Doll's Houses at the Museum of Childhood

I had a great visit to the Museum of Childhood yesterday. If you can get to Bethnal Green in London and like Dolls Houses it's well worth a look especially as it's free. I took a few photos that give a flavour of the Dolls House exhibits.

Make a Sepia Photographic Portrait of Your Dolls House Dolls

Take a digital photo of your dolls. Use the button that allows you to take close ups if you have one. The following instructions are for Adobe Photoshop but there is a lot of software that allows you to make your photos into a sepia print. You may find that you have some without realising.

Use the sepia option on "layer styles" to recolour the picture. Use "effects" to choose the "vignette" option which will put a frame around your people.
Resize your photo to turn it into a mini printable family portrait and pop it in a frame.

You can click and print the photo above to use as a mini printable.

Free Mini Printable Original Painting 12th 24th 16th

Whatever size of dolls house you own you will find a size of painting here to please you. An English Bluebell Wood in widths 8cms, 6cms, 5cms and 4cms. Click on the images all in one go, then print. You are very welcome to have these for for your own personal use to decorate your dolls house, but not for resale as the copyright belongs to me.

How To Make Miniature Paint Brushes - Free Online Lesson

Click on the photo to enlarge.

1. First find some suitable tooth picks. You may find that wooden cocktail sticks work just as well.

2. Cut them to the required length using nail scissors or a craft knife. Snip the ends to create a bristle effect.

3. Paint the brushes using acrylic paint. Make the handles brown and the bristles black. You can paint the joint with silver acrlic paint or glue a small amount of aluminium foil around the joint.

4. Place with your palette.

You can make a small paint rag by cutting a square of thin cloth and wiping smears of paint on it. If it looks too rigid damp it down when the paint has dried and then tie it with an elastic band and leave to dry overnight. This gives it a crumpled effect..

How to Make an Artists Palette Miniature - free tutorial

1. First find thin some Balsa wood. You can buy packs of this extremely cheaply.



2. Cut out the shape of a palette using nail scissors or a craft knife.



3. Push a hole through the palette using a sharp point and work it around to make it bigger.



4. Rub off any rough edges with a small piece of sand paper.



5. Paint the palette with one or two coats of varnish as this will strengthen it. You can either use a varnish with a wood stain or add a bit of brown acrylic paint to the varnish.



6. Put some splatters of acrylic paint on the palette in various colours to give it a used look.

Free 12th Scale Crochet and Knitting Patterns

I was fortunate to be given this lovely 12th scale bed set by a friend who crochets and knits. If you want to have a go at making a cosy cover yourself, you can visit various places on the web to find free patterns.
CLICK HERE for one example.

If you think you may like to make a variety of items you can invest in a book that shows you how to make bedspreads, clothes and a host of other 12th scale knits yourself.

Free Mini-Printable Dolls House Pastel Pictures

Blue tit, Kingfisher, Parrot and Squirrel

1. Click, then print the images onto white paper or card.


2. If you want a white mount for the squirrel print, remember to leave some of the white paper around the edge of the picture when you cut it.


3. You can place cellophane, clear sticky plastic or acetate on the print to give the effect of glass. Even sellotape will do on a small picture.


4. Either place the picture in a frame or make a frame for your picture. You can see how to do this on previous postings below.

Please remember the copyright to these images belongs to me. You are welcome to use them for personal use but not for profit. Do not copy them to another website although you may provide a link to them.

How to Make Miniature Fimo /Polymer ClayTools

If you want some tools or other implements why not have a go with Fimo/ Polymer Clay.

• First get a picture of the tool that you want. It's much easier if you have something to base your model on.


• Shape the Fimo into your tools. Use a sharp knife or even nail scissors to get neat edges.


• Cook in the oven to harden following the instructions on your packet.


• Paint the tools using acrylic paint. Silver acrylic paint gives a nice metalic look, to age them add a little brown.

An additional idea for a shed or barn is to buy a tiny horse shoe which is designed to go on a wedding cake. Rub some brown paint on to age it, and it is ready to hang. Small pieces of Balsa Wood make great wood offcuts and planks to have around.

How to Scan a Cross Stitch to Make a Dolls House Miniature

Sometimes you may want to copy a cross stitch that you actually own to create a special effect in a room, as in this room with a Swiss effect. Make sure you have removed the glass from your cross stitch and then place it on the scanner. It also scans the texture of the material. Save to your computer and then reduce the size of the photo. I usually use Adobe Photoshop to adjust the size. Print the image and either frame or mount on card.

