Jill's Office Fairy Door - #37

I built this fairy door for Jill's office.  It is based on a door that we saw in Geneva, IL on our honeymoon.  The color has been changed to better fit her office decor, but it is otherwise the same.

This is one of the few doors that I have built that has functioning hinges.  Jill wanted to be able to open the door exposing a nice walking path through a garden.

The garden path image is one that I found online and printed out.

Here is the door in context in her office.  Should make a nice conversation piece and heck...she might even get some fairies that need therapy to stop by....

Billy Idol Stage Door - #36

 I built this door as a birthday present for our good friend Lynn.  She is a huge Billy Idol and metal fan so this seemed appropriate.  She also rides a motorcycles with her husband Glen so the poster on the door seemed right also.

The posters are just scaled down and printed versions of old concert posters and announcements.

I used the lasers over at TechShop to etch the brick texture into the background.  The "stucco leftovers" are made with lightweight spackling compound.

The door light is hand formed copper with a modeling foam lightbulb. The Stage Door sign is just painted and lettered balsa.

In this overhead shot you can see the depth of some of the elements and the partial manhole cover in the alley.

Round Trap Door - #35

A birthday present for my friend Mary to make sure the fairies can get into her and her husband Frank's new house.

Balsa wood construction with copper hardware and accents.  It is installed in the ceiling of their porch.

I used the knurled jaws of a pair of needle nose pliers to give the copper hardware a hammered look.  The scale looks about right.

Door is approximately 3" or so across.

Door with storm door - #1

 This is the very first fairy door that I built.  After taking the walking tour of the Urban Fairy Doors of Ann Arbor, I decided to build this door for my friend Mary.

The inner door is partially open and I installed a battery operated light inside so that when the light is on it streams out around the edge of the door and through the storm door "windows".

Little did I know at the time that this door would lead me to build over 30 fairy doors.  I love doing them and don't plan on stopping any time soon. 

Hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy making them.

Christmas Door - #2

This a stained door much like the one I built for Glenn and Jeannie.  Some of the details are different.  I also carved the wreath and bow from modeling foam.  It is about an inch or so across.

Arched Top Door - #3

This is the first door that I built with the turned foam arch top.  The second was the Victorian Door siamesed with the Volksrods Garage Door.  The rest of the door is balsa with copper hardware.  There is a transom window inside of the arch.  Built for my friend Mary.

Center Knob Door - #4

The inspiration for this door came from a trip I made to England for Ford.  I saw lots of doors over there with the door knob in the center of the door.  This is another door I built for my friend Mary. The basic structure and door is balsa.  The acorn is carved from modeling foam.  The hardware is all copper including the house number.

The fairies even had milk delivered.

Horton Hears a Who Door - #5

First try at some stained glass.  Just some "Sharpie" lead work and color on clear plastic.  Balsa wood construction with copper hardware, including a mail slot and deadbolt.  The round window was fun to do.

 Interesting surprise with this door...if you look in the lower right hand corner...

The fairy door has a fairy door!




Thus the Horton reference.

Pokey Creations Door - #6

 This is a fun door to do.  My friend Mary creates custom greeting cards under the name "Pokey Creations" so I made up this little store front door and display stand for the fairy sized outlet.  The shipping crate contained a gift from the fairies.  A hand carved rubber stamp with the Pokey Creations logo on it.

 The logo and lettering is all reverse painted on the back of the door "glass".  Hardware is copper.

 Even has a small copper bell to let them know when they get a customer.

Little closer view of the overall door.  There is even a rack inside to display the fairy sized greeting cards.

Here is a close up shot of the shipping crate and stamp.

Christmas Door - #7

I built this door as a Christmas present for my friend Mary.  Balsa wood construction with copper hardware including the house numbers.

1850s Door - #8

This is the first stained door that I built.  It is a scale replica of the 150 year old doors in my friends Glenn and Jeannie's old farm house, including the door knob and hinges.

With the stained doors you have to cut and dry fit all the pieces first, then stain them, and them assemble the door.  The CA glue (super glue) that  use soaks through the balsa wood easily and then the stain doesn't take to the wood uniformly.  The glue effectively seals the wood.

