How to Mitre / Miter:

1) Hold your molding up to the wall - see which face of the molding is going to go against the wall. Draw a pencil line all along this face - then always, but always put the marked face against the back of your mitre box.

2) When you measure where your mitre is going to be, make a small diagonal line in the direction that you need to cut - this will save you from getting confused when moving back & forth to your mitre box.

3) Unless you are using a piece of molding that is identical on either side of the mid-line, you will need to make a "waste mitre" each time you have cut a "real" mitre - in other words, when you have made a left to right cut you will need to make a right to left cut and "waste" a little piece of wood before you can go back to making your next left to right cut.

Lesley, Johannesburg, South Africa

Brickmaking:

You need some basswood stripwood and you cut this and glue up a little open form using waterproof glue, epoxy. Coat the form real good with epoxy after it is made to make it waterproof and strong. Make a little punch that you can punch out the brick when you fill the form. Remember that these wet-clays shrink when they dry so the form has to be about 10-15% bigger than the brick you want. The side of the brick is what will show so the thickness of the form is real important too. You fill the form with moist clay and punch it out and be sure to leave the mold marks on the brick. In fact, it is the mold marks that give the charm to the bricks except that you need subtle contrasts in color and texture.

So whatever clays you use you need two of them, different colors, red & brown, etc. and then you blend about 6-8 blends of those two colors in different ratios so that you get subtle differences and when you go to "lay bricks" you don't put clashing colors together. You keep the differences more subtle than that. You might not even make bricks out of the two "parent colors" at all. Just several "shades" or "hues" in between those two colors. There are red colored Mexican Pottery Clay, gray Marblex, and brown wet-clays you can mix in as well. Play around with it. You can do this on any scale. You can add bone-emulsions to harden bricks or Elmers glue or whatever. Self hardening clays are good enough, but (kitchen) oven hardening clays (Della Roba?) are also available. You lay the form on wax paper, fill the form with wet-clay, scrape off the excess clay with a stick or spatula, and take a plunger of the exact right size and push out the brick or hold down the brick and lift up the form, pinning the brick to the wax paper with the plunger. In other words, remove the brick from the form with a plunger/pusher of brick size (it must be small enough to easily penetrate (clear the sides of) the mold from top to bottom.

Let the bricks air dry and then oven-bake them if you choose. Don't mess around with wet bricks, except to make sure that they are not warped or crooked or fouled up. If they are fouled up, return them to their wad of clay and TRY AGAIN. You can make thousands of bricks once you get the hang of it. You will have a brick yard and can oven bake thousands at the same time, hundreds if you get bored easily, or whatever pleases you. You do need more than one color, in slight variations, for best effect. All the same color looks remarkably dull compared to the effect of slight color variations in the earth colors which gives a rustic, "natural" look.

You can glue these in place with Elmers glue or some and leave the seams exposed or showing. You can make up some "mud" of Elmers glue and clay that could be applied with a little spatula. I just paint on Elmers glue with a little brush on the bricks that are already in place and sit the brick down in it and wiggle ir around a little until it is "seated" into place, it will be a little "wonkey" but that just adds to the charm. You don't want it to look too mechanical and all bricks aren't just exactly the same size. You don't want air gaps to show between bricks so you may have to have some "mud" on hand to use as needed to prevent air gaps or cracks between bricks. Let a wall, chimney, fire-place, etc. dry thoroughly before messing around with it. Overnight or longer.

Let bricks dry thoroughly before laying them, else they will shrink and distort and be a disaster. They absorb water and swell when you are laying them if you use excess water, so don't go wild on moisture while you are laying them, unless you have fired them hard (Della Robba oven bake clays, etc.).

Anyway, have fun! It's not so hard and you can make bricks on Half-Scale (1/24th scale), on "Inch Scale" (dollhouse scale) or on "O" (1/48 Scale) or even tiny bricks on "dollhouse for dollhouse" scale. So just make the forms the size that pleases you and GO FOR IT!


Walter Vaughn!

Disco Ball: I was thinking about the lady who wanted a disco ball. Some one suggested looking in car parts section for those disco ball car decorations but I thought it might be easy to make one using the following:

A styrofoam ball
small square silver confetti( it can be found a party stores or at hobby lobby)
glue Just glue the confetti on the ball and there a mini disco ball. Some one might have said this before, shrug.

Michelle

Cooler: The Styrofoam that meat ( and sometimes produce) come packed with in American supermarkets can be made into neat mini coolers! It even comes in colors! Just construct a rectangular box using a sharp razor blade and straight edge to cut the Styrofoam. Use tacky glue to put it together. For the top, glue two rectangles, one the size of the outer dimensions of the cooler, one just slightly smaller than the inside dimensions of the cooler. Center one on top of the other. The smaller piece will go inside the cooler and stop the top from sliding off. Make a handle out of wire or a paper clip bent into shape. If you have any summer or spring catalogs handy, and can find a picture of a 'real' one, you can even cut out a logo like 'thermos' or 'igloo' and glue it to your cooler!


