Building a Pagoda ~ Tutorial Part 3 of 3

Hey Gang, yesterday we finished part 2 of our Pagoda, leaving it without a roof. 

If you missed anything you can find Tutorial Part 1 HERE and Tutorial Part 2 HERE

Well, let's get to it.  After this tutorial you will be all done.  Now, please don't let the mathematics scare you, it's just simple geometry I promise.

The first thing you need to decide is how tall you want your roof to be. 

I do this by placing a ruler next to my structure and eyeballing.  For my Pagoda I choose 2 1/2 inches tall.

  Once you have determined the height, measure the length of the banner. If you are using those provided by Alpha Stamps they are 2 1/2" wide.

 With these two measurements everything is easy.

You are trying to determine the long side of a Right Angle Triangle

a= 2 1/2 (the height)

b= 1.25 (half of the base, because you split the triangle to make it a right angle)

c= unknown

 

I hope you can see my formula above c= the square root of a squared plus b squared.

a squared = 6.25

b squared = 1.5625

a + b = 7.8125

c= the square root of 7.8125

c= 2.795

 

So now we know all the sides

a= 2 1/2 (height)

b = 2 1/2 (length, you don't want to split it now since we need to make the entire triangle)

c= 2.796

Draw your triangle out using these measurements and then add 1/4 inch to all sides.  These will be folded and used to attach to the sides.

Once cut out and folded your triangle should look like this.

You will need 4

Connect the sides c to one another with glue or double sided tape.

Connect all four so you have a pyramid and then add glue or tape to the portion that will attach to the Banners and affix the roof to your Pagoda.

Voila!  See, not that hard.

Now decorate the roof as you please.  I used layers and layers of seam binding and then added some stick pins with heart confetti.

Some of my other finishing touches were the brass cherubs I patina yesterday, a bit of seam binding to hide what is under the floor of the Pagoda and some German Scrap.

 

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and have fun creating your own Mini Pagoda!

Don't want to make your own, well, I have this one on sale in my Etsy Shop.

Building a Pagoda~ Tutorial Part 2 of 3

Yesterday I started the Building a Pagoda Tutorial, see Part 1 HERE

We left off here, with a half completed structure. 

Now lets put the floor and some decorations on. 

For this step you will need

a scrap piece of paper

thin sticks (like pop sickle sticks)

paint

pencil

something to cut your wood

glue

all embelishments are from Alpha Stamps

The first thing to do is place your Pagoda on the scrap paper and outline where the columns are.  Then draw lines to indicate where to floor will end.

 

Cut out your crap paper and start fitting on your sticks/planks.  Make sure that they do not overlap the columns.

After you have all the planks cut cover the paper with glue and apply your planks

See how the column areas are open, now cut away that paper and paint your floor.

Decide how high off the ground you want your floor, mark the columns and hot glue the floor into place.  If you have a small level it is handy here but not necessary if all your measurements were correct yesterday.

Now it's time to start the support for all those fabulous dangles!

Again take a piece of your wood and mark it where the corners are.  Cut the angles and fit it into place.

Hot glue it into place.

You can paint it if you like but it's not necessary because the roof will hide it.  But if someone looks in and up they will be able to see these bars.

Place a second wood support in place.

Now the fun part!  Determine where you want to hang all your goodies. I used some beads, wooden hearts and some clear flower sprigs.  

Wire or use fishing line to hang your goodies.  I wrapped the wire around the support, tied the fishing wire and then added extra security by placing a dab of hot glue.  The roof will hide the messy glue look.

Now there is one more thing to do today.  If you are going to add some brass embellishments and want to add a Patina look.  Add it now so it has all night to set (it takes about 12 hrs to dry).

Your Pagoda should look something like this.  I did a bit of decorating on my floor that I neglected to take photos of but it is sticker swirls that I covered with crackle glaze. 

 

Come back tomorrow and we will finish off the Pagoda by adding the roof! 

