Dollhouse Miniature Pool Table Makeover pt 2

 

Watch the video here.

This week we are starting where we left off on the pool table project. (If you missed that video you can find it here)

I did have to add more glue to a couple of the legs to get them to stay where I wanted them. Also although the package on that dollar store glue said it would cure in 24 hours I found it was closer to 48 hours before the legs really felt like they would stay where I put them.

Today I started off by adding an additional coat of the same dark brown paint to the pool table. I have decided to give up on getting a wood grain look on this and am just going to have it be dark brown instead.

 

 

Now I was on to the step where I had to figure out the “felt” for the top of the table. I actually have been thinking about this since I started the project. In the end I decided that a sheet of cold press water color paper (140 lb weight) was the best choice of what I had on hand to work with.

 

 

 

 I cut a rectangle that was the same size as the top insert that came with the toy pool table as well as 3 strips that were ¼” wide by the length of the paper (12”) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These I painted with a bright green craft paint, I did debate with myself what color I wanted to use and just went with the standard green although I saw online that pool table felt can be many colors.

 

 

After the paint was completely dry (mine sat overnight) I set up to glue first the strips that would be on the edges of the table. I decided to use e6000 for this since I needed something that would adhere to the plastic of the pool table. I really was not happy with the dollar tree glue I used on the legs so that was why I made the decision I did.

Initially I thought I would need to clamp the strips in order for them to stay but happily I found the glue soaked into the paper really well and held without having to clamp. This was really good because I could only find 2 of my big clamps so it would have been a very slow process if I had to do all the strips with only the two clamps.

I trimmed all the ends of all the strips so they all ended at a consistent spot on the holes. I then glued them in place. I did have to hold a bit longer on these spots and some super glue would have been handy to help hold them in place but I got everything to stick with a bit of patience.

Once the side edges were finished I checked the fit of the rectangle, I did find I had to take off just a tiny sliver of one long side to make it fit. Instead of making holes at the corners and on the sides I decided to just angle the corners if I were to do this again I would probably make extensions on the rectangle that would go part way into the area for the hole then use a hole punch to make about a ¼” to ½” hole at those spots. Then I added e6000 to the flat areas of the top of the table and to the edges of the rectangle. I carefully put the piece in place and smoothed it down so I would stick together.

Once all the green pieces were glued in place the glue had time to set up I coated the green areas with mat Mod Podge.

After the mat Mod Podge had time to dry I added a coat of satin Mod Podge to the brown areas.

And once that dries the pool table is ready for the man cave or another mini scene, maybe a bar or a pool hall would be a fun project for this to live.

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 Dollar Tree Paint Test

 

Watch the video here.

Have you ever looked at the craft paints in the Crafter’s Square aisle of your local Dollar Tree and wondered if they were any good. I know I have so I decided we should put them to the test this week.

I am almost out of white craft paint and I need to get more soon. So I have been really tempted by the craft paints at Dollar Tree, I mean I’m already there if they are any good it would save me money and also I wouldn’t have to go to the craft store across town. So I decided to test those paints so we can all see if we can get decent craft paint for only $1.25.

I purchased three of the paints offered by my Dollar Tree. I left the one marked as “washable” behind as well as the Ceramic Paint. The ones I got were the Acryology Premium Acrylic, Crafter’s Square Tempera Paint, and Prang Ready-to-Use Tempera Paint. All brands in white. In the test I am using my Anita’s Acrylic Paint as my control to compare the others against.

I made up a test card for each brand on the cards were strips of 3 colors of card-stock (tan, red, and black) to paint over to test for opacity of the paints. I gave myself room to do see how opaque the paint was with 1,2, and 3 layers of paint.

I decided to also add a stripe of Mod Podge over the part with 3 layers to see how it affected the color, finish, and to see if it lifted or smeared the dried paints.

I think most of us in my generation remember painting with tempera paints in grade school. I remember my teachers had to mix the paint powder with water before we had art class each time. Other than that I really didn’t know a lot about tempera paint so I did some research when I got home today.

According to Google tempera paint should be vibrant and opaque and quick drying. On the other hand it washes off (both from clothes and your project) and is not flexible.

Acrylic paints are more durable, have a smoother finish and are flexible.

So lets look at the test and how the paints did in the test.

I set up the paints with their cards on my work tile. I dedicated a wide brush to each sample and kept the brushes wrapped with wet wipes during drying periods. I did shake the liquid paints before getting the working sample out of each bottle and the working samples were kept covered during the drying periods as well.

On the first step of the test I painted 3 stripes of the paint on the corresponding cards. I did my best to use the same amount of paint on each card and on each stroke of the brush. After the this first layer the only card that really had much coverage was the one for the Anita’s paint. The rest were very translucent. I set the cards to dry but I did end up using my heat gun to speed up drying since I needed to get the video finished in time to post it.

