Project Pics - Crystal Display Case w/ long story
GolfSteve in Calgary
>Here�s a few pictures of a hanging crystal display case that I made for a Christmas present for my Mom. She�s wanted something to display her crystal Swarovski Christmas Stars in for several years, but it took me a while to come up with a good design. I wanted something to display about 10 stars, that kept the stars dust free and allowed light to shine through the stars, but that wasn�t too large.
As some of you might know from my previous postings, I work overseas in Australia a fair bit. I spent a day last summer at a local beach that is very nice but usually deserted (and thus a bit boring in my opinion):
After the beach, I hit the local restaurant for a bite to eat (by myself, which is also a bit boring; the life of an expat � you get to see all the world�s romantic places by yourself). I can't count the number of times I've phoned home from that phone booth.
That�s when the inspiration hit. I had to beg a pen from the waitress, grabbed one of her order forms, and quickly sketched out the basic design while waiting for my meal.
The plan was for a basic case, beveled on the front, with Wild Alberta Roses carved on the corners. This was in June. However, work and life interfered with my plans, and I was not able to start this project until November. I didn�t think I would have enough time to do the carving before Christmas, so I changed the design to a beaded front � all made with the LN #66 beading tool.
Here�s some very poor pictures of the result.
The case is made of cherry, dovetailed on the corners. A face frame was applied to the front. The frame is mitered on the corners with reinforcing maple splines. All the joinery, except the slots for the splines, was cut by hand. The miters were trimmed on a shooting board. All the boards were also dimensioned by hand.
The rear of the case is hinged to allow access to the stars. The stars are hung on hooks screwed into the top of the case. The dowel spanning the hooks allows variable spacing of the stars if required. Two rare earth magnets hold the case closed.
The finish is French Polished orange shellac. The stained glass was made by a local shop for $75 � this is another skill that I would like to get into. The pictures don�t do any justice to how the light shines through the stained glass and is refracted by the crystal stars.
And, as usual, all of my work is signed by carving my name into the case using some of Lee Valley�s micro carving tools:
I gave this to my Mother for Christmas and I think she likes it. The one thing that I didn�t know is that she has over 15 of these stars � and my display case only holds 9 � I�ll have to build another one for next Christmas!
Thanks for looking.