Shed Night logo

After the success of Inaugural Shed night, some friends and I are working on booking some more dates into the diary (particularly now GG has bought a shiny new MIG welder we all want to have a go on!). . .

We decided we ought to ‘brand’ the event in some way, so that emails / general communications about it to each other (and others)  are instantly recognizable – a bit like the Bat Symbol being shone into the night sky to announce the event!  (Too far? You might be right. . .!).

So, here’s my first attempt – it may be open to tweaking in the months to come, but it does the job for the mo! (GG said it should be more grungy but I didn’t have time to draw a crushed beer can!). It’s got a few gears and cogs on there however, so hopefully will keep my fellow Steampunk fans happy!

Shed Night logo!

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Any ideas!?

So I’ve just found this in my local charity shop. . .

I know it’s some sort of lamp, but exactly what kind and how it works is stumping me. It is missing any inner ‘gubbins’ (for example the reservoir, wick etc) so I really can’t figure out how it is meant to be lit, regulated etc? There is a black grommet of some sort on the side near the bottom, but again, I’ve no real ideas. Is there anyone out there can help – please send me any comments / suggestions!

New lantern

Sorry, I yet again forgot to put any sort of scale on there, but it’s quite small, only 15cm high and about 5.5 cm diameter at the base.

Apart from that, it looks absolutely spiffing, particularly when sat next to my porthole, which has a very similar look/feel material and style-wise!

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Steampunky front door

For what seems like months now, I’ve been repairing/restoring my front door!

As well as being pretty old and tired, it’s also faces directly on to a busy main street so gets lots of wear and tear, traffic soot, general grime etc so tends to get pretty shabby, pretty quickly.

I’m not totally convinced by the colour (to a certain extent this is governed by the surrounding colours of the neighbouring houses/shops) but I was very inspired by some doors I saw on a recent trip to Lille (and my general love of brass and copper things) to make it look as spectacular as possible.

Here’s a ‘before’ shot:

Before shot (shabby!)

And here’s the finished article:

After shot (snazzy!)

Once I’d painted it, all the brass fittings were cleaned (liberal use of tomato sauce, brasso, wire wool etc), given several coats of clear laquer and re-fitted. The pièce de résistance is the addition of a copper-covered step (using strips of copper sheet generously donated by my friend EM),  fixed in place with some judicious hammering and copper clout nails.

Here’s a close-up:

Copper clad step

The only thing left to fit is a brass door bell (coming soon!) and the addition of a spectacular (yet totally over-the-top) outside lantern, amazingly found abandoned in the skip of a friend of mine. Here it is in its existing state – again I’m in the process of re-vamping/cleaning it up (the existing patina really doesn’t do it any favours so I feel OK about stripping this – possibly faked – original finish)

Found lantern

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I got me a shed badge!

Uncle Wilko from the excellent Readers Sheds site kindly said he’d send me a couple of his Shed Badges for submitting an article to him about my Shed Night.

Lo and behold they arrived today, and most excellent they are too – collectors items for sure!

Shed Badges

Many thanks – I will wear them with pride!

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Shopping guilt!!

I have just treated myself to one of these:

Mini tool

I’ve wanted one for a long time, mainly for use on my Steampunk projects, which always seem to involve lots of fiddly sanding / grinding / polishing of old bits of tat! I was going for one of the more fancy makes (eg a Dremel) when good old GG told me about the Tool Station own-brand equivalent. I am sure it’s exactly the same gubbins, just without all the fancy packaging/logos etc.  I’ve not got fully to grips with the thing as yet, but first impressions seem excellent.

The two main things I have learnt is that, firstly, the flexible drive shaft is invaluable and makes the whole thing a lot easier to use (GG told me tha toot!). Secondly, the very thin cutting wheels are extremely fragile if handled badly – I managed to break one just fitting it onto the mandrel.

Anyway, I’m hoping it’s going to prove very useful – now I just need yet more time in the day to make some things!! (less sleeping, eating and breathing would help!)

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Scarface!!

Note to self…

In future, do not try doing DIY in a hurry, balancing on a chair, with a roll of masking tape in one hand and a newly-bladed craft knife in the other! It can only end badly…

Scarface!

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