Plans and photos of my Rocking Giraffe project - released in Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This repository features documentation, blueprints and photos from my first woodworking project the Rocking Giraffe.
The project was started the day my daughter was born in 2017, and finished for her first bithday one year later. It was inspired by a photo of a rocking giraffe I found from Pinterest, but the design and plans here are entirely created by me.
At this point the repository has the basic plans, drawn in SVG format with Inkscape - an open source vector drawing application. This SVG file worked as a fairly accurate guideline and plan for creating my own "rocker" and it could work as the same for you. Still it leaves you a fair bit of room for your own creativity, especially for the actual process. Still also some "process photos" are available for reference and more could be added later.
If you find this info useful or your own project is inspired by this, please let me know :)
rocking-giraffe-blueprints.svg
- File is created with Inkscape (version 0.92)
- You can use any application capable of opening svg files, but I would recommend using Inkscape. It can be downloaded for free from here: https://inkscape.org/
- Drawing should be fairly accurate compared to the final giraffe. Plans and the parts are drawn in metric units. You can checkout the sizes of the different parts by clicking the part and using the W & H values (in mm) at the toolbar or by using the Ruler tool. So you´ll need some practicing with the applications to get most out of it.
rocking-giraffe-mainbody-side.pdf
- Exported image of the side view.
- PDF-file that can easily be printed and used as a template for making the main body.
- Exported image of the rockers viewed from the side.
- PDF-file that can easily be printed and used as a template for making the rockers.
- Getting the weight balance optimal can be challenging. In my final version the weight is too much at back so pay extra attention to this when putting it together.
The Rocking Giraffe has been put together from following parts. The main material for all the parts (except the handle) was birch plank.
(Height: ~515 mm, Width:~33mm Lenght: ~518mm)
The main body is the largest part of the rocker. The body of my giraffe was made from sawed pieces of the birch that were glued together.
The main body had one through hole for the handle. Also smaller holes were made on the side and to the bottom of the "feet" to connect the side supports and the stands with wooden pins.
Height: ~515 mm, Width:~33mm Lenght: ~518mm
The seat was crafted from two surplus pieces of birch, glued together and then cut and sanded down to shape.
The seat has a slot (as wide as the thickness of the main body) underneath and in front to make a tight fit with the main body.
The seat was glued on place.
(Height: ~30 mm, Width:~131 mm Lenght: ~79 mm)
There are four pieces of side supports, two in the front and two at the back. The pieces were made identical by gluing four pieces of wood together with a piece of newspaper in between (to make it easy to separate them after shaping). This glued together block of four wood pieces was then sawed and sanded to final shape. Then the pieces were separated and given a finishing sanding. Both of the straight edges had holes for wooden pins to connect supports to main body and the stands.
(Height: ~30 mm, Width: ~100 mm Lenght: ~197 mm)
The stands connect the rockers and the mainbody together. They are two identical wooden pieces that have several holes for wooden pins to connect the mainbody, rockers and the side supports.
(Width:~40 mm Lenght: ~727 mm)
The two rockers were prepared from a sawed and planed down piece of birch blank. Plank was cut to two pieces, which were glued together with some newspaper in between and sawed and sanded to shape.
Both of the rockers had holes on the side for connecting the stands with wooden pins.
(Length: 230 mm, diameter: 25 mm)
The handle was made from a piece of a pole (diameter 25mm) sanded to fit the handle hole on the main body and secured with some glue.
Rocking Giraffe by Antti Sokero is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
