Do-it-yourself making furniture for dolls is not only saving money, but also an incredibly interesting and creative activity for both an adult and a child. Some steps are beyond the reach of the baby, so the whole process of creating furniture will take place under the clear guidance of the parent.
Doll house preparation
Before furnishing a doll's house, you need to equip the house itself. If the doll house was made with your own hands, then you will need to finish the rooms in accordance with their purpose.
Use a self-adhesive film as a floor covering; it is very similar in texture to parquet or linoleum. To cover the floor in the bathroom and toilet, you can use the same film, only in the form of a mosaic. Small multi-colored squares look like floor tiles.
For wall decoration of a doll house, ordinary wallpapers are suitable. Ask sellers for stocks. Sometimes, if one roll of a certain type remains, it can be bought at a discount. Choose wallpaper with a fine texture, preferably without a picture. Large elements of wallpaper will spoil the appearance of the room.
You can print on a printer or cut out an image from the magazine that will play the role of photo wallpaper. Beach landscape or mountain waterfall will be a great addition to the interior.
Decide what style the furniture will be. In accordance with this style, you need to finish the rooms. Show your child some pictures of the interiors and ask which one he likes best. It is worth starting from the choice of the baby at the beginning of work. As a rule, children like sophisticated furniture in a classic design. And elements in the style of hi-tech and minimalism are not attractive because of their simplicity and straightforwardness.
Materials and tools for the manufacture of doll furniture
Before starting work, you should select the necessary material and prepare the tools. Let's try to figure out how to make furniture for dolls with your own hands. As a raw material for furniture, cardboard boxes of different sizes are suitable. You can use cardboard from specialized kits. To make surfaces imitating glass, use thin flexible plastic, from which packaging for toys is made. If there are mirrored surfaces in the interior, then you can use foil to simulate them.
For the manufacture of upholstered furniture for dolls with their own hands, you will need a variety of fabric and printing. A synthetic winterizer that can be used in several layers, depending on the required surface thickness, is ideal.
For drawing, cutting and fastening parts you will need the following tools:
- a simple pencil and an eraser;
- sharp scissors;
- stationery knife;
- glue gun and glue sticks;
- PVA glue;
- brushes;
- paints;
- Scotch.
Almost all types of this equipment will come in handy for you to complete the stages of a do-it-yourself workshop. Furniture for dolls will be more accurate if you know how to handle this equipment.
After making parts from cardboard, you need to give them a decent appearance. For plain surfaces, use acrylic paints. After drying, they form a moisture-proof surface. If the furniture needs to be given a wood texture, then glue the parts with a self-adhesive film.
Monster High dolls
Monster High dolls replaced the famous Barbie and immediately won the love of millions of children around the world. It is under these dolls that whole houses and various accessories are “designed” for arranging their life.
The doll itself is equipped with many mechanisms that allow bending not only arms and legs, but even hands. Kukle can give any natural pose. That is why it is so interesting to play them.
Making DIY furniture for Monster High dolls is a snap. At the same time, it is not necessary to have expensive materials and equipment in the arsenal. It is enough to show ingenuity and imagination.
Soft sofa for dolls
For the manufacture of the sofa we need cardboard, fabric and synthetic winterizer. DIY furniture for dolls is carried out in several stages: the choice of appearance, the creation of patterns, the pattern of parts, the connection of elements, the external design.
Design a sofa based on your preferences and the size of the room in which it will stand. The size of the sofa should be selected based on a reduction in scale by 10 times. Equate one real meter to 10 cm in the manufacture of doll furniture.
The frame of the sofa consists of boards, we will use cardboard. As a basis, you can use a ready-made box, if any. The size of the base is 20 x 10 x 3 cm. The side armrests should be at a height of 7-8 cm. You can make them from the same cardboard in the form of closed boxes. The height of the backrest is 7 cm. “Finish” the finished parts with a self-adhesive film with a wood texture. Connecting parts to each other is easier with a glue gun. The frame is ready, it remains to sew soft cushions for the seat and back for the sofa.
The pattern for sitting has the same dimensions as the base - 20 x 10 cm. The height of the seat is 2 cm. Prepare patterns and make blanks from fabric. For lateral raising of the seat, it is necessary to cut a piece of fabric 2 x 60 cm. Leave allowances at the edges of the patterns of 0.5 cm. For the back we take a pattern of 20 x 7 cm, the width is the same as that of the seat. Sew the fabric, twist the blanks and fill them with padding polyester.
Kitchen set for dolls
All details of the kitchen set will be cut out of cardboard. The dimensions of the kitchen are individual, so measure the existing room and determine the necessary measurements. If you plan to make furniture for Monster High dolls with your own hands, then use the following sizes: the width of the countertop should be 6-7 cm, the height of the stands 10 cm. Do not forget that you need to leave space for some elements of the kitchen equipment, for example, for a stove, refrigerator, hoods.
You can make furniture for dolls with your own hands from boxes of a suitable size. For a kitchen set, for example, tea containers.
Details for the manufacture of a kitchen set are cut out of thin cardboard, which we will glue in several layers. This will result in a very dense surface that will imitate real furniture material. The number of layers for the manufacture of walls and doors is 5; for the formation of countertops, 7-8 are needed.
