Miniature Acoustic Guitar

So, I watched a video online (hurray for YouTube) and this person made a miniature guitar out of jumbo popsicle sticks and coffee stirrers. I watched it and was like... I can do that!

At least I was pretty sure I could.

Anyway, I decided to use what I already had on hand, which were some quarter inch wide craft sticks and some bass wood.

I tried for days. So many days, to get the craft sticks to bend right. I boiled some for a couple of hours, frequently refilling the pot with water. Hell, I even put some in my Instapot and pressure cooked the damn thing.

Nada.

So I caved, stole some coffee stir sticks from the coffee shop in the lobby of my work building, and put them in a container with some boiling hot water and let it sit.

So, future reference, coffee stir sticks are what you want to use. They're thin enough and cheaply made so they bend pretty easily given enough hot water.

Anyway!

So, I softened up these stir sticks, and carved out the shape of an acoustic guitar body from two pieces of basswood. Then I took a stir stick and wrapped it around the bell shape of the body and secured with hair ties. I would have used rubber bands but I don't have any in my house for some reason, but I have an over abundance of hair ties. That didn't take long to dry, and once it was, I began the process of assembling the guitar body.

I glued the curvy side piece to the back and then glued the front on. Also, at some point I put a hole in the front... I don't remember when I did it.

After I glued the body together and I was waiting for the glue to dry, I started on the neck of the guitar.

I went through a lot of craft sticks for this because I wasn't thinking and just did, and it didn't turn out right the first time. Honestly the first neck I made for it came out really pretty but it wasn't near long enough so that's why I had to start over.

I used three small pieces of craft stick and glued them together so I could get the appropriate shape and then I carved down the neck as well as sanded it. Then I saw I needed to have the head added to the neck for the guitar, so I made that and put it together with some glue.

The body of the guitar was... okay. It definitely wasn't even on all sides, the front and back of the body didn't match up with the curvy side piece in some areas. No biggy, right? I went ahead and shaved some of those parts off because I wanted it to be even. I had every intention of painting the guitar once I was done, so the cosmetic appearance of the actual wood didn't matter. I just needed it all to be even. After I shaved parts off, I saw the top of the body, where the neck would attach, was very thin. I had even shaved off too much of the curvy part but at least it was all even! In order to make it strong, I decided to patch it up by cutting out the thin area and putting in a piece of stir stick on it's own. No, it isn't pretty, but I was planning on painting it anyway so it didn't matter a whole bunch to me.

After patching the body, I glued the neck on.

I am very pleased with how this came out. Also, on the head of the guitar neck (if you can see them) I used a microdrill and put six holes in it.

Now, because I apparently like doing things in the wrong order, I decided to paint it next. I went with a sunburst design. I couldn't find all of my acrylic paints, so I used some watercolors I got from my mother-in-law for Christmas (Pelikan if you're interested (also, these are amazing watercolors!)). I wasn't too sure how watercolor would hold up on wood, so I did some test paints to make sure I was able to get the desired effect. I also tested the water color on some dried glue to make sure it would dry correctly and not look too different from the rest of it, as I had to use some glue to fill some gaps in the body.

After I painted the body, I painted the neck brown and tried to add some wood grain texture with a lighter brown color.

Also...

I did this part backward.

So very backward.

Desk and chair set

So, I made an "antique" writing desk and office chair for my doll house, which was made a lot easier by the fact that I finally caved and bought a dremel tool.

All of the items I made are made out of basswood. It's a bit more dense than balsa, which means I can cut it with an Xacto knife if need be, but can't just be snapped in half or smooshed down like balsa.

Anyway, I made the chair first using a couple pieces of basswood and some small round dowels. And then I sanded the shit out of it. I'm petty sure I breathed in a pound of sawdust when I was curving the side of the chair. The bottom part, the legs (leg? I dunno) I had to carve out notches to jam those squiggly bits into to make it all fancy.

After I made both parts, I decided I wanted the sea to spin. I mean, you can't have an office chair that doesn't spin. That just ain't right!

Anyway, so I had to figure out how to get the seat of the chair to spin without ball bearings. I drilled a hole where I felt the middle of the seat was as well as a hole into the top part of the legs. I don't have pictures of this part because I was trying to figure out how to do it, you know, while doing it. I carved part of the top of the seat out to accommodate something to keep the legs on while allowing the seat to spin. I stuck a dowel in there and glued it all together. I also spun the seat during the drying to make sure it didn't get glued down.

Next was to make the cushion!

