Make a Shadow-Box Puppet Theater

Cut your flat shadow puppets using black poster board and
scissors. Then mount these onto sticks.

       Kids can make a shadow box puppet theater in under an hour and perform all kinds of antics by the afternoon. This activity works even better on gloomy rainy days; a wonderful camp craft on a day when the weather is not cooperating with the best made plans...

Supply List For Puppets and Shadow Box Theater:

• a sturdy cardboard box 
• black acrylic paint
• white school for decoupaging papers
• black paper or fabric lace
• black and white decorative paper
• color decorative paper alternative in just in case you want to use it instead of the black and white
• a pair of sharp scissors or an Exacto knife (Adults or teens should only be entrusted with the sharp blade!)
• kitchen parchment paper (alternative might be a white cut-up sheet)
• very sticky masking tape
• wooden craft sticks or chop sticks for the puppets
• black poster paper to cut the puppets from
• templates or patterns for puppets located here in a listing...
• a lamp or flashlight light source to place behind the puppet screen

Above, a small but sturdy mini puppet theater for our 18" dolls to watch our Summer Camp
performances. I removed both the front and back walls before painting the little theater.
Use a ruler and magic marker to measure where to cut out the front of the theater first.

Left the sids have been removed from our box theater. Center, the cardboard box "frame" is painted 
black and the floor at the bottom of the theater is covered with black and white faux wooden 
paper. The parchment paper is has also been taped in place. Right, I decoupaged a larger box
with similar proportions in it's interior with decorative paper. I keep the shadow box inside
of the larger box to protect it when it is not being played with. Otherwise the parchment
screen might get poked through!

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Your shadow box theater can be any size you like. We made our very small so that our dolls could pretend to put on a shadow theater production for each other.  Once you have the box for your theater, cut away both the front and the back sides so that only the "frame" part of the box is left to work with.
2. Paint the frame with black, quick drying acrylic paints. 
3. Then glue paper lace or regular black lace across the top inside part of the theater. This creates a fancy looking theater "curtain" for any stage set. 
4. Use the cardboard that was removed previously to make a stage floor. The floor will need several layers of cardboard to make it a bit heavier and therefore making the stage stand alone without needing to prop it upright.
5. Decoupage the floor by coating the cardboard with an even application of white school glue and applying the paper slowly as to remove air pockets and creases.
6. Now measure the opening of the stage front and cut a generous piece of kitchen parchment paper to cover the opening. 
7. Tape this securely from the interior frame walls using masking tape. 
8. Now make your puppets by printing out templates from our Thrifty Scissors blog or draw them yourself. These should be cut from black poster paper in silhouette shapes.
9. Mount the shadow puppets onto long sticks at one end using a bit of tape or glue. 
10. Set up a light source using a lamp or flashlight positioned either behind or off to the side of the theater screen. You will see the best advantage for this light source once the overhead lights of a room are turned off. It takes a little adjustment at first to know where to put this light source.

First  page by Jean Stanley, illustrated by Johnny Gruelle.

Second page by Jean Stanley, illustrated by Johnny Gruelle.

Funny Fellows on The Wall

When I go to bed at night,

Mother turns out every light

But one bright one in the hall

To make shadows on the wall

Mothers always know a way

For a happy bedtime play,

Mother's hands can make them all,

Funny fellers on the wall.

First there comes a big giraffe

And he always makes me laugh

As he walks across the wall,

He's so awkward and so tall.

Next a squirrel in a tree

Easts his nuts most eagerly.

Then a donkey, ears and all,

Nods at me there, on the wall.

Rabbits, too, will jump around,

Sit up straight at every sound.

I love bunnies best of all

Funny fellers on the wall.

Once a goose with funny head

Hissed right at me, here in bed.

He was cross and tried to run,

Oh, it was a lot of fun.

When you go to bed sometime,

Have your mother leave a light

Burning brightly in the hall,

To make shadows on the wall.

Poem by Jean Stanley.

Illustrated by Johnny Gruelle.

