Miniature grandfather clock shelf

I finally found some time to make this piece I have been thinking about!

I managed to take some photos during the process. I hope this tutorial inspires you to make one of your own.

Cut out the patterns on mat board. I used a very sharp craft blade.

NOTE: When cutting out the clock face backing and cupboard door frame, use cereal box cardboard.

Gently sand the edges if necessary for the two side pieces. I used a foam-centered nail file.

Using yellow wood glue, run glue along the edges of the back piece and brace it between the two side pieces with a toothpick. I used two small square boxes with some weight to them to help brace everything while it dried.

Put glue on the back and side edges of the 5 shelf pieces and slide them into the appropriate slots.

Put glue on the top edges of the shelf and glue on the top piece. The back of the top should be flush to the back of the shelf. Brace the top against another box.

Glue the base front on and then both side bases. Gently stand it up to be sure its even when the glue just starts to set. When you are happy turn it over and coat some wood glue on the inside corners.

Score the corners on the cupboard door frame with the back of your blade and glue the thin cardboard molding onto the cupboard door.

Glue in cupboard insets.

Glue in clock face insets. The door will rest on these, one above and below.

Glue the clock face onto the thin-board clock face backing.

Glue the cap on top and once set, glue the two tops onto that.

Once glue is dry, paint entire piece and the clock face door frame (do not assemble this piece yet). Sand and apply paint until you are happy.

Drill holes for knobs on cupboard and clock face door.

Glue the clock face door on. Put glue on front edge of top shelf and the top edge of clock face door. Set in, careful the door does not fall into the clock at the top. Add acetate to back of door if you want glass there.

Put a dab of Tacky Glue on the curve of the cap, let it dry just a bit and then place bead on the glue. Glue seed bead on top of bead. Let dry and then paint.

Please keep in mind there may be piece you have to test fit first and trim a bit. It will depend on how you place your pieces together. Things may be off just a hair.

Francisco del Pozo Parés

I wanted to share this link. It was sent to me by Francisco del Pozo Parés. I am in the process of featuring his amazing miniature lighting in Dollhouse Miniatures Magazine - Jan/Feb. He is also a brilliant dollhouse designer/builder. He is from Spain and has a background in architecture and it shows!
I think you will love this!

http://www.fineminiaturesforum.com/index.php?/topic/456-building-materials-fa%C3%A7ades-ceilings-finishings/

~Auralea

Miniature Scarecrow

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Fall is here! I couldn't stop envisioning a scarecrow surrounded by pumpkins so I had to figure out how to make one.

I made his outfit and then used Raffia that was bound in bundles with very thin wire and added thicker wire inside each bundle. I slipped a bundle straight through the shirt from one arm to the other arms and then two pieces in the pant legs up to the chest and bent the arms hips and legs to pose him. Then I trimmed the raffia and pulled apart the thicker pieces to make them thinner. I will do a step-by-step tutorial when I have time to make another one. This one was an experiment, so I needed to be sure it worked first. 

The Pumpkins

I used natural dried gourds as well as a few painted one on the left. You can buy these from the last of my inventory here. (scroll down to the bottom once you click the link).

 


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The hat is super easy and quick.

I used cross-stitch fabric and made the top section by wetting it and pulling it over an object to shape it. I used a rubber band to hold it in place over a hammer tip. Sprayed it with hairspray and let it dry overnight.

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Then trim it out and place it on more of that fabric and cut a circle around it at least 3/4" out from the top of the hat area.

 
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I used a circle template to gauge the circumference of the top and centered that on my circle rim. Draw the circle and cut out the center. Snip all around the base of the top piece making 1/8" snips.

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Slip it up inside the rim and put glue all around then flatted the snipped pieces down on the underside of the hat. Once dry, trim the rim all around even more if needed. Spin the hat in your hand as you scratch your nail along the edge to make it look tattered.

I painted mine with craft paint and pressed the top down to shape it. Once dry trim with ribbon or braided needlepoint thread and add a flower!

 So much fun! I hope you have a wonderful fall season. :)

Miniature hanger tutorial

Ever since I was a young teen, I have always had this one fancy clothes hanger in my closet. There is no memory of where it came from, but I loved how pretty and feminine it was. Which is funny because I was a tomboy growing up. I still have it to this day. It is just there, looking pretty, mixed in with all the ordinary wooden hangers.
After I made Ophelia’s wardrobe, I decided her dresses should hang from something “pretty”. After a few attempts I came up with an easy way to make pretty mini hangers!

 Cut a piece of foam board to about 3” x 6”.

Cut a piece of 1/8” wide ribbon. This piece will tie around the center of the bow. This piece can be any length you wish, mine is about 3 ½” long.

Use a toothpick and spread Tacky Glue on the center of the ribbon in a 1” long section.

Center the piece with the glue on it on the board. Take the end of your ribbon spool and pin it into the foam board.

Take the ribbon and create a figure 8” pattern on the two pins then pin the end into the foam and snip with scissors.Tie a tight knot at the center point of the bow with the piece that has the glue on it. Pinch, once knotted, to train the ribbon to lay flat and pointed up. Remove the pins and let your bow dry.

 I found these cool vintage pipe cleaners in with some old tools, but you can use newer ones as well. Start with a 6” long pipe cleaner, fold it in half and then twist tightly to 2” long. Snip with wire cutters.

If your hanger is going in a specific wardrobe, be sure to measure the depth of the wardrobe to get the width of your hanger first.

