Baloon Christmas Tree

I decided that I needed a Christmas tree for work. I thought it might be cool to make one out of balloons. This one took

2 Brown 260
10 Green 260s
1 yellow 160
12 5" Round star prints

I soft inflated 1 brown, and divided it into 4 loops
(normal top of a palm tree).
I inflated the 2nd brown, and made 4-5" bubbles to connect the corners of the 4 loops to make the base more stable.
I inflated 1 green 260 I left a long nozzle and a 3 inch tail. I tied the nozzle to the center of the bottom for a trunk.
I inflated three of the green 260s and tied them into loops. I divided them in half and twisted them together to make 6 loops for the bottom. I made a 3 inch bubble in the green trunk and attached the 6 loops.
I inflated three more green 260s and left a 4 inch tail. I tied these into loops, divided them in half and twisted them together to make 6 smaller loops. I made a 3 inch bubble in the green trunk and attached these as the second layer.
I soft inflated the last green 260, tied into a loop, divided into into 4 loops (Same as the bottom). I made a 3" bubble in the trunk and attached this as layer 3.
I made 2 flower petals and a one inch bubble with what was left.
I inflated the yellow 160 and left a 2 inch tail. I made 5 bubbles and then wove the star. I attached this to the top bubble
I inflated the 5" rounds to about half way. I tied these to all the branched except the bottom layer.

Not perfect, but not bad for my first main design.

Finally Done

Here is Katie modeling the new bed.


Here it is almost done.


And this is why I spent 1 year working on a castle bed!

Trying the Mattress (and the Princess) Out for Size

We are finally getting close. Today was the main assembly day. All that is left is to finish the trimming, the Raditor Cover, and the drawers. I figure that we will be there by Katie's birthday for sure.


Needless to say, Katie thinks the bed is ready tonight :)

Almost there

If you had asked me three weeks ago, I would have told you that this bed would be done when Katie went to college. Now it is looking close.

Here is the Front Wall

I am cutting the side wall to size

And here is a quick fit test.

Now there is hope

First Final Assembly Complete

Well keeping up with the long traditions of Blogging, I have failed to update this journal as promised.

But we have now started final assembly. The headboard and bed platform are now attached, the headboard is painted, and it is all screwed to the wall. I am convinced that the walls will come down before this bed.

This is the final sprint. I still have delusions of making a trailer before memorial day, so if we are not done next weekend that plan goes up in smoke.

The tower is not finished. I was just checking to make sure it fit.

Wish me luck!!!

Norm would be proud

Wood Magazine was in town this weekend for their traveling show. I had cut the shelf for my bookcase headboard, but was having trouble getting it all glued together. I decided that it was time to listen to the old adage, "woodworker can never have enough clamps!"



One neat clamp I found this weekend was called a 3-d square. It is just a piece of angle cut on a miter. They machine them within 0.0002 inches of square. They help hold things steady while you see the real clamps. I love them!

Bed Frame

This is the first piece of the bed I have completed. It also contains the first design change. I took two of the crosspices and turned them flat. I built brackets for them out of spare 2x4. This way we can pull them out and use the space for storage.

Overall I am happy with the way it came out. I did manage to glue one of the corners with the wrong overlap. I was checking the diagonals for square and could not figure out why it was so out of line. One head smack later, and a was scrambling to rip out screws before the glue set.

But in the end it worked out OK.

One down, some rather large number to go.