I know I have some more detailed pictures of this one on the computer somewhere.

Mushroom Doors - #33 & 34

 This is a pair of doors that I did on commision for the 4 and 1-1/2 year old daughters of a friend of the family in Minnesota.  Their mom wanted colorful, whimsical doors that matched the girls' rooms and personalities.  From her comments, I think I nailed it.  Looking forward to hearing about the girls reactions.

Both doors are built from balsa and hand painted.  The hardware is all copper.  The polka dot mushrooms are carved from modeling foam and hand painted.  The stained glass windows are clear plastic with "Sharpie" lead work and colors.

 Jill and I built the lights from some of her jewelry making baubles and bits.

 These doors even have glow-in-the-dark fairy dust buried in the clear coat.  You can see the swirls of it in this and the previous picture.

A shot from below showing the details carved into the bottoms of the mushrooms.  I will post some pics after the fairies get the doors installed in their new homes.

Therapy Door - #32

 This is simple little door that I built for Jill to use in a therapy session with one of her younger clients.  The client had all kinds of markers and paint and baubles and stickers to decorate the door as she saw fit....thus the basic white "canvas" to start with.

 Interesting thing about this door is I laid out the design in Adobe Illustrator and the then cut the pieces from hardboard (a bit more robust for little hands than balsa wood) on the laser cutters at TechShop-Detroit.

I will post some pictures of the decorated door when I get them.

Jill's Door (#9)

 The yellow and white door is a very special door.  It was one of my Christmas presents to Jill our first Christmas together.  The door is partially open to symbolize how our growing love at the time was opening a whole new world for me and for us together.  The door is completely open on the backside to symbolize the endless possibilities that our relationship brings for both of us.

It now has a place near the fireplace in our shared home in Dearborn.

Volksrods Garage Door and Victorian Door (#10 and #11)

 This pair of doors was really fun.  They are actually Siamesed together..sort of his and hers.  I built them for my good friend Steve Pejka who runs Volksrods.com ( website site for folks that like to "hot rod" old VWs)

Side one is the Volksrods Garage side.  Weather old garage door with all kinds of details. 

There is a bottle opener and bottle caps, an old VW hubcap, a Volksrods club plaque, broken windows (even some patched up with an old PBR case. 

There is an old industrial looking light over the door and a weathered tin sign with some bullet holes for good measure.

There is an old beat up roll-up window shade inside the door and a padlock and clasp for security.

 Side 2 is a proper Victorian looking door with wonderful detail in the half circle top and copper hardware. 

For the circular molding, I turned a block of modeling foam on my wood lathe and then cut it in half.  You will see the other off on one of the other doors that I built.

Ornament Fairy Doors - #12

Another series of smaller fairy doors as Christmas ornaments.  I think I built 6 of these as gifts.  Again only 3" tall or so.  Balsa construction with copper hardware and wreaths and bows carved from modeling foam.

Fanciful Doors - #13 and #14

I built those two doors as Christmas presents for Jill's nieces.  Both of these doors have a battery operated light in them to act as a night light.  The tree branch and toad stool are carved from modeling foam.  The doors are balsa.  The stained glass windows are clear plastic sheet with sharpee and marker  "stained glass".

Both of these doors also had glow-in-the-dark pixie dust sprinkled into the clear coat.  Unfortunately, it did not photograph well.

 Jill made the flowers in the flower pot and the crystal light fixtures.

Fairy Closet - #15

I built this fairy closet as a present for my youngest son to give to a girl he was sweet on in grade school.  It is the only door I have built so far that has working hinges.

It was meant to be a jewelry box.  Rings would go on the "shoe rack" at the bottom and necklaces would get hung on the wire "coat hangers".

The boxes and mittens are just for decoration.

Barn Door - #16

I built this barn door for my friends, Tom and Carol.  They have a small hobby farm and raise chickens and pigs and such.  Tom used to bring in the best farm fresh eggs for us at work.

This one was fun carving the "stone" foundation from a thicker sheet of balsa and then painting it to look like stone and mortar.

I found the small hay bales at the local hobby store.