Hi there.

This photo shows a styrofoam form to which is being glued thin wooden strips of veneer.

(Imageshack tells me this link will work. If not, try this one:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/163/sspx0134.jpg/
)

The wood veneer will be stained, and the interior will be covered in velvet. The edges will be trimmed in, perhaps, scrap aluminum. Something cheap. In the end, I would like it to look both: Older than it is AND heavier than it is.

The intent is to make it look something like a hard shelled instrument case.

So, I had a lot of fun scraping away the styrofoam, and making sure the wine glass fit. Then, a friend was kind enough to donate some GREY VELVET which will line the interior.

~Nick

Right away I should add that this is in no way a magical prop, it will be merely a magical looking carrying case.

And now, here I have taken a photograph of the veneer on the outside, with one layer of varnish.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Well, this turned out just awful:

The original idea was to make it a hinged box, and use strips of metal at the corners to make it look like an old fashioned trunk. But it just looks and feels terrible.


....

LUCKILY, I found something which I am going to use, but which isn't in any way a project! Isn't that funny? Picked up this little suitcase at a Marshal Fields Home Goods store:

I'm going to attempt the same velvet over styrofoam procedure, but this time its going to be able to hold an egg, an egg cup, as well as a benson bowl and the wine glass.

Cheers!

Trying to get velvet to conform to the shape of the wine glass hollow in the styrofoam is going to be a near impossible task, like trying to get a blanket to conform nicely to the inside of a bucket. I would suggest flocking the interior of your box, or rather the styrofoam insert you plan to add.

Carve the rigid styrofoam, and use a Dremel sanding disc to get the surface as smooth as possible. Fill all voids with latex caulk, smoothed with wet fingers, and/or a paint spatula. Use a spray glue designed for foam (some adhesives will eat styrofoam). Apply the flock to the wet glue and proceed according to directions that come with the flock.

You can find sources for flocking kits online.

Cool old boxes can be found at Hobby Lobby and if you time it right, they are quite often 50% off.

This might help:

http://www.therpf.com/f9/lining-display-box-velvet-26692/

I have seen this done with velvet and it looked very nice, but I have never done it myself.

I just read through this and this will work, however the tutorial explains lining with felt, not velvet. Felt will work because it has the ability to stretch and distort to conform to the shape of the hollowed area. When felt is distorted like this, it actually changes shape permanently because the fibers are getting broken and pulled apart. The fabric remains intact, but gets thinner. It continues to looks the same on the surface, because it it the same all the way through.

I've used felt to line the interior of a case for billiard balls, and for the hollows of a billiard ball stand. The tighter the curves, the more patience it takes to form the felt to them, but it can be done.

Velvet is a woven fabric. Getting the same kind of distortion to conform to a shape, I think would be pretty difficult to do.

There is however, a stretch velvet that may work, assuming the hollow does not exceed the stretch limits. The difficulty would be to find and use an aggressive adhesive that grabs and holds. It would constantly be fighting the velvet's natural desire to snap back.

Anything's worth a try, though! Glad you found that link! Thanks!

Flocking is the best bet.. just make sure you paint the surface the color of the flocking you want before you flock it.

Van dkyes taxidermy sells colored flocking glue.. and flocking kits.

I think you'd be surprised how durable and wonderful flocking is!!

but.. you have to make sure the surface is nearly perfect, flocking is not a patch, and imprefections will show through much more than a fabric coating.

Brilliant.

All of your comments are very much appreciated. These are wonderful ideas.

Oil base paint the color of of the flocking works just fine for me. Spray paint wont work at all. I flock a lot of metal surfaces so I'm not sure what the paint will do on the styrofoam. Might want to test it on a scrap piece.