Transformers

So this is a story of how these two broken chair frames skipped from a dumpster...

became this lovely set of furniture - a footstool and a table.

So first the chairs had to be dissambled by heating and hammering.

Starting from the footstools,
 all four side beams were cut to also fit with the frontlegs.

Gluing together the front legs of both chairs and the side beams and we have the frame.






Adding the stabilizers to fit with the new curves.

                                Voilà! The frame can now carry some weight.


 











Then something to sit on. The paper pattern on the left turns in to a piece of plywood that is fitted to be tight on the frame.

And to get some softnessn I found something to use.
One layer of green board used usually under laminate floor and totally random broken swing chair for the fluffy part.

Since the pieces of superlon were too small, some sewing had to be made taking this in to the limits of what is sensible recycling.

On the right the layers of the seat with some even fluffier stuff from the swing chair on the top.

                    Cutting the fabric, taking out the sharpies and getting the corners tight.

                 All around evenly.

                                                               And here it is!

So while my wife tested it out for the feet I received another idea of a 'maybe round small table' to lay a tea cup and a magazine on, so I had to check out what was left from the chairs.

So there happened to be an old disc of plywood in the attic and it opened up a world of possibilities.

 I cutted the back legs, pegged 'em and fitted the disc in the middle with milling cutter.

 Measured the angles and cutted the back pieces of the chair accordingly 120 degrees.

              Glued them on to each others.

Measured the next piece and cut it.

 Then glued everything including the left overs.

And then glued the 'tortoise shell' in the bottom of the cross to strenghten the lover level of the table.







Cutted the front pieces of the chair to fit the table.

 Made them fit.

Put some pegs in between,

                 And got them nice and sturdy.

Then the next issue of fitting it needed a small twist.

Fitting and making a hole for a steel peg to keep them sturdy.

And gluing some leftovers in the corners to make it more round.

Drawing the deck in to a brown thick paper as well as to an old fabric to give the table softness.

Then the actual fabric cut bigger then the other layers.

 Staples hit on all sides sterching the fabric and putting opposites first.
The table top is held in place by lovely screws.

And here we go. A place for one satisfied customer :)

Time to squat!

Most of us we remember those lovely times in the woods or in India etc. where squatting was the way to go, but it is difficult procedure to keep up in western society. 

Finally we an invention that can make this happen.

This post is about the revolutionary and quite ancient method of squatting when dropping the bombs, how to make a device to comfortably do it in a western style toilet and the health benefits of all this.

Here we have this magnificient little platform in action, that helps us to raise above the toilet. It can be done with half a squat sitting on the ring same time or a full squat as demostrated above. The rule of thumb seems to be, that the higher you can get your knees above the waist while having a poo the better for the rectum.

I lent this picture and the whole idea from squattypotty.com, the possible inventors of this concept.
In their page they claim how simply squatting can help with varieties of ailments like constipation, hemorrhoids, colon disease, urinary infections and pelvic floor issues.
The picture illustrates nicely how this could be, since squatting postition helps to loosen the puborectalis muscle and straighten the rectum.
Pooping in this way is simply nicer and takes on average half the time compared to sitting.




                This blog is actually about making artifacts, so here we have the process of making this one.

This old oak cuttingboard was skipped from kitchen renovation leftovers from high end neighbourhood in Helsinki. It was a drawer type so there is some holes.

First the sketch on hard paper to figure out the size and shape. It is 9"(22,8cm)high with 8 decrees slope towards the toes. 19''(48cm) wide and 11''(28cm) long with inside gap of 12''(30,5cm).

Then moving the figure on the wood and making the legs in the middle as big as possible. The hard paper pattern was also very useful for I was able to fold it half to mirror better side and make them alike.

Now the first leg has been cut out and put hold to be straghtened to sit under the deck.

The blade of the circular saw could not reach the end, but the surface is like glass.

Copying the leg on the other side to have and exact pair.

And here I am asking from my wife to pass me a figure ruler from the window to not to have to come all the way upstears. :)

Modeling the legs and polishing the surfaces.

Drilling the holes for the pegs in exact places.

Testing it out to see that it fits and the gluing will work nicely.

Holding the legs in proper places over night.

Giving the surface some traditional wood oil.

And here we have the poopsquat ready to serve!