Your Miniature Doll House
Supply of Consumables
Do I glue it, screw it or bang it together with a big hammer?
When it comes to miniature doll house supplies a little glue, paint, wood stains and sand paper is about all that is required. I refer to these as consumables because we use them up as we build our miniature furnishings and accessories.
Glues for Miniature Furniture Making...
I don't get carried away with a large collection of glues.A Super Glue Gel is what I use for most of my miniature furniture joints. The difference between Super Glue gels and liquids is that the gel, being thicker, doesn't absorb into the porous wood surface. It bonds within a few seconds, allowing enough time to position the pieces, but sets fast. I'm always anxious to move on and can do that with this glue. Because it is thicker it also doesn't run when I hold the piece in a vertical position.
Don't let the small tube size fool you. I only use a small drop on each joint, align the two pieces, hold them together for about ten to fifteen seconds and I'm good to get on to the next step. The joint cures more as time goes on but I can usually assemble the complete furniture piece without waiting. This sits at the top of my list for my miniature doll house supply of consumables
Tacky Glue is the second type of glue that I use often. I prefer the Fast Grab type the best. With this glue I usually place a small amount on one of the two pieces, test fit (which transfers some of the glue to the second piece), separate the pieces, wait a few seconds and then fit back together.
This process allows the glue to get "tacky" so that when they're placed together for the final fit they will hold better in the proper position. You must set the assembly aside to dry for maybe 10 minutes before you can move on. This joint remains a little flexible and I use it for assemblies that may need just a little of that flexibility to get a proper fit. You can learn
more about gluing here.
I do use other glues, such as White Glue, for specific purposes which I will cover in more detail when I discuss how to make miniature flowers or other miniature accessories. For now, to get started on making miniature furniture, the Super Glue Gel and Tacky Glue are about it.
Miniatures Paints...
I like to use the small 2 ounce, plastic bottles of Decorator Color Touch-up Paints. They are a water based acrylic paint that come in a wide variety of colors and are inexpensive. They are very easy to store in a small tray. The brushes clean-up very easily with a little soap and water.
I like them because I usually prefer to thin my paints slightly so I don't have a build-up of paint in the corners or details of my painted miniature furniture pieces. These paints are usually a very good quality with a high concentration of color pigment and maintain their color coverage even though they are thinned slightly. You can learn
more about painting here.
Miniatures Wood Stains...
Here again I buy small 2 ounce bottles Color Wood Stains that come in many colors as well as various wood types. I particularly like to use color stains on a child's dollhouse bedroom set. I also use the color stains on various miniature outdoor furniture, like the miniature swing set. I am partial to having the grain of the wood showing on my finished miniatures. You can learn
more about staining here.
Sandpaper...
Emery Boards, used for dressing finger nails, are excellent for cleaning edges and contours of your miniature furniture.
They are also handy for dressing the edges of many miniature accessories. As you can see I keep a fairly good handful of them around, always looking for those that have the finest sand texture. You can learn
more about sanding here.
Sandpaper Sheets come in various grades. I go for the finer grades 220 or higher. I do have some of the more course grades around but rarely use them because they tend to round over the edges of small pieces. The sheets come on several types of backing, from stiff to flexible and I gather together some of each. Usually I'll cut (tear) them down into smaller pieces as shown in the picture.
The black sheet shown is what is referred to as wet or dry paper and is used quite extensively in automotive refinishing. It has a wide variety of finer grades and has a tendency to be aggressive sanding wood. It is more flexible then the sandpapers for wood and I like to use it for much of my final sanding.
And Some Stuff...
Other Handy Items to add to your miniature doll house supply list. I didn't know whether to call these items miniature doll house supplies or miniature tools. I end up going though them quickly because they get consumed while working on each project so I added them as dollhouse miniature supplies. T-Tissue. One thing I always have around in my miniatures work area is a roll of toilet tissue. Its smaller then a box of facial tissues and comes in handy little squares. We've all used paper towels, and they are needed also, but I find for all the little clean-ups the t-tissue works great; you use it and just throw it away. Paper Towels. I have a tendency to want to use the paper towel over and over. (Such a big piece of paper for such a small spot of whatever.) I use them for my hands because I have transferred some of the mess on the towel to the piece I was trying to clean and ruined it. Bottle Caps come in handy for several little purposes. I pour in a little paint at a time and it keeps my larger supply fresh. The plastic caps are easy to wash out or if they get too messy just throw them away. Little parts can be collected in them as I make small "stuff" for putting into a larger assembly. And so on... Tooth Picks are always handy for placing a small dab of glue somewhere. I use them as mixing sticks when I want to thin my paints (or glues). I use them when making miniature furniture too, so there's always a large supply on hand. Paper clips. They can be used as miniature clamps to hold two small flat pieces together. Unbend them for poking tools. And I use them as parts for some of my furniture assemblies. Rubber bands. I just collect them, in various sizes and use them to hold different assemblies together while the glue sets. Ok! That should be it for start-up supplies. The materials you will be using to actually make your miniature doll house furniture and accessories will be outlined at the beginning of each project.
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