More About Shadow Puppets:

• History behind shadow puppets, marionettes and Punch too!
• Black Cherry Puppet Theater shows kids how to make a simple shadow box theater for play
• Biography for Charlotte "Lotte" Reiniger
• My GIANT collection of silhouette patterns that children may download and use to make their own paper shadow puppets
• Making shadow puppet theatres with Ms. Boley at her internet art room
• Creating a shadow show by Macedon Ranges Shire Council
• "The Gingerbread Man" shadow puppet theatre
• Puppets for "The Legend of Sleepy Hallow" by Historic Hudson Valley and illustrator David Hyde Costello

The Miniature Theater As A Means Of Teaching Historic Arts

       Life outside of school may be considered as a true project in a natural setting. It is made up of many associated interests. Realizing this, we, as educators, are striving to make school with its handicaps of traditions and limitations of organization as nearly real life as we can make it. One obvious principle of education to effect this is creative self-expression, with correlated interests. 

• Stage designer has a passion for miniature theaters
• See our mini finger puppet theater for dollplay...
• Young student's cardboard theater at Art Bar
• Kids can make their own mini theatres part 1. and part 2. by Online Puppet Theatres...
• The mini toy theatre, "Gulliver and the Borrowers"
• How to make recycled pasta box mini theater from exploratorium.edu

       With the above item in mind, experimentation has shown that children with their dramatic and play instinct, with their love of the story element, of color, of creative work, find in the toy theater an art problem wholly absorbing and endless in exciting ramifying interests such as true life has, for such a project correlates the familiar story (whether historical or literary) with studies of interior design, of color, of research into historic arts, in cooperative effort in the creation of furniture, textiles, costumes and other accessories. 

       In the construction of these theaters illustrated herewith, the only items which were standardized by the supervisor for the various schools undertaking this type of problem were the materials of the theater itself, and its dimensions; and this was done only for the sake of obtaining an harmonious ensemble when they should later be exhibited together. The material consisted of one standard sized wooden box. The proscenium arch in each case was made of scrap wood, but its contour and/or relief work was carried out according to individual choice. The figures/puppets scale chosen measured no larger then 6 inches. 

       Among the interesting stories chosen by the respective sixth grade classes for illustration in miniature drama which combined artistic and literary elements were "The Enchanted Tower" (Moorish), "Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp" (Chinese), "The Blue Bird" (Dutch), and "The Magic Prison" (Medieval Chinese). 

Figure 1. "The Enchanted Tower" students miniature theater project.

       "The Enchanted Tower" by Washington Irving, illustrated in Figure 1. by a scene from the interior of the Alhambra, was carried out under the instruction of Miss Blanche Spalding. This unit gave opportunity for much research work in Moorish design. The enthusiasm with which girls as well as boys engaged in decorative applications, most of which was done in the art room, the absorbing search for authentic details of the period made by the pupils themselves, the beautiful painted panels in color, the elaborate gesso relief work which the committees even begged to do weekends at home proved that historic art need not be a dry-as-bone subject, but rather a means of developing a life interest in their "art heritage of the ages."

Figure 2. "The Magic Prison" students miniature theater project.

       "The Magic Prison," shown in Figure 2, an intriguing story with a Chinese setting, was similarly developed under the guidance of Mrs. Leonel Deal. The arches were decorated with gesso and oil paints blended together. The "marble" floor was painted with beautiful veinings by a boy who had helped a professional painter one summer. The upholstery of the wooden furniture and the pillows were simulated by the use of Chinese paper brought by the supervisor from Chinatown. Pipe cleaners formed the princely skeleton and cotton the sinews of the central figure, while head and hands were modeled from clay, and the costume wrought from gorgeous silks which were contributed from the homes of the skillful little artists. The final accessories in the form of floor vases were created from clay and brightly colored.

Figure 3."The Blue Bird"students miniature theater project.

       The spotless Dutch interior in Figure 3, "The Blue Bird," was produced by pupils of Mrs. Jean Praeger. The youngsters made extensive use of illustrations from the art department of the Public Library in order that the details from the furniture, the hood of the fireplace with dried apples hanging from it, and the wooden shutters, to the Dutch costume, and cross-stitch sampler on the wall might be "authentic." It is of interest that the tiles of the fireplace were made of cement colored with blue enamel. 

Figure 4."Aladdin" students miniature theater project.