This part was a little difficult since I needed the cushion to sit somewhere specifically. I scrounged around in my fabric and I picked the best one that wasn't too weird for an office chair seat. I would have preferred something a bit more... antique looking, but I think the fabric I chose looks good. I cut the foam down to just under a quarter of an inch thick and glued it to a very thin piece of basswood. I then glued the chair fabric around it to make the chair pillow. I haven't glued the pillow down yet but whatever.

Then came the desk.

I did a lot of research online to try and figure out what I wanted to do. And by research I mean looking at a bunch of pictures of antique writing desks.

I'll admit, there were a lot that I really liked, but would be impossible for me to do. I mean, I'm good, but I'm not that good. The ones I liked had curvy bits and lots of drawers. Upon closer inspection I knew that I wouldn't be able to scale most of them down and have it look nice and work the way I wanted it to. So I found a desk that I felt would actually work and started making my pieces.

The original design I was going to do was going to involve some spindles I originally purchased for my stairs and realized they wouldn't work for the stairs. Then I realized that they wouldn't work for the stairs either so I just have them now.

ANYWAY.

There are some off gaps in the different parts of the desk, but honestly that's okay. I intend to carve the legs of it a bit more in order to make it more decorative, but I don't have the dremel bits for it yet so I will leave it for now.

I whip my hair back and forth!

So...

Mimi needs hair.

I did some research (aka a single Google search on how to make doll wigs) and my first step is making a cap to glue hair wefts to. Easy peasy, right?

WRONG!

With a head that is 3/8th of an inch from ear to ear and half an inch front to back, Mimi has got herself a tiny ass noggin'. Which will make it very difficult to make anything for.

But I sure as hell am gonna try!

My first step was grabbing some saran wrap and some old tights. I ripped her head off, topped it with saran wrap, then wrapped a square of old tights. The online tutorial I watched told me to brush on several layers of glue to make the cap.

This makes me feel like a serial killer. Like, this looks really creepy, almost as creepy as her without a face.

Maybe she will go rob a bank later.

WHO KNOWS?!

Anyway, after the five layers of glue dried, I took it all apart and it seemed like it was holding up pretty well!

And then I cut off the extra and removed the saran wrap from the inside.

Bad idea.

The cap began to curl in on itself and wasn't as sturdy as I thought it would be. The glue I use (Aleene's Tacky Glue) is pretty flexible when dry. Usually, it's a good thing, but I think a... harder drying glue would have been better. Maybe super glue?

When I cut off the extra material off the cap I ended up cutting way more off then I really should have. The cap, obviously, is super tiny because she has herself a tiny head and the scissors I'm using aren't the tiniest either.

I think homegirl might just have to have alopecia, or something because I think making her a wig is going to be way too difficult.

So yeah, she's just gonna live her life bald because I don't have the patience for this.

I'm too sexy for my shirt...

Alright, so next she needed a shirt. Couldn't have the girls out all the time... might get arrested.

Anyway, I grabbed a shirt of mine that I was never going to wear and cut the bottom hem off. I decided to use this part of my shirt to fashion a shirt for Mimi.

I then looked up some t-shirt patterns online (sewing patterns) so I could start making a shirt for her.

I then cut out the pieces I'd need and started hand sewing it all together.

I sewed the front sleeves and the back together, then did my best to try and add a hem to the neckline. Or I tried.

Anyway, once it was all sewn together, I then turned the darn thing inside out.

I think it turned out pretty well!

I popped off her head to get the shirt on a bit easier and slid the shirt on.

. . .

It's too big.

The f@#$. Like, it's twice the size it needs to be.

It took me forever to sew this tiny thing too.

UGH.

Gotta start over.

I measured out some new pieces but made sure they weren't voluminous and started sewing again.

I, again, sewed the front, back, and sleeves together.

I poked myself in the thumb a couple of times too!

I'm injured.

Either way, I finally finished this little sucker up. I think it's small enough. What do you think?

So after I turned it right side out, I popped off her head and her hands and spent a good five minutes getting this shirt on her. I had to take her hands off because they would have gotten caught in her sleeves, and I was just up to here with it and I just needed her dressed.

The shirt fits pretty well, other than the fact that due to the thickness in her armpits she's gotta walk around like she just got done lifting ten thousand pounds. I also didn't hem up the neckline because I forgot and now I'm going to need to take it off of her so I can finish that up.

Either way, I think this one came out pretty well, and I'm glad that it didn't take several tries like the pants did. Hopefully, Mimi is cool with not having a closet full of clothes.

Final product!

Everybody's talkin' 'bout my tight pants...

Look...

It was getting awkward with her being nekkid.

