So, now they’re all happily in the hands of my nephews and nieces, here are some of the gifts I made on the GF this year.
First a couple of games for the younger ones: a Ludo and a memory game. The
Ludo was made from acrylic, engraved on the reverse and painted, then scraped and cleaned up, and glued onto a laser cut felt backing. The memory game was just maple plywood, engraved back and front.
Ludo:
For one of my nieces, obsessed with princesses, I tampered with an Ikea cloche filled with a string of LEDs and added layers of laser cut and engraved paper to make a castle and surrounding houses. I added a moon cut and engraved in clear acrylic and a bunch of stuffing for the clouds.
Another of my nephews is a great fan of Lord of the Rings, so I decided this was a good time to try out leather for the first time in the GF… I made the book jacket removable so he could switch out the notebook (taking the pressure off writing in a “nice book”!). I added an engraved metal pen too, another successful first time in the GF!
And finally, the one that kind of run away and became its own monster: a chess set for my niece who is obsessed with Versailles for some reason. This started out simple and I kept adding bits and bits. I finally finished it with hours to spare!
The box is maple plywood, engraved with views of the castle and gardens, and the board carries the sun emblem of Louis 14th. The pieces are cut from acrylic (clear for white, black for…black.) and the black ones are painted with gold paint.
I judged a sanctioned barbecue contest once. They had different categories for the different cuts of meat that you could win individually, but the top prize was the ensemble that had to include, ribs, shoulder, and loin. You would win the Christmas present prize for best use of a wide variety of materials. Just amazing and creative in so many ways.
In love with the chest set box! Since ordering my Pro last month I’ve been dreaming up ideas and designs in my head for one and a Monopoly box. I love how yours turned out and making a hinged storage box fold out.
Thanks everyone! Jules, I’m not currently taking applications, but if anything comes up I’ll let you know
Haha, thanks! I was wondering about the see-through side of the clear acrylic, and whether it would make it tricky to get a decent view of all the pieces. I’ve asked my niece to test drive it, so we’ll see what she says. Maybe an engraved outline for the clear pieces might help if I ever attempt a second one…
