Silvan wrote:
> He's going to be floored when he unwraps the *real* chess box. If I do say
> so myself, it came out pretty damn well. My next one will be better, but
> this one looks every bit like I spent 100 hours working on it. Because I
> did! I figure it's a $1500 chess box, for a bit less than $100 in
> materials. (If only I hadn't had to use plastic pieces. At least they're
> really nice looking plastic pieces.)
Guess which one he's going to bring out when he tells anyone that come to his
home, including the UPS delivery person, saying "Look what my son made me for
Christmas." :-)
--
Jack Novak
Buffalo, NY - USA
(Remove "SPAM" from email address to reply)
Ages ago, when I bought mom a new dryer, I had 'em deliver it on
Saturday (wash day) while she was out. She comes back and
*eventually* (took forever, it seemed) gets around to going down to
the basement to do a load. The big squeal of delight (I presume) was
well worth it. Now, she couldn't help but notice something different,
aside from the big bow on top - the old dryer had been tossed a while
ago so something occupying it's space was quite apparent.
So, I personally like the idea of trying to sneak it into the house
and let them notice something different. But, as a nother poster
said, it's worth considering the specifics of the folks and situation
and come up with someething creative.
Renata
On 16 Dec 2003 14:43:43 -0800, [email protected] (Larry Bud)
wrote:
>I made a side table for my sister for Christmas, and wondering if
>anyone attempts to wrap the gift to make it somewhat of a surprise?
> Ages ago, when I bought mom a new dryer, I had 'em deliver it on
> Saturday (wash day) while she was out. She comes back and
> *eventually* (took forever, it seemed) gets around to going down to
> the basement to do a load. The big squeal of delight (I presume) was
> well worth it. Now, she couldn't help but notice something different,
> aside from the big bow on top - the old dryer had been tossed a while
> ago so something occupying it's space was quite apparent.
We all get together on Christmas day, and she already knows WHAT I'm
making, but has no details on it except that it has a medium tone
finish. Maybe I'll just throw a big plastic bag over it so it
doesn't get wet.
Replying to a reply here:
>>Guess which one he's going to bring out when he tells anyone that come to
>>his home, including the UPS delivery person, saying "Look what my son made
>>me for Christmas." :-)
Not likely. Dad is too busy working to ever spend any time at home, and he
doesn't have any friends to share (either one of) the thing(s) with.
He's not going to take care of it either. It's really quite depressing what
he will doubtless do with this. He doesn't take care of anything.
I don't even want to think about what the poor dear will look like a month
from now. I guess I'm going to have to take care of it for him.
Larry Jaques wrote:
> I saw a solid glass chess set at WallyWorld for $6.73 the other day.
> Half the men were clear, the others frosted. Not bad, either. That's
> for next time, guys. Sell the board, sans men, on *b*y for $10, too.
I can't sell on eBay. No credit cards, and damn if I'm giving anyone online
any of my bank account numbers.
I've seen the glass sets you speak of. I have one. I don't like playing
with it because it's not really obvious which is "white" and which is
"black." The frosted pieces are more opaque, therefore "darker," and
should thus be "black," but they look more white than black. The clear
pieces look more light or dark depending on the substrate under the board.
I know it sounds like no big deal, just assign colors arbitrarily and play
your color, but I find it's really quite distracting.
--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan <[email protected]>
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
Why not make a crate for it out of some material of your choosing.
Make the crate into a gift as well.
For example...
Make it out of white pegboard. Add a hinged door. Call it a dog
carrier.
Make it out of plywood with a hinged top and call it a Christmas tree
storage container.
Make it out of cedar and call it a deck box or Linen Locker.
You get where I'm going here...
Once you have a crate, you can wrap plain old wrapping paper around
it. Then tie a big bow :)
Jay
[email protected] (Larry Bud) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> I made a side table for my sister for Christmas, and wondering if
> anyone attempts to wrap the gift to make it somewhat of a surprise?
"Larry Bud" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I made a side table for my sister for Christmas, and wondering if
> anyone attempts to wrap the gift to make it somewhat of a surprise?
Something that large may be wrapped in a "non-traditional" paper. Sort of
like the Sunday comics rather than $50 worth of fancy paper.
