Making Andy's bed from Toy Story Part I

The first thing I did was draw a picture of the headboard and foot board. 

I used balsa wood which is a soft wood and it is easy to work with. I cut out the footboard.

I then cut out another footboard but this time I cut out a piece of moon shape in it, this is going to be the headboard.

Then I cut out the two pieces that go under the head and footboards.

I then used a round toothpick to make the pieces that attach the top of the head and footboards to the supports.  I used the end of the toothpick to make a hole in both pieces and then cut small pieces of the toothpick to make "dowels". Then I poured glue on both ends and connected the two pieces together.  I had to do this to the footboard and headboard.

In this picture both pieces are glued together. The toothpick "dowels" really help out.  I then took a screw driver and made a dent in the top middle and bottom middle, its time to put the decorative lines in it.

I added toothpicks that I cut down and made the dents in the wood so that the toothpicks could be glued down.

These two pieces of wood came from something I broke apart, that's where I get a lot of my wood from.  I cut these pieces down to the size of the side railings for the sides of the bed frame.  It all depends on how big I want the bed to be.

I then took a dowel and cut pieces that will go on the front and back of the bed.  If you look at the photo you will see the poles.  I picked these beads that you see on the tops of the dowel.  I had to whittle away some of the width of the tops of the dowel so they would fit the beads.  I glued the dowels into the beads.

In this picture you can see where I glued the posts on and also the side railings.

This is another view.

I then cut a piece of the balsa wood to make the floor of the bed, this is where the mattress will sit.

I then glued on a piece of balsa wood across the bottom to give it a finished look.

The rest of the steps will be here, part II

Making a miniature guitar

The first thing you do is go on yahoo or google and look up images of guitars.  When you find one you like print out the picture.

The next thing I do is draw a smaller version of the guitar.  It doesn't have to be perfect.

I then take a piece of thin wood and transferred the design and cut it out.  If you want, you can cut out the shape of the guitar and use it for a template.

I then used a screw driver to dig out opening in the front of the guitar. I use a small hammer and small screw driver. However use of a chisel may make things easier and quicker when boring out the opening.

I use the cocktail type toothpicks and wooden beads for the nobs that tighten the strings on the guitar.  I put glue inside the hole of the toothpick and then put the toothpick in the hole to dry.

I then cut all of them the size I would need and hot glue them on the guitar. I then painted the guitar.  You can paint it any way you want, use your imagination! You can use fishing line for the wires I just didn’t add them to this guitar.

Just use your imagination and it will soar!

Making a curtain rod for a dollhouse

This is what you are going to need, a small round dowel and two beads that have holes in them.

You need to cut two pieces of dowel the size you need for the window.  What I did then was use a razor knife and make the ends to fit into the bead holes.  First you put some hot glue in the bead hole and put one end of the dowel in the bead.  The hot glue holds it into place.  Next put on the curtain you are going to be using.  I used a very wide piece of trim that I cut a piece off of.  You put it zig zag through the holes of the curtain then on the other side glue on the other bead.

This is what I used for my curtains, it had holes in it that I could put the rod through.

In this picture you can see where I cut the material, I wanted to get curtains and toppers out of it.

Here is my curtain.  Now to put it up, I’m going to show you how to make the piece that holds up your curtain rods in my next blog post.  You can use and type of material to make your curtains. Use you imagination and it will soar!