Blind making the blinds

[Jeff]

Tammy wanted to put some shades up in the little cabin out back on the windows and after pricing them we decided we would take a stab at making them.  We have started the first one and this is what we have done so far.

The first picture is what we are using for slats. Its some cedar glue-up planking. Real light stuff and good and stable.



cutting everything to exact length





We need slots for the draw strings and they needed to be positioned exact so we did it with our dremel with its router head and a spiral bit.  We used the wall and a piece of wood for a side stop and the side guide on the dremel for distance from the end of the slat.  We would plunge cut the hole in the center and cut to the wall, then flip the slat over and re-enter the hole and cut to the wall again, then we would flip the slat end for end and repeat the process. It will take 10 slats for each window.





Yep, all the slits in the boards line up good! Hurray~!



Here Tammy holds the string for the project. Its kinda white so we will dye it. Tammy is being camera shy. I wont comment further on that... ;D



So, since the String for rigging the blinds is so white, this is what we are doing, no, that ain't spaghetti. :D    We dyed the string with black coffee.  Its drying now so thats where we are so far. 

[james]

coffee works great so do tea(dats what some friends use who do a lot of macrame
james

[Furby]

Hi Furby.... I mean Tammy! ;)

[mike_van]

Walnut hulls make good brown stain too - Blind making the blinds wouldn't  be you Jeff?  I mean thats gotta be the reason  you run that chopsaw with no glasses? I don't want to sound like i'm preaching  :-[   But i've had an eyelid & eyeball with stiches in them - you have no idea how precious an eye is 'till you almost lose it. 

[Jeff]

Thats good advice. Generally I do, but the truth is that photo was staged. ;D  We decided to document what we were doing after we started and Tammy actually did the cutting. She has glasses.

[PineNut]

I have one set of safety glasses I keep as a reminder.  It has a chip right in the center. Seems I hit a piece of metal while sawing and it came dead center for my eye. The safety glasses saved the day for me.

[Jeff]

This picture now shows the blind with its up and down strings threaded through the slots we cut with the dremel.




Here is Tammy sewing up the "Ladder"  that becomes the device for opening and closing the shades.  The string we are using is a cotton sheathed polyester. We can dye the outer layer, then melt the ends to keep it from fraying. We cut the ladder pieces all to size as you see to the left of the photo. We marked the one side every 3 and 5/8s inches and Tammy is sewing each "rung" on by hand. She said she didnt want to get her machine out and she can watch T.V. as she works. go figure.  Once she has one side done, she will sew on the other Ladder rail. After two ladders are completed, one for each side of the shade, when the rails of the string ladder are pulled on either side, the slats SHOULD open and close or the main draw strings can be pulled to lift the shade or lowe it.

[RavioliKid]

Boy, I can't wait to see how those turn out!
You guys sure are ingenious!  8)

[pigman]

..... the truth is that photo was staged. ;D 

Stage a photo. I am shocked.   I would never think of doing such a thing. Well, maybe just a little bit of staging for clarity purposes only. ;D

Bob

[Larry]

I'm ashamed...our leader supporting the big box stores. ;D  Well maybe I'm jealous...been sawing blind slats for a new church for the last two days...till I broke the table saw.

Always wondered how a guy could make them so they go up and down.  We make em with a stick in the middle so you can open and close but you can't raise or lower them.

[Jeff]

Larry, I would rather saw them myself, honest, but I only have the mill and no other wood working tools other then a few hand tools, plus no kiln but I do have several other lame excuses.  I am going with wood is good no matter where it comes from and at least we didnt buy cheap vinyl mini blinds. 

[beenthere]

Larry
Jeff's workin on getting a new sponsor.....go easy on him..

That's a neat project....and I'm impressed with your ambition and ingenuity.

There used to be a lot of basswood going into blinds, but it was a nightmare for a company following up on all the recalls. Blinds go into the worst place possible for wood -- windows with the hot sun shining to bake one surface real dry while the room-side is higher humidity and cooler temps. Hard to keep wood from curling warping, so the recall game would begin.

[Larry]

Perfect timing bt :D...just finished up my blind slat order.

Actually I bid making them also, but was twice the price of guy that got the job.  Still got to supply the slats, so maybe I'll miss any fall out.

[logwalker]

How are the blinds coming so far. I am on the edge of my chair in anticipation.  ???

[Jeff]

Our seamstress went to work and aint finished the sewing. We messed with them a bit tonight but not a lot to post yet. :D

[SwampDonkey]

Good winter project.  ;D

[Jason]

So I just found this random picture of the blinds you and your wife made 2 years ago and I'm dying to know how they turned out. Did they get finished, and how do they work?

[Jeff]

To the point, utter failure. Basically the cord was to stiff and heavy. Needed something closer to string. Tammy ended up making some simple curtains which worked just fine.