A man made of plywood with his own hands. What can be made from plywood easily and simply

All photos from the article

Plywood is not only a unique building material, but also an excellent basis for making various crafts. Moreover, for this you will need a minimum of tools - a manual or electric jigsaw, the plywood sheet itself, and the result largely depends on human imagination.

Scope and advantages of plywood sheets

There are many options for using this material; in general, we can distinguish the following methods of using plywood:

• floor covering, and plywood can be used both for leveling and for insulating the floor;
• wall cladding - unlike plasterboard, plywood sheets are much stronger, although they weigh more, and are susceptible to moisture;
• arrangement of formwork when concreting foundations or making concrete blocks;
• arrangement of a solid base for soft roofing material, for example, under bitumen shingles;

• manufacturing various crafts, ranging from simple figures to complex mechanisms, in which even moving parts are made of plywood. In general, in the question of what can be made from plywood with a hand jigsaw, the only limit is a person’s imagination and perseverance, so the scope for creativity is simply limitless;
• Full-fledged furniture can also be made from plywood, and its strength is in no way inferior to ordinary wood.

This material also has a number of advantages:

• even thin material has outstanding strength, due to the layered structure of the material. consists of several layers of veneer, and when gluing, the fibers of each layer are located at an angle to the previous one, so that such a sheet works just fine when bending;

• due to the use of adhesive mixtures when gluing veneer layers, plywood is not afraid of moisture;

Note! For use inside the house, you should choose sheets marked FC, this means that urea glue was used when gluing, which does not contain phenolic compounds that are dangerous to human health.

• You can buy a large sheet of plywood for about 500-700 rubles; it will be enough for several dozen complex crafts. So the price can also be considered an advantage of this material.

Rules for working with a jigsaw

When making any craft, you can’t do without cutting plywood with a jigsaw (manual or electric).

There are several rules in this matter that should be followed in any case:

• The plywood sheet itself is quite flexible, so if you try to saw it without a rigid backing, it will bend and it will be difficult to adhere to the drawing line. The stand can be made from an ordinary thick board with a hole in the center for a jigsaw file; it is attached to the work table with an ordinary clamp;

Note! It is important to correctly install the file into the jigsaw before starting work. The direction of the teeth should be as shown in the figure.

• when cutting plywood with a jigsaw, the tool itself is held perpendicular to the sheet, there is no need to press hard on it;
• when working, you should turn not the jigsaw, but the plywood sheet itself;
• It is unlikely that when figure cutting it will be possible to do without sharp turns and sharp corners. In order to obtain a sharp turn or an acute angle, the instructions require moving the jigsaw up and down in one place, gradually turning the plywood sheet so that a small hole is formed in it in which the file will turn freely. After this, you can cut out the desired angle;
• You may also need to cut out blind holes that cannot be approached from the edge. In this case, you can simply drill a hole in it, insert a file into it, and only then secure it to the jigsaw frame. After this, you can cut a hole of any shape.

It is not necessary to make plywood products with a jigsaw using hand tools, the same quality can be achieved using power tools.

Examples of DIY plywood products

It is physically impossible to consider all the options for plywood crafts in one article. But it’s still worth stopping at a few interesting options.

The simplest plywood crafts

As a test, you can try to make a couple of simple crafts consisting of only one element. There are many options, for example, you can try to cut out the outline of an animal from plywood and then paint it in the desired colors.

This level of complexity is suitable even for children; the work will be performed in the following sequence:

• first, the desired picture is simply printed on plain paper (or drawn by hand);
• then you need to transfer the outline of the image onto the plywood. You can do this using carbon paper or simply cut out the image and paste it onto a wooden base;

• then we simply carefully cut out along the contour; even a preschool child can make such plywood products with his own hands using a jigsaw;
• After cutting, all that remains is to sand the figure and paint it. In order for the figurine to look bright, it is advisable to use a wood primer and only then paint it.

You can complicate the task a little and try to make a figurine consisting of several elements, for example, a Christmas tree or a snowman. A plywood Christmas tree with a jigsaw will consist of 2 parts connected like a tongue and groove.

To make it, you just need to trace 2 contours of the future Christmas tree on plywood and provide grooves in both elements. In one part, the cutout is made from the top, and in the second - from the bottom, the size of the cutout is up to the middle of the height of the future Christmas tree.