Like, I had her with me at work, and Mimi was just creeping people out with her nakedness, so I had to make her clothes. I tried to see if I could buy some so I could cover her up quickly, but all the clothes I did find wouldn't fit her. I don't have a sewing machine (well, I do, but I don't have it right now), so I have to sew everything by hand.

Anyway, making this little lady some pants took about seven or eight different tries.

The first pair were way too tight. Her leg came off when I was trying to get them off.

Almost changed her name to Ilene.

So I tried again, but I had left too much fabric at the top (waist) and the bottom at the ankles.

After a few more (failed) attempts, I decided maybe pants wouldn't work and short would work better. I didn't have the fabric I wanted with me at the time and had to use a different pattern. The shorts didn't work out either in the sense that had I left a little more fabric on I could have made them into a jumper.

Those got thrown away.

I then tried again, and failed, because the paints just won't fit because I don't have anything to tighten them at the waist with. So I went to Hobby Lobby again after work (had to kill time) and bought some hook eye closures and tried again.

Today I finally made a pair of pants for her to wear.

I made my pattern by ripping her arms off and tracing aorund her body. I wanted to make sure I wasn't making them too big or small. Once I had the pattern down I cut it out and traced it out on my fabric (the actual fabric I wanted them made out of).

I then started sewing them together.

As I said, I have to hand sew everything, so it took me all day to get everything sewn together.

I sewed each side together with a front and back panel then sewed those panels together.

The hardest part was sewing the croch area up. Then I hemmed the waist and the bottoms of them as well.

Once that was done I figured out where to put the hook and eye closure.

Now, it didn't turn out super awesome looking. I think it could have looked better had I hidden the closure as a belt then that would have been good.

I think the next pair of pants I make her will have a stretchy wasit so I don't have to worry about them not fitting there. Either way, I think they came out pretty darn spiffy.

What's up doll face!

So, I bought a doll a while back.

See... creepy no face

"Doll".

It's basically a blank action figure. It's 5 1/2 inches tall. I've named her Mimi (short for Mini Cami).

Anyway, I ordered her on Amazon because she was only like $12 and that was a lot less than all the other sites I was looking at. Downside? Package would arrive sometime in March.

I got lucky and it showed up only a week or two after I ordered. I was stoked.

Anyway, she comes with three sets of hands (open hand, a set for holding and fisted) two sets of feet, and some weapons.

She's pretty bad ass.

But here's the rub.

She's bald.

And had no face.

One of those I could remedy more easily than the other, so I did some research and figured out how to give this little lady a face.

And then I went to Hobby Lobby.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love Hobby Lobby?

Totes my Mecca.

Anyway!

During my research, I figured out the easiest way to put a face on her would be with colored pencils to draw it on, and some fixative to keep it on.

I already have colored pencils and pastels (pastels for giving her face some color), but I didn't have fixative. While at the Hobbs I picked up some other items and held one of my friends captive (you can't really buy only one thing at Hobby Lobby).

With my supplies in hand, I managed to carefully draw on a tiny face for my doll. I had to wipe it off a couple of times because I messed up, but overall I think she doesn't look as soulless as she did before.

Take a look:

I know it's hard to see, but I didn't want it to be over done. At least she has a face now!

And hair... she still need hair.

I'll figure that one out later.

"Antique" Armchair

So, ladies and gentlemen, I redid the armchair.

And I used a picture for reference!

This one came out sooo much better than the previous one. I am very happy with how it came out.

The first part was measuring out and cutting the pieces of wood I used. Once those pieces were cut out I glued them together. Once I had the basic wooden shape, I rounded out some of the corners and sides as best I could.

After I had the basic shape down, I cut some foam down and glued it to the back to a cushioned back. I also cut out the foam needed to make the actual cushion. Once all that was done it came time to "upholster" it, a

ka glue a bunch of fabric down.

Now, the good thing about the cloth I used is that the pattern makes it easy to blend the ends of fabric in, so even though there were some places that I had to cut and add on extra cloth, it isn't super noticeable.

While I waited for the glue to dry on the chair, I began working on putting fabric on the cushion. I went back and forth between the two as I would work on one while the other dried. I managed to make the chair in less than two days, which is nice.

I really like how this came out, and I'm contemplating making an ottoman as well.

I just don't know if the living room is large enough for it all. May need to move some furniture around because I think it would look nice.

I also need to make a couple of throw pillows to really bring it all together.

I also need to stop buying more stuff for this dollhouse otherwise I'm going to go bankrupt.

Chair attempt part duex!

Alright!

Let's do this!

Again.

This time I made my pieces while looking at an actual chair. Or at least a picture of one. I managed to drag my husband to Michaels and I was able to get another big o' wood as well as some more fabric squares. Got some good patterns!

