This
week I thought it would be fun to make up the shelf kit that I
purchased at the recent Seattle Miniature Show. This kit is from
Modern Miniature Magic (who you can contact with this link)
I
looked at the paper that came with the kit and it just gives the
email address and not any kind of website. I don't remember exactly
what other items were on the table I got this kit from but I do
remember she had a rather full table of items. I am sure if you email
her you can get a complete list of items currently available. I do
ask that you mention you heard about the kits from my video and blog
though.
Okay,
so let's take the kit a step at a time. There really aren't many
pieces to the kit: two sides, a back and 3 shelves. All the pieces
are laser cut from Maple according to the paper that comes with the
kit. The wood on my kit was of excellent quality. The instruction
sheet is brief- it contains a color photo of the completed project, a
short description of how to assemble the kit and contact information.
The
kit is really easy to assemble and all the parts are cut to fit
perfectly.
I
will admit I do tend to push the limits of the kits when I assemble
them. I don't do anything other than read the directions and hold the
parts together so I am sure what goes where. I don't really even do a
true dry fit. On this kit I also pushed the limits with the finish, I
chose a rather wet water based finish and did not do any sealing
first. I did want to see how much the rather thin wood would warp. It
did warp a bit but not nearly as much as I was afraid it might.
I
chose the finish I did for a couple of reasons. First off I had asked
on the Facebook page what finish people wanted to see me use. The
comments were split right down the middle between a stain and a paint
finish. Everyone did want to see it aged however. I decided to go
with the stain because I have another project with an aged painted
finish on my channel. I did decide to use a craft paint as a stain
mostly because I felt most of us probably have a basic brown paint on
hand and we might not have a true wood stain in our supplies. You
could do this same technique with any color of paint or you could use
a regular wood stain. If you are going to stain your project I do
recommend doing so before you glue to avoid spotting. If I had sealed
the wood with a clear shellac I might have avoided some of the
warping but I am not sure. It does work most of the time but this is
really thin wood.
Next
we glue our pieces together, this is really easy and since everything
is so well cut it fit together really nicely. Because of the slight
warping my back piece did not fit as well as it could have but it
still turned out fine. Also because of the angle I was looking at the
project I didn't notice that I had the middle shelf a bit crooked. I
know it showed up in the camera view but I was looking from behind
it. For where I am planning to use the shelf it won't matter at all
so I am still happy.
Now
we went on to the aging portion of the project. It is really easy to
get totally carried away with this step and I did my best to use a
light hand. Go as far as you want on your kit. A final seal with a
matte spray sealer is all that was needed to finish up the project. I
used a matte because I want it to look old and worn. Any shine would
have taken away from this.
So
what are my thoughts on this kit? I think it is a fun kit and I would
definitely go buy another one. It would fit into many scenes and
styles.
I
hope you enjoyed this project, come back for many more projects in
the future.
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