After cutting, you will need to sand the surface of the plywood and walk along the edge to remove burrs and smooth out any sharp edges. Dimensions of grooves in the bottom and upper parts must correspond exactly to each other.

Note! Many do-it-yourself drawings of plywood products using a jigsaw can be found on the Internet, for example, on our portal. This is much more convenient than drawing yourself.

After mastering figure sawing, you can move on to crafts consisting of several parts. As an example, we can give a figurine of a snowman, consisting of a torso, a head, two legs and arms; all these elements will be connected to each other with an ordinary thick thread.

The basic principle remains the same - we draw up a drawing, cut out individual parts from a plywood sheet, and then move on to combining them. In addition to working with a jigsaw, you will have to drill in the plywood thin holes in order to thread a thread through them.

A plywood snowman is assembled into one piece using a jigsaw; you can put a small bright scarf around your neck. As is the case with other crafts great importance has the color of the figurine, the coloring should leave the impression that the snowman has just been brought into the room from the cold.

There are many options for relatively small and uncomplicated crafts, and drawings of plywood work using a hand jigsaw can always be made independently or simply found on the Internet.

Making the task more difficult

If you have a jigsaw, you can try to take on a larger task. It is relatively easy to make an elegant frame for a picture from plywood, and the picture itself can be made entirely of plywood.

A picture made of plywood can be easily obtained by combining light plywood and a dark background. You just need to cut it out on a sheet light color the desired outline and then fix it in a frame on top of a dark background. Due to this, the desired effect is achieved; externally, such paintings look no worse than ordinary ones, even more unusual, because traditional painting is more widespread.

As for the technology, to make a picture you only need a template with the location of the cutouts. You can make it yourself; to do this, just make the image you like black and white, add contrast and manually mark the position of the cutouts. Number of plywood layers different shades limited solely by the skill of the author.

Thin plywood is also suitable for making a frame for a picture or photograph, and frames made from plywood with a jigsaw can also be solid, that is, cut from one piece of plywood. The simplest plywood frame is a closed plywood contour (rectangular, square or oval) with figured sawing along the outer perimeter.

Beginners who want to try their hand at making wood products are advised to start with plywood. It is quite easy to process and has a huge range of applications, thanks to which this material can be called universal.

Plywood sheets are used to make furniture and toys. So why not try to make crafts from plywood with your own hands; almost everyone has probably seen pictures of such trinkets, so you can get a certain idea about them.

Features of materials and tools

Plywood – sheet material natural wood origin, consisting of several layers of the finest glued veneer.

Note! DIY plywood crafts can be made from birch, pine, and beech plywood. This depends on the wood used to make the veneer.

When choosing material for your work, you should pay attention not only to the type of wood, but also to specifications the material itself.

These characteristics include:

• Grade - the fewer defects a plywood sheet has, the higher the grade of the material. If you are doing decorative crafts from plywood with your own hands using a jigsaw, then you need veneer of the first and second grades. Of course, the price of such material is much higher, but such crafts must have an attractive appearance.

Note! You can save on making crafts if the project involves painting, gluing or installing cladding on ready product. In this case, you can make a craft from low-grade material, provided that the presence of defects on the plywood will not reduce the strength of the craft.

• Thickness – today you can purchase plywood products whose thickness is in the range of 0.5-20 mm. The choice of material according to this indicator will depend on the purpose. For example, thin plywood up to 0.5 cm thick is suitable for decorative crafts. For the manufacture of furniture, the thickest material is used.
• Humidity – if you want to immediately start making products, then it is recommended to buy the driest material, because the fibers of wet veneer can lead to breakage of the jigsaw. That is why it is better to dry the plywood before work.

Note! If you decide to make crafts for your dacha out of plywood with your own hands, make sure that the material has increased level moisture resistance, because street conditions operation has an aggressive effect on plywood products.

Tools for work:

• electric jigsaw for cutting material;
• a set of files for a jigsaw (you should not skimp on this tool, since it depends not only on comfort, but also on the quality of the work itself);

Note! Files – as a consumable material, it is better to purchase several pieces. You must have some stock.

• electric or hand drill for making holes;
• an awl for working with thin materials (can be used to draw the outlines of a design);
• sanding machine for processing edges;
• a set of measuring devices (compasses, tape measures, squares).

This set is designed to perform the most simple crafts from plywood. If you want to make your job more complex, you may need other tools.

