting going to post on a regular basis i started documenting 'what i did this weekend'. Generally it involved finishing up old projects i started ages ago many of which i showed here, starting projects i wanted to get on with ages ago, tricks & tips etc. This weekend though there is something i need to be doing that is, well, needed. Something my wife B (Barbara) desperately needs. Now i could easiy just go & buy this thing. It would probably cost a small fortune, not match anything in the living room where it would be situated perminantly & more than likely be too big for 'where' it would need to be placed ie: right in front of the 'main' living room door (of two) litterally only a couple of feet away er!, no pun intended there. Then of course where would be the PM side of it never mind the fun side of it?

So this IS something i can make in a weekend (not including painting) & so can YOU over a two day period. As i say it IS something my wife needs as i am sure many of us would find useful too. Knowing how many of us are, well falling apart at the seems myself included lol.

Okay enough rambling what is it?

A CUSTOM 'NOVILTY' FOOT STOOL.

As i say this needs to be small/compact as it needs to sit right in front of the main door of two for our living room. Lets face it just how many people could use a foot stool now & then but don't have the ready cash to buy one that wouldn't be too big for a small living room & probably NOT fit in with your rooms decorations anyway? When all this said & done a foot stool does not need to be huge anyway like most furniture stores sell these days so i am going to make one around 40cmsx30cms (surface area) big. I will post the main 'key' materials your going to need as well as the step by step pictures of the build. This will be a 'picture only' HOW TO not a video one. I promise you this WILL be an easy project that most 'anyone' can do even if they have NEVER tried doing anything paper mache or even construction wise before.

The key items required, well many of you will have them laying around anyway if not a quick trip to your local stores will get you the bigger items required for free & the 'other' items can be sourced fairly cheaply or made relatively easily.

Okay i am going to go & grab the 'key componants' for this build then photograph them for you to see what your going to need. I will post the detailed HOW TO this coming Monday/Tuesday after this weekend to allow me time to edit & post the feature fully.

I promise you this WILL be an easy to follow & extremely easy to do fun project. Lets face it afterward you get not only a novelty & unique piece of art but a useful piece of art too that you can actually use lol.

Now lets take a better look at that red box i will be using.

To save time cutting & shaping if you can try to get one of those small yoghurt or pudding type boxes like this one above. Why? well as you can see it comes with ready built in inner support. Where the plastic tubs used to be held for delivery & then ready to display on the store shelves this is a strong factory made boxing. Ignore the large holes where the tubs used to be for now as i will be covering over those once i start the build. This will give me a superb inbuilt strong base to my foot stool later & means i don't have to make any radical changes to the exsisting weight of the build either.

As you will also notice from the picture of the box i will be using you will see the box also has some perfect ready made corner raised sections . Again thanks to the ready made & unique design of this box i can & am going to use this unique corner features to my advantage. These raised corner sections are a perfectly shaped & sized to hold the foam cushion i will be using later for feet to rest on. Because they are nice & neatly confined to the corners like this it means the user will not have to suffer resting their feet on a hard cardboard edge or rim.

If you can't find a similar type of box then just get a normal 'rectangular'' box of roughly 40cms x 30cms x 11+cms big. You can easily & quickly draw & cut out a similar shape to MY box here or even design your own unique corner sections. To add some needed strength to the inside base of your foot stool simply cut out 2 or 3 corrigated cardstock rectangles to fit 'inside' your box. Glue them in place all at once but also stand some moderate weight on them too to make sure they glue together 'firmly'. Don't soak these inserts but DO coat them in your glue so they become more rigid once they are fully dry.

The 'other' items your going to need if you are a paper mahe artist you will more than likely have laying around. If not then they are relativey cheap items i assure you. Okay you will also require:

1] A GOOD SUPPLY OF NEWS PAPER.

2] 2 ROLLS OF STANDARD KITCHEN FOIL.

3] A SUPPLY OF SERIAL BOX GRADE CARDSTOCK.

4] A ROLL OR TWO OF MASKING TAPE.

5]  A HOT GLUE GUN & SUPPLY OF GLUE STICKS (3 OR 4).

Other items include the basic tools such a scissors, craft knife, pens, pencils etc.

So i am now going to go off & start my project. You if you want to learn how to make a custom foot stool of your own for yourself as a present for a family member,  friend, or even start your own unique custom foot stool business you will have the next 2 days to get the 'key' items for this build lol. More on this project in 2 days.