       Miss Helen Morrill, whose pupils created "Aladdin," will relate the story of the adventure in her own words (see Figure 4): "The 6A Class voted by ballot to decide which story of those studied in literature could best be worked out on the stage of their little theater. The story of 'Aladdin's Wonderful Lamp' was the choice by a large majority. Then came the choosing of the particular indoor scene to be enacted. The episode chosen was the one in which Aladdin goes to the Emperor's palace with his servants bearing bowls filled with gold in order to win the Emperor's daughter in marriage. 

       "The boys made the divans, the throne, and tall arched doorways of wood in the manual arts shop. These were painted gold, green, and Chinese red with a mottled effect. A Chinese design was worked out on the columns and divans in gesso and then painted. 

       "The girls hemmed a wide black satin strip and edged it with gold for the carpet leading up to the throne. On each side of the throne and between the arched doorways were beautiful wall hangings to represent tapestry. These the girls painted in oil paints on black satin edged with gold. Much research work was done before choosing a real typical Chinese design for each. The bright oil colors of the dragons, etc., made a very rich and gorgeous appearance. Sitting on the throne was the Emperor whose body was made of a silk stocking stuffed with batting. The head was of modeled clay and painted. Aladdin, who knelt before the throne, was similarly made by another one of the girls. The royal robes were wrought by using material contributed by the children from their homes. The servants, who stood at each side of the throne, bearing their golden bowls, were made of cardboard and clad in cut paper costumes of orange, green, gold and black. The tiny bowls were salt dishes purchased at the five and ten cent store and painted gold. Each one was filled with small stones gilded to represent gold nuggets. Hanging in the archways were gorgeous lamps made out of small electric light bulbs and beautifully painted beads. 

       "The exterior arch of the theater had gesso relief work painted green and gold all around the edge. The curtain was of green silk with gold edges. Two showy Chinese parrots, done in brilliant cut paper, formed a decoration for each side of the stage. The word 'Aladdin' done in green and edged with black and gold formed the center decoration at the top of the entrance. 

       "At the end of each divan and near the throne one on each side-stood a black raised perch upon which 'hopped' a beautiful painted parrot. These perches were of silver and gold. The bottoms of the standards were made of clay and gesso while the perches and cages were made of twisted and painted wire." Wadsworth.

Barbie & Ken Paper Doll Fashions from 1974

        These are the vintage "Sun Valley" fashion paper dolls by Mattel published in 1974. This collection included two paper dolls with plastic stands and 31 pieces of Sun Valley Wardrobe selections! All items were precut, no scissors needed. 

Ken and Barbie dressed for shopping downtown and grabbing a bite to eat.
Barbie wears a smart red patterned suit with ruffled blouse and mini
skirt. Ken wears fashion forward gold plaid shirt, bright red
jeans and classic brown leather belt.

Left, Ken in a sporty leisure suite and Barbie, right, in a silky sport dress with gold chain at waist
and fur collar at the neckline. 

Barbie shows her bare shoulders with sleeveless candy stripped blouse. 
Her cinched waist is further flattered with blue jean wrap around
skirt and a cute little matching blue jean bag.

See Barbie's cute print suite and hat to match closer up. Now Ken on the left wears a classic
1970s style Argyle sweater vest with a tight camel neck sweater beneath.

Barbie will look so chic on the slopes wearing this bright red jumpsuit 
and short waisted sky jacket with fur trim!

Here is Barbie in an Asian inspired cut coat and bright blue slacks.

Left, Barbie and Ken show off more casual wear in cool lime, bold sky blue and grey plaids. 
Right, Barbie  just loves this Kelly green wrap skirt and an adorable stripped turtle neck 
with a embroidered "B" for Barbie stitched just below the neck.

Barbie and Ken are ready for the tennis courts in the latest sporty
fashions with rackets. Don't know about those shoes though...

Now our Sun Vally sweethearts are dressed for a romantic prom night.
Barbie in a sheer red prairie gown and Ken in his polyester baby blue
and black leisure tuxedo. Just look at his cool black velvet bow tie!

Barbie ends this fashion exhibit with a sky blue shaw and matching
wrap mini skirt; these go so well with her eye color.

