Jewelry display cases

Now that the pedestals are on their way to being done, I wanted something a little extra "secure" for the jewelry. Don't get me wrong, farm people are some of the nicest, most honest people in the world, but how does the saying go...."Trust in God, but lock your car." I've done art shows before and had jewelry stolen, so I know the potential exists. I also needed wood planks cut for a shelf, so to get both projects done, I gave my local art show, woodworking buddy a call.

This is Bill. He makes wooden boxes and other assorted pieces from exotic woods. He is also a man after my own heart as he has completely converted his garage into his studio (same here). I needed him to cut some wood boards and dowel rod, along with drilling some holes into the medium density fiberboard pedestal tops. Bill is pretty good about figuring out the simplest way of doing things. I just need to go to him with an idea.












I think I caught him off guard a couple of times. He's used to working without a flash....or an audience.

















Without a doubt, I know he got this job done better and faster than I ever could have. He's got the best in tools, including a laser sighted wood saw. Pretty slick!
















I don't know what the technical description is of the technique here, but he's doing a partial drill out of circles for the dowel rod pieces that are going to support the glass for the jewelry display.















No art studio is complete without a mascot. This is "Steve", of the rare breed, "Florida brown dog". Steve was a stray dumped in Bill's neighborhood a few years ago, and he's been hanging here ever since.















The construction is done! The wooden dowel rods are holding up a piece of glass. The jewelry will be displayed underneath. Not high tech or high security, but enough to make someone give pause.

More on the pedestal construction this week!

Constructing art display pedestals

In a post last week, I showed you a trip to Lowe's to get tops for art display pedestals. The next step was to put them together.


I had the medium density fiberboard (MDF) cut into squares of 14 by 14 inches and 12 by 12 inches. I managed to get a total of 21 squares out of a 4 foot by 9 foot sheet.










I centered a 12 inch by 12 inch square on a 14 inch by 14 inch square. I glued it down with wood glue and let it sit for 24 hours.










While those were drying, I started working on the pedestal base.


I ordered a stack of 10 cardboard boxes, double walled thickness, 12 inches by 12 inches by 48 inches. It almost cost as much to ship them as it cost for the boxes.

















I had selected a few different heights that I wanted to give the display some visual interest. This particular box, I marked 40 inches from the bottom all the way around.










I then used my handy-dandy "as seen on TV ginsu knife" to cut the box. (Yes, that's me in the do-rag at left. I'm either wearing one of those of a baseball cap.)










Voila! Cardboard pedestals with hard tops! The top piece is the 14 by 14 and 12 by 12 combo. A 12 inch by 12 inch piece of MDF is in the inside bottom of the box to help keep it steady. I figured I made 7 for the cost of buying 2 already made.

They're still not done though. I need to make covers and have attachments for glass for the jewelry display pieces.