Alice Zinn

There are probably others who may have better ideas I am really pleased with the end result of mine. This can be adopted to planking too. (I took into account the need to remember the ease of access to electrics too. in my design)

Tip: If you find the Idea daunting as I did, I bought some "paper Parquet" & used it as a "stencil," sticking my wooden pieces on top, after it had been taped to the wallpaper lining paper. also using a 90 Degree child's set square to "set" the angles when starting .. It worked a treat!

I bought some 1/32" X 3" X 24 basswood strips, I used some (Water based wood dye, diluted to 50%) "Liberon- palette wood dye in Medium Oak" & colour washed the whole area using a 4" wide foam polybrush , being careful again not to create overlaps on stained areas. allow to dry prior to using them .

Wipe the area following the grain- removing the excess stain... allow to dry cut them to strips after measuring the floor space. (keep flat whilst drying.. they can sometimes curl)

I then used a large board of wood to fix a larger area of heavy gauge wallpaper lining to as a base for the wooden floor to glue to, this will allow the floor to sit on the dh floor, and be removable should you need to (lighting) at a later date. Mark out the floor area in pencil accurately- extend the lines though so you can trim to size later again after construction.

Carefully stick the planks to it using wood glue to stain the cut strips Wearing my surgical gloves I applied a bison fine paste wax in Antique pine , (or the same brand but in medium Oak using ) 0000 gauge Very fine steel wool. I don't know if you can get it in the US. - you will have something similar though ?)

Follow instructions.. I applied 2 coats, following the grain as usual. Leave to "Cure" then buff using a clean cotton rag (I used a clean old yellow duster) The result.. I was over the moon!!... the paper glues/double tapes well into the house. I found TIME & accuracy in measuring & marking is the important thing) This technique created a marvelous looking *REAL* parquet floor.!

Chris From Lancashire

Padded Hanger: You will need some pipecleaner, thicker rather than thin. A piece of gold or black wire, about 1" long and some satiny fabric. I used bathing suit fabric which was stretchy, it made this a bit easier. First coat the back of a piece of the fabric about 1" x 2" with tacky glue. Let dry. Cut a piece of pipe cleaner 1 1/2" long. Lay the pipe cleaner on the fabric, lengthwise. Cover the pipe cleaner with the fabric using Fabritac glue, sparingly. Fold over and tuck in the ends as you go.

Let dry. Slightly curve the fabric covered pipe cleaner. Bend the piece of gold or black wire into a hook shape with a slight extension at the bottom of the hook. Use an awl to make a hole in the center top of the fabric on the pipe cleaner. Glue the hook in the hole!

Alice Zinn

I made eavetroughs for one of my dolls-houses using thin gauge copper sheeting, the kind you can get at Michaels Craft Stores. It is thin enough to be cut with a utility scissors.

I used a block of wood just three inches long and drilled a 5/16" hole into it and then cut it in half on the table saw so I had a channel in the wood. Now lay the sheet of copper over the wood block and place a 5/16" metal dowel on the copper sheet and tap with a hammer. This creates a uniform copper trough. You will have to move the copper down along the block until you have created a whole piece.

The pieces can then be soldered together or lapped if you wish. You can change the dimension or dowel to achieve different size eaves. Be sure to use enough copper, at least 1", so you can place it up under the shingles.

Dan (Crabbyelf)

Building Greenleaf kits. Well I am jealous, I wish I had gotten the Garfield. Like I have room for it! Don't be scared if you have the will you can do it! I am building the Annabelle and I secretly wish I could "accidentally" ruin it so I can go get the Garfield........I can only imagine 1 dollhouse amongst my cats and daughter and my husband's stuff.... well here is what I can offer you in advice hope it helps, and I would love to see picture's of your house someday!

Sealing the pieces - I know people say it helps prevent warping of the big pieces when you paint them but I don't think it's a tragedy not to seal them. You may want to seal the small trim pieces IF you plan on spray painting them, which makes faster work, especially with all the window trim. The wood will suck up so much paint if you don't seal them you'll need about 5 coats to cover it! BUT if you're going to paint the pieces by hand using a thickly applied coat of paint, I say the heck with sealing.

DO NOT punch out the pieces till you're going to use them! Leave them in the sheets! I learned this the hard way. Sounds obvious I guess but I must think I am "special".

The die cut luan is a pain. Punch out carefully. I had some pieces that just weren't punched all the way through so I am sure you will too. I had my hubby get them out with a Dremel (I am afraid of it) and a hacksaw. But don't despair if you break a piece you can glue it or use spackle or putty to fix it. If you want a super final finish you'll want to use spackle or putty to smooth out the edges of the pieces; this is due to the poor quality of the luan.