Historic winter paper dolls from the far north . . .

Native Alaskan paper dolls in their historic parkas dressed for extreme temperatures.
Find more native Alaskan paper dolls in color here. and See authentic indigenous doll
 carved by natives here.

        The native people from the far north wore clothing that was so perfectly adapted to their needs. The principal fur garments of the Eskimo were the parka — sometimes called the artega and trousers. In winter two parkas were worn, one with the fur inside and the hood edged with wolverine, and the other with the fur outside was trimmed with wolf-skin. The frost didn't form on wolverine, so that is was next to the face and troublesome icicles were avoided, while the long hair of the wolf when it blew across the face served to protect the skin from the wind. The parka was made of caribou, or reindeer skin, since it was light and warm and not so valuable in trade as the fox, bear, or marten. The fringe around the bottom is of wolverine. 

       The Eskimo woman must have been a very busy person. She made most of the household utensils, she helped in making the kyak or canoe by sewing together the sealskin covering with a lock-stitch, water-tight seam in which all Eskimo women were skillful. She cared for the whale-oil lamp which warmed the house and cooked the food; and that was an art in itself since it must be kept from smoking. 

       When the igloo was made of ice, the temperature was kept just below freezing or the walls would melt. Of course she must of cooked the food and cared for the children. There were no ready-to-wear shops in the polar country; therefore every article worn by herself or her family was sewn using an ivory needle. She kept the other women of the igloo busy, too; the old ones at chewing the reindeer sinews into long, pliant threads which did not rot in the garment, and the girls at moulding, with their teeth, leather soles for the warm boots or mukluks, which, when completed, fit their feet in a very comfortable way. The black boot soles were made deep enough to hold thick pads of dry grass. The boots and the socks worn under them in the winter were made of brown and white fawn skin taken from the leg parts of the reindeer where the hair is short and strong. Straps held the boot tightly around the ankle. 

       The Eskimo mother did not bother about baby clothes; for, until they were able to run about alone, the little naked babies were carried in the mother's hood next to her skin. 

       The straight Eskimo's hair was black and there was little opportunity for brilliant colors in your paper doll's costuming reflecting that era. Use gray and brown and black, for the furs. But the bead designs may be colored brightly for these historically accurate costumes.

More About Traditional Native Clothing:

• Nanook of the North - Classic Documentary - 1922
• NOVA Hunters of the Seal (1976)
• The Eskimo Family (1959)

How to make a prairie doll scarecrow . . .

This doll-sized scarecrow, dressed in antique
calico would give any bossy crow a fright!

      The antique calico for this scarecrow figure makes her look as though she has been warding off crows for a century! Her frightful poppy pod head looks like a dried, old gourd and her rusted tin cans, if real, would clank fiercely while whipping in those prairie winds. I think our Ingles girl dolls would be proud to stake her in their Pa's cornfield!
       This craft may be accomplished with some help from an adult. Older children will be inspired but younger ones will probably be more successful making a paper scarecrow that I included on this blog several years ago.

Supply List:

• one poppy seed pod dried (hollow)
• two skewers
• masking tape
• hot glue
• vintage or antique calico
• small burlap scraps (for hair) use recycled rice bag
• metal tape for mini tin cans (or silver paints)
• 4 or 5 old pencils 
• hack saw
• acrylic paints for facial features and or a black permanent ink marker
• thin wire
• thin jute twine
• small bit of batting 
• scrap cotton for body shaped like a bag

