You are currently browsing the tutorials category
Displaying 11 - 20 of 48 entries.

camp fire part 1

  • Posted on October 1, 2018 at 8:05 am

i’m ready to start making the camp fire now. i’m going to use an evans design led fire size 3mm. a 1.8mm would probably have been big enough, but i already had the 3mm and am trying to use what i have in hand before buying new.

the other things i need so far are a 3 inch diameter, flat, wood disk from michaels, and some small rocks from the gravel pad outside, (i picked out ones i liked for color shape and size and washed them to get rid of any bugs or dirt). also acrylic paint in black, dark brown, rust and white, and glue suitable for gluing rocks to wood, i used e6000.

camp fire
first i painted the top of the wood disk solid black for the charcoal, then while still wet swirled and blended in some dark brown and rusty brown to get the look of dirt around the edge. my realpukis are safety conscious 🙂

camp fire
i drilled a set of three holes in the center to thread my leds through. i should have done that before painting since i had to repaint around the holes with my black paint. when it dried again i arranged the rocks till i liked the look and then glued them down with e6000 glue. i let that set a bit and then painted the inner surface of the rocks to make them look soot covered.

camp fire leds back
finally i threaded the leds through the holes and taped them down in the back with a bit of tape. i just used regular tape since it doesn’t have to hold for long.

next step will be building the fire itself, but first i have to dry my “logs” in the oven. i took pruned, dead branches that have been sitting in my burn pile all summer (we have had a fire ban most of the summer so they never got burned). it is pouring rain so they are all wet, and i assume have bugs. i am going to bake them at 200F for 2-4 hours to make sure any bugs are good and dead! i’ll check them every 15 min or so to make sure they don’t catch fire. i wouldn’t mind if they got a bit scorched, but i would rather not burn my house down! 😉

Continue reading camp fire part 1 »

Care to leave a comment? »

my caravan has a table

  • Posted on September 30, 2018 at 9:28 am

since the last attempt at a table turned into a storage bench, my ‘pukis requested another table, and there was just enough room in the caravan for a small one.

table bare
i started with a miniature candlestick from my stash, just a shade under 1-1/2″ tall. the top is a 1-1/2″ wooden disk and i just glued them together.

table painted
i painted the bottom metallic purple, the top turquoise. it looked a little bare and i considered painting a floral design on top, but realized my painting skills don’t really match the vision i had. so instead i looked online for pictures of mandalas, resized them and then printed out a bunch on cardstock. i find that what looks good on my desktop is not always the correct color or clarity when printed, so this gave me some choice. after i cut out and auditioned them, i modge-podged the one i liked best on the table-top.

table in caravan
it just fits, and holds two tiny pewter mugs i ordered online. the furnishings are done, it’s time to work on the diorama next.

Continue reading my caravan has a table »

Care to leave a comment? »

rusty soup pot

  • Posted on September 29, 2018 at 8:50 am

with no kitchen in the caravan, my ‘pukis need to cook over an open fire. what better to cook with than a nice soup pot? i could have just bought one, but where is the fun in that? once i figured out the appropriate size, it was time to hunt for a suitable base.

pots
i found these bolt covers really cheap at the hardware store. they were the perfect size and shape for a soup pot. the top is the cap from a travel size spray bottle. i’m going to try all three and see which works best.

first i sanded them all to get rid of any imperfections and to get the surface ready for painting. i sprayed the bolt covers with a couple coats of rustoleum aged metallic rust, inside and out. the spray bottle cap was sealed with clear spray, painted with a light dusting of the aged metallic to make “rust” spots. and then put aside as i’m not sure yet what i am going to do with it yet.

bucket 2 patina
bucket patina
next i hand painted a combination of coppers/bronze, brown and teal metallic to get an aged look.

bucket side
for the first pot i glued on tiny copper hearts to form the bottom handles, and made the actual handle out of copper wire. now it can swing freely

bucket 2 side
for the second pot the handle was made out of #2 black eyes. the handle will be wire again. i’m debating trying to get some black wire for this one, doing the plain copper wire again or just trying to spray the copper with black paint….

