The Door: Part 3

Another week, another post.  I may be getting back into the swing of things at last.  Before I get on to the door, though, I do have progress to report lest you think I've stopped working on the crochetery.  As you can see, the cocoon is coming along nicely.

Obviously, it's going to take a bit more time before it's anything like done.   But it is still coming along.  I've got another 2 weekends of work put into my door of epic awesomeness, too.  It's going to take at least one more weekend for it to be done, but we're getting closer!

I found an awesome spray paint to use, I had planned to use regular grey paint but then I happened on Krylon's special purpose stainless steel spray paint and OMG.  This stuff is great.  Seriously, it even reflects light.  I'm pretty sure I'd think it was real metal on first glance if I didn't know better.  I painted all the bits long before I started gluing them together.  I've found that the less three dimensionality you have when spray painting the better off you are.  It's easier to hit all the edges and things when you can pick up the individual piece and move them about.

And how do you know I've been crafting all weekend?  Well, this is what happens when you pick up and move your pieces about to make sure they get an even coating of paint.

 Once all the bits were dry (and after another weekend went by so I could get the third can of paint because two wasn't enough) I laid out everything to get a feel for how I needed to put it together.  At this point I realized that my little window piece would work a lot better if I had cut through the door base.  So, while I had that piece laid out I traced the opening and x-acto knifed an opening.  Of course, I also couldn't find the thin sheet of plexiglass I had gotten to be the window so I haven't attached the window piece yet.

My biggest concern was keeping the base good and solid, so I did it first.  I butted the edges together and used hot glue on some scrap bits of foam board to hold the boards together (this is why you save everything that looks like it might be even remotely useful).  I went perpendicular to the seam to give it more stability and put a bead of hot glue along the seam to help keep light from passing through as well as to give a little more support. Going along the seam would have been risking a wobbly base that would have had a better chance of flopping over and breaking off.

I did the door base in halves because the faux opening edge was going to need some extra attention (and also I hadn't gotten my table stretched out long enough to hold the whole thing, 82 inches is a lot of door).  Once the pieces were secure I could position the embellishments on the front.  Critical point here, if you want the border and the embellishments to fit you have to try them out together.  Once they're glued there's no turning back so it's essential you get it right the first time.  But more on that later.

Yes, that is upside-down.  It was the most stable way to set it while I worked on the other piece.  You'll notice that the window cover hasn't been added yet.  That would be because at the time of that picture the plexiglass was MIA.  The important thing to look at is the seams on the front.  For added support I tried to put my embellishments over the seams.  The embellishments look a little small, I know, but keep in mind that the border will be taking up a portion of the edge which makes the visible area of the door smaller.

After I found the plexiglass I put the window in and did the final seam to attach the two halves of the door.

It's hard to take pictures of clear things, but there is plexiglass there.
 If you look closely you can see a reflection on it.

Unfortunately the final seam isn't very sexy, I've been calling it frankenseam.  Anyway, it's not as nice as the other seams for one very good reason.  The glued down side has been painted to match the front.  That seam has some space showing through and it was important to add colored bits for continuity.  It does take a bit of extra care when moving the door around because that seam isn't as stable as it could be.

That done I admired my handiwork before moving on to the next step.  You've got to admit it's pretty awesome.

The only thing that remained was to add my pretty frame.  I got all set up and laid everything out.

Sadly, I wasn't able to finish the door.  I was all excited, but no.  Have you spotted the problem yet?  I found it straight off.  The problem is this.
 

You got it.  The spacing was wrong.  Consequently, the door is going to take longer than planned.  Not that projects don't do that anyway.  I think what I'm going to have to do is make two new middle sections and have the stripes be a little thinner so that I can add some extra stripes to make the colors line up properly.  

So, lesson learned.  It would appear that the best way to finish up the door, should you choose to make one, is by putting the frame around it first and then put the embellishments on.  Hopefully next weekend it won't be too humid to paint things or this could get interesting in the bad way. It's getting closer to go time that I would like for there to be too many more setbacks.