FREE MINI- PRINTABLES - Old Magazine Covers - For your Dolls House

Click and print all in one go.

FREE MINI- PRINTABLES - Children's VictorianType Pictures - For your Dolls House

Just click and print.
For personal use only.

FREE MINI- PRINTABLES - Small, Sepia Photographs - For your Dolls House

Just click on the picture, then print all the photos on one page at the same time.

Courtesy of NEFSC photo archives - only to be printed for personal use.

Buy an Original Miniature Painting For Your Doll's House on Ebay.

If you would like to be able to buy an original, framed painting for your dolls house, have a look at my items for sale on eBay.

Venice, "The Grand Canal," Painting
English Bluebell Wood Painting

SOLD

HOW TO MAKE A MINIATURE OPEN FIREPLACE FOR YOUR DOLL'S HOUSE

• Take some pieces of Balsa Wood. Balsa wood is light and easy to cut. You can buy packs of wood with various sizes and thicknesses in craft shops.
• First decide how big you want the furniture to be. This fireplace is 24th scale but could be made in any size.
• Cut out the back panel from thin Balsa wood. You can even draw it out and then use a craft knife or scissors to cut it.
• Take some thicker piece of wood and glue on two side panels and a base. You might be able to cut these with a craft knife or use a small saw.
• Glue a piece across as a mantelpiece.
• Next paint the fireplace using acrylic paints. You could make it look like stone or wood.
• Glue some twigs on for logs and if you want paint a few flames on.
• Screw a small hook into the mantel piece to hang a cooking pot on.
• Hammer some tiny nails into the side panels to hang pots/utensils on.
• Place it into your house.

HOW TO MAKE A MINIATURE STAG'S HEAD

• 
  
  

First find a small plastic stag/deer. This one came as a cake decoration but you can look in cheap plastic animal sets for children.

Cut a wooden shape for the backboard out of Balsa wood. Balsa wood is thin and easy to cut using a craft knife or even small scissors.

Stain and varnish the wood.

Cut the head off the stag using a sharp knife. (This feels a bit mean even though it's plastic!!)

Paint the stag using acrylic paint. This takes away the plastic look.

Finally, glue it to the wooden board and put onto your wall.

How to Make Miniature Food With FIMO or POLYMER CLAY For Your Doll's House

It is quite simple to make food from FIMO.

For the Edam Cheese just roll a pale yellow ball and flatten it out a bit. Roll out a really thin layer of red and wrap it around the yellow. Cut a slice out so that you can see the "cheese" inside, and have a slice to display.

For the other cheese just leave the red layer off.

For a cauliflower, roll some white Fimo into a ball and poke small holes into it. Wrap small green layers around it to be the leaves.

To make bread or rolls, just shape some cream coloured Fimo into whichever bread shape that you want. When you have baked it and it has hardened put a little brown paint/tea onto the outside.

Make a Miniature Bench and Table - Free Doll's House Idea

If you want unusual or 24th scale items for your doll's house it is a good idea to have a go at making your own. Have a picture of what you would like to make in front of you, and then you have something to base yours on.

For the table and bench above, I used selection of Balsa Wood of various thicknesses. You can often buy these from DIY shops or craft shops such as Hobbycraft. It is also useful to have small, cheap G-clamps to hold pieces together as the wood glue dries.

It was quite simple to choose pieces of wood to put together to make into a bench and table. The thicker wood needs to be cut with a small "hacksaw" and the thin pieces can even be cut with scissors.

Finally add some finishing touches like some glued on material.

How to make 24th Scale Dolls House Dolls

If you have an old doll's house that is 24th scale and you are finding it hard to find furniture and people to fit. Why not try making your own. This Heidi and Grandfather were made using FIMO for the heads, arms, shoulders and boots, with pipe cleaners wrapped in a little wadding to join it all together. Their clothes were made with a little bit of felt, ribbon and lace.

