AH-HA Moments
After working on dollhouses and miniatures for years, here are some of my AH-HA moments.
Dying Easter Eggs
This is a really simple project. I printed out miniaturized newspapers, and the egg dye containers were made by cutting the plastic back off Junior Tylenol. I formed the eggs from clay and mixed resin and acrylic paint to get the colors. If you don't have resin, clear glue works too. I've also used Aileen's Tacky glue to create a liquid effect.
Miniature Bottles
I had an "Ah-ha!" moment trying to make perfume bottles from beads and jewelry findings. I always had trouble keeping the beads and findings straight when trying to align them. I finally realized that I could stick a little pin through the openings while the glue sets and the bottles came out perfectly straight! The pin is stuck in a piece of cardboard, but styrofoam would probably work better.
Toothpick Candles
These candles were made from toothpicks painted white. The wicks are just 2 strands of floss glued together, then glued to the tip of the toothpick.
Drinking Glasses
The little clear plastic protector on paint brushes can be cut into sections making great drinking glasses.
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Hooks
Use needle nose pliers to form Metal earring backings into hooks to hang a robe on the back of the bathroom door; a plant; or suspend curtain rods. Curtain rods and shades can be mode from bamboo found in bamboo placemats.
Conservatory
I saw a conservatory in a magazine and thought I'd try my hand at making one using basswood strips, jewelry findings, and some little flowers. The "glass" is actually the plastic covering found in those see-through presentation folders.
Tissue Boxes
Craft stores sell tiny wooden blocks with holes in the center. I guess they are designed to be used for necklaces, but I've found they are perfect for little tissue boxes. I cover the blocks with tiny print wallpaper or paint them and stuff a little square of tissue in the top and you have a miniature tissue box.
The towels are actually little cut squares of felt.
The towels are actually little cut squares of felt.
Calendar Record
When I build a house, I try to include a miniature calendar with the year the house was built. The calendar can be easily created and printed on a computer. This is a great way to record the date for future generations. Sometimes I add a personal family photo to the calendar as shown below.
The Keys
Most of the dollhouse doorknobs come with little keys. Did you ever wonder what to do with them? Here are a couple of suggestions:
- Make a key holder The key holder shown above was made from a little item I found at AC Moore.
- Hide the key: In the real world we hide our keys. That can happen in the miniature world as well. Hide the key above the door on the frame, or glue it on the porch and hid it under the doormat.
Lampshades
Know what makes great lampshades? Paper cupcake liners!
Ribbon Rug
This rug is made from a ribbon and a piece of rectangular piece of fabric. The pieces are then glued to a cardboard backing.
This to That helps users find the best type of glue for any project!
Dollhouse Luggage
I saw some really nice luggage pieces at a recent dollhouse show, but so expensive! I thought I'd try my hand at it, although the results are nowhere near as nice as the professionals' work. I cut a styrofoam sheet into small rectangular shapes, used small blocks of wood to create the retangular pieces of luggage. My big "Ah Ha" moment came when I pondered how to make the circular overnight bags. For those I used those little felt circle pieces you place under furniture to prevent damaging hardwood floors. The felt circles already had an adhesive on them, so I cut a small piece off the ends and put three together. I then covered all luggage pieces with cloth and trimmed with ribbon. Small gold beads were used as accent pieces, and small feet on the bottom of each piece were made from four of the gold beads.
Cushions Made from Chair Pads
One more idea on the little felt furniture pad circles used to keep furniture from scratching your floor. I use them to make cushions. I use the sticky side of the pade to put two of the felt pads together, glue a circular piece of fabric on each side covering the edge. Then I fold a strip of the fabric and glue it around the edge. Fabric glue works best for this project.
Repainted Furniture
I've had a terrible time finding affordable 1:24 scale furnishings. I thought I'd share a trick I've discovered. I have been purchasing cheaper pieces and instead of reupholstering them, I just use acrylic paint on the upholstery with my desired color. Sometimes it takes several coats, but it works pretty well. I found some of these pieces on eBay. I get them fairly cheap because the color of the upholstery is not a desired color.
I bought four of these blue chairs for $10, free shipping!! I just repainted them to work in my dining room.
I found this set on Amazon. I repainted the upholstery and also repainted the wood to tone down the red.
Textured Paintings
I often print paintings on my computer to place on the walls in my houses. This time I cut a piece of textured white scrapbook paper to computer paper size and ran it through the printer to print on it. The painting shown is half scale, so it would probably work out even better in 1:12 scale. I also found the frame shown in the picture in the scrapbook section of the craft store. They came in varous sizes in a set of four.
Jewelry Findings
Start a collection of jewelry pieces. They can be used to make lamps, vases, bowls, all sorts of things!