Continue reading rusty soup pot »

Care to leave a comment? »

littlefee craft table

  • Posted on September 28, 2018 at 12:13 pm

i’m still working on both the craft clean-up and my realpuki caravan, but the next bits aren’t at the point where i can put up pictures or posts yet. so here is another quick and easy littlefee/yosd sized prop.

littlefee craft table
i have a bunch of these little shelving units, in various sizes and configurations. they were actually gift boxes that held wooden brain teasers. i have bought several over the years. the brain teasers themselves become stocking stuffers for various family members, or go in to shoe boxes for operation christmas child (they make great gifts for boys 10-14.) i had planned to use them in my pukifee bedroom, but ended up with way more than i needed, so what to do with the extras? these 3 turned out to be exactly the same height and are going to get re-purposed as a craft table. the top is a pine board from michaels. the width was perfect and it just needed to be shortened slightly.

littlefee craft table
here is how i plan to set it up. at first i was just going to place them together so that the pieces could be used elsewhere if needed. but they separated too easily, so i glued them together with white glue instead (fast tack to be exact)

littlefee craft table
checking to make sure the table top fits. after i trimmed it i sanded all the edges and rounded them slightly.

littlefee craft table
waiting for the glue to set.

littlefee craft table
and all finished!
because the bottom was pre-stained and the top unstained, it was going to be almost impossible to match the colors, so i didn’t even try. instead i stained the top with ‘beach glass” water color paint. i really like the contrast.

Continue reading littlefee craft table »

Care to leave a comment? »

littlefee study desk

  • Posted on September 25, 2018 at 2:54 pm

switching to a different size this time…

as i went through some of my drawers i found several odds and ends that i thought might eventually be made into tables. it was time to decide which ones would actually work, and which pieces were the wrong scale for any of my dolls and could be given away.

table parts
these pieces looked like they had the potential to become part of a study center for my littlefee sized dolls.

did i mention that once i get my craft rooms cleaned out, my dh is going to help me build an msd-sized house for my dolls? i’m thinking this one, i just need to clear out enough room to set it up before we build it. i am also planning to con him into making a photo box/room box that i can set up differently depending on what photo i want to take. either way the furniture will be put to good use.

table legs shortened
the spindles needed to be shortened to make the right length table legs, so i carefully cut the tenons off. that made them the perfect length and also gave more surface area at the top to glue, and the bottom for sturdiness.

table glue drying
the spindles were glued to the bottom of the table and also to the corner of the edging. once the glue set up a bit, i carefully turned the table over and adjusted the legs to make sure they were straight and all resting on the floor without wobbling. the glue bottle worked as a weight to hold them in place while the glue finished drying. the chair was from the dollar store (according to the price sticker still on the back 😉 ) and really only needed a good sanding to work. i wish i’d grabbed a couple of them, but i’ve had this one for several years and can’t get any more. i don’t know why i only chose to get one in the first place?

table stain
first i stained all the pieces with a reddish brown. it goes on pretty solid then is wiped off with a damp cloth to lighten up and let the wood grain show through. after it dried i rubbed on a very light coat of barn wood grey to get a more aged look to it. you can see the original color on the left, the final color on the right. i still need to seal it with a light coat of matte varnish. a child’s desk/chair, in my experience at least, is seldom clean and shiny!

table and chair finished
and the finished project.

writing a paper
eilidh immediately tried it out to write her english paper.

Continue reading littlefee study desk »

Care to leave a comment? »

more finishing touches, tins and bottles

  • Posted on September 24, 2018 at 8:29 am

another quick project. i had some small wooden cubes and left over square doweling and decided to make some “tins”.

more finishing touches
i cut the dowel just a smidge longer than my labels, painted them all silver, then glued on labels. 4 sides and the top sides for the cubes, 4 sides for the rectangles, plain squares on all the bottoms and also the tops of the rectangles to make them smooth. the one turquoise rectangle got patterned top and bottom instead, just cause i had leftover tile that matched.

more finishing touches
once the glued dried i first set the paper with modgepodge, then painted all the plain paper silver again. voila – tins! the extras will go in the kitchen of the house i am planning next.

more finishing touches
here they are on the shelve with some tiny bottles i picked up a few years back, and found again while cleaning 🙂 they are all stuck on with fabric basting glue. hopefully that will hold, but be removable later if i find something else i’d rather use. we shall have to see if it works….

Continue reading more finishing touches, tins and bottles »

Care to leave a comment? »

fireplace final installment

  • Posted on December 23, 2015 at 5:19 pm

grate painted black looks like a well used cast iron grate.
Black grate
thread fire led lights through logs btw i ended up painted the lags with my ultra matte varnish because the ash kept getting all over my hands at this step Lol
Thread fire led lights through logs
put crumpled cellophane over the lights. this was included in the kit and just needed to be cut. i’d have preferred something more orange but couldn’t find any.
Cellophane over lights
punch holes for wires in back wall. i couldn’t find my awl so i used a large yarn needle and put in three small holes instead of one larger one. it really didn’t matter in the end.
Punch holes for wires in back wall
back view of wires threaded through
Back view
attach wires red to red, black to black
Attach wires red to red, black to black
tape everything down. the little white thing is an on off switch so the lights don’t go continuously.
Tape everything down
finished!
Finished!

i took a video of the fireplace with the lights flickering and it looks awesome. but apparently i can’t upload video to flickr, so i’ll have to figure out another place to upload it and then add it in.

