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Colonial Doll HouseThe images for this Colonial Doll House Tutorial can be found here -No gift is apt to delight a small girl quite so much as a really fine doll's house. To her it is a fairy home where her doll children can live and play. She can devise new furnishings, redecorate the rooms, and sweep, dust, wash and cook to her heart's content. And after all, isn't that the secret of a satisfying toy? It must allow the child to do something genuinely constructive and stimulate her imagination and ingenuity; A doll's house does all this, especially if it is as complete and realistic a model of a house as the one illustrated on this page. At first glance the doll's house in Fig. 11, which is based upon one of the most popular Colonial designs, may appear to be complicated in its construction, but when examined closely and studied well it will be found relatively simple for any handy man to build in spare moments in his home workshop. Only household tools are needed and no high degree of skill or previous experience is called for. Tho first thing to do is to study the drawings (Figs. 12 to 16) until a clear understanding of the method of construction is obtained; the next is to examine the list of parts.
The best material to use is either plywood or wallboard, because they do not readily warp or split. The thickness for all the major parts of the house should be preferably 1/2 inch, although 3/8 inch stock can be used if the other cannot be obtained. Of course, any difference of thickness will make a slight variation in the length of some of the parts. As many of these materials come in regular sizes of 1/4 inch, they may be glued together and used double thickness to make 1/2 inch. Veneered stock such as is found in some packing boxes may be made use of in the construction of the house. This usually is 3/8 inch thick and may be had very cheaply. The drawings are for a house that is just one twelfth the size of a real house, and all of the furniture and parts are planned on this scale. A smaller house may be made by reducing the dimensions proportionately. In Figs. 13 and 14 is shown the method of construction. With the two floor boards, Nos. 3 and 4, squared and sandpapered and the upper ceiling board No. 2 in shape, the position of the waWs should be marked off carefully, using the plans in Fig. 12 as guide. Nos. 3 and 4 are each 1/2 by 27 by 33 inch, while No. 2 is 1/2 by 29, 1/2 by 34 inch. The main floor board is reinforced on the edges with a 1 by 2 in. strip marked 4A in Fig. 14; this extends all the way around the edge and across the middle. As the second floor board (No. 3) serves as floor and ceiling, it is sandpapered on both sides. The rooms will be so small when the house is assembled that it will be next to impossible to do much nailing or other work within them. For this reason it will be best to do all the fitting of doors, bases, casing, stairs and the like before the house is completed. The three sections shown in Fig. 14 should each be assembled as separate units. Do all wall painting or decorating and floor polishing while the sections are still open. Next, the outside walls should be made up. The door and window openings should be marked out accurately on both sides of the board and cut out with an ordinary coping saw or keyhole saw. For casing and finishing the doors and windows see Fig. 16. The casings may be made of 1/8 inch wood. The cheap yard yardsticks that some firms use as advertising mediums, if planed smooth and ripped through the center, are just the thing for the purpose. If these cannot be found, heavy cardboard or berry crates will serve quite well. If the casings are placed even with the edge of the openings, frames will not be needed. The baseboards should be 3/4 inch wide and the same thickness as the casings. The stairs (Figs. 15 and 18) will be found to be the most difficult part of the construction. It is hardly possible to show their construction fully enough, but the details can be supplemented by the reader's observation and ingenuity. The stair steps may be glued to a thin board, each step being a solid block. Another plan would be to cut the steps from a solid block. Only the six lower steps are exposed to view, the other seven being hidden between walls Nos. 12 and 14. The stair well in the second floor is 3 by 7, 1/4 inch and cut so that it is directly between walls 12 and 14. The balustrades are made of match sticks glued between a top and bottom rail. The newel post may be a clothespin or a round penholder. When all of the small details are in place and the walls tinted, the three sections shown in Fig. 14 may be assembled using 3/4 inch flat-head screws. The front and back should be screwed in place at this time and the two ends and roof hinged. One hinge on the roof will have to have an extension soldered to it to allow it to open out to the line of the chimney. It is left to the reader as to what kind of roof he will use (see Fig. 17). Small shingles may be nailed or glued in place; they look well but take a great deal of time to construct. The divisions between the shingles may be represented bymaking grooves with the point of a nail set or a chisel. The same method may be used for lining the siding boards. The chimneys are made of solid blocks of wood and the bricks carved with a chisel or sharp knife. The construction of the front entrance is shown in Fig. 12. The arch is shaped with the coping saw; the roof boards are made to match the main roof. The columns may be turned on a lathe or made square, or a small bracket may be used to support the sides of the roof. The steps in front and at the side are merely three 1/2 inch sections fastened together and carved like the chimneys. The sunburst design over the door may be carved with a knife or carving chisel. Making up the window sash is more tedious than difficult. A good sharp knife will be the greatest asset. The method is shown in Fig. 16. Tough and quite heavy cardboard should be used. When the sash are cut, they are glued to a piece of glass or celluloid of the same width and length. Each sash should be made to fit its particular opening. The construction of the door also is shown in Fig. 16. Small green shutters serve to brighten the appearance of the house and may be made easily. A piece of very thin wood with a simple design grooved in the outside face is all that is needed for each shutter. These pieces are nailed to the side of the windows. Small window boxes —blocks with holes for the flowers — may be used under the windows. Pieces of sponges, colored like plants and shrubs and glued on top of the boxes, are quite effective. Careful painting adds greatly to the attractiveness of the house; it is one of the most important items. The colors suggested (see Fig. 17) are green for roof and shutters, white for the body and doors and window sash, and red for the steps and chimneys. It is well to give the house two or three coats of paint or brushing lacquer. The inside woodwork (Fig. 18) should be painted white along with the doors. The floors may be stained or finished with clear varnish. Paper or tint the walls. Furniture, bath and kitchen fixtures may be obtained ready made at the toy shops. These should be of the proper size to match the house. It is more satisfactory, however, to make the pieces in the home shop. The porcelain fixtures for the bathroom and kitchen may be shaped or carved from solid wood to resemble as closely as possible the real pieces. These models are covered with a heavy layer of gesso made of glue and whiting and painted with white enamel to give them the resemblance of porcelain. The images for this Colonial Doll House Tutorial can be found here
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