Merchandise Monday: Self-made LOTR Signpost & Jewelry Box

You know what I love more than purchasing fandom related merchandise? Creating fandom related merchandise. Whether it being a seasonal greeting card, or a quick fanart, I love getting inspired by my fandoms. Most of the times, I use pen and paper to get creative, but occasionally, I want to get crafty. A while ago, I’ve done a miniature Lord of the Rings signpost for my bookshelf (with the help of my dad) and re-painted a wooden box I’ve got from a local arts & crafts store.

I’m afraid, I don’t have any real DIY for both items, but I’ll try to explain as best as I can how I did it down below.

 

While the LOTR signpost serves not function whatsoever, other than decorative purposes, the wooden box holds some of my smaller Tolkien collectibles. Now, neither of these two items were my original idea. If you’ve spend any time on Pinterest, you’ve probably stumbled upon similar DIYs before.

The desire to make a geeky miniature signpost has been on my mind for a while and with the help of my dad, I’ve finally made one. We used various, differently sized pieces of wood you can get from any department store, nails, wood varnish and white acrylic paint. Now, I could’ve cut the wood to the right size without the help of my dad, but he is a hobby carpenter and gets stuff like this done more accurately. We had no particular measurements in mind and just worked with the wooden pieces we found in his workshop. Then, I picked a varnish and acrylic paint of my liking, after everything was assembled. Just a tip for you: after you assembled the signpost, take some sandpaper and make sure every cm or inch of that signpost is smooth before you paint it. After the varnish and acrylic paint dried, I took some Mod Podge and covered everything with a thin layer.

The wooden box was a lot easier to do. I purchased an inexpensive wooden box from a local arts & crafts store and painted it with the same varnish as the signpost. Again, before painting it, I smoothed out the wood with some sandpaper. As for the decorative elements, I’ve looked through my Tolkien books and decided to copy some of Tolkien’s original design elements for The Hobbit. Once again, after the varnish and paint dried, I added a thin layer of Mod Podge as a protective layer to it.

As much as I love my other, bought merchandise items, there is something special about creating and receiving hand-made geeky stuff.

What was your most recent geeky DIY? Is there an unique DIY you’ve stumbled upon the internet that you’d like to share? Leave us a comment down below!