Design
Whatever the size of the room where the child plays, it is always necessary to remember: the place for doll furniture should have a convenient approach, not be located on the aisle, be easily accessible for cleaning, and well-chosen in terms of lighting. When playing in a doll house, a child can sit in such a place for hours, moving from one game to another (feeding, putting to bed, activities, dressing and undressing, preening, etc.). Therefore, he should be comfortable and comfortable. This is on the one hand.
On the other hand, for a rich, interesting game, it is better to provide a full set of furniture, so that there is room for imagination to run wild, for a girl to feel like a real mother or for a boy to feel like a dad. Perhaps this will be the construction of an entire dollhouse with your own hands.
Having chosen a suitable place, we begin to measure it. Having a total area, you need to immediately decide which part will be occupied by large furniture (wardrobe, bed, sofa, other elements). The remaining centimeters or meters (everyone has their own situation) - for placing chairs, armchairs, shelves, and other parts for dolls, as your imagination is capable of.
Having completed the first stage of design - “placement on the ground” - we begin to draw up a project for the doll furniture itself made of plywood.
We break down each proposed instance into its components:
- table - on legs, tabletop;
- chair - legs, seat, back;
- bed - on the bottom, ribs;
- cabinet - on walls, legs, shelves.
We calculate furniture elements for plywood dolls based on the final dimensions and draw up their drawings on paper. It is more logical to carry out such schemes immediately in true dimensions, taking into account the dimensions of each part.
Schemes must contain:
- designations of joints of furniture parts;
- marks on cutting out patterns (if present);
- differences in right or left-handed elements.
Small bed
Bed
Table
Chair
Toy dining area
The most affordable way to produce doll furniture at home is to make it from cardboard. Let's make a dining area for toys.
The first version of the table is rectangular. We make a drawing on cardboard or a box we have at home. Cut out a rectangle 100*120 mm and 16 strips 70*10 mm for the table legs. We glue the legs together, four pieces per leg, and then glue them to the tabletop.
For a round table we cut out a circle with a diameter of 80 mm, and for the legs we cut out two strips of 170 * 20 mm. We bend the strips and glue them crosswise to the tabletop. You can see the diagrams in more detail in the figure:
Now we need a chair. The chair will consist of two parts: a back with rear legs and a seat with front legs. Then we glue these parts together.
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To make the products look more natural, it is better to paint them or cover them with remnants of wallpaper, for example.
A wicker mosaic table will look more elegant. To do this, you need to prepare: cardboard, toothpicks or skewers, an awl, a ruler, thick threads or yarn, scissors, colored cardboard for mosaics, glue.
Cut out a rectangular tabletop from cardboard. Using an awl, we pierce holes for the legs and around the perimeter for thread holders.
We cut colored cardboard into small squares and glue it onto the base of the table.
Insert skewers or toothpicks, securing them with glue. We braid the table legs with thread, and then the stands and legs alternately until we need it.
To make a shelf under the table, we tie and glue threads crosswise, these can also be skewers. Draw a shelf on cardboard or paper, cut it out and glue the threads on top.
Welcome to the table!
Materials and tools
The main principle for choosing a material should be its safety. Environmentally friendly plywood (or fiberboard) should be 4-5 mm thick, not have a strong odor, and not be brittle or slippery. This is a light-colored material that can be easily sawed and/or burned. You immediately need to decide what the finished product will be covered with: paint, varnish or fabric covering. When choosing consumables, you cannot be guided only by price. Paint that emits a sharp, strong odor can cause allergies or headaches.
Among the consumables for plywood doll furniture, glue is important. Quick-drying options are almost never suitable for children. They are toxic and flammable. It is better to take a proven, reliable composition, such as PVA glue.
Before painting furniture, you need to use wood putty to make the surface even and smooth.
Among the necessary tools:
- jigsaw;
- nail files of various options;
- sandpaper (coarse and fine mesh);
- liquid nails or self-tapping screws.
Liquid nails may be needed when making models for dolls of more complex configurations. For example, you need to firmly, firmly attach the cabinet frame to its bottom. In other cases, the connections of two parts are made by inserting a protrusion on one side into a hole of the corresponding shape and depth on the other.
Conclusion
What can you say about the above models? They are quite simple to make, even though they look very similar to the real thing. Most likely, the child will like them, and he will play with them much more often than with purchased options.
These original models will certainly meet all environmental requirements, so you will not need to worry about the health of your baby. The video in this article will provide additional information on the above topic. If you have questions about the article, we will be happy to answer them in the comments.
Stages of work
Furniture for dolls made of plywood should be characterized by:
- practicality;
- aesthetic appearance;
- absence of traumatic elements;
- safety of raw materials;
- ease of processing;
- convenience when playing.
That is why its production must take place in several stages.
Manufacturing of parts
Having finished designing furniture with your own hands from plywood, preparing the necessary patterns, as well as completing the necessary tools and raw materials, we begin to manufacture all the parts. We cut out the paper diagrams, trace them on plywood, and then start cutting them out. There are several nuances here:
- if you need to cut a corner, I ask you to make a hole in its top with a drill or awl;
- to make sawing easier, you can walk along the marked contours with a sharp knife, pressing on it as hard as possible;
- When using a file in the corners, you should not apply excessive pressure - we saw almost on the spot, slightly changing the angle of the tool.
Side part
Headboard
Assembly
Assembling furniture for dolls with your own hands is a responsible, scrupulous job. It should be started only after all the parts have been sawed, turned, painted, dried, and well ventilated.
If paint or varnish has been applied to furniture for plywood dolls, it is necessary to check the permeability of all grooves and the completeness of the connecting holes. If necessary, technical protrusions can be made clearer and smoother. This will make the connections strong and the product stable.
