Sunday, June 27, 2010

Medieval / Tudor door tutorial

For the last couple of days I've been working on one of the three (possibly four) doors I need to make for the ground floor of the Castle's kitchen wing.  This is the first time I've made a door using boards (all my others have been just solid pieces of wood scored to look like boards).   I took some pictures of the process in case it's of help to anyone else out there.


First of all I traced my door opening and made a pattern.  Then I prepared the raw materials: five 7" lengths of 1/2" x 3/8" dimensional basswood strips.  I whittled each one a little along each edge, front and back, taking immense care to make them uneven :)  Each purchased piece of basswood had a bold, black barcode printed onto it -- I whittled those off, which made the surface of two of the lengths look even more hand-hewn.


I glued the lengths together and let the assembly dry.


The next step was to cut the curve for the top according to my pattern, which I did, with my craft knife. I made the horizontal door braces from balsa, because I wanted to carve them more heavily.  I took the face off the balsa pieces to make them thinner (braces should be thinner than the door boards) and then beveled the top edges.  I glued them in place.


After sanding, I started painting the door with a watery mixture of raw umber and burnt sienna -- heavy on the umber.  I added a little more sienna for some of the boards, a little more umber for others.   I brushed on some black in places, too.  This is supposed to be a relatively new door -- an old door should be darker and more battered.


Then I varnished it with clear, water based varnish mixed with some more umber and black and let it dry.


Time for the final details -- nails and a handle.   I made nail heads out of gunmetal head pins by cutting  them short, pressing them through the balsa wood braces by hand and then pressing them home into the bass wood door with something hard.   You could paint your head pins black first, to make them look more like iron, if you wanted to.

I made the door handle from the bar part of a jewellery-making toggle set (I make jewellery so I have a lot of this stuff hanging around ... I was digging through my gunmetal finding box for the head pins and saw the toggle :))  It's glued into a little slot in the door.  Again, you could paint it black for iron.

That's about it. The door won't really be opening and closing much, it's mostly for show, so I'll tape it in place at the back of the kitchen, like so...

21 comments:

  1. It looks wonderful, thanks for the tutorial :)

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  2. Sounds so simple but looks perfect for your kitchen, just nicely rustic. Thank you for the tutorial.

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  3. Well done Nina. You're certainly on a roll with these little items. I've just made something too! It's quite addictive, isn't it?

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  4. Nina,

    This is superb! I need to make a false door at the back of my archway and I love this idea and I'd like to have a bash!

    Michelle xx

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  5. Wow Nina, great job! You make it sound so easy. Thanks for sharing the tutorial!

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  6. Very nicely done, Nina! Looks perfect in place. Amazing what one can find in a "stash" box for hardware. I like the way you carved the wood...makes for a really authentic look.

    Tabitha

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  7. Looking good, Nina! I am with you. Why make a working door when it isn't ever going to open. I love the carving and the hardware is perfect. Great idea, using the bar toggle for a handle!

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  8. magnificent! great tutorial, I love tutorials!! Love the colouring paint effect, really great thankyou!! Kate xx

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  9. Thank you so much for commenting, guys! I really appreciate the feedback :) I like taking photos of something the first time I make it -- even if it's not good enough to share (and it usually isn't :) it helps me figure things out better the next time.

    Tabitha: When I started doing this, I never carved anything. Now when I look back on those early, supposedly medieval/Tudor pieces, I'm very disappointed in them. I think carving things up with a craft knife is one of the single most important things one can do to make a piece look hand-hewn and rustic.

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  10. Que trabajo tan genial!!!
    Te ha quedado muy real.
    Muchisismas gracias por el tutorial!!!
    besitos ascension

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  11. I love the handle! If I only knew of what I could make it before !;) Great turtorial as usual! Thank you very much!

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  12. Oh Nina, It is just PERFECT! Makes the back of the kitchen look mysterious..... I agree that the hand carved look is so much better...after all, everything was hand carved until around 1850! The nail heads are a wonderful detail. I will have to try that.....Thanks for posting your turorials... they are so inspiring!

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  13. Very effective. Thank you for sharing your tips with us..xxx

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  14. great work!! I like so much, thank you for sharing us! greetings

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  15. Thank you Nina for the tutorial.
    Your door looks wonderful and particularly so now that it is in place. I love it. The jewelry finding for the door pull is brilliant!

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  16. Fab work, Nina! - thanks so much for the howto!

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  17. A wonderful door! thank you for the tutorial.

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  18. Nina, another job very well done. I love the door itself and it finishes off that corner very nicely. The whole project is looking great!

    You are inspiring me to get off my apathy and get something done!!

    Tom

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  19. Absolutely awesome, this is definitely something I'm going to try!

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  20. I just wanted to let you know how helpful this tutorial was to me. I am currently repairing a rescued dollhouse and decided to do it in a Tudor style. I saw what you did to make a door an decided to try it myself (it's a square door though). So far, I'm really happy with the result and can't wait to attach it to the house. Thanks!

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