Movable Elephant Stool

In this project, I made a movable stool shaped like an elephant. For this project, I chose to go for a soft profile and round curves, giving it a simple and minimalistic look.

This wasn't one of my projects where every measurement and sketch was perfectly planned from the start, but more of a vibe build - where I added things along the way I saw would make the stool look better. With that said, I had plenty of fun building this stool.

Equipment:

1. Staple gun (alternative: drill and wood screw)
2. Router
3. Sewing machine (alternative: needle and thread)
4. Drill

Materials:

1. Wood glue
2. Foam
3. Wood
4. Leather
5. Wheels (optional)

I modelled the stool in Fusion 360, mainly for visualization and planning, not to go overkill and add all details like the leather or exact detail of the wheel as a component in it. The CAD model was used to explore the overall shapes and proportions of the stool. So that I was satisfied with how it looked before beginning any actual physical work.

CAD was also used to make the template for the wooden frame that would later be cut on a CNC router. Basically, for this project, CAD was mainly used to act as a visual guide.

The internal frame was made from wood to provide a strong and rigid structure. As mentioned earlier, the 2 elephant shaped side panels were cut out using a CNC router using the design from the CAD. Of course, you could definitely also cut out the side panels using a normal router or saw. I just wanted to try my hands on using a CNC router. The panels define the overall shape of the stool, giving it the outline of an elephant.

The side panels were then spaced out and connected using additional wooden sections in between them. These connecting pieces followed the outline of the elephant shape to make it look like the shape is extruded. Of course, some pieces were also placed around the center of the side panels to provide additional support. This saves a lot of material as well as reduces the weight significantly compared to if you were just to use a single solid block of wood that was cut into the shape of the side panels.

All the parts were assembled using wood glue and secured with a staple gun. You should ensure the pieces are aligned when securing them.

Thank you to the friend who let me borrow their CNC router :)

Sponge was added to create a soft outer layer for the stool. The foam was cut into smaller sections and applied around the frame, covering all surfaces. Multiple pieces of foam were used to give it that desired thickness.

The foam is then trimmed by hand to smooth out the sharp corners and blend the transitions (like the fillet tool). For this step, you can trim it to your desired shape or transition, if you would prefer a sharper transition or a rounder one.

This step was important for comfort, as well as giving it that cute, simplified elephant form, which would be visible in the final product.

The leather was cut into shape by measuring and marking directly from the padded foam to give it an accurate fit, so that the leather wrap doesn't feel loose when you touch or sit on it. Then it is cut into individual panels (allow extra material for seams and curvature around the shape ).

For this step, you could also sew patterns of your liking into the leather. For example, I sewn in some eyes and wrinkles on the trunk. Or even sewing a name tag on it. As well as cutting out ears from the leather and sewing them to the stool.

The seperate cut out of leather were then sewn together to form a complete outer cover for the stool.

Some of the leather sewing was done with help from my grandma, who also taught me how to sew the remaining details.👍

Carefully fit the leather cover over the foam-covered frame. Then the leather was gradually stretched and positioned to ensure it followed the profile of the elephant shape correctly. Adhesives were also applied when fitting the leather over the frame to bond the leather securly to the frame. When doing this, you would take extra care to avoid wrinkles, folds, or trapped air. And give extra attention to curved areas and tight corners, such as around the legs and head.

Once the leather is stretched to cover the entire frame, pull the leather tight and staple it to the underside of the legs where it is not visible. This ensures a strong mechanical fixing while still keeping it aesthetically pleasing.

This step is totally optional if you want your stool to move or not. On the legs, mark 4 spots, 2 on each leg, making sure they are symmetrical and spaced out enough to keep the stool balanced. Each wheel is then securely fixed into the wood frame using screws.

The wheels you choose may be a different profile for adding in screws, so keep that in mind when buying wheels, to ensure that the profile is not bigger than the surface of the underside of the leg.