Ed
[email protected]
http://pages.cthome.net/edhome
Larry,
Sorry, but I can't avoid being snide. Why don't you just step outside the
box and be innovative about how you present this gift. Think about what
these people like, and what you can best do. If the situation warrants
sneaking it into the house, then do it. If the situation warrants tying the
greatest bow around this table and carrying it into the house, then do it.
If the situation warrants wrapping it in newsprint then do it. What happens
if the situation warrants a combination of the above; don't get confused,
"Just do it."
Larry, none of us can tell you how to wrap this present. It can only be
you. You need to be innovative. Consider the recipient, your relationship
with them, their proclivity towards fun, your bent towards fun, your
innovativeness, their, .....
Larry, you can figure this out.
"Larry Bud" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I made a side table for my sister for Christmas, and wondering if
> anyone attempts to wrap the gift to make it somewhat of a surprise
"Larry Jaques" <jake@di\/ersify.com> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Thu, 18 Dec 2003 01:31:21 GMT, Nova <[email protected]>
> brought forth from the murky depths:
>
> >Silvan wrote:
> >
> >> He's going to be floored when he unwraps the *real* chess box. If I do
say
> >> so myself, it came out pretty damn well. My next one will be better,
but
> >> this one looks every bit like I spent 100 hours working on it. Because
I
> >> did! I figure it's a $1500 chess box, for a bit less than $100 in
> >> materials. (If only I hadn't had to use plastic pieces. At least
they're
> >> really nice looking plastic pieces.)
> >
> >Guess which one he's going to bring out when he tells anyone that come to
his
> >home, including the UPS delivery person, saying "Look what my son made me
for
> >Christmas." :-)
>
> I saw a solid glass chess set at WallyWorld for $6.73 the other day.
> Half the men were clear, the others frosted. Not bad, either. That's
> for next time, guys. Sell the board, sans men, on *b*y for $10, too.
i saw the exact same set at harbor freight for about 3.50. it really is a
race to the bottom.
"Silvan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Replying to a reply here:
>
> >>Guess which one he's going to bring out when he tells anyone that come
to
> >>his home, including the UPS delivery person, saying "Look what my son
made
> >>me for Christmas." :-)
>
> Not likely. Dad is too busy working to ever spend any time at home, and
he
> doesn't have any friends to share (either one of) the thing(s) with.
>
> He's not going to take care of it either. It's really quite depressing
what
> he will doubtless do with this. He doesn't take care of anything.
>
> I don't even want to think about what the poor dear will look like a month
> from now. I guess I'm going to have to take care of it for him.
>
> Larry Jaques wrote:
>
> > I saw a solid glass chess set at WallyWorld for $6.73 the other day.
> > Half the men were clear, the others frosted. Not bad, either. That's
> > for next time, guys. Sell the board, sans men, on *b*y for $10, too.
>
> I can't sell on eBay. No credit cards, and damn if I'm giving anyone
online
> any of my bank account numbers.
>
> I've seen the glass sets you speak of. I have one. I don't like playing
> with it because it's not really obvious which is "white" and which is
> "black." The frosted pieces are more opaque, therefore "darker," and
> should thus be "black," but they look more white than black. The clear
> pieces look more light or dark depending on the substrate under the board.
> I know it sounds like no big deal, just assign colors arbitrarily and play
> your color, but I find it's really quite distracting.
sandblasted glass will take paint well. you can make them any color, or even
use tinted dyes with varnish over them.
> --
> Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan <[email protected]>
> Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
> http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
>
RWM wrote:
> I always wrap the gifts, unless it is something really big that will not
> fit in any box. I figure if I can do the work to make it, then I can
spend> the> time to do a nice wrapping job. Storage rental places have a
I had fun with the chess box I made for Dad.
The only box I had big enough to hold it was a monitor box. Lots of room to
eat, so I filled it about 3/5 full of branches from a Christmas tree we're
not using this year. I threw some plastic beads in there so it would
rattle interestingly.
I wrapped the chess box in wax paper for good measure, then two layers of
wrapping paper. Then I dumped a bunch of shavings from the making of the
project into the box, made a nest, laid down a sheet of cabinet liner stuff
to make it easier to extract the item, then snugged it home.