Are you electrifying? This will change the whole way you build the house and their instructions will be useless. This will also affect how you wallpaper, which is tricky in itself with these houses - some of it must be added before assembly on certain parts, like bay windows and towers, or eaves, 'cause you'll never get your hands in there after it's glued together! PLAN - go slow!

I also recommend, if you can stand the wait, to put the house shell (walls and floors) together in one "spurt" of work and not to do a little at a time (like on Thanksgiving break!) and then leave it for weeks. You need to get the whole thing together and clamp it (I used old tights tied around the walls) to make sure it all fits and stays and doesn't warp or separate.

Fit all the pieces before gluing! You will have to make adjustments! The parts are supposed to fit but they don't sometimes. I used a wire-snipping pliers to "snip" the wood, usually the tabs had to be trimmed a wee bit. Because of this you want to avoid wallpapering or painting over the tabs, they won't fit. Don't go mental - paint can be sanded off, I'm not suggesting you tape off all the little tabs when you paint!

And remember - boo boos with fitting, gluing or wallpaper or flooring can be hidden with baseboards, crown moldings, wainscoting, etc. If I think of anything else I'll post. Oh watch out for splinters - keep tweezers handy.

Karyn

Real Parquet flooring: I read you request for real parquet flooring today and thought I would share my method with you all. - There are probably other who may have better ideas I am really pleased with the end result of mine. This can be adopted to planking too. ( I took into account the need to remember the ease of access to electrics too. in my design)

Tip: If you find the Idea daunting as I did, I bought some "paper Parquet" & used it as a "stencil," sticking my wooden pieces on top, after it had been taped to the Wall paper lining paper. also using a 90 Degree child's set square to "set" the angles when starting .. It worked a treat!

I bought some 1/32" X 3" X 24 basswood strips, I used some (Water based wood dye, diluted to 50%) "Liberon- palette wood dye in Medium Oak" & colour washed the whole area using a 4" wide foam polybrush , being careful again not to create overlaps on stained areas. allow to dry prior to using them .

Wipe the area following the grain- removing the excess stain... allow to dry cut them to strips after measuring the floor space. (keep flat whilst drying.. they can sometimes curl)

I then used a large board of wood to fix a larger area of heavy gauge wallpaper lining to as a base for the wooden floor to glue to, this will allow the floor to sit on the dh floor, and be removable should you need to (lighting) at a later date.
Mark out the floor area in pencil accurately- extend the lines though so you can trim to size later again after construction.

Carefully stick the planks to it using wood glue to stain the cut strips Wearing my surgical gloves I applied a bison fine paste wax in Antique pine , (or the same brand but in medium Oak using ) 0000 gauge Very fine steel wool. I don't know if you can get it in the US. - you will have something similar though ?)

Follow instructions.. I applied 2 coats, following the grain as usual. Leave to "Cure" then buff using a clean cotton rag (I used a clean old yellow duster) The result.. I was over the moon!!... the paper glues/double tapes well into the house. I found TIME & accuracy in measuring & marking is the important thing) This technique created a marvelous looking *REAL* parquet floor.!


Chris From Lancashire

Hot Tub: I didn't see the original post about hot tubs, but here is how I made my 'Mississippi River' hot tub. I used stained mini fencing material ( 1/4' pieces cut from a larger piece) and glued it around a wooden circle (4") gluing them up each side. I had a round bottle inside to keep the shape and used rubber bands around it until it dried. I then put brown bathroom caulking (from a small tube) on the inside to seal it. Since I filled it with 'water' I didn't put in the seats as they would not have been visible as I made the top frothy. I used the banding plastic that holds wires together to band the outside. Didn't like the way it looked so bought a roll of quarter inch copper and molded it over the plastic band. I used the drink straws from the cardboard drink cartons for the pipes on the outside. They have the pleated bend in them. Since our hot tub was done in PVC pipe they were white - so no painting on the straws. Drilled tiny indentations in the wood outside to glue them to and drilled holes completely through a cologne cap that looked like the filter system that was on our real one. Made a ladder from the same material as the sides for the steps. In the setting I made 'Tiki' torches from toothpaste caps and drink stirrers. I filled the caps with the brown caulking stuck the stirrers and some greenery down in it and let it harden. I painted the whole assembly brown. Stuck a piece of tan wool yarn into the stirrer at the top, arranged some flat wheat straw (1 1/2" long) around the outside of the top of the stirrer leaving it just enough above the top of stirrer to conceal it. Wrapped string around it at the bottom. The string started on the stirrer and went up onto the straw about 3/4". Wrapped 2 thin copper wires at even intervals on the rest of the straw I shaped the tip of the yarn to a ragged point and colored it with a black marker. It stuck up above the straw about a quarter of an inch. I was rather pleased with the results.


Carol Shea