Continue reading fireplace final installment »

Care to leave a comment? »

working on the fire

  • Posted on December 22, 2015 at 4:52 pm

i want i light saber! we just saw star wars last night and they made cutting wood look so easy. this took far too long, i broke my pull saw and froze my fingers cutting these tiny things :(. then of course i forgot to take out a tape measure and had to guess on the size.. i like the look of the bigger logs better, but they ended up being too big. the smaller logs are just perfect. so i’ll be using them. i’ll save the bigger logs for another fireplace that i plan to do later.
Logs for the fireplace
i want my logs to look like they have really burnt so i am charring them in the flame of a candle. notice that i hold them with metal tongs and burn them in my kitchen sink just in case they decide to burn more than i planned! not likely since this wood is green and fairly wet from all the snow, but you never know…
Charing the logs for realism
here’s what one of the logs look like done.
A charred log
and the pile of finished logs. i wet them down thoroughly to make sure there were no sparks since the glue i’m using is flammable. so now i have to wait for them to dry before i can proceed.
Charred logs cooling and drying

my dh is building me a grate for my fireplace out of 2-1/2″ finishing nails. he still has to add the top rack. he designed it and did all the bending and cutting with his much stronger hands :o)
The start of a grate
and with the cross pieces added.
Grate!
just waiting for the glue to harden so i can paint it black

Continue reading working on the fire »

2 comments on working on the fire »

getting closer

  • Posted on December 18, 2015 at 5:19 pm

the front and mantel are now attached. but it is just resting on the hearth until i get the fire installed.
Getting closer
i’m really happy with how it is turning out, though i realized as i looked at it that i ended up making a fireplace that looks more well suited for a beach cottage, than the ancient english style manor that my crew is supposed to inhabit. lol oh well, i guess i’ll just have to make another one later on..

and a better view of the distressed finish of the wood on the mantel and the side. i really like how that turned out, especially considering the side is just the painted cardboard box!
Side view of wood
the mantel is a flat piece of wood with a square dowel glued to the front to form the overhang.

Continue reading getting closer »

Care to leave a comment? »

back to the fireplace

  • Posted on December 17, 2015 at 2:06 pm

i have been varnishing the fireplace and gluing the sides flat whenever i got a moment this week, not really something that showed up in pictures. now i finally got to apply the grout and find out if all those coats of varnish sealed my tiles/bricks well enough. in a couple of hours the grout will be dry enough to try and wash the haze off. if not i guess my tiles just got more subdued, which isn’t a bad look really… and i just added grouting to my list of new things i’ve tried!
Fireplace varnished and grouted
i like how much more finished the brick look now. i think if i was doing this again i would try to leave a bit more spacing between all the bricks to allow for the grouting. my bottom ones fit together a bit too closely.

edit: i went back to wipe off the haze and found i actually liked it better with some of the haze there. so ended up reapply a bit of the grout and wiping it off again to get the white back in the hollows. it has to dry overnight and then i’ll revarnish with my blend of matte and satin varnish to give a very subtle sheen.

while i’m waiting its time to start painting the hearth and mantel. for the hearth i wanted a stone look that coordinated with but didn’t match the stone in the fireplace, so i gathered up most of the same colors and added them to a paint palette made of a saran covered paper plate. i’ll be applying them with a cheap kitchen sponge to a piece of white painted mdf board.
Paint palette for the hearth.

and.. the painted hearth and mantel.
Painted hearth and mantle
i kept dipping the sponge in the paint and applying till i got the look i wanted. i’ve done marbling on full sized walls before so this time i had an idea of what i wanted to do :)) when it dries i’ll paint it with a blend of matte and satin varnish to get a really subtle sheen since the satin is too shiny and the matte too dull.

it’s hard to see on the mantel but i painted it with white chalk paint and then when it was dry sanded it smooth and it matches the wood front almost perfectly :yay! i’ll be coating that with my ulta matte varnish to keep the worn look.

Continue reading back to the fireplace »

Care to leave a comment? »