Mrs Maker's Projects

Whilst Xan (our 13 year old) was making focaccia,  Bob (12) built an electric guitar, that involved reshaping and sanding down neck and body of the guitar, painting, soldering and wiring. Well, it actually took him three weekends to built the guitar.  This project taught Bob resilience (not that he was not resilient already!) and the completion of the project definitely increased his ”subjective valuation” of the guitar, which is beyond the  IKEA Effect . Assembling Ikea furniture is easier than assembling an electric guitar kit. Bob is a self-taught guitar player, and the new guitar project made him keen to learn more about guitar playing.  Husband ordered online the bits for the Beaton DIY-TL-12 Electric guitar DIY "Tele"project (£59,95), but he spend more on upgrade bits. Should anyone want to build your own electric guitar, then here is one option . Thorman (in Germany) has electric guitar kits, too.  Regarding the upgrade bits. Robert replaced the orig...

My husband wants always "TO DO SOMETHING". He is a DIY man through and through. This is another one of his IKEA hacks. This time he wanted to make a radiator cover out of a HOL strorage table (size 98x50 cm, 49,90€). It turned out to be quite practical as it acts as a shelf to my plants, too.  We went and bought from Bauhaus the middle bit (see also below picture).  #copritadiatore #lämpöpatterinkotelo #radiatorcover #heizkörperverkleidungen

In downtown Helsinki (Liisankatu 11 D 19) we had a masonry stove (in Finnish kakluuni ) in a building, which was constructed in 1906. In Finland, the masonry stove industry flourished at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. After the First World War, various new heating systems replaced stoves.  One day I decided to cast 3D impressions of some of the figures using mould making and casting materials I bought from a distributor of dental products. Sounds weird, but it was cheaper than getting the materials from an arts and crafts shop. The project was easy and fun.  I ended up making casts, that I used to decorate the surrounding of the ceiling lamp and the space above the windows in the living room.  Adding little paint, the figures looked like they belonged in the room there as they were repeating the figures of the stove.  Dragonflies around the ceiling lamp. The original colour of the stove was ivory, but someone had painted it with a silly brown paint. I ...

We needed some coat hooks for our children to hang their clothing in the vestibule. To solve this practical problem, I and my hubby spend some time on the Internet looking for an invention that we could turn into our own innovation. The Charles and Ray Eames designed coat hanger called “ Hang-It-All ” looked just right with its' colourful balls. Here's how you too can make you own whimsical coat hooks. Find some some cheap wealded steel hooks with wooden balls. We found some from Biltema .  Initially our idea was to replace the wooden balls with Angry Birds plastic figurines, but with lack of those we ended up using Ikea’s SÄTTA knobs that come in assorted colours. First remove the wooded balls. Then make threads. And screw on the knobs. Why have ugly screws showing when you can hide them with additional knobs? Cut the thread on the anchor to the right size. Ugly screws hidden behind a knob Fun and functional coat hooks final...

A few months ago my little men (aged 4 & 5) requested a robot. I had once seen a friend making a "static" robot out of milk cartons. As I always like to innovate and improve things, one day I worked hard all morning until there was a special robot. One with a beating heart and moving arms and head. I tried to make a boy robot, but somehow it turned out to be "Mrs. Doubtfire".   Anyway, here's how to make a shiny robot with a beating heart and moving arms and head. You need e.g. glue, duct tape, scissors, a sharp knife, pebbles (as weight for the feet), carton boxes, milk cartons, empty toilet and kitchen rolls,  tin foil, shiny packaging paper, red beating heart with led, plus other items for the facial features and deco. Make holes in the milk cartons. Place the pebbles on the glue. Some weight is needed to keep your robot in balance and standing up. You also need "tube" legs. You need to glue robot's "pelvis...