I came across the idea of a book nook quite recently; one just popped up in a search for something else (a book, I think). And I just had to have a go, as it's a perfect crossover between several of my interests. I was about half way into it when I realised it would take a simply absurd amount of time (somewhere probably over 50 hours work), because I've never done one before, and kept having to invent things from scratch. So I leaned into that, and let it take all the time it needed.

It also occurred to me about half way in that it would be a perfect wedding present for my dear friend Veera, whose wedding I couldn't go to thanks to the blasted plague. So I know it's going to a good home!

I started by making the box, and like a fool decided to dovetail it all together. I was at the ‘this won't take long' delusional phase, so I rushed it rather, and I'm not at all happy with the joinery there. No pictures for that reason. Part of the difficulty was that I had a completely free hand to do anything- it's a purely decorative piece, so there are no constraints other than size, and even that's negotiable. I had the idea at some point that one side should be mirrored, to create an illusion of depth, and then decided to make it a library. But I wanted more variation, so thought that the library should have an upper floor that's more mysterious, more fantastical. I can't paint for shit so I printed out a forest scene for the top floor, and a library scene for the bottom floor. 

The library scene came from here: http://www.dollshouse.com/3d-library-paper-door-books-plaque

it wasn't in the right size for my project, so I scalped the image off their website and re-sized it. I hope they don't mind! I've sadly lost the reference and the image I used for the forest scene.

The library door needed some texture, so I made some moulding in walnut and added it round the doorway. The floor is made of birch veneer, some stained black, some bleached. I cut it in strips, taped them together, then cut them in squares. Nice to do a bit of veneer work, it's been a very long time! I was inspired by Uri Tuchman's video in which he makes (among other things), a frame for a painting.

I thought the library needed some furniture, so I made a little table, and some books.

The books are super-easy: just little bits of maple wrapped in goatskin. Compared to bookbinding, they took seconds!

Then I thought to make a fake doorway upstairs, to hide the sword behind. It's glued in position, so doesn't open or close.

I've never used lighting in a project before, so figuring out how to do it took some time. There's just one light, in the space behind the door.

Now the sword… I forged the blade from a nail, then filed it to shape. Cut and filed the brass crossguard, made a little walnut handle, then added a pommel and finished shaping the handle. Sadly I forgot to photograph the finished sword before hiding it forever in its stone!

Now the doorway: I cut the basic shape from this piece of walnut, then ripped it down the middle so the arch is made of bookmatched grain.

I then carved some detail, just for fun. But, it turns out you should make the furniture after making the nook complete…

Oops!

So I made a new table, this time out of cherry, and in a more modern style. No reason, just because.

Of course the nook needed to be tested in a realistic environment, so here it is in a bookshelf:

I'm happy to report that it made its way to its new home without mishap, and here it is!