Anyway, I think the saw blade I'm using is getting dull so I might have to get some more, but luckily I have four more. I also might have to get some more medium duty knife blades. It took longer than I liked to cut through the pieces of wood I used.

This is what I have so far. I know it isn't much, but it took a while to 1. Find a picture of a chair I liked, and 2. It also took a while to cut through every single piece of wood.

Once it's dry I will continue. I'll have to add some side pieces to the bottom, trim the top/sides, carve out some legs, add padding, then cover in fabric.

Should be fun!

Ring, ring, ring, buhnahnah phone

Here comes the random!

So, as an inside joke at work, one of my coworkers asks another coworker, every day, if he wants a banana. Now, this co-worker who always gets asked is British, hence the buhnahnah title. Once I was told of this daily occurrence I decided I needed to join in on the fun.

I began asking him if he wanted a banana.

We all laughed.

And then I carved this!

(This is also the second attempt. The first one just looks like a jalapeno pepper. Don't ask).

You're probably asking yourself, "What the hell is that?"

It's a banana.

No, trust me... it is.

It isn't very large, maybe an inch? I carved it in less than a day at work out of a block of balsa wood. But until it was painted you couldn't really tell what it was... so I had to paint it.

I didn't have any actual paint at work, but I had some watercolor paints. I used water and a brush to get the color going and I painted this awesomeness.

HERE IS THE BANANA!!!

Chair-ish every moment...

Next piece of furniture I'm trying to make is an antique armchair. Honestly, I think I'm making this wrong too... I'm probably going to start over because I didn't look at any pictures and it just doesn't look like. I also don't think I have the dimensions correct. It seems like it's too tall.



I sketched out the basic design all from my brain. I think this is where I messed up. I should have looked at pictures but I didn't. I'm now regretting how this chair looks.

What I need to do is find a good picture of what I want it to look like and just do it that way instead of trying to do it myself.

Anyway, I cut the pieces out and glued them together. I was happy with it when I first started, but it just doesn't look right. I feel like I wasted a lot of supplies. I'm gonna start over. Ugh.

Couch pota-two

Alright, so I made the rest of the cushions and have gone through and put cloth on them!

Now, the interesting part is that the cushions you see on the left... the two that actually match up

Yeah...

Complete accident.

Then, I attempted to recreate it, like, totes on purpose, but unfortunately when I was trimming away the extra cloth I trimmed away the wrong side and totally botched it, so I had to redo one of the cushions.



Also, do you know how hard it is to tape down fabric that's wet from glue? Pretty close to impossible. You end up having to use way more tape than you really want to and then the glue doesn't dry and then it's just a big old mess that's super annoying.

Don't judge me either for gluing the fabric to the cushions instead of sewing them. I would have sewn them, and I tried, but I would have messed up more fabric than I cared to so I just glued it all down.

Once all the cushions were made for the couch I decided it needed a homey little throw pillow, so I... threw... one together... I'll see myself out...

Couch potato

I told y'all I'd be building furniture, and here's the first piece. I've begun to construct a couch. I went to Michaels and I bought a basswood kit thingy that just has a bunch of random piece of wood in it. I also purchased some things of cloth. They aren't very large, but it's perfect for what I need them for. It's also a nice way to get a bunch of different patterns without having to buy a whole yard of cloth.

So I measured out what I thought would be a good size for three cushion couch and I glued it together.



After the glue dried, I removed the tape, and then added more glue to put on the fabric covering. This part was a little hard, and I actually had to redo it because I messed up the first time.

There were no directions to not follow!

 After all of that I had to make my cushions. The foam I purchased is like... waaay to thick, so I had to slice it in half lengthwise before I could shape them info my cushions. This was actually my second attempt because I messed the first one up on that too. This is what happens when you eyeballs stuff. You have to keep redoing it.

Either way, this is where I stopped because it was getting kind of late and I've apparently turned into an old lady and can't stay up late anymore. It's also because I get up at the butt crack of dawn.

Finishing touches!

Look at this beauty!

LOOK AT HER!

Isn't she gorgeous???

Sure, the process didn't go super smooth, yeah, there are some imperfections, but that's okay!

I can't wait to put carpet down (when I have the money) and I am super stoked to make furniture.

I also plan on making lights for this bish.

How cool is this going to be?

Alright, next order of business is to get a doll for this house.

SO EXCITED!

From the windows to the walls!

I painted and put in the windows and front door!

Each window is two frames and a plastic window in between. Once all the stuff was glued in, I taped the ever lovin' crap out of it.

I also put the shutters together and painted them blue (to match the front door).



