Dollhouse Miniature BBQ Grill pt 1

 

Watch the video here.

Today we starting on a pretty large project, a BBQ grill. Not just a plain little everyday grill but one of those wonderful smoker grills that are so fun to use. This is a project that I have been wanting to do for a very long time I just had to work out some details and I have finally got the plan ready for you.

Now I won’t be providing a pattern for any of the cut parts because I encourage you to adjust the size to fit the area you want to use. So your grill could be smaller or larger. Maybe your dolls want to have one of those huge grills that the competition BBQers have or maybe they just want a smaller version. I will be adding a side firebox so my dolls can do some smoking if they want to. You might choose to omit that part.

This is a project that will be spread over multiple tutorials, how many I am not sure yet. I now we didn’t get all that far in today’s video and it is over a half hour long and took me several days to complete. I hope you agree this is going to be worth the work though and join me on this adventure.

As for materials I am trying my best to keep this inexpensive and easy for all of you to make. The basis for the main part of the grill is a toilet paper tube. The side firebox is the tube from a package of aluminum foil. So in a way this is a Trash to Treasure project (at least so far)

To begin we need to make that toilet paper tube much sturdier than it would normally be. For this I cut 4 strips of printer paper 4” wide by the length of the paper (11”) and using some Mod Podge applied them about the tube. Do just one strip at a time and allow plenty of time for the Mod Podge to dry between the addition of the next strip. This took a long time for me, so be warned. But this is the base of our grill and everything depends on this.

 

 Once all the paper is added and the Mod Podge is dry even up one end and then trim the tube to about 3”. This is one of the places you can change up your grill’s size, just remember that the measurements I will give in the tutorial will be for the size I am using and you will need to adjust as needed if you choose a different size. 

 

 

 

I found the best way to cut the tube was with my full size Miter Box, just be careful when using tools. I also cut a piece of smaller tube (from a roll of aluminum foil) to 1” at the same time.

 

 

Next we will need to cut the large tube into two equal parts lengthwise, I found my scissors worked just fine for this step.

Now we can add a hinge to the grill so the lid can be opened and closed. I like to use fabric for this because it is very flexible and strong. I cut a strip of 100% cotton muslin 1” by 3” for the hinge. Glue one edge to one half of the grill and allow to set so the glue can get a good grip. Then glue the other edge to the other half lining up the halves as carefully as you can. Allow this to dry.

 

Cut 8 card-stock rounds that are close to the size of the diameter of the tube you used. I found the lid to a bottle of Tylenol was perfect for mine. Glue these rounds into 2 stacks of 4 each and allow to dry.

Then cut the rounds in half and glue them to a piece of printer paper allowing plenty of room around each one. Allow to dry.

Cut the paper with the half circles glued on leaving plenty of space around. Then fold in half and cut a rough shape around the half circles. Then cut notches out of the paper around the edge to look like this. These notches will allow you to glue the ends of the grill in place.

 

 

Add a line of glue to the inside edge of the tube to hold the card-stock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add a line of glue around the outside edge of each end and lining the card-stock half circle with the end of the grill use the tabs to hold it in place. Do this on each end and allow the glue a few moments to set up a bit.

 

 

 

 

Then run a line of glue around the inside edge of each end and an on the inside of the card-stock half circle fold the extra paper over use the tabs to help hold it in place.

 

 

 

 

 

When you are done it should look like this.

 

 

Now to neaten up the look of the grill we are going to add some more strips of paper. I cut 2 at 4” wide and 2 at 2 ¾” and added them to both the inside and outside of the grill to cover up the tabs from the ends. I used separate pieces for the top and bottoms to avoid adding any bulk to the hinge.

At this time also cover the small tube we cut earlier. I covered the ends and then cut tabs to adhere the paper up the sides (do both ends) then with a strip of paper cut 1 1/8” wide I covered the tube to neaten it up a bit. We will be doing more detailing of this later.

The last step for today was to add some craft-stick “ledges” for the rack to rest on. Cut two pieces of craft-stick slightly shorter than the inside length of the grill and glue then a bit down from the top of the bottom half like this. Allow to dry.

So that is as far as we are going today. Next week we will be making the rack that the food will be cooked on and start to add some exterior details to both the grill and the side firebox.

As always I do want to sincerely thank all of you for watching my videos and reading my blog posts. It means so much to me that you are supporting me in this way. If I could ask you all to do just a bit more by subscribing to the channel and liking the videos and leaving comments. Those help more than you can imagine. Also if you could pass the links on to your friends I would appreciate it so much.

Dollhouse Miniature Beach Sign

 

Watch the video here.

I have another free pattern for you to download so you make the project. You can find the file here. In the download there are 3 files: a PDF for hand-cutting of the pieces, a PNG to use with your electronic cutting machine and a text file with handy hints and tips (and the sizing information) to use the PNG.

As with most of these projects I cut all the pieces from medium weight white card-stock, the kind used to make cards and such. This is way more economical than having to purchase a bunch of colors and in my experience the paint colors are a lot more stable than the paper colors. I rarely get noticeable fading with the painted projects.

