The Barber Shop
by Gisby

Haircuts & Dentistry, all to be found at the local Barber Shop. A good place to spend the afternoon, sitting with the local layabouts as they watch the world go by... This project was an experiment to see if I could make anything half-decent out of popsicle sticks. I never thought them useful, yet they are cheap and readily available. I first sat down and scribed a line down the centre of a bunch of sticks, making each into (effectively) 2 half-width sticks. I glued a bunch edge-to-edge, and squared the ends. This made my floor. The front & rear walls were the same width as the floor: The side walls were wide enough to fit between the front & rear and still leave sufficient for a walkway at the front.

I marked the heights of the front & rear walls on the side walls, and drew a line to determine the angle. I then trimmed each, and glued the whole together. I added an opening door, a bench, and barber pole. The pole is painted white. I wrapped a spiral of red-painted paper around it because it was easier than painting it. The patched tar paper roof is made of card, covered with paper, painted & weathered. All in all, an afternoon's work, especially satisfying because it showed a use for popsicle sticks as a really, really cheap building material. They are sturdy and durable, you can easily buy enough material for an entire Western Town for less than two dollars.

These are the photos from the original March 2000 article: A different camera makes a big difference.