Library room box, part 3

I ended the previous post with a cliffhanger: how would I manage to attach the box to the cover? When I published the post, I genuinely didn't know. I was not confident that simply gluing on the box to the back cover would work, but I wanted to try, and if not, I would have to think of ways of solving the problem. So I glued on the box and filled it with the heaviest objects I have at hand: hardback Russian novels. I left the assembly overnight and allowed myself a short moment in the morning, before work, just to have a quick glance.

Did it work? Did it work? It did! Three cheers for PVA glue.

One issue that I had anticipated was, as you may remember, that the box is slightly smaller than the cover, so when I opened the cover, it tilted. But I was prepared for it and added two beads for support.

The next problem to solve is how to fix the left-hand corner. I don't want to glue the left side of the box to the spine because, as I learned in my book-binding courses, spines are never glued to signatures (which is the fancy word for the paper sections of the book). The cover would normally be attached to endpapers, but I only have half of the front endpaper so somehow I need to connect the front edge of the spine with the left-hand front edge of the box. I have an idea, but need time to test it, so it will probably be next weekend since I have a very busy week. When I have done this, the shell will be finished, and the real fun can start.

I have put some random furniture into the box, just to have a feeling.

 
Most of my miniatures are in storage at the moment so I have nothing that suits the environment. The books are too large for the shelf (or the shelf too small for the books), but at least it gives you an idea of what it might look like. In a library there must be bookcases, filing cabinets, a table, library steps, maybe maps on the walls, a tall-case clock, a globe, and perhaps a magnificent chandelier? (Oh where are all my supplies! I know exactly what would fit in perfectly, packed in a storage box millions of miles away). And books. Many, many books, and some will be fake and some will be real, with opening pages; and some will have secret messages for those paying attention. I am not in a hurry, I still have several months to play with this project.

I will also have display lights.

But so far, I am very happy that my design for the shell worked, and I am looking forward to working further on this room box. Come back soon!