You are free to use the pattern as many times as you wish and even to sell the finished project. But, please don’t give away or sell my patterns. I spend a lot of time creating them and the only compensation I get is from people watching the videos and checking out the blog post. I really want to keep offering these for free so please if someone else wants to make one send them to the video and blog so they can get their own copy of the pattern.

This is a really simple little sign and I think it might be fun to do other variations for other themes. There are only 2 pattern pieces with one having 5 layers and the other 4. I decided to add the extra layer because of the shape and the size of the sign. I wanted to give it a bit more bulk and make it a bit more durable.

Just like with the other projects like this that I have created for you start with the pieces and glue them together to create the units the project will be make from. I like to use just a bit of a thick tacky glue applied with a toothpick. Allow the glue to dry completely before going to the next step.

 

Now we get to give the pieces the first coat of paint. For the Arrow I wanted a pale yellow but didn’t have the color I had in mind. So I mixed some of my palest yellow with some white to get a color I was happy with.

 

For the rectangular backboard I am starting with a coat of dark brown paint.

 

 

Once the paint is dry add a bit of a light aqua to the top of the backboard. I again didn’t have the color I wanted so I mixed some white with my aqua. (more on this i a bit)

 

At this time I also painted just the edges of the arrow with the full strength aqua paint. Allow to dry.

 

 

 

Once the paint dried I decided the color I had mixed for the backboard was too dark so I mixed some more white paint with just a tiny bit of the aqua to make a much lighter color and again painted the backboard. Allow to dry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since I am going to be painting the word beach on the arrow and I am not the best at lettering I gave the arrow a light coat of Mod Podge to seal the paint this way if I did have to either erase the pencil lines or wipe off paint it would be much easier. Allow to dry.

 

 

 

 

Now for the fun part. Use an emery board to take off some of the light aqua on the backboard and away from the edges.

Once you are happy use the same brown paint as before to make sure the edges all the way around the sign are brown. This is one time you want to be a bit on the sloppy side and allow that paint to come over the edge just a tiny bit. Allow to dry.

 

 

 

For the word beach on the arrow I like to start with a pencil so I can get my letter size/spacing the way I want it. Then I come back with a tiny round dotting tool and some paint to go over the letters I penciled on I used the same aqua paint I’ve been using for the rest of the project. Allow to dry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now glue the arrow onto the face of the backboard using some more tacky glue and allow to dry.

 

 

 

 

 

A final coat of Mod Podge, I used Matt this time, to give the piece a finished look and you are done/ I do like to coat the back with the Mod Podge as well as the front for durability.

 

 

 

 

As always I do want to sincerely thank all of you for watching my videos and reading my blog posts. It means so much to me that you are supporting me in this way. If I could ask you all to do just a bit more by subscribing to the channel and liking the videos and leaving comments. Those help more than you can imagine. Also if you could pass the links on to your friends I would appreciate it so much.

Dollhouse Miniature Trash to Treasure Coffee Table

 

Watch the video here.

I had so much fun with the Trash to Treasure project last week that I decided to do another one today. This time I have a lid from a bottle of orange juice and a thread spool. I loved the design of the lid and it kind of reminded me of some of the fancy stone/concrete tables I have been seeing in yard decorating photos. Since I had the empty spool on hand I decided to combine the two to make a coffee table.

The first step was to cover the word Tropicana on the top of the lid. I first thought of filling it with some spackle but I found that wouldn’t stick to the plastic. So I decided to add a layer of white card-stock. This is a scrap from making the Cricut projects on the channel.

 

 

 

Since I was going to coat the plastic with some Mat Mod Podge anyway I used that to glue the card-stock on. It kind of worked. It helped just fine for the most part but lifted on one side. So off-camera I used some Tacky glue to glue that side down.

Now the fun part to transform the plastic pieces to stone/concrete. For this I mixed some gray paint with some baking soda to thicken the paint. This does a couple of things first it gives the finished piece the texture I was after. It also makes the paint stick much better to the plastic. Put on a rather thick coat of the thickened paint and allow to dry completely. This will take a while so be patient.

 

Once the paint was dry I glued the spool inside the lid to make the table leg. I was planning to use some e6000 but my tube was dried out so I grabbed a tube of construction adhesive I have on hand and used that. You will need a glue of some kind that is made to work with non-porous surfaces. Allow to dry.

 

 

Next I took some the same color of gray paint along with some black and white and used a make-up sponge to dab the paint all over the surface of the table. This makes the table look a lot more realistic. Allow to dry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now you have a fun outdoor table for your next miniature scene.

 

 

As always I do want to sincerely thank all of you for watching my videos and reading my blog posts. It means so much to me that you are supporting me in this way. If I could ask you all to do just a bit more by subscribing to the channel and liking the videos and leaving comments. Those help more than you can imagine. Also if you could pass the links on to your friends I would appreciate it so much.