Hiya guys,
Let me just pretext this by saying that this is my first project, ever! So please don't expect anything amazing. Ever since I saw the film the illusionist I fell in love with the concept of the locket. After shopping around I found that the only ones that functioned and where built out of the materials I like were waay out of my price-range, and so this is why my project began!
I have to say thus far is has been a huge learning experience, and a great excuse to buy a few cheap tools too. I know that my work is not as clean as it should be, and I have made ALOT of mistakes so far. I am defiantly going to re-visit the project in the near future with better tools and the knowledge I have acquired
Tools used -
The build -
I created a 2d reference to print out and work from, I ended up laminating this piece of paper so I could re-use the same template.
The two pieces ready to be used as a template to cut from -
This piece of cylindrical tube will be used to for the locket to pivot around, a nail will be placed in the centre at a fixed point.
The wood arrived, my first huge mistake!. Since I didn't want the locket to be too bulky I went on eBay and bought the thinnest wood I could find, 1.5mm untreated teak. Little did I know that teak is naturally very oily and would not stick very well without 'cleaning' first, so my first job was to wash the pieces I needed in 70% alcohol, that did the trick.
The laminated template in action
Two 'body' pieces side be side. These are made up of 3 1.5mm sheets of my teak which I used gorilla glue to bond together. That stuff is strong, also leaves a nice finish on teak.. that was unexpected.
I then cut a hole in the centre of one of the two body pieces.. and totally got the positioning wrong! You will see in the next pictures two large holes because of this. The smallest nail I could find was almost 4mm at the head part too, so the wood around the barrel is weakest. I put over it a thin layer of gorilla glue in the hope that it would help to reinforce it... so far so good.
here is the nail and barrel fixed in place into on side of the body, the plastic barrel made from a pen ink cartridge will be glued to the body of the opposite pieces allowing rotation
I then had an idea, magnets! these give a really satisfying click when rotating!
I used my electric drill as a make-shift lathe to create a centre piece which will rotate to allow the front compartment to open and reveal the pictures inside, there will be two.
A hole cut for the centre piece, its slightly off
Why did I do this by hand?!
Magnets fully installed -
The centre rotating pieces cut down to size and ready to be installed, I also finished making the first 'front cover' which will rotate. The notch in the peice is to glue the top of the centre piece to, the bottom will rotate freely and it is slightly larger and does not slide out.
That is all so far. I know its highly amateur but its a start! Hope you guys enjoy my build and I will update it when progress is made.
~ Zero.
Let me just pretext this by saying that this is my first project, ever! So please don't expect anything amazing. Ever since I saw the film the illusionist I fell in love with the concept of the locket. After shopping around I found that the only ones that functioned and where built out of the materials I like were waay out of my price-range, and so this is why my project began!
I have to say thus far is has been a huge learning experience, and a great excuse to buy a few cheap tools too. I know that my work is not as clean as it should be, and I have made ALOT of mistakes so far. I am defiantly going to re-visit the project in the near future with better tools and the knowledge I have acquired
Tools used -
The build -
I created a 2d reference to print out and work from, I ended up laminating this piece of paper so I could re-use the same template.
The two pieces ready to be used as a template to cut from -
This piece of cylindrical tube will be used to for the locket to pivot around, a nail will be placed in the centre at a fixed point.
The wood arrived, my first huge mistake!. Since I didn't want the locket to be too bulky I went on eBay and bought the thinnest wood I could find, 1.5mm untreated teak. Little did I know that teak is naturally very oily and would not stick very well without 'cleaning' first, so my first job was to wash the pieces I needed in 70% alcohol, that did the trick.
The laminated template in action
Two 'body' pieces side be side. These are made up of 3 1.5mm sheets of my teak which I used gorilla glue to bond together. That stuff is strong, also leaves a nice finish on teak.. that was unexpected.
I then cut a hole in the centre of one of the two body pieces.. and totally got the positioning wrong! You will see in the next pictures two large holes because of this. The smallest nail I could find was almost 4mm at the head part too, so the wood around the barrel is weakest. I put over it a thin layer of gorilla glue in the hope that it would help to reinforce it... so far so good.
here is the nail and barrel fixed in place into on side of the body, the plastic barrel made from a pen ink cartridge will be glued to the body of the opposite pieces allowing rotation
I then had an idea, magnets! these give a really satisfying click when rotating!
I used my electric drill as a make-shift lathe to create a centre piece which will rotate to allow the front compartment to open and reveal the pictures inside, there will be two.
A hole cut for the centre piece, its slightly off
Why did I do this by hand?!
Magnets fully installed -
The centre rotating pieces cut down to size and ready to be installed, I also finished making the first 'front cover' which will rotate. The notch in the peice is to glue the top of the centre piece to, the bottom will rotate freely and it is slightly larger and does not slide out.
That is all so far. I know its highly amateur but its a start! Hope you guys enjoy my build and I will update it when progress is made.
~ Zero.
