Behold! A handmade vintage inspired amp toybox. It holds all the odds
and ends musical stuff for the kids. Tambourines, shakers, xylophones,
etc. A musical toybox.
The switch really clicks on and off. The simple wooden knobs turn. If you plug in an air guitar? It goes to eleven.
It kind of makes the others look dull, no?
Welcome to the amp family, little toybox!
Notice his cool amp & guitar shirt by TypsyGypsyTees. I totally didn't plan that. Or something.
Even the baby can't resist cranking it.
Getting just the right sound.
Works with a ukulele too!
So this is how it happened. I'm a toymaker, I'm crafty and I make stuff. In my (almost) four year old's mind this means that anything he dreams up I can make for him. And he is mostly right - with the exception of the doughnut machine that he really, really wants for his birthday. Sorry, kid, you are on your own with that one. So he told me he wanted an amp. A wooden one. A pretend one. And orange of course, as his favorite color is orange. I thought about making a little wee one, much like these retro TV ornaments I made once upon a time, but ultimately decided that turning it into a toybox to store all our music related stuff would be better.
(and then to make it weirder, just two days later Emily commented on this post that she had a dream about making wooden toy amps so she gets credit for making me more motivated to make the darn thing...that and if I do ever make wee ones like she dreamt about I'm going to send her one. I think they'd make great ornaments, just like the TVs, don't you?)
The boy helped with every single step. He was completely part of the design process in terms of size, how many knobs, color, etc. It was fun "working" with him.
We did a no nails construction. Used wooden dowels, holes and glue. This thing is heavy and sturdy!
Painting. I did the woodburning myself though. Although he begged to help with that part I just know he isn't ready. Too hot. Too dangerous.
All the hardware is courtesy of the 92 year old engineer we bought the house from, who left his entire life's supply of virtually everything in the garage for us. Even the red jewel light I found in a tiny drawer, along with the orange one that I'm sure we'll use someday. (Have people made jewelry out of these? I love them.)
So there you have it! The Amp Toybox!