Foam Tsum Tsum Castle

Persephanie saw a wooden toy castle at Michael’s that thought it would be a great way to store all her Tsum Tsum toys. And it would double as a playset.

But, we’re not going to spend it on an overpriced toy. We do what we always do, turn it into a weekend project...

Starts out with foam core boards from the dollarstore. And I was too lazy to cut out the castle wall details by hand. The signature “teeth” on top of Medieval castles (aka crenellations). So, I made quick work of them on my table saw with a dado stack. :D

 Measure twice, cut once.

Windows

Hotgluing all the panels together. Cut out the front door too.

Each Tsum Tsum will have their own room

Adding a carrying handle

Of course, any respectable castle has a drawbridge.

And a crest. 

Wooden Ring

This was something I found on the internet. Thought it was a great idea. Decided to try it. Small and simple project.

Starts with a sheet of veneer. This was actually too thick. I had to sand it down to 1/32” thickness

Soaked the strip of wood in hot boiling water for a good 20 mins

Using a socket wrench, roughly the size of my finger... I quickly wrapped the wet and hot strip around it. Then tying it with a rubber band to let it dry overnight.

(forgot a pic for this step)... I put packaging tape around the socket wrench to prevent the glue-up. I wrapped the wood strip back onto the socket wrench as tightly as I could. Ensuring there are no gaps between the layers. I coated/soaked the wood with cyanoacrylate glue (aka super glue or crazy glue). Then let it dry overnight again.

All dry. Then the started to sand all surfaces with 320 grit

For a bit of an accent, I carved out a tiny heart. Making sure I didn’t go through all the layers. Using a fresh X-Acto blade and a file.

Going to fill the hole with some brass. It’s close to gold. hehe

With a file, I sanded the brass strip down to some fine powder. Finer the better.

Just piled the brass powder over the hole. And with the end of the file, I packed the powder into the hole as tight as possible.

Couple of drops of the CA glue into the pile of brass. Not worried about coverage. Just making sure it’s all soaked in. Making sure the powder is bonded to the wood. After a few hours, I sanded the ring again. The heart appears.

Final sanding all around. Inside and rounded off all the edges too. So, it’s a more comfortable fit. Then with a paper towel, coat the entire ring with another layer of CA glue for a nice sealant. The glue actually makes a better sealant than a typical wood varnish here. More smooth.

Lizzie Hearts costume

Coin Ring

It starts out with a coin with a decorative edge or date. Here, we used a 1990 US dime. 

With a hole punch and press, the centre is punched out.

With a PVC pipe, large steel ball bearing and a press, we force the coin to bend the ‘walls’ up.

The annealing process. Heat with torch. Then rapid cooling in water.

Now with a good start. Time for the elbow work. Hammering the coin to ring shape.

A little more hammering and a little more sizing. Slowly getting it to the perfect size.

Sanding off the burrs off the edges.

The polish. Inside and Out