• Shape the head and neck and then push a straw in the bottom of the neck to create a hole you will be able to put a pipe cleaner into later..
• Make a rectangle for the shoulders and curve it round. Make a hole in the middle of the rectangle to push a pipe cleaner through later.(You can make these without shoulders if you just use the pipe cleaners to shape a shoulder effect.)
• Roll a thin "sausage shape" for the arms and make a hole in the end, that you will be able to push a pipe cleaner into. Squeeze the tip of the arm flat to form a hand and then make a few lines in it to indicate fingers.
• Roll two "sausage"shapes for legs and curve the end over and shape into feet/boots.
• Cook the FIMO as instructed on the packet.
• Push a pipe cleaner into the "arm sockets," and through the curve of the shoulder piece. Then push another pipe cleaner into the neck, through the shoulder hole, and wind it around the "arms pipe cleaner" going down to create a body. Wind another one around for legs and push the ends into the FIMO leg tops.
• Wrap some cloth tape or wool and wadding around the pipe cleaners until they have a shaped body and make them some clothes.
• Paint the boots brown and put a little colour on the eyes and cheeks. Glue a little hair on. This can be cotton, thin wool or some of the "hair" off of thick pipe cleaners. Be creative!

There are two books, that are useful for making doll's house dolls, shown below. Although they are for 12th scale it is possible to just scale the sizes down.

VICTORIAN DOLL'S HOUSES by Nick Forder

Re-create the decorative styles, trends and traditions of the Victorian era in one-twelfth scale.

• An essential source book for both makers and collectors of Victorian miniatures.
• Furnishing and the construction of the finished look is described for each room.
• Illustrated throughout with stunning colour photographs, including a vast array of individual pieces as well as the finished rooms.
• Twelve major rooms of the typical Victorian home are examined,discussing function and differing styles.
• Written by an expert in the field of miniatures.

Free Mini-Printable:"English Country Garden" Original Print

• Click on the various images until you see the size that you would like.
• Print onto computer paper or card.
• Either put into a ready-made dolls house frame or make your own. You will find instructions to make one in an earlier post on this site.

You are welcome to use the image for personal use, but not for commercial purposes. The copyright remains with the author of this blog.

How to Make a Free Mini-Printable Rug for Your Dolls House

If you would like to make rugs for your doll's house as in the photograph above, you need some thick, white or cream cotton material. Don't buy it new, see if you have any old pillowcases etc. You also need some, iron on computer transfer paper. This is often referred to as being for T-shirt making.

• Get your image HERE. there are also a variety of other rug images free to use on the Internet.
• I saved the images that I wanted on the computer so that I could print several rugs on each sheet of transfer paper. You can just print one per page if this seems too tricky.
• Iron the image on to the material, (according to the instructions on the packet) and then peel off the paper leaving the image on your material.
• Cut out the image leaving a strip of plain material at each end.
• Cut into the end strips to give a tasseled effect.

You can also print lovely quilts for your beds in the same way.

Make a Miniature Fireplace For Your Doll's House Nursery

• Find an old small wooden picture frame that is no longer in use.


• Cut it in two, at the point where it looks the right height, to be a fireplace in your house.


• Put a "mantel" of Balsa wood or even a cut lolly stick along the top.


• Where a picture would usually go, fit a piece of cardboard to the frame.


• Draw a rectangle where you want the hole for the fire to be.


• Cut a hole smaller than you have marked out. Cut a diagonal line in the top two corners, from where you have cut the hole out, to where you have drawn the rectangle. This should now mean that you can fold the flaps back to create a hole with side walls.


• You may want to attach an additional piece of cardboard to the back of this, to be the back wall of your fireplace hole.


• Paint or colour the internal side walls, black.


• On the cardboard you can do whatever seems best. You can draw tiles, put on coloured paper to create a tile effect. I cut up the pictures from HERE ( Find "Free projects and Printables", near the bottom left of the page, and then "Victorian Children's Stacking Blocks", down a bit, on the right of the page), to get Victorian Children tiles for my Dolls House Nursery. Print several pages and they cut up to just the right size for tiles.


• Cover the cardboard with clear sticky back plastic.


• Varnish the frame and mantel. If the mantel is a different colour wood to the frame try to stain it the same.


• Glue the cardboard to the frame.


• Glue a few mosaic tiles to the floor to be the hearth.


• Glue the frame onto the wall.(You may want to try it with Bluetac first to sort out any problems you may find).


• Find a little off cut of something to use as a grate. Even some card taped to wire, to give it a curve would do, as long as you paint it all black, copper or silver with acrylic paint.


• Glue it on to the inside of your fireplace.


• Put a few cut twigs into the grate, to be logs.


• Glue some orange cellophane, scrunched up, onto your logs. Many types of sweet papers will do and you have the benefit of eating it first!
• Find a little dog waiting to have his tummy warmed by the fire.