I covered it the rest of the way over with shavings, then I threw in this
really horrible board I made. It's quite ghastly. When making my first
board, I glued the light/dark strips together, then cut them into checkered
strips. They were way out of whack, so I didn't use them. I went back to
those for this. The "squares" aren't, and they're anything but flat, with
huge glue blobs and major alignment problems. I laid those together into a
chess board, then tacked some ugly, splintered plywood with odd holes
drilled in it around the outside edges to hold them together loosely,
nailing a couple strips across the bottom at an angle for good measure. I
covered the whole mess with a half quart of poly/mineral spirits mix that
had gotten cold and turned to Jell-O, rubbing in some grass, dog hair, and
rusty steel wool for good measure. It came out with awful blobs, blotches,
bubbles, and the gooey, badly-cured layer of finish is 1/8" thick in some
places and bare in others.
So I have this piece of total crap right on top, capped off with a ritzy
looking House of Staunton bag filled with these really nasty, flimsy
plastic pieces from a $3 chess set.
I've got my sob story rehearesed too. "I'm sorry, Dad. This doesn't look
very good, but it was the best I could do. I worked really hard on this."
I'm looking forward to giving it to him. :)
He's going to be floored when he unwraps the *real* chess box. If I do say
so myself, it came out pretty damn well. My next one will be better, but
this one looks every bit like I spent 100 hours working on it. Because I
did! I figure it's a $1500 chess box, for a bit less than $100 in
materials. (If only I hadn't had to use plastic pieces. At least they're
really nice looking plastic pieces.)
--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan <[email protected]>
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
On Wed, 17 Dec 2003 00:42:08 GMT, "Edwin Pawlowski" <[email protected]>
wrote:
>
>"Larry Bud" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> I made a side table for my sister for Christmas, and wondering if
>> anyone attempts to wrap the gift to make it somewhat of a surprise?
Bicycle shops usually toss out large numbers of very large boxes.
Using two bicycle boxes, one could easily enclose a side table.
Barry
On 18 Dec 2003 10:12:39 -0800, [email protected] (Larry Bud)
wrote:
>> Ages ago, when I bought mom a new dryer, I had 'em deliver it on
>> Saturday (wash day) while she was out. She comes back and
>> *eventually* (took forever, it seemed) gets around to going down to
>> the basement to do a load. The big squeal of delight (I presume) was
>> well worth it. Now, she couldn't help but notice something different,
>> aside from the big bow on top - the old dryer had been tossed a while
>> ago so something occupying it's space was quite apparent.
>
>We all get together on Christmas day, and she already knows WHAT I'm
>making, but has no details on it except that it has a medium tone
>finish. Maybe I'll just throw a big plastic bag over it so it
>doesn't get wet.
Could you at least go to the store and BUY a big red ribbon for the
top of the garbage bag?
Perhaps try to get it into her house without her knowledge and let her just
sort of discover it. Its a wonderful look on someones face when they first
see it.
"Larry Bud" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I made a side table for my sister for Christmas, and wondering if
> anyone attempts to wrap the gift to make it somewhat of a surprise?
"Larry Bud" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I made a side table for my sister for Christmas, and wondering if
> anyone attempts to wrap the gift to make it somewhat of a surprise?
I always wrap the gifts, unless it is something really big that will not fit
in any box. I figure if I can do the work to make it, then I can spend the
time to do a nice wrapping job. Storage rental places have a large variety
of boxes.
Bob McBreen
On Thu, 18 Dec 2003 01:31:21 GMT, Nova <[email protected]>
brought forth from the murky depths:
>Silvan wrote:
>
>> He's going to be floored when he unwraps the *real* chess box. If I do say
>> so myself, it came out pretty damn well. My next one will be better, but
>> this one looks every bit like I spent 100 hours working on it. Because I
>> did! I figure it's a $1500 chess box, for a bit less than $100 in
>> materials. (If only I hadn't had to use plastic pieces. At least they're
>> really nice looking plastic pieces.)
>
>Guess which one he's going to bring out when he tells anyone that come to his
>home, including the UPS delivery person, saying "Look what my son made me for
>Christmas." :-)
I saw a solid glass chess set at WallyWorld for $6.73 the other day.
Half the men were clear, the others frosted. Not bad, either. That's
for next time, guys. Sell the board, sans men, on *b*y for $10, too.
--
Remember: Every silver lining has a cloud.
----
http://diversify.com Comprehensive Website Development