Wall Pocket #2

Intro: Wall Pocket #2

Is it a shelf, is it a book case, is it a shelfie? Nooo: it’s a Wall Pocket #2.

This shelf is invisibly connected to the wall. It is to store not only a couple of books but also stuff that would normally fall of like hats and gloves, but also magazines and plants. Fill the pocket with a lamp and your room will be magically illuminated.

This one is a bit harder to create than my first Wall Pocket because of all the layers. Use my drawing of all the nested parts and take a 600mm x 1200mm x 6mm (23,6 inch x 47,24 inch x 0,24 inch) plywood or MDF for this design. My parts were laser cut at Snijlab in Rotterdam.

Things you need:

- Plywood 600 x 1200 x 6 mm (23,6 x 4724 x 0,24 inch)

- The 30 parts as on the drawing

- Glue for wood - A piece of damp cloth

- A drill - Three wall-plugs for 6mm diameter and three screws of 30mm length

- Two wood plugs 6mm

- Screwdriver

- Some tape

- Coffee and patience

Take your time and enjoy putting the Wall Pocket together as much as I enjoyed creating it. See it grow as you assemble all the parts and make it come to life. Let in the spirit of your creativity and create magic. You can do this.

STEP 1: Start With the End

Your first step is to make sure you got all the parts. In this case: 30 pcs.

Place them in the right order to get an overview and to make sure you won't glue the wrong parts together.

Take the last three bows of this design and your pencil. Put the bows on top of each other and draw the contour. This thin line can be used when you add the glue, stay inside the line.

Glue the three bows together and clamp them for a couple of minutes. Make sure all three of them are perfectly lined out. And get rid of excess glue.

Note: the thing I did wrong was to use tape to bind the bows together after gluing. Don't. The wood tend to bend and you get an uneven separation of the bows and this design is all about the right spacing.

IDEA: You can easily mirror this design by just glue the bows in mirrored order.

STEP 2: Assemblying the Rest

There are 27 parts left. The easiest way is to glue them together in sets of 3 or 4 bows. But perhaps you are handy enough to glue the 27 at once.

Remember that the corners can use the most glue. And they should be perfectly in line otherwise you get a wobbly shelf.

If you got a bunch of sets, you can glue them together. Wait, take a break, relax a bit.

STEP 3: Fixing the First Part to the Wall

Get your fist assembled part of the Wall Pocket (3 bows glued together) and decide where you want to hang it. Mark the holes on the wall with your pencil.

I use a piece of tape to measure the length of the plug on my drill. This way I don't drill to shallow or to deep. Drill the holes in the wall and if needed use a couple of plugs.

You don't want the screwhead to extend so enlarge the end three smaller screw holes with a bit with bigger drill, don't go all the way through.

Screw this part of the Wall Pocket to the wall. Take a break, sit in the sun.

STEP 4: Apply the Rest of the Wall Pocket

The part that is fixed to the wall has got two bigger holes left and they should be used for the wood plugs.

Apply glue to the other assembled part and slide it over the wood plugs. Let the glue dry. You might add some pressure to the whole assembly by using tape or something else.

Though the structure of this design is firm, make sure the Wall Pocket is safely mounted to the wall and well put together before you use it! Don’t put to heavy things on or in it, check first how much it can hold.

Hooray, you’re now the owner of a Wall Pocket. Have fun using it and maybe you can show me your creative usage.

To be even more creative than I am, you can first paint all the parts in different colors and then assemble the Wall Pocket, for instance this rainbow collector.

Patrick

And of course if I should win an Epilog Zing Laser Cutter, I would not only be happy (and cry) but I could finally start experimenting with Acrylic, Fabric, Glass, Coated Metals, Ceramic, Delrin, Cloth, Leather, Marble, Matte Board, Melamine, Paper, Mylar, Pressboard, Rubber, Wood Veneer, Fiberglass, Painted Metals, Tile, Plastic, Cork, Corian, Anodized Aluminum, Stainless Steel, Brass, Titanium and Bare Metals! Oh my

Comments

[tariq sadiq]

GOD bless you

[shomar]

a really nice design... thank you for sharing.

can you share with is how you did the design? what software you ised for slicing the shelf this way?

thnx

[Pavanna]

How beautiful! But, since I'm not too handy (yet) with tools/woodworking, I think I'll try creating a clay version. Thanks for the inspiration!

