A design from the first world war!

[scrimper]

I made this using a Hobbies of Dereham plan The design is number 1017 and it was published on 10th April 1915 when the First world war was in progress!
I reckon that this is the hardest piece I have cut in terms of inside cuts there were over 130 bits to cut out on the main frame

I could not get a mirror to fit (Hobbies used to sell a special bevelled one in 1915) so I found an old plain mirror and cut one from that

In case anyone is interested I made this from an old plywood kitchen cabinet which I removed over 38 years ago! It was good quality birch plywood but covered with several coats of gloss paint but after scraping this off I has some fairly decent plywood to use.

 

[jamiecrawford]

Wow, that's impressive! Lot of skill and patience gone into that, clearly.

 

[bugbear]

A lot of "old fashioned" designs are rather elegant.

Has there ever been a Hobbies reprint album?

BugBear

 

[martinka]

How big is the mirror, John? I have a flat retangular mirror, 125mm x 175mm, that I have been thinking of using. No doubt I have a pattern somewhere that I can scale to fit, but going through them all to find one puts me off.

 

[bugbear]

How big is the mirror, John?

(cough)5cm gridded cutting mat(cough)

BugBear

 

[Claymore]

........

 

[scrimper]

Ps how do you cut glass for mirrors? Ruth wanted a Intarsia Mirror but wasn't sure how to get a mirror to fit?

I just cut it the same way as normal glass, score on the front only.

4 tips when glass cutting

1) Always clean the glass before scoring.
2) place a small amount of 3 in one oil on the cutter.
3) score the line as lightly as possible.
4) Use a normal 6 wheeled cutter, a diamond cutter is more difficult to use.

A lot of people try to gouge out as deep a score line as possible thinking it will cut easier and that is not true.

When snapping lay the scored glass over the edge of a bench with the score line uppermost and a little over the edge of the bench then using the back of the glass-cutter gently tap underneath the glass on the scoreline, as if by magic you will see the cut develop before the piece snaps off, just take your time.

 

[martinka]

How big is the mirror, John?

(cough)5cm gridded cutting mat(cough)

BugBear

Hah! For all I know about cutting mats, the background could have been tiles on a bathroom wall.

 

[scrimper]

Hah! For all I know about cutting mats, the background could have been tiles on a bathroom wall.

Actually they do look a bit like tiles but it is a cutting mat.

I can't decide whether to add a dark-wood background to the piece for wall hanging, it will show up the detail and support the work. I may try one tomorrow.

 

[scrimper]

A lot of "old fashioned" designs are rather elegant.

Has there ever been a Hobbies reprint album?

BugBear

Not to my knowledge and I have been following the Hobbies company since the 1950's The 'new' Hobbies company (a different outfit to the original hobbies who ceased trading in 1968) released a pack of old Hobbies designs but they were only the simpler ones.
Most of the original plans were released weekly with the Hobbies weekly magazine which both my Father and Grandfather took, indeed we bought them until 1965 when publication ceased.

I do have a large library of the old patterns dating from 1895 - 1965 and to me they are treasure but most people would just chuck them in the bin, my ambition would be to make them available for people to download so that they don't die when I do. Some of them are quite large and difficult to scan, I even bought an A3 scanner but even then some are more like A2 size or above.

 

[8squared]

That's fantastic, you done a great.

 

[RogerP]

There are many pre 1968 "Hobbies Weekly" magazines for sale on eBay from single copies to large bound volumes.Some even have the original plans included.

Not cheap though.

 

[scrimper]

There are many pre 1968 "Hobbies Weekly" magazines for sale on eBay from single copies to large bound volumes.Some even have the original plans included.

Not cheap though.

That is correct and in the past I have managed to get some quite old ones, however most of the ones offered now are from around the war years (1940's) till 1968 and they rarely had very interesting designs in them. when I say they are not interesting they may be to some but they did not feature the ornate fretwork designs like the one in this thread as people were tired of the ornate fretwork after the 1930's. Occasionally some old pre 1920's hobbies weekly with designs are offered but as you say they go for silly money (IMHO)

 

[bugbear]

Some of them are quite large and difficult to scan, I even bought an A3 scanner but even then some are more like A2 size or above.

You could make a panoramic head for your camera and shoot a "gigapan" style photograph (sometimes known as a mosaic panorama)

BugBear

 

[woodpig]

Very nice. Wish I had your patience!

 

[scrimper]

I may fix a background to it as below?

 

[martinka]

That makes the design even more prominent, John. I like it.

 

[scrimper]

That makes the design even more prominent, John. I like it.

Thanks for that, I felt that it would make less likely to get damaged and will look better if hung on a patterned wall.

 

[bugbear]

Some of them are quite large and difficult to scan, I even bought an A3 scanner but even then some are more like A2 size or above.

You could make a panoramic head for your camera and shoot a "gigapan" style photograph (sometimes known as a mosaic panorama)

BugBear

I've now done a demo of this process; I aimed for a 200 DPI image of a 30" x 20" (of the Ark Royal, no 211, as it happens).

Since my camera is quite old and only 8 megapixels, taking images 3264x2448, 200 DPI means I need to take frames
of about 16"x12" to get the resolution I'm after.

I ironed the plan so it would sit more or less flat, and clipped it to some hardboard, stood against a chair.
I setup a couple of angle poise lamps as off-axis lighting, and set up the camera on a DIY
pano head on a second hand tripod.

I set the camera to focus lock, exposure lock, light balance lock, and 2 second delay, and took 6 overlapping photos
(I have have taken 8 with more overlap).

I then pulled them into Hugin, and make a panorama, being careful to use horizontal and vertical
control points to keep the plan square.

The final image was a somewhat splendid 6560x4501 (29 Megapixel

Here's a somewhat reduced copy.

You would need to find a local copyshop to get this printed out, of course.

The process is quite simple, and perfectly practical, and would work for even larger plans, way beyond
what even the largest flat bed scanner could manage.

BugBear

 

[loftyhermes]

Yes, definitely better with the backer.
happy scrolling
Steve