Making a TARDIS Jewelry Box with Wood Panels

I haven't been posting lately because a.) I'm completely swamped with school and b.) all my craft time has been dedicated to a new custom order request. I'm pretty excited about this one and I'm sharing it with you today.

I apologize in advance, this is not a tutorial with the level of detail you might expect from my blog. Since I was trying out some new techniques, I decided to skip most of the step-by-step photos as they do take more time. Don't worry, though, I have learned a lot from this project and already have plans to ramp it up to the next level (more on that later).

TARDIS Jewelry Box with Wood Panels

Picking the Panel Materials

At first I thought I would be buying a thin sheet of balsa or other overlay wood and using a saw to meticulously cut the pieces down to size. Then I wandered over to the wood crafts section and discovered the myriad of precut wooden sticks available. Most are the same thickness. Check out the pics below for all the sizes.

And conveniently, the 2nd stick down in the top photo was the right width for the door panel crossbars. Voila!

Finding TARDIS Blue

Then it was on to picking the right TARDIS blue. I really loved the Americana True Blue I used for my other 2 TARDIS projects, but it didn't look right in pictures. I am thoroughly convinced TARDIS blue is the most difficult color to accurately photograph. I tried a couple of darker blues, but they looked too purple. Finally I decided to go back to True Blue and go for accuracy in person rather than in photos. When I walk in my friends' house, I can spot the TARDIS in the room almost immediately because the blue catches my eye. Next time (which I hope will be mine to keep), I want to try distressing the exterior like I did on the Distressed Gift Box.

Assembling the Panels

So here comes the tedious part. Basically, measure, cut, try it on the doors. Then get frustrated with the fit. Pry off half of what you put on. Cut new pieces. Accidentally crush a delicate window made of toothpicks. Re-glue tiny window. You get the idea. Spending hours fiddling with little pieces...and loving it (to quote Maxwell Smart).

Window and Door Assembly

The picture above shows the unpainted window mullions. To get them exactly right, I glued them directly onto the template I used for my cardstock panels. The assembly was very similar to the other two TARDIS projects which you can check out here or here.

Trim and Paint

If you look back to the various stick sizes photograph, you'll notice the longest sticks are pretty wide. In order to get the right length, I had to glue on extra and carefully trim it off. Then for some sanding and touch up painting (including the little narrow bits of the door panels). If you're wondering why there are white plastic toothpicks in the photo, I was thinking of using them for the window panels, but I couldn't get them to hold together and I fortunately found the wooden ones instead.

Interior

I didn't change much on the interior of this one from the other wooden one. In the photo below, the light bulb is jutting more in to the interior than it does in the final version.

Finishing Details

At this point, it was nearing completion and I was on a roll. So no pictures of the last few steps, sorry. I will tell you the drama of the light and casing, however. I had the auto bulb already, but had no idea how to adapt the casing from my previous TARDIS. On that one, I used a little bit of card stock to make a small box for it. For this one, I struggled for days trying to figure out how to replicate that one piece while making it sturdy enough to match the rest of the box. Then my sister came over to paint. She happened to have a mini canvas in her kit which I immediately seized. So that is what you see on the top of this TARDIS.

I also replaced the latch system. My other sister, who owns TARDIS 2, says the latch system on hers sticks and makes it hard to open. And by latch system, I mean a small piece of wood that holds the box shut with pressure. For this one, I upgraded the latch to a brass latch that matches the hinges. I also find some mini hooks which allowed me to put more hooks in the box (6 small rather than 2 large). With a box like this, some of the latch screws may poke in to the interior of the box. I used my trusty Dremel to file down the ends for safety and painted over them.

And without further ado, here it is! Okay, one more further ado. Remember my complaint about the color not photographing well? These pictures are all of the same box. That's what you get when you try to photograph something with a chameleon circuit, working or not.

The Door Panel

The Top

New Latch

The Back

The Interior

So What's Next?

Well, at the moment, house cleaning, home schooling, and completing my school projects. In terms of a TARDIS 4.0, doing one with a beacon that lights up, maybe adding the iconic sound when you open the door, installing glass in the windows and painting the back of the door panels like the back of the actual TARDIS doors, maybe making a plinth. Who knows? Coincidentally, all three of my TARDIS projects have been completed in April, so maybe by next April I'll have a TARDIS 4.0 tutorial up for you. Thanks for reading.

Doctor Who Snowflakes

Christmas is finally looking like it might be welcome at my house. The school duties are slowing as the semester draws to a close (not a moment too soon!), which is giving me a little time to decorate. Please don't misunderstand, I don't NEED the decorations for Christmas to be considered a success. However, I love to decorate for Christmas and the fact that this year I was too overworked to care was an indicator that I needed to take a couple days off, relax, and do a craft project to unwind. So while the kindergartener was working on something for her school, I sat down and dug out the Doctor Who Snowflake patterns I've been saving for a long time now.

