Music box Church

Post by **paulrace** » Fri Dec 11, 2015 11:43 am

Debquilts, thanks for sharing your progress. I've got one of the original Expressions, hacked to read SVG files. I haven't tried cardboard this thick with it, though.

Looks like you're well on your way,

Paul

Post by **Lucy** » Fri Dec 11, 2015 5:01 pm

Debbie,

I made a hinged flap on the back of my steampunk house just using brads for the flap to rotate on. The door on the front of your church is not large enough to get an LED tea light through. I think you need something to put on the back.

I just cut a hole large enough for the tea light (1.5 inches) and then made a flap attached with a brad that rotated out of the way. I meant to take a picture of it but somehow didn't do it.

You can see a photo of the front of the house where I attached some brads. The black keyhole part does rotate though.

On this website, Magia Mia, http://www.magiamia.blogspot.com you can see how she made a beautiful sliding hatch for the tea light on a Christmas and a Halloween house. She also had one with just a simple archway on to allow the light to go in.

Post by **Lucy** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 10:12 pm

Debbie,

I made a prototype door with a little hinge you can get at any home improvement store. It's probably too big for the front of your church which you may have already finished, but it would look good on the back of most houses to fit LED tea lights inside.

Basically you attach the hinge with glue and brads to both the door and one side of the opening. I used E6000 for the glue. I put the door on top of the hinge because that seemed to make the door lay flatter. You could make the door inset into your opening or larger than your opening.

See what you think. We are looking forward to seeing your music box church. Lucy

Post by **Lucy** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 10:14 pm

Here is an example of the door on the back of a house I just made. One photo is kind of blurry. Lucy

Post by **paulrace** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 10:27 pm

Thanks for the "how-to" tip, Lucy!

Post by **Lucy** » Tue Dec 22, 2015 9:33 pm

Here is a better picture of the back of the house with the hinge on it.

Post by **debquilts** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 1:08 pm

Lucy, using a real hinge and brads are a great idea. But.. I already had my church done by the time you posted.
But I will keep this in mind for the next one. Thanks much. Love the little deer on the door.
Debbie

Post by **debquilts** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 1:38 pm

Ok, the big church project is done. I learned a lot making this church. Figured out how to use Inkscape with my Cricut to cut the church, how to mount the music box. That painting the "lattice" just made it fall apart. I ened up recuting that section from Bristol board and skipped painting it altogether. I wanted to mount the music box on a piece of wood and then attach that piece of wood to a wood base. I could not find screws long enough with the right size threads to go through the wood and into the music box. I ended up using foam adhesive to mount the music box to the wood. This was suggested on the vendors website. So I am hoping it will hold. After the music box was mounted there was not enough room to try and place a battery tea light inside the church. Good thing I had some battery lights on a string I could drop inside. I ened up making a "kiss-cut" door hinge. Used a small piece of wood, a screw and bolt to hold a "latch" in place and a loop of ribbon is glued the door for a pull. I still need to drill or carve out a tiny section of the door for the light wire to allow the door to close.
I have a few pictures below and you can see more photos in my Picasa Album here https://picasaweb.google.com/1140906961 ... tterHouses# (the last image is a video where you can hear the music box play) Gave the church to mom this morning and she nearly cried. Thanks to everyone for their help and suggestions. I hope everyone has a very special "glittery" Christmas. Debbie W