I have completed most of the pieces of the DIY set. Now I have the most daunting task ahead, that is making the tiny sushi. And this has to be done before I can erect the upper floor of the restaurant.
The task looks daunting and feels daunting. I am approaching this with a sense of trepidation. What if I messed up? They are all so minuscule! Well, there’s no turning back if I want to complete my little Japanese DIY restaurant.
Project #6 started well two weeks ago but has slowed down because of circumstances. Number one being my golf schedule. Last week I played four times, on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. I would have played on Sunday too if it wasn’t for the rain and the course was closed. Then I also had to work.
I should be thankful that we are getting design work from our clients, and I have been going into the office daily with hubby. Even on golfing days, after lunch, I was in the office instead of staying at home. So in between the golfing days and the office, there was hardly time to focus on the DIY set.
And by the time we get home, prepare dinner, eat and clean up after that, there’s no more energy left. It is too tiring to sit at my station to concentrate on the set.
Well, the first floor of the main structure is up, and my little Japanese restaurant is starting to look good with what I have managed to complete so far. I’m just saving difficult tasks for later when I can sit down without interruption and focus.
With the completion of DIY project number five, I wondered when my recent DIY set purchases would arrive. They are a Japanese restaurant, a fruit shop, and a tea shop. I didn’t have to wait long as the packages arrived on Monday morning.
I was giddy with excitement when all three packages arrived at the same time. Yay! I bought them during the 10/10 sale from my favorite online shopping site. Although the boxes were all crushed slightly, the items inside the boxes were intact. Thank goodness.
So I have started working on the Japanese restaurant first and keeping the two smaller sets for later. The best part of this project, all the packages are labeled accordingly, making life so much easier. And despite the instructions being in Chinese, it’s not a problem as I have Google Translate!
I was thrilled upon opening the box to discover a music box inside! Oh yay, I didn’t even realize the purchase came with this. The last time I bought a music box intended for project number five, it did not fit at all. The measurements were off. So I fixed the music box to project number four instead, which worked out well.
Stay tuned to see the progress of my latest project number six, the Japanese restaurant.
I finally completed DIY project number five. Phew. Towards the end of the project, it was mostly frustration I felt. The instructions were vague, making the chandelier was challenging, and then I discovered there was another chair to make! That makes it nine chairs altogether.
Project number five is a container cafe, and it has so many chairs. And I found assembling the chairs a bit funny, gluing paper to the chair seat and backrest. I bypassed this step and painted the chairs instead. Then again, making chairs from scratch isn’t the easiest either from experience dealing with the chairs in DIY project number four.
Overall, there’s so much paper, not just small pieces but big pieces to work with for surfaces of all sizes, come to think of it. After a while, it was ridiculous. Why so much paper? Argh.
And when I thought I was on the last stretch to finish the set, the wiring for the lights gave me problems! Sigh. One of the chandeliers could not light up, and I cannot figure it out. So I gave up fixing it. I am glad I persevered and completed the set. It will now be on display with the other completed projects on the dining table.
I have been working on DIY project number five for almost three weeks now. And boy, does it have its challenges, unlike the previous projects. One would think that with the instructions in English, it would be a breeze.
Contrary to feeling good, I’m stressed instead. There were signs of problems at the outset, but I chose to ignore them. However, as I progressed along, the issues became more glaring.
There were missing pieces and incorrect sizes of paper in ratio to the corresponding wood. Luckily, I managed to figure out the solutions to overcome them.
The most glaring problem was the lack of an inventory checklist. I had to rely on the pictorial guide in the manual, which wasn’t very clear to figure out things. Most of the packages are labeled ‘A’ – making it hard to find the pieces. When the instructions called for an item from package ‘A’ to paste to paper, I cannot find the said item. It was very exasperating.
The instruction manual is another issue. Printed in A4 and 14 points (sometimes 18 points) font-size does not necessarily mean they are clear! The instructions are vague, and I found myself at a loss sometimes.
Sigh. I come across as not enjoying working on this set. Well, I have to finish it regardless.
At the beginning of this year, I purchased some mini drill bits from my favorite online shopping site, and they arrived several days later. The last bit to make the whale eyes had broken, and these were the replacement. And I used them a fair bit when I was carving my whales then.
But now that my drill has kaput, it will be some time before the bits see any more action. Sigh. The question to ask should I buy a replacement drill or not?
Seeing that lately, I am more into doing DIY miniature projects and not so much carving and woodworking, a new drill may not be necessary yet. We shall see.
So sadly, the mini bits are just sitting there with the rest of the bits, collecting dust.
It’s been a while since I last used my mini drill. Last week, I decided to use it and inadvertently caused a mini double accident.
The DIY cafe was at the tail-end of completion. I had to drill a little hole for the wire from the table to go underneath to connect to the rest of the wires at the other end. But things did not go as planned.
I switched on the drill and tripped the power in the house. Oops. Initially, I thought it was the adapter plug but on further tests, it’s the drill. Sigh. I’ll deal with this another time.
Immediate attention was on the hole to drill. So I had to poke a hole manually with my carving tools. Luckily, the base wood isn’t that hard. I just had to be patient but persistent.
I tilted the cafe at an awkward angle to get a comfortable position. And accidentally tilted a wee bit too much, the whole cafe fell off the table! I was horrified.
Thankfully the damages weren’t too bad. Only the back roof truss broke, the bar stool top came off and a flower fell out of place.
With a little creativity, the roof truss was glued and held back in place, while the other two were glued back without issues. As it was last bit of this project, I finished it without further challenges.
Now that M2 has arrived safely and undergoing her quarantine, we are back to just the two of us at home. And so, the routine is back to normal; in other words, I’m playing golf every other day again.
And in between this routine, it’s the DIY projects that keep me busy. Oh, project #4 was completed a day before her departure, and project #5 started soon after.
I was pleasantly surprised when my online purchase arrived yesterday. I certainly did not expect the parcel to arrive so soon this week. But it did, and I’m pleased.
So, what did I buy? Yet another DIY set, of course!
This will be my fifth set, and from the looks of it, the biggest and heaviest by far (1.682kg according to the parcel description). But even without the weight mentioned, the package felt heavy when the delivery man handed the parcel over to me.
Ooohhhh… I can’t wait to get started on it. However, I have to finish project number four first before I can even open the individual packs inside this latest DIY set to get a feel of things.
DIY project number four has been coming along at a good pace until a slight hiccup several days ago. Or should I say, a big stumbling block? I discovered that some pieces were missing! Uh oh.
Unfortunately, I discovered two important elements missing only now after working on the set for some time. I guess I couldn’t have found out earlier as the focus was on the bigger and individual pieces. These two missing pieces are essential for the itty bitty decorations.
Missing item #1: labeled K10, it is a bunch of plastic leaves for the flowers. I sat on this problem for several days, wondering how to overcome this. In the end, I bought a pack of leaves and improvised from there, cutting them down to fit. And they did, thank goodness.
Missing item #2: labeled K09, it is an 80cm length of wire for making the stem/stalk of the plants/flowers. I took some garden wires from hubby’s supplies, and trimmed them down to make the plants and flowers. And they came out good. Phew!
Sometimes we need to improvise and DIY a DIY project. I hope no more discoveries of missing pieces from here onwards.
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