DIYer

This is my professional passion where I conceptualise a project, source the materials, build the item on camera, then write a script and blog.

Please note, due to complications the blogs were never uploaded.

Which was annoying as I was able to clear up certain details in the blogs.

Here’s How You Can Create Your Own Egg Basket!

With Easter just around the corner, we can assure you, that the countdown has begun for your children. Why not make it an extra unique experience and build them their own Easter Egg basket?

Here’s what you’ll need if you’re planning on making one:

Par Wood;
Plywood;
Wooden Dowel 19mm;
Drill And Drill Press;
Paint, as well as a primer;
Wood Glue;
Hammer;
Nails.

First, you want to trace the outline of the shape you’d like to cut out of the plywood. Once you’re happy with the way it turned out, clamp down the plywood, and use the jigsaw to cut out the shape.

After finishing the cuts, you might need to sand off the edges.

Once happy with the finished edges, it’s time to drill the hole for the dowel stick. Make sure to mark where you want to drill the hole - as always measure twice. Then for the hole, we used a drill press jig - this was to ensure the bit didn’t go through the plyboard.

Now, it’s time to cut a base for the basket. For us, we used the par board’s width as the determining factor of how wide the bottom should be. So, it was merely a job of measuring the length we wanted for the basket, which in our case was 30cm.

For cutting the slates, we cut the length first then divided the width by 3. We used a jigsaw mitre box while this isn’t necessary; it helps ensure straighter cuts. As always, sanding might be required to smooth off the finished product.

When all the cutting is done, it’s time to apply the paint. The first layer should always be a primer. We used a wood-based primer from Plascon, which takes about 20 - 30 minutes to dry.

After it dried, we used a Rust-Oleum Blackboard paint for the other coat. This drys very quickly 5 - 10 minutes.

The only thing to now is to assemble the basket. We first used wood glue on all the surfaces and reinforced the bonds with nails or a staple gun. Wood glue creates an incredibly strong bond when set, so, if you’re not a fan of the staples or nails, you can remove them when it dries.

But for our basket, we left them in to ensure that it was as rigid as it could be. After all, it’s not worth crying over spilt milk - but with cracked chocolate eggs, it is!

If you feel like you’re going to load the basket with a ton of chocolate, you might be better off using wood screws and countersinking them.

Now the last thing to do is maybe give it another once over with the spray paint and enjoy!

Happy Easter from the BUCO team.

How to build a robot shelf!

Encouraging your child to read can be a challenge! Our DIY solution is to build an exciting child’s robot bookshelf. Something colourful and fun, but most importantly unique!

What you’ll need to build this robot bookshelf is:

A Drill

A Jigsaw
Wood screws
A Screwdriver
Sandpaper
A Wooden Board
A Wood PAR
Primer Paint
Paint

Before you start trying to imagine a robot in your head - and cutting into your wood - it’s important to find a template that you can cut out. We selected this robot as it had relatively straight lines so we didn’t need to do technical/difficult cuts with the jigsaw.

Since we needed the robot to be bigger than an A4 piece of paper we uploaded the image to a template enlarging site - and printed out the robot over a number of pages. After printing, we cut out the sheets of paper with a craft knife. We cut out the paper on a surface we didn’t mind ruining with score marks - but - if you like your table top we’d recommend using a cutting mat.

When all the sheets were cut out we stuck the paper directly to the wood to create the full image of the robot. The glue shouldn’t be a contact adhesive or super glue, as you want to be able to remove the paper afterwards.

Just a side note, in the video we cut off the excess paper, this might not be the case for you.

After sticking down the template, we plugged in the jigsaw and cut out the robot. We suggest making the cuts very slowly to ensure you capture the details.

You’ll need to repeat the above steps for the second robot.

When you’ve completed cutting you’ll need to grab the sanding paper and sand down the surfaces and edges.

For the shelf itself, you’ll need to measure out the length of PAR wood you desire (for the video it was 60cm) and cut two lengths.

Now clamp the lengths together. Once you’re happy that the edges line up, drill pilot holes and screw together. If you have wood glue lying around you can apply along the surfaces before screwing together.

Once the shelf is assembled, trace the around it, mark where you want to drill the holes through, and drill. Now, screw the shelf into place.

In the video, we mounted one side first so when it came time to trace the shelf on the second end we could ensure that the shelf was level by using a spirit level.

After tracing where to mount the shelf, drill your pilot holes, and mount the shelf to the second end.

Now it’s time to paint! Apply a layer of primer, wait for it to dry, and then add the overcoat. Remember this is a fun project, so it can be any colour the little one wants - we went for red.

Then add the details you want! We had mosaic tiles, and gold permanent markers lying around the home, so we just glued them into place.

Seriously, you could use a number of objects, such as milk bottle tops and toothpicks, or even just use blackboard paint and let your little one draw their own details with chalk. The options are endless! At the end of the day just have fun building it and enjoy!

And hopefully, the little ones will start to read more!