22nd Day of Halloween

First up teaser time:

Remember to stop by Annette’s to see who yesterday’s winner was.

I know I promised the second part of the Scissor Crypt tutorial today and you are getting part two. But when editing the photos I realized I had a zillion, in the interest of keeping this at least within shouting distance of sane I will break part 2 over two days. The final part 3 will appear on Saturday.

Complete listing of materials can be found here. And by clicking on Tutorial over in the side bar you will find Part 1.  And away we go…

Take your painted & waxed coffin, lay on top of comic book board or other thin poster board/cereal box material and trace around it with pencil.

Measure the thickness of the walls, on my coffins they were approx 1/4″.

Draw a 1/4″ smaller coffin inside your tracing.

Mark the widest part, this helps you keep the shape the correct size at the most important point.

Cut out, test for fit. It’s not going to be perfect, a tiny bit at a time trim down the parts that are a little too big. You want the fit to be comfortable, not snug – maybe shoot for a 1/8″ of wiggle room all the way around. Do NOT drive yourself trying to make this perfect – I swear to you it does not need to be. The padding and the fabric are going to hide all of your imperfections.

Now it fits, and you see how that line is at the widest point.

Test on the other side, no problem, if it fits on one side it fits on the other.

Now that it fits, this is your master pattern. Write this side up on the side that was facing you when you did the test fit.

I was making more than one box so most of the pictures that follow show assembly line production. You will need two tracings of the master pattern for each coffin. (Note: Save your master, this way if ever want to do this again you won’t have to bother with this fussy step.)

Because I’m paranoid I test fit my two tracings. They were fine.

Now cut out a piece of the 1/2″ foam that’s big enough for both your tracing to fit on. NOTICE TRACING! You only need one foam padded piece per box.

MOVE EVERYTHING OUT OF THE WAY. Lay your tracing on newspaper and spray with the adhesive spray. Try for a moderate amount, but I’ve never found myself spraying too much or too little. It’s forgiving stuff.

PRESS the tracing glue side down on your pre-cut foam. Let it sit for 5 minutes to set.

Cut around the tracing with scissors. I use kitchen shears, but regular sturdy paper scissors should do the job too. The foam cuts easily. Again, don’t worry about perfection – the fabric will hide any imperfections.

All cut out. Remember 1 crypt = 1 foam piece.

Cut out a piece of quilt batting (I prefer cotton, and I do think it is the better choice for this project) big enough to fit your tracing.

Spray the tracing with glue just like the previous piece, press glue side down onto batting, let set for 5 minutes and cut around it just like before.

One last test fit. Sure enough they fit.

Saturday will be covering with fabric. Lots of pictures, but really not that much work. The longest part with be making your master pattern.