How to Make Dolls' Houses

Audrey Johnson

Description

This vintage book is a comprehensive and accessible manual for the building of dolls houses and furniture.

How to Make Dolls' Houses provides detailed, step-by-step instructions for building a variety of houses, beginning with a simple model schoolhouse that could be made cheaply and by children, and going on to more complicated tasks that eventually lead to the construction of a nineteenth century draper's shop and flat.

The contents include:

- A School A Confectioner's Shop and Café

- A Late Victorian Draper's Shop

- A Westmorland Farmhouse

- A Tall Villa

- A Sweet Shop

- A Hunting Lodge

- A Miniature Doll's House

- A Public House

- A Cabinet in the Form of a Doll's House

Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, high-quality edition complete with a specially commissioned new introduction on dolls.

Introduction

Section A: A School

Section B: A Confectioner's Shop and Café, 1956

Section C: A Late Victorian Draper's Shop

Section D: A Westmorland Farmhouse - A Tall Villa - 'Sea View' - A Sweet Shop - A Hunting Lodge - A Miniature Doll's House - A Public House - A Cabinet in the Form of a Doll's House

Photographs

The photographs appear between pages 40 and 41

1. The School. Outside

2. The School. Inside

3. The Confectioner's Shop and Café

4. The Victorian Draper's Shop. Outside

5. The Victorian Draper's Shop. Inside

6. The Tall Villa. Outside

7. The Tall Villa. Inside

8. The Sweet Shop. Outside

9. The Sweet Shop. Inside

Sujets

• Artisanat
• Crafts
• Hobbies
• Dollhouses

Informations

• Publié par: Read Books Ltd.
• Date de parution: 06 septembre 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781473350885
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

HOW TO MAKE DOLLS HOUSES

First published 1957

a Bell Handbook
Contents
Introduction

SECTION A:
A School
SECTION B:
A Confectioner s Shop and Caf , 1956
SECTION C:
A Late Victorian Draper s Shop
SECTION D:
A Westmorland Farmhouse

A Tall Villa

Sea View

A Sweet Shop

A Hunting Lodge

A Miniature Dolls House

A Public House

A Cabinet in the form of a Dolls House
Photographs
The photographs appear between pages 40 and 41

1. The School. Outside
2. The School. Inside
3. The Confectioner s Shop and Caf
4. The Victorian Draper s Shop. Outside
5. The Victorian Draper s Shop. Inside
6. The Tall Villa. Outside
7. The Tall Villa. Inside
8. The Sweet Shop. Outside
9. The Sweet Shop. Inside
Introduction

ABOVE ALL THINGS I am interested in houses and particularly in their furnishing. Three years ago, I completed the furnishing of my own, for the time at least, and I found myself faced with the prospect of spending all my long winter evenings either knitting or reading. I must confess that I soon get bored with knitting and even with reading, for I enjoy making things with my hands. Like so many of my sex, I am fascinated by tiny, fragile things, however useless, and I saw my opportunity for indulging myself thoroughly when the idea of making a dolls house cropped up.
I made no replicas of real houses, preferring always to build, just for the fun of it, some version of a past style that caught my imagination; or to furnish and decorate a few rooms that I d rather like to live in, however impractical. I have had great pleasure from admiring such magnificent dolls houses as those in the London Museum, Queen Mary s dolls house and of course such of those that I have seen that figure in Vivian Greene s book about dolls houses. The one that gave me the greatest delight was the Longleat Baby House , loaned by the Marquess of Bath to an Exhibition of Dolls Houses at Messrs Bewley s.
The professional skill that went into the making of these houses-mansions rather-is obviously far out of reach of most of us today and I have, in this book, tried to write only of what I could do myself. I believe that the modest buildings described in this book could be made by anyone reasonably good with their hands.
In the first part, I have described a dolls house that could be made by schoolchildren from cheap and handy materials and without too many tools or any great fuss. I know how much pleasure and worth-while knowledge children can get from making and playing with these houses, for my own little boy has played with every single item in every house described in this book, made many that are not described and overwhelmed me with suggestions; and, though he is a rough sort of boy, he has broken very few things and then only when completely absorbed in putting them to use.
The next section is concerned with a modern house and shop that could be made by an older child or adult-perhaps as a present for a younger child who would be able to manage the decorating and furnishing easily enough.
For the third and most ambitious scheme, I chose a nineteenth-century draper s shop, with a flat above it. As I made each part, I wrote about it so that I completed both house and book at the same time, and by doing it that way I hope to have dealt with most of those wretched little snags that are so easily forgotten when one tries to think back.
The last section contains a variety of dolls houses that I either made some time ago, or intend to make, or that may provide the reader with an idea for one of his own.
All the ambitious schemes for decoration that so many of us have and either dare not carry out or cannot afford, are but half an hour s job in a dolls house. Perhaps, like model railways to Fathers, they mean as much and more to grown-ups as they do to children? In any case, it is far better to make them than to buy them, for in the making lies the real pleasure.
SECTION A:
A School
See photographs 1 and 2 between pages 40 - 41

1. T HE I DEA
When you want to make something, it is always a great help if you can start by trying to draw it, however simply. Plans, elevations and perspective drawings are a necessary beginning for all but the most barbaric buildings. Once you have decided what type of dolls house you want, make a little sketch of it. As an example, I chose a school, just a one-room building, but there are many shapes to choose from-such as these:

Fig. 1
Having decided, not necessarily on the easiest, but I hope more wisely on the one that appeals to your imagination, the one that you think you can really make something of, different from everyone else s, then try more elaborate drawings from different angles-like those on the next page.