[FlorinJ]

You can try creating a corrugated cardboard version. Once assembled, use plaster of Paris or other filler to fill the holes, then polish it until smooth (should be easy and fast, given the low abrasion resistance of the material), then spray on or paint on some transparent lacquer. You still get some texture, because the cardboard will show through the white plaster, it will just be different. With plaster and lacquer and all the glue between layers, it should also be both stiff and strong enough for the function. In fact, if you mix in some glue when preparing the plaster, you might get a a very strong non-brittle eco-friendly home-made composite material.

In fact, now that I think of it, I might make some wall-mounted flower pots using this technique.

[NachoJ]

I was thinking the same "eco friendly" thing. In fact I'm almost positive I've seen this made from cardboard and glue. And I am going to use it to grow some herbs instead of flowers. Thanks very much for the idea. I like your execution of it as well.

[RubyFusca]

it

[RubyFusca]

looks amazing must try a

[nevadavic]

Thanks for the instructable! I read all these extra ideas and decided on two changes:

1. replace wood plugs with metal /steel pins.

2. use a few plastic curves to allow light to show through! and some colors for contrast.

[askjerry]

Make the part 2nd from the wall a solid piece. The next piece would have a dovetail slot in it and would be glued to the last piece. The result is a backplate with a dovetail slot.

A dovetailed strip is then screwed to the wall, and the unit slid on from the side. It would be secure and level. (If you level the strip) Then, when you want to remove it for maintenance, cleaning, etc... slide it to the side and it comes right off. You could unscrew the strip and take it with you leaving only a couple of small holes to fill.

[marriedwithpuppets]

If you sprinkle a little table salt on the glue before you clamp it together, the wood won't shift while the glue is drying.

[Just4Fun Media]

Interesting project, but Kiteman has a very good point! I would hate to have to move and leave such a beautiful piece of work behind. Would it be possible to just mount the shelf to a plywood backer plate?

Have a great day! :-)

[FlorinJ]

You can leave two ears on the inner side of the plywood slide closest to the wall, and use those to screw the piece to the wall.

[CraigRJess]

A French cleat could possibly work too....

[inventy]

Thank you for your comment. You are absolutely right. But I like design that become part of an environment, on the other hand this is something you would not leave behind, I know.

One solution would be to use a smaller amount of glue between the wall section and the assembly (I actually did that for the photo shoot) The wood plugs are sturdy enough to carry the weight of the shelf and load. You can use a knife to separate the two parts when you move out.

[spark master]

While it is quite pretty, it looks like a plain vanilla wall sconce
to me. And attached to a wall in way you must leave them behind. And if
they are not the taste of the new owner occupant said person must now
rip them off the wall leaving a mess. Now need plastering and/or
repapering and painting.

Put on a back plate now it
can be made removable and is usable. Consider adding a battery diode light to it for elimination of zip cord light fixture wire, which takes away from it errr organic look.

I like the look though, enjoy

[dragon flyer]

Or if you happened to have a wall sconce maybe you could just fit the shelf around it...

[jorgeisagirl]

beautiful!

[DavidB64]

Great idea! Have you tried sanding it smooth to see the effect? Leaving it as is may well be more appealing but one never knows.

[alexeicharkham]

I love it. I'm starting it now and have taped 12 pieces of A4 together with the design. I'm going to try and cut it with a bandsaw (although I'm not sure I'll be able to fit it once I need to start turning the board round). Wish me luck...

[thijsv]

It would be nice to make one piece in acrylic, sand it a bit and add some LED strips to the top. This would make the strip glow. DIY perks on Youtube made a headphone stand with this technique, but I think it will work out great for this kind of project as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7ZwQa8vYnY