The shutters were almost as annoying as the shingles, because I had the lovely pleasure of putting them together prior to painting.

I had to glue two smaller rectangle pieces to one larger rectangle piece. I had to do this ten times and hope I was able to line them all up correctly (straight and evenly). I think I did okay, but I didn't really mark them out of anything. I just... hoped for the best.

I also shingled the porch, which I think came out really well!

Lay down some plastic and let's paint!

And this is another point when I wish I had listened and just followed the directions. I didn't know what colors I wanted the inside of it to be, so I decided I could do it after I put the place together. I also couldn't decide if I wanted to paint or put up wallpaper. There had been plans to put in some wiring, but the cost was a little... much. I didn't want to go bankrupt trying to put together a dollhouse.


So, I went back to Lowes and this time I had some paint samples made. We already had some usable paint (old paint that hadn't dried out in the eight years it was sitting in the garage). So I went and had two paint samples made. A warm gray color and an olivey green. The third color was a lightish blue color (the one we already had).

It was awkward trying to paint everything without it dripping. I tried to keep paint off the floors, but I decided I was going to put in carpet, so maybe it didn't matter too much. I used a piece of cardboard to try and keep paint where I wanted it to, but I actually ended up getting paint on the floor because of the cardboard. It's rather ironic.

I also painted the ceiling white, because reasons.

The shingles virus is already inside you!

Hah!

I don't know why but that commercial always cracks me up, and it's all I could think about as I glued each individual shingle onto this damn house.

This was not fun. Like, avoid this part at all costs. I had to trim a ton of shingles down with a sort of but not really 45 degree angle. Did this with an Xacto knife. It sucked. It would have been nice if they pre-cut them, but I can understand why they didn't. It did make them a bit more fragile.


Also, I wish I had read the directions for this part because then I would have read to put the angled shingles on first and go outward from there... but I didn't, so mine doesn't look as nice. Oh well, I think it still looks good, but deep down I know it could look better.

Putting the shingles on is extremely time-consuming. I only got about halfway up the roof before I stopped.

Oh!

And on top of having to cut a bunch at a weird angle, I also had to cut a bunch of them in half... but not a normal half, because remember I didn't follow the directions so my shingles aren't really lined up the way they "should" be, so some of mine are a little off. But whatever.

Anyway, this is what is done so far (please don't look at the mess in the background):

Alright, so just keep in mind this is just the front. The back isn't shingled and neither is the top of the porch. Ugh.

There goes the next five weeks /s

The roof, the roof is not on fire!

So, yeah...

Definitely the wrong order.

This is what happens when you don't follow directions! You end up having to draw lines on something that's not on a flat surface!

Don't be like me, kids. Please, follow directions.

Anyway!

So, it's time for shingles.

The first step is I had to dye them. If you're going to dye some dollhouse shingles, I'd highly recommend checking to make sure there isn't a hole in the glove before you get wrists deep in dye. There was a hole in the index finger of the glove I was using and my whole finger ended up black. Took a couple of days to all come off.

So, when I had my original vision in mind, the shingles were not this dark. They were more gray... like, light gray.

These turned out more dark gray.

It's okay even if these didn't turn out how I originally intended, because I like the way they came out.

I think it's because I didn't really follow the directions.

Ain't nobody got time for that!

Yeah, totally doing this in the wrong order...

After gluing the main bits of the house together, I put down the final coats (yeah, plural... multiple) of paint on the house. I tried to make it as even as possible, but the house is ravenous and just kept eating it. It's okay though, as long as the light isn't juuust right, then you won't really notice.

While I waited for the house to dry, I painted the porch bits and the pillars. That part was messy.

But, I realized that I'm totally doing this whole entire house in the wrong order. Like, it hit me like a big bag o' bricks. I had to put the foundation and the porch on, which would have been fine if I had done them AT THE SAME TIME.

Nope.

I decided to put the foundation on first, which was fine.

Then I put the porch on. Which again, was fine, but completing the porch was the... not... fine part.

I completely ignored the directions like you're supposed to and just began gluing things on. This caused issues with the pillars not lining up correctly and have slight little gaps, which then made them even more difficult to glue in. Luckily for me I still had my Mary Poppins roll of tape, and I just taped those suckers down.

So once I had THOSE support beams in place I was able to put in the railings... which, again, decided to not fit the way they were supposed to because I was dumb and things in the COMPLETELY WRONG ORDER OMG I'M SO DONE.

Anyway.

So I get those damn railings in place, glue the front trim on and call it a night.

Taking the tape off and not having anything move was super rewarding and just reinforced my thoughts that if it isn't right just glue it down.

(That isn't really what I think but whatever).