It makes more sense to apply an adhesive base at the joints of furniture for dolls, and let it dry a little before matching the parts. After matching the parts, you will need to press firmly, without removing the effort for some time.
How to attach doors to a cabinet or cabinet? Holes are cut out on the upper and lower walls directly opposite each other. Protrusions are prudently cut out on the doors, which should be rubbed with wax or a simple candle. This treatment will allow the door to open/close smoothly without injuring the child’s hands.
The toy will be interesting if it has a lot of drawers, shelves, and secluded places. For these parts, you need to provide appropriate fastenings in advance, for example, nail guides on the side walls so that plywood doll furniture drawers can be pulled out.
When equipping such parts, we must never forget that not a single corner or edge should be left without polishing. Otherwise, this is the cause of splinters, scratches, and hangnails.
Decoration
A very interesting and exciting process. You can successfully attract children, grandmothers, and friends to it. The main thing is good taste and a rational approach. Decorative elements transform simple do-it-yourself plywood objects into a real, beautiful world of dolls, full of fantasy, positivity, and goodness.
Those who have enough time can plan to decorate individual parts in advance. It could be:
- burning;
- sawing;
- painting with special paints on wood;
- modeling;
- engraving;
- applications;
- mosaic;
- decoupage;
- quilling
If we decide to resort to them, it is better to implement such options for decorating furniture before the stage of assembling the furniture element. A pattern is applied to the surface intended for decoration with a simple pencil, which is subsequently designed creatively.
Decorating bedroom furniture with images of flowers, birds, gentle, beautiful fairy-tale characters looks beautiful and stylish. Toy furniture for the living room can look extraordinary if it has a national ornament or geometric pattern on it. Organic glass decor looks professional. It can be glued on top of the plywood or inserted into pre-designed holes in furniture for plywood dolls.
When making, for example, furniture for Barbie, most girls will want to use pink finishing motifs. They often resort to bows, satin ribbons, hearts, and shiny beads. Mirrors are a must for dolls; thick foil can be used to imitate them.
Don't forget about handles for doors and drawers. Handmade fittings are a great opportunity to make your child feel like a master and a creative person.
It is advisable to cover the inside walls of a doll house with wallpaper or self-adhesive film. This gives a real homely feeling and looks neat. You can glue the remains of linoleum or carpet to the floor. It is better to glue such furniture coverings in advance so that they do not move out of their places during play. Make doll furniture look like a real house using mini-paintings, paper flowers or appliqués (made with your own hands specifically for the toy house).
Certain design elements can be made from ordinary wire, for example, clasps, handles, hooks, tramples, mirror frames, flower brackets. Especially such elements usually abound in furniture for dollhouses. If you allow your imagination to go beyond a cabinet or bed, and make, for example, bookshelves or a bookcase, then you can glue doll books together according to their size.
Paper furnishings
If you need to quickly keep your baby busy and don’t have time to prepare all the necessary tools for making interior items, or you’re on the road and really need to feed the bunny, make a sofa out of paper.
Take paper, if you have colored paper, the desired color and cut out a square. In size it can be 10*10 cm or 20*20 cm.
- Fold the square in half and unfold it.
- Next, we bring the bottom edge of the paper to the middle of the fold and bend it, and then this fold again to the middle of the square. A total of four fold lines.
- We wrap the bottom strip onto the first fold and bend the triangles from its middle on both sides.
- Fold the paper accordion to the end, and bend the upper part of the workpiece to the middle. Turn over the sheet.
- We bend the lower corners up one by one, and then bend the upper ones down.
- We turn the workpiece over again, bend one corner inward, forming the back.
- We form the legs of the sofa.
- The sofa is ready!
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Features of manufacturing products for children
It’s worth making furniture for children on your own because during the manufacturing process a piece of our soul, warmth, and parental care are put into it. The child will always be warmed by your love and feel confident. But in order not to cause harm, it is necessary to take into account a number of possible problems:
- quality of raw materials and consumables. Everything is taken into account here: from the background radiation of wooden plywood to the chemicals with which it may have been treated. Regarding glue and paints: what is the basis of the active substance? Do chemical elements exceed the maximum permissible concentrations? You can get a positive answer to all these questions by purchasing materials in serious construction stores, checking the manufacturer’s accompanying documentation;
- quality of work and structural strength. Very often, children aged 2-4 years sit in such furniture themselves, especially if its size allows. Then only the adhesive base or glueless connection of furniture elements may not hold up, and the child may fall. Therefore, when making furniture for dolls from large-sized plywood, it is better to strengthen the joints additionally, for example, with metal corners;
- careful processing of edges, corners and edges of furniture is necessary. Any roughness in the wood plywood can cause injury. Especially in this sense, it is useful to cover furniture with fabric, bending the edges over sharp parts. Another smoothing option is wood putty. To do this, you can use a special device - a putty gun.
In order for your own hand-designed furniture for plywood dolls to make the game interesting and meaningful, you should carefully think through the entire ensemble: is it a bedroom, a hall or a kitchen? At the initial stage, this is usually a bed, chairs, table, closet. A little later - armchairs, a sofa, shelves, trellis. Further, the flight of fancy is not limited. Below you can find diagrams of gazebos, houses, even transport. The retail chain has ready-made sets of parts for self-assembly. It's easier to do, but not as valuable.
Making furniture for dolls from plywood with your own hands also has an educational component. By instilling a love of design, we stimulate children’s mental activity, give them the opportunity to fantasize, and enjoy the results of their own work. Let there be as many such joint activities in our lives as possible!