The initial process of making souvenir crafts

Do-it-yourself souvenir crafts made from plywood, photos of which you could see above, were created according to conventional technology, which we will consider using the example of an openwork decorative shelf.

Product manufacturing sequence:

1. To begin with, an appropriate scheme is selected or designed, according to which markings will be applied to the plywood and cut. You can find the drawings online or get them from this resource.
2. The diagram, which can be printed or drawn, must be transferred to plywood using carbon paper.
3. If the craft is dominated by simple shapes, you can use an awl to transfer the image. To do this, leave marks at the most basic points and connect them together using a ruler.
4. If the design of your craft, as in our case, has through holes, then you need to sketch out the areas that will be removed. In addition, you need to make a small nest so that the jigsaw file can fit into it.

Note! The thinner the drill you use, the cleaner and neater the workpiece will be.

Product cutting process

Sawing process:

1. A file from electric jigsaw and is secured with screws.
2. It is recommended to work while standing, so make sure that your workbench or tabletop has a free surface and is placed slightly above waist level.
3. The plywood sheet must be moved so that the jigsaw file moves according to the markings made.
4. If the blade of your jigsaw moves to the side, pause the cut, move the jigsaw back a little and repeat the movement, trying to return to the desired place.
5. After the cut is completed, the workpiece is removed.

Note! If your craft has a complex shape, the cutting should be done carefully, gradually moving the jigsaw from one edge of the product to the other. This will eliminate the possibility of plywood breaking in a thin area.

Children's crafts made from plywood with their own hands, photos of which you could also see in this article, are made only in the same way. But in this case, you must remember that the plywood should not have any defects or damage on the surface, as this can lead to injury to the child.

To avoid such problems, it is necessary at the initial stage to purchase high-quality plywood, without any serious damage. And after the craft is finished, all the edges of the workpiece are carefully worked out and cleaned with sandpaper. You should use coarse grain paper first and then move on to fine grain paper to achieve an even and smooth surface.

It is very important, especially if you are working with children's crafts, to choose the right plywood. It should not contain any toxic additives. As a rule, such additives are found in impregnations used to make plywood with a high level of moisture resistance intended for outdoor use.

Decorating the garden with plywood crafts

Those who have at their disposal country cottage area or a private house You will be interested in DIY plywood crafts for the garden. Thanks to the technology described above, you can create not only decorative figures for your home and souvenirs, but also crafts that can decorate your yard or garden.

For the manufacture of such products, the most stable and moisture-resistant plywood is taken. You can use laminated plywood designed for construction work. Or take moisture-resistant plywood and impregnate it with a special antiseptic that can protect it from the harmful effects of environmental conditions.

The fact is that constant exposure to the sun, humidity and temperature changes can ruin the product, which will not last long in such conditions. As protective measure You can also use special paint for wood, which will serve as another protective layer, and at the same time allow you to decorate your figures at your discretion. Bright figures in the yard can emphasize the beauty and individuality of your home, as well as create the necessary atmosphere. With their help you can design a children's playground.

Note! Even in winter time you can decorate your yard interesting crafts and compose entire compositions.

Having mastered all the intricacies of making crafts from plywood, you can decorate your yard and home for every holiday and surprise others with your imagination and skills.

In addition to decorative purposes, plywood crafts can also serve a functional role. For example, you can make a birdhouse and hang it on a tree.

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This article will help readers who want to try their hand at furniture design. We suggest starting experiments with making furniture from plywood. The article provides examples of popular works by famous designers, shows the basics of plywood processing, as well as making a rocking chair with your own hands.

Imagine the interior of your dreams, which reflects your individuality, emphasizes your character traits and status. Modern tendencies In interior design, they mostly lean toward non-mass design items, but rather, designer-made ones. However, there is an opinion that designer furniture has a very high cost and is often simply unavailable.

Factory-made furniture often does not meet individual preferences - it is simple, ordinary and typical, not always different high quality and often quickly loses its original appearance. The “advantages” of factory-made furniture include a rather trivial design. As a result, every apartment with factory furniture is often an example of unattractive urban design. But I want something special and original.

Gothic leather furniture in the best traditions of post-art nouveau, designer Michael Haillard, France

There is a stereotype regarding designer furniture; it is associated with furniture made from expensive solid wood with luxurious leather trim. That’s how it is, but is it necessary to limit creative thought to such strict boundaries, because the author’s work presupposes, first of all, an idea that can be realized using various materials.

