"WHAT'S FOR DINNER?

I've always admired people who REALLY enjoy cooking.  I love to watch cooking shows and I think my current favorite is "CHOPPED" on the Food Network.  Those chefs can MOVE and get out an entire dish in 30 min. or less.  I can cook too, but trying to think of What to cook can take me all day and into the next.  I have no imagination that way. I therefore believe that that may be why I enjoy making miniature foods and kitchen ware because I can imagine that I am a Julia Child mixing up something sooo delicious that folks will come from miles around to sample my cooking!  When I decided that I needed some copper pots for the kitchen island that I finished ( see my very first posting, Nights before Christmas), I used 2 books that I've had stored in the garage.  "Making Doll's House Furniture"by Patricia King and "Easy to make, Doll's House Accessories" by Andrea Barham.  Both good reference material and both something from nothing approaches that I so enjoy.  I have used Andrea's book the most since hers has a couple of steps that are quite unique.  It all starts with copper end caps from the hardware store.  These came from the Home Depot.

The pots are perfect for kettles.  This is 3/4 inch but  I also used  1/2" for saucepans.  They are so nice and shiny!  I haven't shown it, but I painted the inside of the pot with silver nail polish.  It takes on the look of tinning; it keeps the copper from tainting the food.  I used from 2 to 4 coats of nail enamel to build up the color. Below is one of the polishes I used.

In my post "Thrift Scores" I show the hooks and eyes that I have been looking for specifically for this project.  These are large sized fasteners which I needed for the pot handles.  These are just one option, there are many others which I have tried out. Some work better than others.  These were pretty easy to use. 

The tricky part is getting the right bend in the eye part.   I bent mine  using  needle-nose  pliers.  Bending the handle, then slightly curving the eyes so that they conform to the shape of the pot, took more time than I thought it would. 

This is what the handle looks like once bent.

Hello, old friend!

This is the handle glued on with the Quick Grip.  The glue is all over but using a pair of tweezers or a toothpick, the glue can be cleaned off pretty cleanly.   That is one of the reasons that I like it; it grips well but gives you a bit of wiggle- room to re-position and to remove the excess without wrecking your work.  I've tried Crazy-glue and it travels and hazes up the copper.  It is also too brittle and doesn't fill the gaps like Quick-Grip does.  But WARNING, this glue is an OOOZER and the wasted glue that goes with the application is irritating, to say the least.

My other suggestion would be to use a 2 PART EPOXY.
There are Regular which take a long time to set up and then there is the 5 minute formulas that take- 5 Minutes!  
The hold will be much Stronger than with the Quick Grip and is advisable if you intend on handling the pots a lot after they have been assembled.

These are head pins that will be cut down to just HEADS.  I show only 2 here but you will need 4 for this project, not including all those which will ricochet off the walls onto the floor, that you will NEVER find again, and the ones that will fall onto your lap, in  between your fingers, down your boot, etc. etc.

LOOK OUT!!!! IT'S A PREHISTORIC MONSTER! 

Heads up!

This pot now has the handles attached and the heads of  the head pins are glued into the eyes of the handle to resemble rivets.  

I made a trip to Michael's craft store and found these in the clearance aisle.  They are for making covered buttons.  The package above are the right size for the 1/2" sauce pans, I used larger ones for the kettle.  I threw the package away before I knew I needed to keep it but they were by the same company.  

This is what they look like in the blister pack.

This will be the top of the pot.

This is the under-side, the shank needs to be removed.

LOOK OUT!!!! I'T'S  A PRE HISTORIC MONSTER'S MOTHER!!!!!

Shank removed.

This is one option that I tried out.  I used these beads that look like 3 seed beads stuck together.  I have tried different handles and some I liked, some I didn't.  This is not bad.

Here are the string of beads, I want to use some for the new perfume trays that I am planning as well.  

Using Quick-Grip glue, I placed the bead horizontally on top and centre of the lid.  Excess glue was later easily removed, with tweezers.  I used 2 heads of the head pins to plug the hole at both ends of the beads.

The final product....A lovely, shiny copper pot with a lid that fits!  Below is another covered button form with a loop shank that I think looks more authentic and  like something perhaps used in a chef's kitchen.

"MR. ROBOTO"

This shot shows the handles that I made from  sock  "stickem together at the toes, thing 'm  bobs".  I also found a necklace at the thrift store that had a lot of little dangelly metal bits that looked like the metal labels on high end cookware.  I glued one onto the pot with Q-G.  You will also see what the pot looks like when the interior is 'tinned' with the silver nail polish.  I like the effect and this is what Andrea Barham suggested only she used silver model paint which I could have used but I like nail polish for the connivence of the brush and the drying time.  It works for me. So... 'WHAT'S FOR DINNER'?......

SPAGHETTI! 

elizabeth