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Poppy seed pods are common enough in the dried flower market place. Once you find one it makes a lovely scarecrow head: make sure you empty the seeds into the trash before making this craft for kids. You can do this with a Exacto knife. Cut a small slit somewhere on the pod that will be covered by a bonnet or hat. The seeds are quite tiny and will easily pass through a narrow incision. Shake the pod over a trash can until you can no longer hear the rattling sound.
2. Cut one skewer to make a cross bar for the pod head to be attached to. You may use hot glue and masking tape to secure the cross brace and pod head on top. Set the rough body aside to then make the detailed can and hair additions. 
3. Parents may use a hack saw to remove the metal band and erasers from four to five pencils. 
4. Make them into convincing tin can miniatures by wrapping these in metallic tape. 
5. Hot glue or tape these onto a thin wire leaving plenty of the wire on each end so that the cans may be strung by twisting them onto either side of the skewer cross bar after dressing the prairie scarecrow figure.
6. Paint on a bit of brown acrylic to age these so that they match the antiquated look of the scarecrow's costume.
7. To craft the wig of the prairie doll, cut a large rectangle from a recycled rice bag. Or, a scrap of burlap fabric alternatively. 
8. Carefully pull the weft from the rectangle scrap to create the wig.
9. Wrap the warp strands into two braids and hot glue these onto the pod. I choose to turn my poppy pod upside down and use the natural 'flower stigma' as the doll's dress collar.
10. Next, cut out a small bag-like shape for the scarecrow torso. Stuff this with a little batting or a couple of cotton balls if you prefer. Glue it over the cross section of the skewer body. Let the crossbar poke through this fabric. 
11. If you want to give your scarecrow arms, now would be the time to attach these to the cross brace. I chose not to however, our bird prevention is much older than a modern variation. 
12. I then, sewed a second bag shaped dress from a long tube of antique calico. It literally shredded as I worked with it! It is that old, folks. But, given this scarecrow should be scary, I thought "the more shredding . . . the spookier!"
13. I shaped a rough bonnet for my prairie doll with a square of calico and a few straight stitches. Then hot glued it in place over the braided wig. 
14. Then I twisted the tin cans over the skewer cross bar and hot glued a raffia bow to her back.
15. To draw a face like mine you can use a permanent ink pen. 
16. Paint the whites of her eyes, her rosy cheeks and triangle nose using acrylic paints.
17. Lastly, tie on or hot glue her directly to the second skewer leaving a long length of it to stick into the ground of your doll's pretend corn field!

Left, the metal eraser tips have been cut off of pencils to make miniature cans. Right, wrap
these 'tin cans' with metal tape to make them appear as convincing cans. Paint them with
rust or brown paints to give these a bit of age. You can see the wire above also attached
with tape. Now the scarecrow will make noise and reflect light in order to ward off
hungry crows form our pretend corn fields!

I recycled the burlap from a rice bag to make this prairie doll scarecrow's wig. See another craft
made from the same recycled material here.

Left, the stuffed body bag underneath my doll's costume. Center, the doll's costume completed.
Right, a detailed photo of the rusty old tin cans attached to our scarecrow's waist. These
clank and clatter in the wind to reflect light and make noise that will theoretically 
scare away crows. 

Left a close-up photo of the scarecrow's facial featured applied with permanent ink pen
drawing and acrylic painted cheeks, nose and eyes. Right, is the raffia bow hot-glued
on to the backside of the scarecrow.

Find many more prairie crafts at the camp page listing here . . .

Winsome wisdom from Pa about Halloween spooks and pranks...

Video by Little House T.V. series at Youtube.

Make mini doll bunk beds for peaceful Winter nights...

This version of doll bunk beds is made inside of a shoebox with an attached lid. It may be folded up
and stored away neatly inside a closet or under a bed when it is not being played with. Not only
would a child love to craft it for play, but also a grandparent or aunt may enjoy making a toy
 like this to keep for a grandchild or niece's visit during holidays or long weekends. 

       What a treasure it would be to pull this from a cabinet or trunk to present to a young visitor for playtime! Invest a few dollars for mini dolls or make these yourself to include with the set. Small, seldom seen toys like these can make special visits with a relative or close family friend 'magical' to a young child. 
       When I was a very young girl, some of my most precious memories were of visits to an elderly aunt. This aunt married late in life and had no children of her own. However, she lived in a very charming home on Lover's Lane in St. Joseph MO., the very same street written about by poet, Eugene Field. 
       Inside her home was an enchanting hidden room. In order to get into this room, an adult had to pull a small set of stairs, attached to a rope, down from the ceiling. This hidden staircase led up into a vaulted space under exposed rafters and spider webs. The only light at the end of the narrow attic space came from a tiny window. 
       There were boxes of Christmas ornaments, a dollhouse with tiny furniture, and a small wooden cradle kept in this attic room. The quite enchantments of this space fed by childhood imagination for hours it seems, although I seldom had the chance to visit it, only a handful of days within my young life - before she passed away.

