WW1 Replica Coffin build, DISPLAY COMPLETED.

Awoo, thanks for the advice.

The plan is to age it a bit with tea, mud, tyre tracks etc.

Today I took the box apart, the reduced the height and length..... serious PITA. But now done.

It is not really what I had envisaged, but once the rest of the decoration is added, like Union Jack, Bible, some clothes etc.

The base was left on, as the shop has a 400mm high window sill. And once decorated that space will be filled up.



Shorter, and less height.



Woodwork side done.



Keep in mind, most of the casualties in the war were buried at a maximum in a blanket or some canvas, wood was in very short supply.

Now the next step is to "age and decorate" the wood.

Had a quick search for such things,
and mostly yes looked like the one you have made
guess some shaving of the corners - to make it more Ad Hoc and aging it some and making gaps,
panels of wood not quite fitting, maybe having bits at irregular angles, rather like spare bits of broken planks
blow torching like an above squire said would be good
but I think your on the right track good buddy

Morning mate

Just about off to bootfair to look for more treasures.

The majority of men would have got blanket/canvas or nothing when buried.

Fred is absolutely right that is would have been a mess, but for the purpose of this commemoration display, it will be more "clean and nice"
So the gaps in my box and rough cut wood will have to do.

Thanks to Sumprat who sent this mess tin, which will be aged a lot and distressed with the help of a candle and possibly some contact glue to make it look used and grubby.



Nicola suffers from insomnia and found 10 sandbags on Ebay (I assume) at 03.00 this morning.
So she will collect all the shredding at work to fill them and use as part of the display.

My plan to get some rusty barbed wire from the local farmer crashed and burned, as all the barbed wire, even on their scrap metal pile was galvanized, so the search continues.

Took the box down to the shop this afternoon after work and helped Nicola do the basic set up.

Some fine tuning to be done.



Outside view..... (yes, the building needs a load o attention)

Size of display is limited by the size of the building and reception area.



Sister in Law Margaret sat and crocheted 60 poppies as well to help with the decoration.




Some finer details to be added, but I am pleased and impressed with how it has turned out.

I suspect some of the branches will not make the same effort, and wait to see what others have done.

"LEST WE FORGET"


Thank you to everyone who commented and helped with advice and additions to the display.

Unfortunately, barbed wire and other "dangerous" objects were banned, in case someone hurts themselves.

Thank you for taking the time to write up a reply.

I think a lot of people today have forgotten or do not understand the meaning of all this. Despite war being a terrible thing, we need to remember and respect those who made any sacrifice.

Thank you.

Seems most people get it. One "lovely chap" on UKGSER did not get it. And managed to stall the thread with a hugely negative reply. But eveywhere else people appreciate it.

Whats nice is that Nicola's manager shared it with her regional manager who shared it with the zonal manager and they all were blown away that she made the effort.
She was also approached by "Funeral Service Times" an industry publication for August to write up a short article and submit photos to go with it. She was shocked but I was really pleased that someone saw fit to escalate her efforts.

Too many people these days are too lazy and cannot be arsed to make an effort.
Its always easier to break down than build up or go the extra mile.

Thanks for all the support.

Thats great mate, glad to see folk are giving you and your love
the credit your effort deserves - post some pics up of the articles if you get them

Thank you so much guys.

Gurnersimps1963, thank you for keeping the memories alive in your home too.


During September Nicola will be doing "Coffee Mornings" at work to help generate funds for www.macmillan.org.uk which is a cancer support charity her company supports.
Last year the made a few hundred pounds, this year she is alone managing the branch on her own.

We have decided on a logo for her drive TIME TO GIVE .... ? which could be asking for time or for a donation toward this worthy charity.

With the time theme, we started looking for various clocks and timepieces at the bootfair today.
We set the ideal limit at 50p with £1.00 being the maximum to spend on a clock. These do not have to be working.

I suggested we suspend many of them from thin fishing line in the front window and do some other creative window dressing.

These were the first lot, The large wooden clock was free from a trader, I brought it home, dismantled, cleaned and gave it a coat of Danish oil to make it look good. The very large round one next to it was free from the same trader and I needed to backfill quite a lot of the glass with paint where it was damaged.



We need to find quite a lot more clocks to get the theme all ready and set up, bit will keep looking at the bootfairs.