AN ORIGINAL PRINT - FREE MINI PRINTABLE MINIATURE PAINTING

This painting is available for you to print, free of charge, for personal use only. If you want to use it on another web page, a link must be put to this site. Email me and let me know, I'd love to see it. The copyright belongs to the writer of this blog.

AN ENGLISH BLUEBELL WOOD - For Your Dolls House

• First click on the picture, of your choice, there are two sizes available. Then print it on to white paper or card. If you are feeling very keen, you could print onto canvas textured, computer paper.



• It is best to cut it out leaving a white border, to give the effect of a mount. If it's on paper you may want to stick it to card.



• Cover it with clear, sticky back plastic, or a layer of acetate. If you don't have this you can leave it uncovered.



• Either put it in a ready-made dolls house frame. Or make you own using gold card/Balsa wood. You can wrap a gold sweet wrapper along the edge to frame it, or you can make a frame using Fimo.



• Balsa wood or Fimo can be painted gold, or the colour of your choice, using acrylic paint.

If you do have a go, post me a comment to let me know how you got on. I would love to know.

If you would like to see the progress of this original picture being painted , have a look at "Artist's Progress."

How to Make a Miniature Kitchen Rug - Free Dolls House Idea

1. Cut out an oval shape from card, and cover it with PVA glue.


2. Take some rough, thick string and starting it in the middle of the card, wind the string round and round, following an oval shape. Put a little bit of extra glue between some string that touches another piece of string.


3. Keep going until the string overlaps the edge of the card slightly. Cut off the string when you have enough, gluing the end of the string well.


4. Place it under something heavy, that it won't stick to, to dry flat. I use a tile or bottom of a plate, with something heavy on.

How to Make a Miniature Sack of Potatoes - Free Dolls House Idea

1. Roll up some small ovals of cream coloured Fimo and cook until hard.


2. Cut out two small, rectangles of hessian and sew up the bottom and sides.


3. Using a black felt pen, write potatoes on the side.


4. Fill the base with anything you have to hand, (such as cotton wool/rice), then put your "homegrown", potatoes on the top.

How To Make A Miniature Stone Fireplace - Free Dolls House Idea

To make a stone effect fireplace, as seen in the photo, you need to find some pieces of Balsa wood. Balsa Wood is light and easy to cut. I bought a bag of mixed pieces from Hobbycraft.

1. Take three pieces that will fit well for two uprights and a mantel.


2. Paint three sides of each piece with grey acrylic paint, making sure that your painting contains a few shades of a darker and lighter grey.


3. Paint black lines to give the impression of separate stones.


4. Glue the pieces onto the wall; two upright and one horizontally.


5. If you want to, glue a thin, painted piece of wood onto the wall above the mantel.


6. Hammer a few tiny nails into the mantel to hang pots from.


7. Glue some tiny mosaic tiles onto the wall behind the fireplace, and maybe on the floor underneath, to give a hearth effect.


8. Make or buy a kitchen range to put inside.


9. Put tiny dishes, or ornaments onto the mantel, and cut up a few twigs to use as logs.

How to Make a Miniature Newspaper - Free Dolls House Idea

• First print some newspaper pages HERE.


• Cut them out and glue several pages together.


• You can either have it open for a person to hold, or fold it, to lay on a table.

Family Photos - Free Dolls House Miniature Ideas

To make a sepia family photo as seen, on the piano, in this photo,

• Click here for the link to be able to print


• Print the pictures out onto plain computer paper.
• If you want to, cover this with sticky back plastic to give it a glass effect.
• Glue it onto some card. Tape or glue a /\ shape of tiny folded card onto the back of the photograph, creating a stand.
• If you haven't covered the photo with clear, sticky back plastic you may want to glue a thin piece of acetate to the photo, to give a glass effect. Gluing only on the very edge.
• Next, cut gold card or paper to make a frame, and glue it around the edge of your picture.Let it dry, maybe with something heavy on it to keep it flat.Place in your dolls house.
• Alternatively, you can fold, then glue, tiny strips of aluminium foil, or gold foil around the edge of the photo to create a frame.
• If you have trouble with it falling over a lot, discreetly put a little bluetac on it, (out of view) to keep it in position.

Personalising Miniature Flat Pack Furniture - Free Dolls House Ideas

Furnishing a dolls house can be very expensive. One way to overcome this is to use inexpensive, furniture that comes pressed into wood, that you slot together. Obviously this doesn't quite look like the real thing. There are a variety of ways that you can improve it, or improve ready-made furniture that just doesn't seem right. It's easy as long as you have a picture of some real furniture to copy. You can:

• Paint the furniture black, using acrylic paint. When it is dry use a gold gel pen and draw on designs. Make sure you find some designs to copy first, maybe using library book pictures of real furniture. If you want you can give it a quick spray with matt varnish, but it stays on well without that.