A shoebox provides ''a hidden room'' for a child to play with her own small dolls, while visiting
with a godparent, grandparent or some other family relative. Simple delights like these, make
 happy memories for little ones. They will treasure them even more after growing old and
recalling the time they spent in the home of a kind friend.

Supply List:

• a large shoebox with attached lid
• night themed scrapbook paper with moon and stars
• additional scrapbook papers for other elements
• white school glue
• Winter snow scene (recycled greeting card)
• more scrap cardboard
• fabric for bed covers
• cotton batting stuffing
• dowel rods and skewers for the bunkbed (ladder)
  
• two cotton balls and grey lint from dryer trap (ladder)
  
• black thread and two paper clips (ladder)
  

Left, oval window cut from Christmas card over the top bunk. Center, bunk beds minus the 
overstuffed bedding. the walls are papered, a small shelf is glued in place in the corner of the
lower bunk so that an alarm clock or cell phone or framed photo may be placed there. 
Right, the snow is falling outside the window made with a recycled Christmas card.

Step-by-Step Bunk Bed Instructions:

1. Select a shoebox in a size that will accommodate small five to eight inch dolls. In my sample, I chose a shoebox with an attached lid this time.
2. I cut two platforms for the bunk beds from scrap cardboard and glue these in place. The lower platform is suspended 1 and 1/2 inches from the bottom of the box so that a small ladder may be stored beneath the lower bunk bed while the shoebox is in storage and then removed to give the doll that sleeps in the top bunk a way to climb into bed.
3. Use masking tape to hold the plate forms in place while these dry. 
4. Apply white school glue and decorative papers to all of the walls and platforms inside and outside of the shoebox. I chose a dark blue Christmas paper for the outside of the box. It depicts lovely silhouettes of snowflakes and leaping deer. 
5. For the interior, I chose to coordinate snowdrift prints with a blue celestial wallpaper. 
6. Opposite the bunk beds is a wall with a decoupaged window and shelf just above it. The cardboard window frames a Christmas card of a snowy winter night. In this view there are white pine silhouettes and a starry night sky.
7. Both the shelf and the widows are decorated with a ''curtain and garland'' made from laser-cut papers. These look like white lace. 
8. For both of the bunk beds, you will need to cut and stuff mattresses, bedding and pillows. I chose to sew with a stripped fabric for the mattresses because this material reminded me of my grandmother's feather bed mattresses I slept on as a child. These were covered in stripped ticking; a kind of heavy canvas that prevents goose down feathers from escaping the mattress. 
9. Measure the interior of each bunk bed, both the length and width, and cut small rectangular shaped mattresses to fit. Just sew the material with right sides together using a straight seam and leave a two inch opening to turn the 'pocket' right sides out and stuff with cotton batting stuffing. 
10. Whip stitch the opening shut and cut sheets to fit each little mattress. I chose to use a white cotton, somewhat transparent for the covering of our doll mattresses so that the stripes would show through. 
11. Use the same method to make coordinating pillows and blankets. If you choose to make the blankets using felt or fleece, you won't need to add seams. 
12. Among the details, I also crafted an oval window with the same night scene to paste above the upper bunk. The lower bunk has a corner shelf for an alarm clock attached with glue and given a faux wood shelf paper covering similar to the windows opposite. 
13. Once I've dressed two small dolls in their night gowns, these will be gifted inside our shoebox bedroom, tied-together with a bright blue bow for a winter's cozy celebration!
    

More Shoebox Crafts:

• Make a cozy, old-fashioned bed for a Barbie or Fashionista using a shoebox...
• Make a doll bathtub using a recycled shoebox.
• How to craft boxy bunk beds for three! - plus a climbing wall too...

"Over The River and Through The Woods..."

        Here are three very lovely old prints by Currior & Ives for your dollhouse walls this coming holiday season. These depict: sleigh rides, horse drawn sleds, winter landscapes, farms in winter, domestic buildings, barns for farm animals, trees without foliage, ice on roads, farm equipment, maple syrup in large canisters, ladies with muffs, gentlemen with warm coats and gloves, ice skaters on ponds  and cloudy winter skies. In the old days, there was often freshly fallen snow on the ground several feet deep where I grew up in rural Missouri in time for Thanksgiving. Now, this is seldom true...

