Making a wishing well for a Dollhouse

You are going to start with a mini clay pot.  Start cutting out square pieces of an egg carton.

This is one of the egg cartons that I will cut square pieces out of.  Next you need to glue the squares around the top ring of the clay pot.  You will see what it looks like in the photo above.  After you do one layer around the top, you then put pieces another layer between each of the first pieces.  I glued down these pieces with a mixture of wood glue mixed with flour.  This makes a very thick paste and this the glue you will be using. When it dries, it will be harder than a rock.

You will then coat the whole clay pot with the wood glue and flour mixture, add some gray paint to the wishing well.  You will then cut two popsicle sticks for the side pieces that will hold up the roof.  On the top of the popsicle sticks you will cut angles on them, so the roof pieces will lay on them. Also cut two pieces for the roof and glue them in place.

Then make a mixture of gray paint mixed with craft sand which you see at a flea market etc. Paint the whole thing with this paint.  Then add some black paint to this mixture and using your paint brush dab on some of this darker gray shade.

With a thin brush paint brush, paint lines around the top like lines you would see from the spacing in the brick.  Then take some white paint and highlight some areas. Do the same for the bottom.

You will need a rook from a chess set.  You will be cutting off the top of it for a pail.

In this picture you can see the top piece cut off of the rook which is going to be the pail.  If you don't have this chess piece you can use a toothpaste cap in its place.

You then need to drill a hole through the pail from side to side so you can run a string through it.

In this picture you can see the string I used.

In this picture I took the small dowel and put the string over top of it and then glued in the dowel from one side of the popsicle sticks to the other, holding the pail in place.  I then put some hot glue in the pail and took a blue marker to make it look like water.

This is what it looks like finished. I am using this for a room in a dollhouse. I'm working on the themed room that is Snow White and the seven dwarfs inspired.  Use your imagination and it will soar!

How to make a "stone wall" for a dollhouse

You will need these types of egg cartons or any type of cardboard that resembles this cardboard.  I cut out the cardboard to make easier pieces to work with.  You need to cut out stone looking pieces out of this cardboard.  I cut out circles of different sizes and off shapes.

Using the tacky glue to glue the circles onto the areas that you want to texture like stone. On the left you can see what it looks like with them glued on and on the right after they are glued on and painted. The background color is a lighter gray than what the "stones" are painted.

In this picture you can see it all painted with the gray. Now for the detailing on the stones.

I use a piece of aluminum foil so I can mix the colors together, it also makes for an easy cleanup.

The first color I use is I mix the gray with a little dark brown.  Using a hard bristle paint brush, the kind you use for stenciling. I dab this color on the stones,  make sure you don’t put a lot on the brush use the amount that you would use if you were stenciling.  I smear the color on the aluminum foil to get it thin layer to dab.  Once that color is on the stones I add a little black to that color and do the same thing all over.  However dab the colors in different areas, not a lot small amount; you want it thin not thick.  Once you added this color in take your paint brush and wash it out.  I use the same paint brush for the next part.  Take the color white dabbing a small amount each time when your running out and using a small amount on your paint brush and in a circular motion blend the white over top of the colors on the stone to get that blended in stone look.  You can use different colors for different color stones use your imagination and it will soar!

Making "Stone and Concrete" steps for a dollhouse

 For those of you that don’t know what Jenga wood blocks are, this is the game Jenga. The pieces for the game is what we will be making the steps out of. You can usually find these games at yard sales; mostly missing pieces but still worth a buy.

We will be using this glue to glue all the pieces together.  This is Gorilla Glue I mix flour with this glue. It makes the glue dry faster and when it’s dry, it is harder than a rock.  I also use this technique in making concrete foundation walls for my dollhouses and for filling cracks.  The more flour the thicker the glue.

This cup has the wood glue mixed with flour.  I then start gluing the Jenga blocks together.

After gluing them together I put a thin layer of the glue all over the steps. I also glue on a piece of paper towel to the top of the steps to give it the look of concrete when it dries. The paper towels are double ply so I separate it into 2 single ply sheets.

I will be using this egg carton for making the stones for on the outer parts of the steps. I just used the cartons that were saved from the last time I bought eggs. However I found a great deal on amazon. 30 count egg trays (18 trays) for less than $17.

In this picture you can see one of the sides of the steps. I used the egg carton for stones. Again, a thin layer of the glue mixture holds them right in place. You can also see the paper towel on the top of the steps.

This is a front view of the steps.

This is the other side of the steps.

And.. Another view.

The way I painted them was... First I painted the whole thing with a light gray color paint. Then I mixed some black with gray, which is in a plastic cup and stirred with a popsicle stick to get a darker grey; which I dabbed on all the rocks which were made from the egg carton.  Don’t put to much on them.  Then I darkened the color again by adding more black paint and stirring it again.  Dab on this darker color in different areas on the rocks, and one more time add some more black and dab on.  Now take a q tip and blend the colors on the rocks by dabbing not rubbing. I then take a thin paint brush, take white paint and with a little paint on the brush I put a thin line of white paint around each rock to highlight it.  The tops of the steps since they already have one coat of the gray paint. I also do the same method with the addition of black paint added to the gray. Each time dabbing on the different shades.  I paint the rocks and the tops of the steps the same way.  Then at the end I take white paint and just highlight the edges of the steps and sides.

If you don't already have acrylic paint, I highly recommend the Appel Barrel brand. They have a huge selection of different types of paints, weather it be metallic, gloss, matte, neon, and I've even seen fluorescent. 

Here is another view of the steps

And another view.  We all have imagination inside of us. It’s the child in us that wants to use it.  Go for it!

Materials List:

1. Janga Blocks
2. Gorilla Wood Glue
3. Acrylic Paint (Gray, White)
4. Disposable paint cups
5. Paint Brush
6. Q-Tips
7. Egg Carton
8. (Recommended) Parchment Paper

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