• Paint the wood with a stained varnish. You can make the furniture look like any type of wood you want, using dark or light varnish. Have a look at the floorboards in the photo, they have been covered in a dark wood stain varnish, but started as Balsa Wood strips.


• Make small seat cushions for the chairs. All you need is a little circle or square of material, put over a small piece of cotton wool and glue it onto the chair seat with PVA. You'll either need to hold it for a while, or use a few tiny G clamps to hold it in place while the glue dries. You can often find cheap sets, of these little clamps, at a shop similar to Pounland.

How to Make a Miniature Cherry Pie for a Dolls House

1. First take a gold coloured, beer bottle lid and place it upside down to be your flan dish.


2. Take a very thin layer of cream, pastry coloured Fimo/Polymer clay and lay it in the base.


3. If you want a pie with a piece cut out, place some tiny red Fimo balls into your pie. If your doll's house dolls don't like cherry pie, you can always make apple pie, or a meat pie!


4. Next put a layer of Fimo on the top to be your pie crust. If you are feeling keen, put some tiny leaves in the middle as you would a real pie, and a few holes, where you would have pricked a real one with a fork.


5. At this stage, if you want a pie with a piece cut out, very carefully, take a slice now. Make sure that you make a few cherries look as if they are rolling out from where you have removed it. If the piece you have removed looks too squashed from removing it, just make up a pretend piece with extra Fimo. (You can cut out a small plate at the same time if you like. Just remember to push it with something circular in the middle to create a dent.)


6. Bake the Fimo in the oven, inside the beer lid, for the time stated on the packet. If you have removed a slice bake that too. You may want to roll up any cream, Fimo leftovers into tiny potatoes, and cook them at the same time.


7. Take out your "pie" and let it cool and harden.


8. Maybe put a tiny amount of brown paint or cold tea onto the top of the pie, to make it looked a bit browned on top.


9. Varnish with some clear varnish, to strengthen it and to make it look glazed. Some clear, nail varnish, or PVA glue would do.


10. If you are a perfectionist, paint some gold acrylic paint onto the underside of the beer lid, to cover their logo. Alternatively, just don't look underneath.


11. WAIT FOR YOUR HUSBAND TO SAY, "I'D HAVE RATHER HAVE HAD A REAL CHERRY PIE." It may be worth cooking a real one in advance to keep him happy!

Covering the Floors and Walls

You can cover the floors in purpose made, carpeting for dolls houses, but here are a few other options, if you are creating an older style of dolls house.

• If you want a realistic, tiled kitchen floor, cover it with small mosaic tiles. Try to find ones that have turned down edges.


• If you want a floorboard look, use thin strips of balsa wood and glue them to the floor. Remember that floorboards are not one long strip but have joints. When you have glued them down, give them a coat of clear or stained varnish.

For the walls you can use purpose made, dolls house, wall paper but this works out very expensive. You can use ordinary wallpaper as long as you are careful about which designs you choose. Make sure that they are either plain or have a very tiny prints. You can buy cheap, single, end-of-line rolls of wallpaper or borrow people's left overs. This gives you plenty of room to make mistakes or to wall paper more houses in the future.

Measure each wall with a ruler and then draw out the shapes onto the paper. It should then fit when you try it against the wall. Check that it will fit well, before gluing it. If not, you just have to redo it!

A Dolls House Kit

A dolls house kit can be quite tricky to put together, so it's best to work with a friend. Once the framework is together you have the wonderful task of decorating it. Here are a few choices for the roof,

• Cover it with paper printed in brick. Personally I don't like the look of this and it can tear easily.


• Paint the roof with paint. This is easy but doesn't give the texture of brick.


• Glue thin balsa wood tiles onto the roof, starting at the bottom and working upwards. These can be bought ready done or cut your own from thin strips of balsa wood. Then paint them the tile colour of you choice. This gives the roof a nice tile feel to it.

Paint the walls a colour of your choice. I think pale blue looks nice.

If your window frames need painting, paint them white before you fit them, or before you put acetate behind them. This saves getting white paint on your walls or on the acetate. If you want a very special window with a stained glass effect, paint it with glass paints before you fit it to the house.

Now the outside is dealt with you are ready to move on to the fun of decorating the inside.