Three romanticized winter landscapes for your dollhouse!

"Over The River" for Thanksgiving! When
I was young, I sang this song all the time
because my grandmother did live over 
several creeks and through the woods...

How to make a trampoline for a mini doll . . .

A mini Lori doll named Cyarra jumps on her
handmade trampoline with her teddy watching.

      To make this mini doll sized trampoline I acquired the metal plant stand from a secondhand dealer. It cost only a dollar and things like this are very commonplace in the U.S. If you wish to make something similar, you will also need: plastic netting, felt (any color), an embroidery needle and matching embroidery floss.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Find a plate with the same or similar diameter to the upper most circular opening of the recycled plant stand. 
2. Position the plate on top of plastic netting and cut around it with a half inch boarder.
3. Now bend the edges around the metal railing of the plant stand and sew these in place using an embroidery needle and floss. Make sure the netting is taunt and firmly attached.
4. Next, cut strips of felt and slightly gather the edges of the sides using a running stitch.
5. Pin the felt around the circumference of the outside edges of the plant stand. See photos below. This will become the padding for the doll sized trampoline. 
6. Sew through both the netting and felt on either side of it using the same embroidery needle and matching floss to the felt.

More Gymnastics Posts:

• How to sew larger sized leotards for 18 inch dolls here.
• DIY basic gymnastic equipment for American Girl Dolls 

Left, trace around the plate plus 1/2 inch to cut the netting needed. Right, wrap the edges
of the netting around the outside perimeter of the plant stand opening to attach the mat
of the trampoline.

Left, the trampoline from above when finished. Right the trampoline as seen from the side.

How to craft a colander for your dollhouse kitchen . . .

Our doll's finished pink paper mache colander.

       Our dolls use this colander to wash their fresh fruits from the market and veggies from the garden in. The fake holes allow food items to air-dry once wet. 

       This fun doll-sized colander is made from paper mache pulp, sculpted inside of a soup ladle. These ladles are common enough; you probably have one in your kitchen right now! However, it will take several warm sunny days to make a colander like this one and a little patience.

Different sizes of ladles make different looking dishware.

Supply List:

• a real human sized soup ladle
• either plastic wrap or kitchen aluminum foil
• papaer mache pulp
• masking tape
• acrylic paints: black, grey, silver, white and pink
• black permanent ink marker
• Mod Podge
• cardboard tube (like a toilet paper tube)
• white school glue

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Make sure you are working with a clean ladle. Cover it with either plastic wrap or kitchen foil. Tape this securely in place. You will be using it to shape the colander and afterwards the plastic or foil may be removed entirely and the ladle returned to it's place in the kitchen.
2. The inside shape of a ladle makes for a perfect tool to shape your doll's colander. It is the perfect size for an 18in doll to use inside of her play kitchen in fact. Mix together about 1/2 cup of paper mache pulp according to the directions on the package. It doesn't take much pulp to make the craft.
3. Layer the pulp inside of the ladle's end cup. Smooth the 1/4 inch layer till it is consistently the same thickness throughout and let it dry in the warm sunshine for a day. 
4. Once the pulp is ''set'' or dry, remove the foil or plastic along with it from the ladle. Then carefully peal away the plastic or foil. The underside of your pulp bowl may be still a little wet. Let this dry in the sunshine yet another day or so.
5. Once the bowl shape is hard to the touch, cut a 'foot' from the toilet paper tube and tape this to the bottom of the bowl. Reinforce the connection with white school glue and set it aside to harden again.
6. Use masking tape to smooth out the surface of the colander and prep it for painting. Try to keep the surface even with the tape; don't over-due the application.
7. Now paint the first layer with white. This will help the pink layer to "pop." Let it dry.
8. Paint the second and third layers hot pink.
9. Once the paint has dried. Use the permanent black ink marker to draw dots to look like holes across the surface. (see photo below)
10. Highlight the dots and patterns in the colander with silver acrylic paint. 
11. Coat the colander with Mod Podge for a professional looking finished surface.

