Rest assured, I have been making some progress both in the general vardo area and in making furniture, but haven’t made enough of a priority on updating the blog. I’m determined to make that change, we’ll see how it goes.
I don’t have time right now to go in-depth on any of the items, but here’s what I’ve been working on since my last post.
Modeling the Vardo
As shown in the previous post, I have been working modeling the vardo in 3d. I started with Google SketchUp but due to inexperience and lack of knowledge, I was quickly frustrated. I returned to my animation roots with Luxology Modo and built the design you see here. This helps me visualize details as I’m getting closer to the final design. I was primarily interested in window placement for this round, and I think I’m getting close.
Our version of the vardo will be used for a mobile store at craft fairs (though I’m considering drawing up tiny house variations) so we want lots of windows. You can see some of the unique elements here such as the stepped sides over the wheel wells with corbel details. The design is somewhat of a mixture of a traditional vardo with pieces of old passenger rail cars thrown in, all seasoned with conforming to modern towable standards.
To be honest, I’m considering returning to SketchUp. Modo is a great animation tool, but it’s not intended for product design, and there are some great tools in SketchUp that really help if you use it right. I’m working on a new bit of furniture design there now and starting to get things figured out. Also, I finally got around to watching Michael Janzen’s SketchUp series on TinyHouseDesign.com and that answered a few of those problems I’ve been wrestling with.
Vardo Construction Progress
Sadly there’s not a whole lot to report on here. I’ll go over each part in more detail in further posts, but here’s a quick summary.
After using drafting the final (well, I thought they were, more later) roof curves, I wanted to get started experimenting with rafters. My hope has been to use the cold months to start building smaller sections, so this seemed like a good start. I did manage to get one rafter pair built by ripping cedar into strips, building a bending jig, and then gluing and clamping it together. It actually worked really well. Unfortunately I’m re-thinking the lightness advantage of the cedar. Since there are no interior walls spanning the entire width in my design, I’m afraid the cedar wouldn’t be up to the task of keeping the structure pulled together, and am considering using oak instead. I’ll definitely need a clamp upgrade in that case.
I’ll also post more on my trailer later. For now, yes, I do have a trailer, it’s been sitting virtually untouched in my backyard since June. I got a great deal on a new custom-specced trailer, but one of the reasons it was so inexpensive is that it’s just covered with enamel paint. Since this is the foundation of the vardo and will be very difficult to change later, I think I’m going to get it powder-coated. First I need to have a local welder add the front/side step, and brackets for the rear step attachment, and then remove all non-metal elements including wires, axles and wooden floor. That’s going to be a big project, and not cheap (over 50% of the original cost of the trailer).
The Vardo Set
Back in November I hinted at a ‘surprise’ coming up soon. My wife’s business, Baby Vardo, was accepted into an indoor boutique show at the last minute. While we’re building the vardo for use in outdoor craft shows, we’ve never had a decent set up for the indoor shows. So, inspired by our vardo design, I designed and built a vardo-themed set in a week. It was great fun to see some elements of the vardo come together, even if not contributing directly to the final product. This version is about 90% scale of the real deal, so it’s pretty big. In the interest of time and length of post, you can visit the photo gallery on the Baby Vardo Facebook page (Facebook account not required) to see the whole construction process.
Handmade Furniture
Finally on the furniture front, I’m mostly finished with my second piece, a ‘Christmas’ present for my mother-in-law. Turns out attempting to match her cabinets in hickory without researching the working quality of the material was a time-consuming mistake, but I’m sure it will look nice when I have it complete. It’s a small table intended to house a phone on top and small drawer for notes and pencils below.
More to Come
That’s a promise. I have plenty more I can share about the items above (let me know if there’s anything there that especially interests you) and there are many things coming up soon. My plans include more planning and drawing both traditionally and in SketchUp on the vardo, getting the trailer ready, starting on some of the smaller vardo pieces that fit in my garage workshop, and continuing to explore some possibilities on furniture and toy making to complement my wife’s baby tailoring for our little store.
Here’s to a more prolific-posting 2011 – hopefully if I state it that strongly it will shame me into continuing!