Fig. 2
2. C ONSTRUCTION
How big is it to be? It should be small enough to fit easily into a real household, or, if it is to be made in school, on a desk, yet large enough to furnish and decorate without a magnifying glass or special tools.
First, decide on the measurements of the base, then estimate the height (which should be of taller proportions than a real room, so that you can see into it). I would suggest that it be about 14 long by 8 wide, with walls 10 high. If you have 1/4 softwood available (grocery boxes perhaps?), you will need two pieces each 14 8 (A and B) and two pieces each 8 10 (C and D)-see Fig. 3 .
These can be glued and/or nailed together to form a box open at both ends. For the more elaborate front, you can use a material that is easier to cut windows out of, such as Balsa wood, stiff cardboard or plywood, depending on what materials and tools you have. The hardest, plywood, needs a fretsaw; Balsa wood and cardboard can be cut with a sharp knife or scissors. Lay the box, one of the open ends down, on to the piece of board chosen for the front and mark out its shape, then draw on the pointed top ( Fig. 4 A ) and the windows and doors ( Fig. 4 B ). Cut them out carefully and save the odd pieces for use later on.

Fig. 3

Fig. 4 A

Fig. 4 B
Tack and/or glue this fa ade on to one end of the box.

Fig. 5
If you like, you can elaborate this by adding a hinged door to the back, a roof of stiff card and a flag-pole.
Little brass hinges and catches can be bought at the ironmonger s and screwed on, as in the drawing ( Fig. 6 A ). The roof can be made of stiff cardboard, overlapping the walls slightly. To bend it, make a careful incision with a knife along the centre, cutting only halfway through the card; after bending along this line, strengthen the roof top with sticky tape. Then cut out a triangular piece of wood or card (A) to support the roof at the back and glue and/or tack it into place.
A flag-pole made from a paintbrush handle or a meat skewer can be stuck with gum strip or tape or tacks to the fa ade before the roof is put on and a little hole cut in the roof to let it through.

Fig. 6 A

Fig. 6 B
3. I NTERIOR D ECORATION
As with a real house, you must start with the essential things first, such as the doors and windows, before you lay out the ornaments.
Windows
From a sheet of thin transparent plastic or celluloid, cut out the glass of your windows, but make them all 1/2 larger all round than the window openings. Lay these window panes on to Sellotape strips (or other sticky cellulose tape) sticky side up, as shown in diagram 7 A , leaving half the width of each strip showing. Press the whole on to the inside of the wall across the window opening and secure the four corners with bayonet tacks, unless the front of the house is too thin to take them.

Fig. 7 A

Fig. 7 B
Door
This may be hinged by gluing tape along one edge, or by screwing on to tiny hinges if the fa ade is thick enough to hold the screws ( Fig. 7 B ).
Papering
It is advisable to paper the walls and ceiling of the school as this gives a much better surface than merely colouring the wood. You can use thin coloured paper-or colour your own. Cut the pieces to fit the inside walls, allowing the paper to overlap the plastic right up to the window openings. Any paste may be used, such as cold water paste sold for paperhanging or one of the new plastic pastes.
To imitate a boarded floor, you can colour a piece of paper with brown paint, or use brown paper, and draw strong pencil lines to imitate the joins between the boards. To obtain a more realistic effect the floor can be varnished before being glued into position. Tiny tins of varnish can be bought and a tin goes a long way, as it should be well brushed out.
4. E XTERIOR D ECORATIONS
The outside walls may be painted with powder colours, poster colours or distempers, but much to be preferred is undercoat (ordinary household paint) in whatever colour you like. Two coats are needed. White undercoat may be coloured with stainers (tubes of powerful, bright colours which can be mixed gradually into the basic white undercoat to achieve the colour you desire). After leaving overnight to dry, you may paint on to this all manner of decorations, not necessarily realistic. Rather than a lot of bricks drawn with a ruler, you could paint on gay floral designs, ambitious architectural features, or striking patterns as in this sketch ( Fig. 8 ):

Fig. 8
To avoid dirty fingermarks on the matt surface, the house can be varnished, using as clear a varnish as you can get and brushing it out so that a thin and even coat is obtained.
Roof
You can liven up the roof with interesting and unusual textures, such as coloured felt, knitting, shells or pebbles set in plaster (see photograph facing page 41 ), rows of drinking straws or split canes, or a sheet of corrugated cardboard with the ribs painted in alternate colours.
The glazing bars on the windows may be painted on with white paint, using a fine brush.
The flag should be painted on paper and then stuck to the pole.
5. F URNITURE
A blackboard may be simply black card stuck to the wall or, more a