im making a pen box for a friend in Germany. i want to style it after this house:
http://www.hewittandhewitt.com/Online%20Ga...an_House_fs.jpg
but ive got no idea how to go about designing it. has anyone seen something like this done before or have tips?

Well, you could go with the style, and make something like a box with a solid color for the sides, with binding on the edges in the same style as the house, and do the top of the box to match the shingles...or the windows if you want to do it as a display box.

What color is the house?

Were you thinking a small model of the house, or just something in the same design theme?

- George

more like the theme of the walls, and just as a rectangular box
edit to note that it will be holding a set of dip pens and related items, and i want it to look quaint/traditional. my thought was to do all four side with the design of the walls of the house.

What a cute house. I want to move in...

The way i personally would go about doing this would be making a box first at the dimensions that you need, then use a router (i have access to a cnc router which would be best, but a table router or a hand router with a square should be fine) to carve out grooves in the surface. I would then take strips of a darker colored wood, maybe walnut, or maybe an exotic, and i'd inlay them into the grooves. If you want the box to take on even the surface textures of the house, I would make the wood inlays stick out a bit from the surface, then use a white plaster or stucco to infill the white areas.

Btw, the style of architecture is Half Timber Framing. It was popular in germany, but it also exists in other parts of europe and also in the US and called Tudor Style Houses.

thank you, thats almost exactly what i was thinking, but better.
also, my dads an architect, so i im familiar with the style

How about marquetry instead of inlaying the timber in a ground?

The box could be a relatively stable MDF ground, lined with mahogany veneer.
The outside could be from Boxwood with black stained inserts or some dark timber depending on the actual colour of your penfriend's house. Personally, I'd use holly as I have a supply growing in my garden, and the timber can be dried to go black or white depending on the conditions of drying.

Doing the surface by marquetry means it can all be done in the comfort of a living room rather than the workshop, and you can work on it with a sharp knife rather than potentially wild power tools. Also, it'll be easier to get the curvy shapes of the diagonal braces.

Veneers are actually very easy to deal with - there is a lot of mystique about it, but if you just remember you're making a thin layer of wood that must be stuck down onto a stable base, you can't go wrong. I've always avoided the 'heat activated' adhesive films, and just use PVA wood glue like I would when making a bit of furniture. It worked brilliantly on the Victorian style writing slope I made..

Regards

Richard.

Sounds very interesting - have you posted photos anywhere?

No, sorry.
I never took photos of it. I did it about 15 years ago, and it's currently buried in the loft somewhere. My wife wanted the slope, used it once and decided it was easier to use a table. I got quite huffy about her reaction for a while, but did enjoy making it.

Regards

Richard.