It is worth noting that heavy classic furniture has practically left the fashionable furniture Olympus with the exception of the works of several fashion designers, including the luxurious “animal” furniture of Michael Hallard. In turn, minimalism, which has led the furniture TOP, requires a completely different design approach, which also involves other materials for manufacturing.

IN Lately In their search for inexpensive materials for making furniture, designers turned their attention to such simple and familiar plywood. Although plywood has long been used in the manufacture of furniture, various structural models are made on its basis; it is valued for its “ability” for absolutely fantastic transformations with relatively simple technological processing. At the same time, designer furniture made from plywood has a more affordable price than furniture made from solid wood.

Author's coffee table, designer Justin Couch, France

In the world of furniture design, there are famous names of designers who have made a name for themselves by making furniture from plywood. Their works became the prototype of industrial designs, which are deservedly popular among lovers of modernism; there are also samples that are made only by hand.

Designer fantasies in fashionable furniture interpretations

Almost every person is attracted by completely informal furniture solutions from fashionable Western designers. Worldwide author's design is developing in a completely different creative plane than industrial. In this creative space, the idea becomes part of the philosophical vision of the world, and the courage of the designer’s thoughts is elevated to a cult. There are no rules, much less prohibitions. Even functionality fades into the background. The main task of designer furniture is to delight consumers with its informal forms.

Left: Restaurant decoration with plywood, New York. Right: elemental chair bent plywood

Many people wonder what creativity is? In this case, the creative approach only partially conveys the meaning of this quality of artists. Creativity is the ability to rethink reality, to create something that is often understandable only to him. creative idea and embody it, at first glance, in a trivial household item. Only a few original works have become the basis for industrial designs that successfully combine the main characteristics of factory furniture: ergonomics, functionality and technological ease of manufacture. The remaining models have become real examples of modern art.

Left: Floral furniture designs by Shige Hasegawa, Japan.
Right: Sunny plywood ottomans upholstered in dyed fur from Kyle Bunting Furniture & Art

Modern technologies Furniture production has not undergone significant changes in many respects. Furniture is made in almost the same “old-fashioned” way as several centuries ago, and plywood is considered one of the most used furniture materials.

Examples of Dressler brothers furniture, Canada

Simplicity of manufacture, sophistication, minimalism and the peculiar delicacy of plywood furniture samples due to the use of many carved parts fastened together - lamellas - allow you to take a completely different look at the seemingly trivial furniture material.

The modern pioneers of plywood in a new incarnation were the Dresler brothers (Jason and Lars Dressler). To make their elegant minimalist furniture models, they use high-quality birch plywood, which is cut on a special woodworking machine, processing, namely: grinding of elements, subsequent polishing, painting and final assembly, is done manually.

The ease of making lamellas from plywood and the possibility of producing highly decorative furniture models have led to various design experiments. An example is the original work of American designer Justin Couch, who uses contrasting applications made from cut plywood coated with acrylic putty.

Left: designer bench made from plywood slats. Right: Justin Couch coffee table

Justin Couch uses two types of plywood - birch for light parts, walnut for blackened parts, this approach makes painting easier. His furniture is informal, elegant and extraordinary. Justin Couch's portfolio includes both exclusive designer models and products designed for mass production.

To some extent, the path of Justin Couch was repeated by American designer Hilary Wiezbenski, who founded a small company and makes designer furniture from plywood. She started by selling leaf tables. Over time, Hilary began experimenting with bent plywood. Inner admiration is evoked by the original shelf with a “flowing” clock, made entirely by hand from steamed plywood.

Left: Leaf table, designer Hilary Weisbensky, USA. Right: shelf with “dripping” clocks

Plywood is universal, it can be used for making furniture, in interior design and allows you to achieve stunning effects and textures.

Left: Justin Couch's industrial model of a rocking chair.
Right: plywood bedside table by the famous American modernist George Nelson

Author's models of plywood furniture

Most foreign design studios do not supply their products to Russia. Although delivery is possible, it often involves many difficulties. What to do if you want to decorate your home in a non-standard way and have a little free time and desire? The answer is simple, you can try to make furniture with your own hands. This is possible and, it turns out, not so difficult. The technology for processing plywood is quite simple, but we will talk about this later, and now we will pay attention to designer furniture models that you can try to make yourself.

Designer sun lounger for the garden and terrace

The original chaise lounge was created by the design company DesignKoalition. A sun lounger will provide you with maximum relaxation and relaxation. fresh air. The base for the chair is made of plywood with a thickness of 18-21 mm, the guides are rigidly connected to each other by wooden beams or a metal pipe.

University lounge chair SOFT Rock

The University of Massachusetts developed an original chaise longue, which has become a real decoration of the university grounds. The chaise longue is made of flexible plywood, with a LED lights which is powered by solar panels. Interior The chaise lounge, designed for relaxing, reading and studying, has excellent ergonomic characteristics.

Coffee table by Jeffrey Matthias

An interesting and simple table to make was proposed by American designer Jeffrey Matthias from Denver, a specialist in the field of industrial design. On his website you can see his portfolio, which includes drawings of products for making furniture yourself. The main quality of industrial plywood products is the most economical cutting of the plywood sheet, which is exactly how this table was designed. Jeffrey enthusiastically communicates with everyone who wants to reproduce his furniture models and asks to write to him with any questions that arise.

Children's tree table made of plywood

If you want to decorate a child’s room in a non-standard way in the style of “green” design, we recommend reproducing this model of a wooden desk. The table is made of plywood, the edges are treated with a special acrylic putty, which allows you to achieve the effect of plastic. The result is an extraordinary children's desk and chair with a vibrant finish. The table is made of plywood 24 mm thick.

Model of a children's desk in the form of a tree (90x140x75)

Justin Couch Coffee Table

An interesting element in the living room will be the wonderful coffee table by Justin Couch in the modern baroque style. To achieve a similar “varnish” effect, special acrylic putties are used, which make the surface look like plastic.

Dresler brothers chairs

Of course, an exceptional example modern furniture The Dresler brothers' sun loungers are made from plywood. Such products are easy to manufacture; the only difficulty will be in the manufacture of lamellas. However, the result in the form of ready-made armchairs will add a special note of fashion to your interior.

Dresler brothers chair. Assembled from lamellas that are pulled together

Rocking chair by Toby Howes

Toby Hoves is a well-known furniture designer in Britain, his designs are distinguished by sophisticated elegance. They are excellent examples of contemporary furniture modernism. His portfolio includes a rocking chair made of bent plywood. Many craftsmen find it difficult to replicate such a chair. It is obvious that the plywood in this case is processed by hand.

Plywood table by Erwin Zwiers

The tabletop in this model is unique. It is made using twisted sheets of thin flexible plywood from tropical wood. Agree - the table is non-trivial and easy to make.

The success of the bench-chair is associated primarily with its exquisite ergonomic shape. Such chairs become an element of children's rooms, public premises and ultra-modern living rooms. For manufacturing, lamellas are cut out and rigidly fastened together. The result is a stable and lightweight structure.

Chair-bench DieFabric. Drawing of slats for a chair

The legendary Asterisks watch by George Nelson

It is impossible to ignore the masterpieces of the famous American modernist George Nelson. Asterisks watches are especially popular among its models. Like everything ingenious, they are easy to make and can become part of your interior if you make them yourself from thick plywood, cover them with acrylic putty and, for example, yellow paint.

Technology for making furniture from plywood

Plywood is widely used in the furniture industry; it is used for the manufacture of structural and decorative details. Plywood boards are distinguished by high strength and elasticity, which allows them to be used in various furniture structures, which as a result also have low weight.

Plywood grades and safety of use

You can find several types of plywood on sale, the most common in our region is birch plywood; other varieties can be imported from other countries. In general, plywood is divided into 5 grades, and sanded and unsanded plywood are also distinguished:

1. FOF is a moisture-resistant laminated plywood, covered with a special layer of PVC film to provide additional moisture resistance.
2. FSF is a moisture-resistant non-laminated plywood, usually birch, that is exceptionally waterproof. This is plywood with a wide range of applications, it is also used as a furniture material; phenol-formaldehyde glue is used for its production.
3. FC is birch plywood produced using urea-formaldehyde resin.
4. FBS - bakelite plywood, also called “marine” or “Finnish” plywood. This plywood is coated with bakelite varnish, which gives it special physical and chemical properties. Bakelite plywood does not change its performance under the influence of hot climates, moisture and sea water.

Regarding the safety of using plywood in furniture production There have been debates for a long time. For example, FSF plywood is made using resins with phenolic compounds, while FC uses urea (ammonia). According to GOST, only formaldehyde content is regulated. The question arises, what is the emission of formaldehyde and what level is safe? FSF plywood has lower emissions, which means it is safer.

All Russian plywood factories have an E1 safety certificate; plywood that meets the E0 certificate is available on the market; some factories are also certified to the “safer” CARB 1 and CARB 2 standards.

From the point of view of furniture safety, it is better to avoid Chinese plywood and opt for Finnish manufacturers who strictly comply with the requirements of the standards, and Finnish resins contain a minimum of formaldehyde. When choosing plywood for a nursery, you should also avoid laminated products that contain a high level of formaldehyde. Experience shows that the issue of environmental quality of plywood from various manufacturers is quite controversial.

The cost of plywood can vary depending on the type, manufacturer, and wood species used for its production.

Marine grade mahogany plywood. Marine plywood made from gaboon tree veneer (Acuomea Kleinea), native to the Congo, can be sourced from factories in Holland, Italy, Greece, France, Israel and the USA. A variety of this type of plywood is plywood made from the veneer of the Shorea tree, native to the Philippines, such plywood is more common under the names "meranti" and "luan", commercial grades "yellow luan", "white luan", "red luan" are also available. and "red meranti". Typically this plywood comes in a thickness of at least 6.2mm, and the okume grade can be found in thinner sheets. The sheet size often does not exceed 1.22x2.44 m.

Plywood made of birch, cedar, beech, pine. As a rule, this is plywood with a wide range of applications, made from available wood in the country of origin. It is this kind of plywood that is most often used for making furniture; plywood with a beautiful decorative coating is especially valued. Good stuff Russian plywood is used for making furniture; in many cases it is not inferior to foreign analogues.

Birch plywood

Flexible tropical wood plywood. This is an excellent option for making bent parts. Flexible plywood made from ceiba wood is highly valued, as well as keruing and wiga. During the production of flexible plywood, special qualities are given to it; any parts will have structural strength and will be self-supporting. This plywood was created specifically for design purposes. Ultra-light plywood has also been developed from ceiba and sumaum wood, which is almost 2 times lighter than its analogues. Tropical plywood is highly decorative; when coated with stain, its texture can be comparable to Wenge veneer, which is the most popular in furniture design.

Laminated plywood. This is a type of plywood that has surface layer laminate For furniture production, laminated plywood with various finishing colors is used.

Plywood processing

Making furniture from plywood does not require significant vocational training. Some furniture samples can be made using a jigsaw, router and drill; more complex parts can be cut on a CNC woodworking machine. Bent parts will be difficult to manufacture.

There are several ways to produce bent parts. The first method is to steam the plywood blank. This applies to traditional types of plywood, which do not bend. In the simplest case plywood blank placed in a hot bath, where it is kept for about 30 minutes; while hot, the workpiece must be fixed on the mold and left for 5-7 days. This method requires careful bending.

Method for manufacturing a curved blank

You can make a bent blank from several thin sheets of plywood and give it the desired shape. In this case, flexible plywood made from tropical wood is used. To fix the mold, epoxy glue is used, which is applied on both sides of the workpiece. The glue is absorbed into upper layer plywood, polymerizes and then retains the given shape of the furniture part. Gluing plywood is done using ordinary carpentry glues - bone and flesh glue; casein glue is not used, as it leaves streaks. You can use glue made from synthetic resins.

Decorative ideas for plywood furniture

The shape of the furniture is not always self-sufficient; the design also involves a color scheme. In some cases, shape and color are dominant, such as in the Dresler brothers' chairs. British designer Erwin Zweers emphasizes the natural beauty of wood, and Justin Couch completely covers the wood texture with paint.

When making designer furniture, you can pay special attention, first of all, to painting the furniture using the decoupage technique. Here are several options for decorating furniture using this technique.

A wonderful pale pink plywood cabinet will add a unique flair to a young girl’s room. At first glance, the exaggeratedly simplified shapes of the cabinet are complemented by bright color scheme, which distinguishes this model from trivial industrial solutions.

Looking at this cabinet, you unquestioningly agree that the author’s design creates a special world around its owner. Used for coloring latex paints and varnish.

The plywood bureau, decorated in a botanical style using the decoupage technique, is very original. A whole series of furniture designed by the Martha Stewart Living design studio is made in this style. Floral motifs look very harmonious, and decorating furniture in this style is quite simple - the base is covered with primer, then a blank with a pattern is glued, and then varnished.

Martha Stewart Living Design Furniture Series

A luxury mahogany cabinet cabinet can be made from meranti plywood. Light areas are decorated using decoupage technique.

Wardrobe FLORA by Joseph Frank Design

Instructions for making your own rocking chair

You can make furniture yourself, and it’s even easier to find a use for it. Even a not entirely successful first copy will decorate the interior of a dacha or terrace; in addition, some shortcomings can be hidden by painting or using textile decor. You can start your first experiments by making a rocking chair; it turns out it’s quite simple.

To make such a chair you will need desire, a little skill, affordable woodworking tools and plywood measuring 1520x800 mm and thickness 4, 10 and 15 mm.

At the first stage, the patterns of the chair parts are drawn. The pattern can be made by transferring the drawing onto cardboard with a cell size on a scale grid of 100x100 mm.

The drawing of the part is transferred to plywood and cut out with a router. It is necessary to arrange the parts in such a way as to perform the most economical cutting. For production you will need 3 sheets of plywood 15 mm thick. At the fastening points, holes are made for screws.

All cut parts are carefully carefully sanded and sanded with sandpapers of various grain sizes, only then the product is assembled. Typically, priming and painting are done disassembled. If it is necessary to check the functionality, the chair is pre-assembled.

The back of the chair and the seat are assembled from plywood strips, which are glued onto thin plywood 4 mm thick (parts 10-11). This results in a flexible backrest design. Parts 4-7, 8 and 9 are made from three sheets of plywood. Technologically, we recommend gluing together three sheets of plywood and only then cutting out the part.

Table. List of parts and materials

A little effort and you can show off your chair self-made, perhaps this will be just the beginning, and you will have a new hobby that will also save your family budget. The simplicity of making furniture from plywood is truly surprising; it can also be achieved by women, who are always able to create something special from simple and uncomplicated things.

The variety of furniture options that can be made from plywood causes slight admiration for any person who does not even plan to engage in self-production furniture. Indeed, plywood is an excellent design material that not only professional cabinetmakers can work with. Making furniture with your own hands is available to almost every person who wants to try their hand at furniture design. Moreover, you can use the “tips” of fashionable furniture designers working with plywood, or create something of your own.

Plywood is a universal material that is usually used in furniture production and private construction.

With a little skill and creative imagination, with the help of this building material you can make children's toys, decorative crafts for your personal plot, and small household items. It is noteworthy that this does not require special skills or knowledge.

Let's see what interesting plywood products you can make with your own hands, having a little free time and patience.

Why plywood

The choice in favor of plywood was not made by chance. Unlike simple wood, this material has the following advantages:

• strength . The structure of the sheet is multilayer, which ensures a certain rigidity and resistance to deformation;
• availability . Available in any hardware store and sold in an affordable price segment;
• ease of processing. Cutting crafts does not always require a power tool; you can get by with an ordinary jigsaw;
• safety . The material is environmentally friendly, so you can even make toys from it without fear that your child will develop an allergy.

Plywood initially has a smooth surface, so it does not need additional.

Products are divided into grades, which differ not only in cost, but also in quality. For crafts, they usually use sheets of the 1st and 2nd grades, which do not have veneer delamination, chips and other defects. If the decorative decoration is intended to be used in the garden, it makes sense to give preference to moisture-resistant plywood.

Figurines for the garden

DIY plywood crafts for the garden are the most practical and inexpensive way to decorate your garden plot. Here you can fully realize your creative potential by making your garden or flower bed more original and interesting.

Select a template

The key feature of plywood is its versatility. From flat sheet You can cut out almost any figure using a template. A cat climbing over a fence at the dacha, holding a piece of sausage in its teeth; a curious man watching his neighbors through binoculars; a herd of reindeer grazing in a flower bed. There are a lot of options, and crafts can be flat or voluminous.

It is better for inexperienced craftsmen to start with simple flat figures, which are made in 1.5-2 hours, maximum in a day.

As a sketch, you can use the ideas of other masters, look at the design options for your personal plot on the Internet, or create your own funny drawing. It is better to draw the template on tracing paper or graph paper, and then carefully transfer it to the plane of the plywood sheet. A good option is to create an image in Microsoft Power Point.

Make a high-quality sketch for plywood crafts Using this application you can do the following:

• transfer your favorite drawing to the working window of the program;
• go to the scaling section and set the aspect ratio based on the size of the existing sheet of plywood;
• break the finished drawing into fragments;
• print them one by one on the printer.

After this, the individual fragments of the picture are glued into one sheet, the template is carefully cut out along the contour, applied to the plywood and traced with a simple pencil. This operation takes no more than half an hour, but this technique allows you to create effective templates, even without artistic abilities.

Manufacturing technology

After drawing the sketch on a plywood sheet, the figure needs to be cut out.

For thin sheets of plywood, a regular jigsaw is suitable; thicker material can be cut faster with an electric tool.

The cut should not be made strictly along the contour, but leaving a margin of about 1 millimeter. This is a common precaution so that the canvas does not accidentally move to the side and ruin the template. If the decorative decoration involves through cuts, the starting groove is drilled with a drill, after which a jigsaw file is passed through the resulting hole.

After completion of the work, the remaining irregularities are removed with a fine file or sandpaper.

Finishing

Of course, even the most original figurine requires at least painting to become brighter and more interesting.

Before applying the design, the entire surface that is supposed to be painted must be treated with fine-grained sandpaper, making the plywood a little rough. This will ensure better adhesion of wood to paint and varnish materials. Then you need to remove any wood dust remaining after treatment and degrease the surface with a solvent.

If the template is multi-colored, it is recommended to mark the demarcation lines with masking tape. It is better to paint fragments of such crafts separately to avoid accidental mixing of colors.

The paint is applied in multiple layers, with each subsequent layer applied only after the previous one has completely dried. This painting scheme will make the design more durable: the paint will not fade in the sun or peel off after rain.

At the final stage finished surface can be varnished to make the figurine more resistant to the environment. The varnish is applied according to a similar scheme: a multi-layer texture with the obligatory drying of each layer.

Note! If the figurines are removed from the garden in winter period, you will have to renew the paint approximately every 3-4 years.

To increase the moisture resistance of the design, it is recommended to choose acrylic paints for outdoor use. Materials for facade work are more resistant to ultraviolet radiation and moisture and reliably protect wood.

Volumetric figures made of plywood

beautiful, volumetric crafts in 3D format you can easily make it yourself. In general, such products are manufactured similarly to the scheme given above. The only caveat: the figure will consist of several elements.

For example, if we are talking about a rooster, which will serve as a good decorative decoration for the lawn, then the three-dimensional figurine will consist of the following parts:

• body, including head and tail;
• two wings: one on each side;
• a pair of paws.

Each element is cut out separately according to the drawn up sketch. After which the figure is assembled into a single whole using glue or decorative nails. Using a similar scheme, you can make any animal (cat, dog, bear), mushroom, gnome, lantern and much more. Souvenirs are also cut out small sizes, which are installed on a shelf.

Children's toys made of plywood

Almost any children's toy can be made from plywood. For the little ones, pyramids or mobiles that hang above the baby’s crib are suitable. For example, you can make a pendant of multi-colored stars, which are attached to a fishing line and rotate slowly, evoking pleasant dreams.

For older children, various cars, tanks, airplanes, and puzzles are suitable. It is noteworthy that you can involve a child in the creation of each toy, which will not only allow you to have fun, but also teach the boy how to use the instrument.

Girls will not be left out either. You can cut it out of plywood Dollhouse and make all the interior furnishings: beds, chairs, dishes. The appearance of crafts for children made from plywood is much more interesting than that of factory toys, because they are made with soul. They can be given for a birthday, and it will be a very unusual and pleasant gift.

Such compositions do not contain toxic substances, therefore, they will not create health problems, even if the child puts the toy he likes into his mouth.

Setting up the kitchen

Taking into account the specifics of the application, kitchen crafts are made from dense, water-resistant plywood.

This material is not afraid of moisture and steam, so it can last for several years. Plywood is usually used to make carved shelves, boxes for storing spices and other necessary small items, cutting boards, hooks for potholders, and souvenir refrigerator magnets.

If there certain experience, you can assemble an entire kitchen set with your own hands, which will not differ from the products of furniture factories. To do this, use thick sheets of plywood, a jigsaw or a hacksaw. And of course, you need to have some free time and desire.