BEEF up your frame

The frame I had around the mirror was not looking very good anymore kinda wimpy. I liked the position of the mirror and did not want to take it off the wall so I did a total make-up job on the frame.

Here is what the frame looks like before.

I needed to add a slim boarder so that the wood tiles lye flat.

The finished mirror. The little sticky out boards make great little shelves for your little treasures!

Tea Tray for Gong Fu Cha

So I have been wanting to buy a tea tray for Gong Fu Cha (Chinese method of tea-making) but I did not want to spend much money since the ones I usually liked were expensive. I saw a really simple modern designed tea tray at a tea shop in china town called The Chinese Tea Shop so I studied it quickly, and thought that I might be able to just make one.

This is the tray that I studied for a basic design from The Chinese Tea Shop and the one I would buy if I could not make it. This tray is very reasonably priced, a good starter tray.

My grandfather had built a 3 legged table using a beautiful chunk of Yew. The table was left outside for a couple of years and the legs fell off but I kept the top. I thought it would be a good test piece that looked about the right size plus it had a nice natural feel being all beat-up and weathered.

I first tried hand carving the channels into it. After spending 30 minutes, not getting anywhere, I remembered that I had a router. I went out and bought a 1/8" round router bit and made the groves for the water to drain out.

Used router to make the grooves, sanded and varnished. 

For the drain I bought a 1/4" pipe connector drilled it into the side on a slight angle. Then attached a clear hose to drain water. I put the other end into a nice pottery vase to catch the water.

The Finished Tea Tray for Gong Fu Cha handmade and it works great! Oh and it's one of a kind!

Ha ha ... now I can spend more money on good quality tea which tends to be quite expensive ... but so worth it! I think it's TEA TIME!!! Who wants tea?
Cheers!
Adam.

Lighting my Desk

I live in a very old house. Good Lighting is a little difficult to get without having to re-doing the entire electrical in the house. Simple cheap solution: 2 hanging lights, like cafe lighting above my desk. I have a dimmer switch on an extension cord that I will plug these lights into.

I went to Ikea and bought the cheapest hanging wire with light socket and plug, (which happened to be on sale for $4.99each) they were this funky green colour which I liked. My neigbours fence had fallen down and there was this amazing weathered wood which I grabbed up right away before it went straight to the dump.

I cut a hole to fit the light socket, in a small 4inch X 4inch by 1inch thick cedar board that was in my to burn pile. Then cut the fence boards to 9inch lengths and found the ones that fit nicely together. I Used 2 different sized drill bits to randomly drilled holes to allow some light through. Screwed the fence boards onto the small 4X4 board put the light through and tightened the plastic ring to hold the lampshade on ... there you have it! sweet inexpensive one of a kind, your very own internet cafe lights.

Kids Stool

My Friend asked if I could build him a kids stool for his 2year old. He looked everywhere for the right size but could not find it.

I built it with a left over 2X10 (legs) and some 2X4s pieces (the top of the seat). To make it safe and not easy to tip over ... the legs are out by 5degrees. The finish is some left over solid stain, sanded of on the edges to give it that worn look.

The finished Kids stool

A Table Design

I was asked to build some tables for Nan-chu Resturant in Richmond. http://www.gyokingroup.com/
Made from plywood and 2X3's. The pictures are a bit blurry.