For the second step I added two more stripes of paint to each card. At this point I expected the paint to look fairly opaque on the cards but this was not the case at all.

The third step was another repeat of the steps giving each card the final stripe of color. I was surprised that the coverage was a terrible on most of the cards as it was. I mean I wasn’t expecting this to be great paint but for some of these there was so little coverage.

Once all the paints were dry I added a stripe of Mod Podge down the center of each 3 layer sample. I wanted to see if the Mod Podge would lift the paint so I wiped the brush off on a piece of the red card-stock after each one. I also used a different brush for each sample because I was afraid some of the paints might come off onto the brush. I was pleasantly surprised that at least there was no lifting of the paint.

So here are the each of the brands of paint with its test card so you can see for yourself how the coverage looks.

 

 

Acryology- I had high hopes for this one before I purchased it. However as you can see the coverage is pretty dismal at best. I think I will play around with this one and see just how many coats it would take to get coverage.

 

 

 

 

 

Crafter’s Square- this one has the worst coverage of the batch. I’m not sure if it has any uses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prang- this is another one I might play around with to see if it can be used as a base coat to seal porous materials before painting them with something else.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anita’s- my control sample card looks just the way I knew it would.

 

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 Pool Table Makeover pt 1

 

Watch the video here.

The next couple of weeks we are going to be working on this pool table makeover. I know this is a really big item and not everyone will have room for it but I hope it will be interesting anyway.

So the reason I am doing this is because one of my YouTube viewers had reached out for some ideas on how to make a pool table. They told me about the project they are currently working on and I knew I had to figure out a way to do it.

So their project is a man cave that is housed in a freestanding garage. They have the building built and some of the interior done as well as a small portion of the “stuff” that will be needed.

The project is being done in memory of a good friend of theirs who unfortunately passed away recently. He had always wanted to convert his garage into a man cave and have a pool table, a bar, big screen TV, and a juke box as well as a lot of other things. Since he never got to have it this mini many cave will be a wonderful way to remember him and to fulfill his dream in a way.

So after I read the messages about the project and looked at the pictures I was sent I started thinking. I mean I had to, I wanted to be able to help in anyway I could.

It just happened that I walked over to the new Dollar Tree near me. As I was wondering the aisles I happened to see this pool table game in with the part games. I thought it sure looked like it was in scale so I grabbed it.

I knew I would need to pick up something to use as legs though. I searched for either dowels or the “tumbling block” game and found neither in the store. I was just about to give up on finding legs at the dollar store when I looked at the package of foam brushes. That was it! There were 6 foam brushes and the handles were basically just dowels. Perfect!

When I got home I checked for the size of pool tables and according to my google search a regulation pool table is 4 ½’ by 9’ and about 30” tall. The pool table in the package measures 4 ½” by 8 ½” so I am happy with that.

To create the legs I used my X-acto miter box and saw to cut 1 ½” of handle from 4 of the brushes.

Next I washed the plastic table top (after removing the cardboard insert) with hot soapy water. I let it dry and the wiped it with white vinegar and let that dry. This step will remove any oil that might have transferred to the plastic from being handled.

 

Then the table top and the legs got a good coat of black craft paint. I did go back and touch up any areas the I missed once the paint dried.

 

Once the black paint had dried I went in with some dark brown paint and did a light coat, wiping off some of it to try and get the start of a wood grain look. I am trying to get the look of faux walnut. So it will be very dark. This is just the first layer of the painting technique, I will probably do more once the table is put together. I wanted to make sure I had everywhere that might show covered with a light coat of the brown and then if I can’t get into some of the tight areas later it won’t matter so much.

Once the paint was dry I needed to glue the legs to the bottom of the table at the corners. For this I decided to try the Fix-all Adhesive that Dollar Tree sells. I have never used this before and I wanted to try it out. The instructions say to apply some to both surfaces and allow it to set for 10 minutes then put the surfaces together. The first thing I can say is this has to be the worst smelling glue I have ever used!! IT STINKS!!! I had to open a window and even then it gave me a headache in just a few minutes and it smelt bad hours later.

After the glue had it’s 10 minutes I added the legs to their spots on the bottom of the table. I wish I had thought to grab a new bottle of regular super glue because a few dots of that would have made getting the legs to stay in position a lot easier. As it was I did end up adding a lot more glue to some of the legs and it I had to keep checking on the legs for a couple of hours to make sure they were going to stay where I wanted them.

So my first impressions of this glue is not very favorable at all.

Since the glue does say it needs to cure for 24 hours that will be the end of this week’s video. Next week we will probably add to the paint to get the look I am after and work on the “felt” top also. Then I might do a 3^rd video of some of the accessories for the pool table like the cues, the triangle thing that holds the balls (can you tell I don’t play pool??) and probably some balls that are a better size. Maybe even a rack for the cues to be placed in.

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.