Southern Sky Craft Studio: DIY: Wood and Screen Wire Crate

This is the sweetest little crate. It’s made a bit differently than the basic all wood crate because we have inserted screenwire on the side panels. At the bottom of this tutorial I have included links to get some of the supplies needed for this project if you need some things you don't have.

You will need:
36--- 12” paint sticks

Hand saw to cut the lengths of the paint sticks (a mitre box will help with the 45 degree angle we will be cutting)

screen wire---- 4 panels 11 1/2”x 5 1/2”

glue

hemp

wood burning tool with a sharp point attachment (to burn the holes in the side panels for lacing the corners)

acrylic paint and 1” brush

stencil of your choice (I used a lacey paper doily)

small wire nails--- 1/2 x 19 and hammer

Upholstery needle (or a needle with a large enough hole to thread the hemp through)

Let’s build a crate:
Hand saw all the paint sticks to size. Once you have cut all the pieces you will end up with……………..

8……6” pieces (saw 4 in half, these are the ends of the side panels)

8……3 3/4” pieces (these pieces fit on the end pieces of the side panels to enable the screenwire to lay flat)

4……4” pieces with a 45 degree angle on both ends (these are braces for the bottom of your crate)

2……12” pieces with a 45 degree angle on both ends (these are additional braces for the bottom of your crate)

Lay out and begin building:
1. Build the side panels of your crate.

Using the eight 6” sticks lay them out flat, put a dot of glue on one side at the top and bottom of the sticks. Carefully lay a 12” stick across the top of two of the sticks and across the bottom of the same two sticks, building a 12” x 6” frame for the side panels. Build 4 of these panels.

Glue two of the 3 3/4 “ sticks we cut and place them on top of the two 6” pieces of the side panels between the top and bottom 12” sections. See below…………..

Cut 4 screen wire panels 11 1/2” wide x 5 1/2” long.
Run a line of glue all the way around the side panel frame we just built.
Lay the screen wire panel over the top of the glue.

Using two more 12” sticks, lay one over the top of the screen wire panel and one over the bottom, keeping all edges flush.

Once the glue has dried, nail the four corners on both sides. When one side is nailed, turn the panel over and nail the other side, keeping the nails as close together as you can. If there are any sharp tips of the nails protruding, clip them off with a wire cutter or beat them down with your hammer.

You have built all four side panels of your crate. Yay!

With the wood burning tool, burn three holes in the sides of each panel through the 6” pieces and 3 3/4” pieces. Making sure the holes go completely through and centering them underneath the top 12” piece of the panel and just above the bottom 12” piece of the panel. We will be lacing them together after we build the crate.

Optional step: At this point if you’d like to paint a design on your screen wire this is the time. I used paper doilies as a stencil and just kind of blotted around, but you can get as detailed as you like with this step.

Let’s put the four panels together.
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Put glue on the very side edge at the top and the bottom of one panel. Attach another panel and tape the edges on the outside of the panel together. Go ahead and join the other two panels to these two the same way. Make sure that which ever panel is on the outside, the panel directly opposite to it is also on the the outside or this will throw your measurements off for the bottom of the crate.

Once all four sides are joined, check to make sure the bottom, top and sides are as flush with each other as you can get them. Put more tape on as you adjust to keep them in place.

Before it dries we will put the bottom in to help it squared up.

Using the four pieces that we cut 4” long and then put a 45 degree angle at each end, glue the edge of the bottom side of these pieces and set on the paint stick at the bottom of each panel on the inside of your crate. Don’t push it up against the screen wire or it will push the wire and stretch it, which is unsightly.

We also cut 45 degree angles in two 12” paint sticks, glue and place them in the same way. We are creating a brace for our bottom.

Once this is accomplished run a line of glue over the top of each of the pieces with the angles we just attached.

Now lay the bottom of the crate placing one 12” stick at a time on top of these braces, beginning at the corners and pushing them snuggly into the corners. You will use ten, 12” sticks for the bottom. Careful not to poke the screen wire, these sticks will fit one way and not the other. This is why we had to make the brace first, to give the paint sticks something to lay on.

Once dry, you are ready to lace the sides together. Thread the one end of the hemp through the needle. Looking at the crate upside down, go in from one of the openings at the bottom, pull the thread up and into the first hole, (leaving enough thread to tie a knot with) then through the next hole up on the opposite side, then through the top hole an the opposite side. Turn and start sewing downward making X’s. Bring the needle back down through the same hole at the bottom of the crate where we first began, tie a knot with both strings and glue. Do all four corners.