Particular attention should be paid to the door opening mechanism. We will imitate door hinges with a toothpick and several pieces of thick paper. We take a toothpick, glue small sections of paper 1 cm wide to its upper and lower edges. We fix the free edge of the paper on the headset wall so that the toothpick is directly at the junction of the door and the cabinet wall. We thread two more strips in the central part of the toothpick so that they have a free play, we glue the ends of the strips to the door. Thus, we have obtained door mechanisms.
Video instruction on the implementation of such mechanisms is presented on the youtube channel Dream world. DIY furniture for dolls can be made as similar as possible to real.
After collecting all the parts and shelves, it is necessary to give the headset a uniform color. You can paint the surface with acrylic paint of a suitable shade. Cover the worktop with a self-adhesive film.
Wardrobe for dolls
The simplest and fastest option during the manufacturing process is a built-in closet. It is necessary to carve out only side partitions, shelves and the upper part. If you want, you can make doors. The easiest way to do furniture for dolls with their own hands from the boxes in which the shoes were sold. They are made of thick cardboard.
For the cabinet frame we will use the same technology that was used when assembling the kitchen set. We glue thin cardboard in several layers. The surface of the shelves does not have to be painted; a self-adhesive film or paper can be used. We connect the partitions to the shelves with a glue gun. It is possible to make several departments for boxes, and matchboxes to use as sliding elements.
When the frame is ready, proceed to the installation of the doors. For the manufacture of doors, you can take a thicker cardboard from large boxes. Paint the surface or stick the film. If you find a mirror of a suitable size, you can glue it to the cabinet door using double-sided tape. To open the door, we use the door hinge mechanism in the form of a toothpick.
Sleeping set for dolls
We make the frame of the bed details from cardboard glued in several layers. You can take thick cardboard and paste it on both sides in 2 layers with thin cardboard. This method will provide a smooth surface to the details. In this case, the side surfaces need to be sanded and pasted over with paper. Making children's furniture for dolls with your own hands is a creative process. You can make a headset out of ordinary matchboxes that are glued together in a certain sequence.
We collect a box measuring 13 x 24 cm. If you want a wider bed, then take your proportions. For the front and rear backs we prepare templates of the desired shape. The main thing is to observe proportions. If you want the bed to be more functional and able to transform with the formation of an extra bed, then make a drawer that will be hidden under the main bed.
The bed frame is ready, it's time to arrange a berth. Sew the mattress for the bed according to your measurements. Fill it with a synthetic winterizer in several layers. For a blanket, select 2 pieces of fabric of similar colors. Sew patterns around the perimeter on the wrong side. Turn the workpiece out. Sew the blanket again around the perimeter, then make a few lines along and across. Prepare several pillows of different sizes using the same fabric as for the blanket. Fill them with a padding polyester.
Doll chairs
To make such a set of furniture for the dining room will require a lot of time and perseverance. All the details of the chairs are cut out of cardboard. To give volume and stability we use thin material glued in 4 layers. We file parts on the sides with a file to form a smooth surface.
The countertop consists of a cardboard base and wooden sticks for ice cream, glued to the cardboard in one line. Align the contour with scissors. The sticks are well cut without cracking. We file a circle on the sides. The legs of the table are made of plain paper, which must be wound in several layers on a round pencil. To obtain the relief effect in the lower and upper parts of the legs, we use the same method: we take strips of paper 1.5 cm wide and wrap them on the legs, fixing the paper with PVA glue. We install the legs on the inside of the countertop using a glue gun.
We paint finished furniture with acrylic paint. Carefully paint over all the joints and corners. To do this, it is better to use a small brush. After the entire surface is evenly painted, leave the furniture to dry.
Acrylic paint will give a matte finish. If you want the furniture to be glossy, then a coat of varnish should be applied. To form a reliable and uniform surface, it is better to apply it in two layers.
Bath and toilet for dolls
For the manufacture of the toilet we will use salt dough. Find a container that is suitable in shape and plays the role of the basis for shaping the dough. The recipe for salt dough is simple:
- 1 cup flour.
- 1 cup of fine salt.
- 5 tablespoons of sunflower oil.
- 1-1.5 cups of water.
Mix the flour and salt first, then add the sunflower oil and gradually pour in cold water. Knead the dough until smooth.
Take a small piece of dough and place it inside the container so that the wall thickness is no more than 1 cm. It is not necessary to sculpt the lid, you can cut it out of cardboard and glue it with a self-adhesive film or cloth.
Another way to make a toilet is to use a glass of yogurt. On the top of the plastic base we install a fabric chair and attach a tank, which can be made from a cardboard box of a suitable size.
To make a bathroom, we need a plastic container. If this was not found, then make a bath using papier-mâché technology. Select an oval object and glue it with newspaper segments in several layers. Frame with side walls made of durable cardboard. When the oval container dries, remove it and cut along the contour to get smooth edges. Connect the frame to the oval shape using pieces of paper so that the recess is exactly in the center of the bath. To smooth the surface of the bath, you can apply several layers of toilet paper impregnated with PVA glue.
When the bath is completely dry, paint it with white acrylic paint and apply several layers of varnish so that the surface is glossy. Bath taps can be made using cocktail tubes.
Finally
There are many options for making DIY home furniture for dolls. In the framework of this article, only some of the types of technologies that can be used to create furniture were listed. If you want to recreate in miniature the real elements of furniture from a photograph, then it will take a lot of time and effort to get a quality result. Imagine and implement the most unusual solutions and ideas for creating exclusive furniture for dolls.