Use your choice of 1/4” wide ribbon and begin wrapping it around the twisted pipe cleaner in the center of the folded pipe cleaner. Work the wrapping tightly in a diagonal direction down the right side.
When you get to the end let it overhang a bit, then fold the ribbon over the end. Hold that fold as you continue to wrap in the other direction so that it tucks in and slowly continue wrapping the ribbon. Go to the other end and repeat. Don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t fold properly the first time, keep practicing and you will get it.

Bring your ribbon back to the center. Cut it diagonally.
Put glue on the end all the way to the tip and press onto hanger base. Pinch it until it is dry.

I used earring wire with an antique brass finish. Put the wire at the base of the needle nose pliers and wrap to make a hook.

Pinch the wire with the tip of the pliers and bend it with other hand.

 Do this again about 1/8” from that point. Then wrap wire around the center of the pliers.

Now pinch the base of the wire and twist the top hook with your fingers 90 degrees.

Insert your hanger base and wrap wire once around it. Then snip closely with wire cutters. If needed, press the snipped end flat with flat pliers.

Keep those fingers clean so your hangers stay pretty!


Put a dab of glue around the wire with a toothpick, and then wrap 1/8” ribbon around in a criss-cross fashion. Glue the end down under the base of hanger. Pinch until dry.

Be sure all of your hanger hooks are facing the same way for this next step.

Play with your bow to get the effect you want. Be careful not to pull the two parts that will affect your ribbon size. Put some glue on the front of the hanger and glue on the back of the bow then press and pinch until secure.

Decide which two ribbon strands to snip off and which two you want to keep and cut at a diagonal. I found this was different with each ribbon. Use very sharp scissors. Then put a dot of glue over the snipped ends with a toothpick and spread down.

Bend the hanger down on both sides to give it a curved shape.

You did it! You can hang your favorite mini dresses from them, put them in a wardrobe or lay them around in your dollhouse for decoration.

On old dollhouse carriage for the attic

Finally! I had some time to make a small section of the attic. I purchased one of those ordinary black carriages a while ago with a vision of it becoming old and used with a romantic feel. After researching some antique buggies online I went to work!

I had some old wicker blinds that I cut up for the sides. You could use a wicker placement too. Then I ran a cord along the edges where the sides meet the bottom piece. I used a hot glue gun.

Then I hot glued the fabric on as well as some trimming.
I painted the wicker and cord in a brown, then highlighted it with a quick brushing of light tan,
then a light grey for a dusty effect. I covered all of the "top" portions of the carriage in a light grey wash to make it look dusty.
Oh and, of course, pressed my steeped tea bag on the fabrics. Love my tea bags!!

I made mini potatoes!

My first batch were too small and over pasteled. So I finally had a moment to try again. I mixed an white, yellow, tan polymer clay with translucent then shaped and poked and scratched them until they had that beat up potato shape. Then I used my razor and scraped yellow, orange and brown charcoals onto wax paper and mixed with a small brush. I rolled the potatoes in the pastel dust and brushed some onto any bare spots then baked. I sewed up the mini-ist burlap fabric I could find into a bag and there they are!

The wood crate was made by printing out wood texture and gluing that paper onto a mat board template that I had made. Then I scored the area between the “boards” with a burnishing tool and glued together.

Ophelia's Dollhouse Attic

The eerie attic is coming along. Sooooooo many craft sticks!

For the walls with the wallpaper, I only did a small area of craft sticks, then glued down mat board for the rest of the wall. This way when the wallpaper went down there was no noticeable edges to the wood spots.

I started with the floor by gluing down wider craft sticks and staining them with water based wood stain. Then I brushed a gray wash over them a few times to give the impression of many years of dirt and dust.

Once I got all of the wall/ceiling craft sticks glued down, I stained them with a water based wood stain then put a red and brown paint wash over them. One that was dry I did a black wash in all of the corners and edges. The wallpaper was scrapbook paper that already had an aged look. I used Yes paste to paste it down then ripped it and smacked it with a steeped teabag. Haha I can't say I have ever smacked any thing with a steeped teabag before! I still have to darken the paper edges a bit more, but it's definitely headed in the direction I hoped it would.

Making Bigfoot

After dropping off all of their picnic items, I can only assume that the carefree picnickers made their way down to the nearby stream to wade in the water and search for minnows. Because this spot at the park has always been a good place to find food, Bigfoot never strays too far away. With a watchful eye he crept out of the forest and made his way swiftly to the table. Completely uninterested in the Frisbee or the straw hat, he flipped open the picnic basket lid and began digging through it. First, he grabbed a fist full of grapes, and then he ripped open the bag of potato chips and made a mess of himself as he devoured them. To his delight, he discovered two turkey and cheese sandwiches wrapped in napkins with care. As quick as the napkins had fallen to the ground Bigfoot was sitting comfortably on the bench with two fits full of lunch. Unaware that there is a curious little girl who has spotted him through the fence, Bigfoot inhales his turkey sandwiches.

This project was loads of fun. It all started last Thanksgiving morning when I sculpted him from polymer clay and put him in the oven. Luckily my holiday feast was elsewhere, so a turkey didn’t interrupt his baking time. After painting him using craft paints, I began to adhere the hair. Luckily, I had some left over brown Viscose that I had used for making mini dolls years ago. I cut it in short sections and used a paintbrush to apply Tacky Glue on him, starting at his ankles and then worked my way up. I spread out the short clumps of hair and press it onto him.

I have a long history with Bigfoot, which started in my childhood. When I was a little girl I would lead Bigfoot hunts with the other children in our woods. For some reason, I always thought if I found him we would be good friends. :)
Checkout the February issue of American Miniaturist (AM130) magazine to see more of my Bigfoot!