A child's shelf unit with scrolled words embedded with baked clay

[Frank Pellow]

I recently built a set shelves for my great nephew Emmett (now 6 months old).  The first step was to cut out his name  and a number of advisory words in two different quarter-sawn white oak boards:

After completing the scrolling, I glued a thin backing to the boards.  Next, baking clay (Mostly FIMO, but also some  Sculpey) was packed into the letters:

Packing takes more time than one would expect –close to two hours for the six words on the top board.

The clay was baked at 265 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes:

 

Steve Good has an excellent video on Scrollsaw Workshop demonstrating how to do all this.

After cooling, the excess clay was sanded off carefully with frequent cleaning of the sandpaper using a crepe rubber block:

The frame and the shelves are constructed of quarter-sawn white oak re-sawn down to a finished thickness of 12 millimetres.  I had prepared the wood a couple of months ago and it was good and straight.  But, I underestimated and needed one more piece which I fashioned from a not-so-good piece of scrap.  I should not have done this and regretted having done so in all subsequent steps of the project.  For starters I needed to weigh down the board with a heavy vise/anvil when cutting dados into it:

Then, all glue-ups required more clamps than they normally have done.  In the end the shelves are mostly OK.

A piece of 6mm thick white oak plywood was nailed to the back of the unit.  I found my Seyco scrolling drill came in very handy for pre-drilling before hammering in the nails.

As with the rest of the unit, the two “worded pieces were first glued into place then the joints were strengthened with the use of stepped dowels (Miller).  There are no screws at all in the shelf unit.

Finally, several coats of polymerized Tung oil were applied.  In the photo below the first coat, that is Tung oil sealer, is being applied. 

Here is photo of the completed unit:

Edited September 28, 2017 by Frank Pellow

[Scrappile]

Very very well done.  That will be treasured.

[DWSUDEKUM]

Very nicely done Frank.  That came out great.  Thanks for sharing this with us.

 

DW

[spirithorse]

Great work, Frank,

Thanks for sharing and God Bless! Spirithorse

[Phantom Scroller]

Brilliant idea, looks great as well.  Roly

[lawson56]

Frank,that is 1 Fantastic shelf.I do believe he will keep that through  adulthood.

[MTCowpoke22]

Great job! Quite the process, but it sure looks like it was worth it.

[MrsN]

Great job! this looks awesome!

[blights69]

Superb Job Frank Thanks for showing us 

[Dave Monk]

Great job Frank. Love the quarter sawed white oak.

[wombatie]

Perfect.  You did a fabulous job Frank, well done.

Marg

[amazingkevin]

On 9/27/2017 at 8:30 PM, Frank Pellow said:

I recently built a set shelves for my great nephew Emmett (now 6 months old).  The first step was to cut out his name  and a number of advisory words in two different quarter-sawn white oak boards:

After completing the scrolling, I glued a thin backing to the boards.  Next, baking clay (Mostly FIMO, but also some  Sculpey) was packed into the letters:

Packing takes more time than one would expect –close to two hours for the six words on the top board.

The clay was baked at 265 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes:

 

Steve Good has an excellent video on Scrollsaw Workshop demonstrating how to do all this.

After cooling, the excess clay was sanded off carefully with frequent cleaning of the sandpaper using a crepe rubber block:

The frame and the shelves are constructed of quarter-sawn white oak re-sawn down to a finished thickness of 12 millimetres.  I had prepared the wood a couple of months ago and it was good and straight.  But, I underestimated and needed one more piece which I fashioned from a not-so-good piece of scrap.  I should not have done this and regretted having done so in all subsequent steps of the project.  For starters I needed to weigh down the board with a heavy vise/anvil when cutting dados into it:

Then, all glue-ups required more clamps than they normally have done.  In the end the shelves are mostly OK.

A piece of 6mm thick white oak plywood was nailed to the back of the unit.  I found my Seyco scrolling drill came in very handy for pre-drilling before hammering in the nails.

As with the rest of the unit, the two “worded pieces were first glued into place then the joints were strengthened with the use of stepped dowels (Miller).  There are no screws at all in the shelf unit.

Finally, several coats of polymerized Tung oil were applied.  In the photo below the first coat, that is Tung oil sealer, is being applied. 

Here is photo of the completed unit:

Frank ,?there's a method to your madness,lol You've gone the extra mile and then some ! Fabulous creative work ! Thanks for sharing.

[newfie]

Nice work thanks for sharing 

[Frank Pellow]

Another great nephew has arrived, so I made another set of shelves:

[stevan]

Great work and great words of wisdom for the young'uns.

[Scrolling Steve]

Nice work, Frank !.....A family treasure for sure !

[bobscroll]

You put a lot of work into your project Frank...And it was worth it!!! Thank you for posting,

Bob 

[GPscroller]

Great job on both Frank, am sure they will be treasured for years to come.

Jeff

[Bfreeman]

Wonderful work Frank your attention to detail is beyond compare!!! Thanks for sharing. 

Bill

[heppnerguy]

Those look like just the ticket for them, with a lot of thought for them to explore along the way

Dick

heppnerguy