Hope you are enjoying the Tutorial.  As always feel free to ask any questions I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

 

Building a Pagoda ~ tutorial Part 1 of 3

Hey Gang, this month Alpha Stamps wanted its design team members to use the Banner with Swags Die-Cut Chipboard included in the kit in a project other than an ATC.

I guess living in the south and it being the month of romance a Wedding/Love Pagoda instantly came to mind. 

Let me show you how I constructed this.

Eap...can't show you anything with this mess I have.  Let me clean up a bit. 

Much better, now we are ready to get to work.  I will be presenting this tutorial in 3 parts today we are going to build a portion of the Pagoda.

Let's start by gathering our materials

Die-Cut Banners

Lucille Paper

Adirondack Paint Dabber

Rubber Cement

Scissors

Sharp Matt Knife 

Start by painting the inside of the banners and the sides with your paint dabber.

Once they are dry enough coat the other side and the paper with rubber cement and set aside.

Next determine how tall you want your Pagoda to be (without a roof).  Mine is 6" tall without the roof.  Select a dowel rod, I used a thin round one but any shape would work, make sure you have enough.

 Now very carefully cut the four posts, these must be exact or your Pagoda will wobble.  I used a saw to cut mine. 

Now paint the posts.

While the posts are drying cut out your banners, you might need to do a little sanding to get the edges nice and smooth.  Also to add some more interest rub the dabber along all the edges, making sure some of the paint gets on the paper.

Now it's time to connect the banners. 

You will need

4 Banners

Tape (I used Bookbinding tape)

scissors

Dabber

Cut a piece of the tape and place half of it onto the backside of one of the banners.

But a second banner up to the side of the first banner, like you are going to hinge the two together, and firmly press the tape down.

 You will need to cut off any of the tape that is visible.

Follow this process until you get to the fourth banner.  Place a piece of tape halfway onto the 3rd banner and then paint them all. 

 Once the paint is dry, fold the banners into a square and hinge them together.

Now it's time to affix the columns, this part takes precise measurement or again you will end up with  a wobbly Pagoda.

I marked the inside of my banners about a 1/4" down from the top and that is where I place a dab of hot glue and affixed the column.

This is what is should look like up to this point.  If it is a little wobbly try sanding the bottoms of the columns until it doesn't wobble anymore. 

 

Tomorrow I will show you how to affix the floor and all the fabulous dangles. 

Winter in a Jar Linky Party

It's that time swappers, time to link up and share your wonderful creations. I am really looking forward to seeing all of your wonderful creations.  You are a great group of swappers and artists and I feel honored that you took part in my swap.    Be on the lookout for a possible Spring in a Jar Swap!   This linky party is only for those individuals that took part in the Winter in a Jar Swap.

Winter in a Jar Swap ~ Linky Party Post

 I'm so excited the day has finally come for the Winter in a Jar Swap Linky party!

My partner was Kim of A Vintage Fairy

 And this is what she created for me. 

 I love the glittery snow down the sides and we must have been channelling the same Winter Vibe.  We both created something with a tree, berries and a dear.

She topped it with a lovely hand made flower!  I love my jar and am so glad I hosted and participated in this swap.

 This is what I made for Kim

 I had seen a tutorial on how to make a pipe cleaner dear and I gave it a shot, it DID NOT work!  Talk about a Pintrocity, so I deleted it off my board or I would show you.  So I had to go hunting (on Etsy not in the woods) for my dear. 

 Gave him a sprinkle of glittery snow, as I did everything else in the jar.

 I wanted it to have a fun base and I hadn't cleaned my desk off after some random project, I had exactly three mini spools left they were perfect!

I mounted the entire jar onto a piece of foam core painted it blue and added a doily.  Then sprinkled glitter between the seem.  To hide the edge I found the perfect snowflake ribbon. 

To finish it off I added some seam binding and white leaves to hide the jar top, then a fun layer of snowflake confetti a dab ofThis jar came together really easily for me and I hope Kim loves it. snow and a 3D snowflake.

 

This was a great swap with only one swapper flaking out :(  I am so pleased with how it went that I will be doing a Spring in a Jar swap so stay tuned for that.

 

Thanks for visiting.