Simple Headphones Stand - Balloon Shape

This is the third project for the up coming charity auction. Thought I would keep it simple this time with a headphone stand in the shape of the Birmingham Children's Hospital logo which is a red balloon.

I have a video going through the build process here:

Materials Used:

• American Black Walnut
• 18mm Plywood
• Red Acrylic Paint
• 8mm Wooden Dowel
• Black Felt Baize
• Spray Adhesive
• Gloss Spray Lacquer
• Self Adhesive Paper
• Painters Tape

Tools Used:

• Drill
• Jigsaw
• Mitre Saw
• File
• Sandpaper
• Scissors
• Paint Brush

I printed the Balloon shape I wanted onto to some self adhesive paper. With it stuck onto the walnut I could use it as a guide to cut to.

To be able to cut the interior of the shape I drilled a couple of holes so I could then use the jigsaw to cut inside. I cut close to the line but I didn't take the line. Drifting a little isnt too much to worry about as its quite easy to file and sand the shape later. I also used the jigsaw to cut the exterior of the shape too.

With the shape cut out, it was time to even out the curves and sand it all nice and smooth. The file really helped to even out where I had drifted from the lines.

Because where the balloon would attach to the base wasn't a very large surface area, I decided to add a wooden dowel to add more strength. So I drilled an 8mm hole into the bottom of the balloon shape to receive the dowel.

The charity builds have followed a theme of using walnut and exposed plywood so I kept that theme going with this project. The base is a simple rectangle of 18mm plywood. I cut it to length at the mitre saw and then drilled an 8mm hole to also receive the dowel.

The next step is to paint the inside of the balloon shape red. Now I no painting a hardwood such as walnut is really a sin but I felt it needed a burst of colour to really make the piece stand out. So I gave the inside 3 coats of red acrylic paint. I hope you'll agree that the red actually helps to make the grain stand out. If you'll forgive the balloon pun, I think it make it POP!

Once the paint was dry I could glue up the pieces. The dowel made it easy to position the pieces and added a lot of strength. Some painters tape really helped to hold the pieces together while the glue dried.

When the glue was dry I gave the headphone stand 4 coats of spray lacquer. Sanding between each coat gave a really nice, smooth finish.

The bottom of the stand didn't get any lacquer as I wanted add some felt baize underneath. I cut a rectangle slightly bigger than the base, sprayed on the spray adhesive and then attached it to the base of the headphone stand.

After leaving it to dry I came back and cut it flush using a pair of scissors. First removing the bulk, then using the edge of the plywood as a guide to cut the felt flush.

These are some images of the finished piece. I really hope you like it and I hope you have been inspired to give it a go for yourself.