If you're interested in making a set of your own, here's where I got them: Oodly Crafting
You might need to fold them a bit off-center since I believe these were made for A4, which is similar to, but not quite, letter size.

Just for fun, we made some other snowflakes as well. I made up a couple Batman patterns, but I'm not too happy with them just now. I'll keep working at them and post a template eventually, if I get another spare moment.

And finally, my word of the day (yesterday was grumbletonian) is nerdflakes. Here are some nerdflake sites I found and hopefully will be adding to my snowflake collection soon:

Doctor Who, Star Wars, Galactica Snowflakes
TARDIS and Weeping Angels Flake
Sonic Screwdriver Flake

Let me know if you try any of these and how they turned out! I wasn't pleased with my Oods, so they didn't get a close-up. By the way, you will probably need some very sharp scissors, an X-acto knife, and a cutting board. Also lots of patience! Enjoy!

UPDATE: We've added a few more flakes and I've done some nerdflakes of my own now.  I can add a template upon request, but I don't have one yet. And without further ado: NERDFLAKES!!

 

 

 

 

Star Trek

 Rebel Alliance

(By the way, I did a Rebel Alliance logo in cross-stitch last year for a stocking topper. I might be persuaded to post the pattern.)

Adipose

Weeping Angels

Nerding out a Messenger Bag

My Nerdy Bag

When I decided to write this post, I had hoped it would be a follow-up to our Revitalizing an Old Purse project. In case you missed it, we bought a leather purse for a song at a thrift store and added some embellishments to personalize it and cover up some pen marks. The entire project was less than $5 and took about 2 hours. Not bad at all!

This one started out the same way. For $10, my youngest sister sold me an old bag she'd gotten from her school. I probably wouldn't have paid that much for in its condition at a store, but youngest sisters have a way of getting around such things. It had great hardware, except the main magnetic clasp had two male ends and wouldn't close. The bag was filthy and had red Sharpie marks on the outside. I would have gotten a picture of the nastiness of the inside for you, but as soon as I got it, I went to town with the stain spray. The inside had turned a dull grey color, when it was supposed to be tan with white dots.

Then I thought I would get some cool pins and patches for it from various sources to represent my nerdy interests. That part was tons of fun, but also pushed the budget well out of the "cheap" range (for me, at least). All told, I spent about $33 on embellishments. Since they arrived from various sources, opening up the mailbox and receiving a new piece each day was a thrill.

Fixing the Bag

Left Magnetic Clasp and the Center Buckle

1. Fix the clasp.

Before Washing

The bag has buckles (as you can see in the picture), but they are rendered pointless by the magnetic clasps underneath each. To "fix" the center clasp, I undid the buckle and sewed one end of it on top of the magnetic clasp. The center buckle now functions as a buckle. The other two worked just fine, so I left them alone.

 

 

 2. Clean! Clean! Clean!

A couple days soaking in a warm bath of OxiClean removed most of the grime from the interior. Stain spray removed much of the red Sharpie from the front  of the bag. Just washing a bag like this will greatly improve its looks.

Reverse Side of the Flap

 

 

 

3.  Attach the embellishments.

After testing the placement of all the embellishments, I started to fasten them in place. Of course, the buttons and pins can be moved around as much as you want, but the patches are harder to move once held in place. I sewed the patches on with matching thread. You can iron on patches, but I prefer to sew them. I think it gives a better hold, and the stitches look pretty.

 

And it's done! 

Total Cost: $43
Time: 1 day soaking + 30 min. in washing machine + up to 2 weeks waiting for shipments to arrive + 30 minutes sewing on patches

Great Adjustable Shoulder Strap

If you are interested in obtaining some nerd flair like mine, here are the ones still available (as of the publishing date of this post):


Portal 2 Logo Pin Set from ablesisters on Etsy
Xavier's School For Gifted Youngster Patch from aardogfsu on ebay
Phoenix Patrol Patch from jeffbass on ebay
Allons-y! Pin from cafepress
Star Trek Command Pin from cafepress

I'm still looking to add something pertaining to Diablo, Elder Scrolls, and Borderlands, but for now, it's complete. If you should see one of these items, please let me know in the comments. Or, if you have a nerd that you'd like to customize a bag for and need some suggestions, let me know. I found a lot more than I bought.

Update: My amazing husband gave me a present for my nerdy bag! Here are a couple pictures of it: