All About the Cube Cubby

This is sort of a “making of” post on the process that went into creating the Cube Cubby. As simple the bookcase/storage unit seems, it took about a year to figure it out, only because I was testing a variety of methods to make them in the level of detail I wanted under a certain cost to make them.

I didn’t specifically take pictures to highlight the process of developing the cubbies since it was sort of an afterthought because I was focused primarily on the RC bookcase (which will be retired soon, more on that in another post) at the time.

But you can see a few clues on the cubby when I wrote about the making of the RC bookcase last year. The first draft of the cubby plans can be seen on the right. 😉

I wanted the cubbies to be relatively easy to make and scalable. In a sense it was. But as usual, the thing that held me back was the painting and sanding process.

Sure, I could have simply sanded once between 2 coats of paint and called it a day, but I wanted a certain level of detail in the cubes which would not have been easily done with just the bare minimum effort in finishing.

I know cubes do not have much “detail,” but when I say detail, I really mean the sharpness of the corners and angles. The sharper the corners, the more realistic it looks in small scale. Getting that is not an easy process (especially with fuzzy softwoods) and involves more than 10 passes of painting and sanding (I had lost count) to get to the silky smooth and even finish I wanted.

And though I made what looks like a bazillion little cubes, I definitely did not want to prototype with them after the time I spent finishing them.

So here we are, resin casting them to play with!

Remember the old post on the mold making process? The original molded cubes were not so lucky as the bookcase. They had to be completely destroyed in order to be removed to have a working mold. I took some pictures of the cubes smashed to bits, but have no idea where they are. I guess it’s a good thing. We don’t want to open up old wounds, now do we? 🙁

As for the casting process of cubes. Let’s just say it was interesting… I learned a few things along the way about mold making too. I should have made the cubes into a two part mold to make the removal process easier. I also learned how to properly pour the resin to avoid trapping air space in the resin! Doh!

There were a few prototypes of the cubbies that went on sale in my Etsy shop or were given away as gifts and can be seen in the wild.

In the end, I stuck with the “easiest” design since it is the easiest to scale in terms of assembly.

The picture above is proof of stupidity on my part. Can you guess how? LOL

I would like to create a kit of some sort with scroll saw plans or dimensions for the fancier leg configurations for the DIYer, but that won’t be until sometime in the future.. or unless I get a bunch of emails demanding them 😉

I also am planning to get some black resin to start making the cubbies in black too.. soon!

Last pic of the Cube Cubby. I just love the simplicity of it!

White Resin Cube Cubby now for sale in my Etsy Shop!