Left, fill in the bottom hollow ring with pulp too. Right, the paper clay makes a nice
finished looking surface; ready to paint however you like...

Different views of the painted colander with and without veggies.

Printable Paintings for your dollhouse by L. Gordon

        These free prints of dolls were made from little watercolor paintings by L. Gordon. Included are a larger set for 18" dollhouses and a smaller set for those of you who wish to decorate a dollhouse for 6 inch dolls or smaller. Click on the image before downloading to get the larger size. 

Large set of water color paintings of dolls by L. Gordon. Just a 
few of the foreign dolls from her collection. Some of these are
from Japan, Russia, Switzerland, Germany, Mexico and Poland.

Smaller set of the same doll painting collection
for tinier prints. Some dolls are dressed as
brides or in ethnic costume.

The Gregson House Comes to America...

"The Gregson Doll's House" sold by Woolley & Wallis Salerooms

• The New American owner talks about the Gregson Doll House Restoration... - The labor of love video by Susan Dossetter uploaded by Rachel Hoffman.
• Woolley & Wallis Auctions presents a Georgian dolls house from Astley Hall, Birmingham, England. - A brief history of the doll's house once owned by Elizabeth 'Bessie' Wilkinson with photos here. see the video at YouTube

DIY Art Deco Miniature Theater

The dolly Art Deco theater is an alternate design to our mini marionettes puppet theater.
In this version, I show how to use a simple cardboard box to shape a theater, instead of
 Popsicle sticks. The design is made a bit more sophisticated with the addition of
columns on either side and a flamboyant, Art Deco proscenium arch.

       I first found a Art Deco print in a magazine which inspired my simple design for this miniature puppet theater. You can see that magazine page applied to the columns of the theater facade above. Advancing the designs used in craft for children may have it's origins in anything that is found unique to their environments. Something as simple as the pages of a magazine, wall papers in their bedroom, playground equipment they see at a local park or the stacking of blocks on the family room floor can all influence their personal preferences when constructing a toy theater. Once they have learned to include the necessary elements of the theater: the side flats, curtain, backdrop, stage and proscenium arch, they will be able to alter their designs to look like more like something out of their own imagination!
       This Art Deco theater is designed for finger-puppets specifically. The finger-puppets if they were life sized would be hand-puppets. To recognize the difference between a theater designed for hand-puppets or finger-puppets as apposed to stick puppets/marionettes, you must look to analyze it's construction. If the theater has a roof and side flats (in this case the columns/walls are the side flats) then it is intended to be displayed on top of a table or cupboard. The table would have a long skirt to conceal the puppeteer. The cupboard would have a wall, doors, or curtain to conceal the puppeteer.

       If your theater has no side walls or roof, then it would be designed primarily to display stick puppets or marionettes. These open areas make it easier to move puppets manipulated with strings or long sticks.

Parts of the puppet theater curtain.

Supply List:

• masking tape
• decorative magazine paper
• Mod Podge
• blue felt for curtains
• wooden skewer and bead
• cardboard tube
• scrap cardboard box 
• white school glue
  

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Start with a sturdy corrugated cardboard box. The one I used for this craft was ''squarish in shape'', 6'' x 4 1/2'' x 1 1/2''.
   
2. Cut away the backside entirely, this will be the backside of the dolly theater.
3. On the front side of this box theater cut away the lowest flap only. Leave the side flaps and the top one intact.
4. The side flaps will need to be cut back shorter, so that you can view the puppet shows. I cut these side, vertical flaps back so that only 1 1/4'' remained on either side of the front facade. 
5. The next step is the trickest one and that is to shape this little theater to tilt up. Because this step may confuse a child making a similar theater, they may choose to skip this particular step. But in order to craft one exactly like mine you must shorten the floor of the theater to 4 1/2 inches in length. 
   
6. Now tighten all of the angles of the theater using masking tape. Then mask all of the surfaces. While doing this. Also mask the upper-most-flap open and up to create the proscenium arch. I gave this piece a slight curve on either side as well to intensify my design choices. The proscenium arch may be shaped however you choose; it is a purely decorative part of your puppet theater, intended to draw the attention of the audience to center stage.
   
7. To make the side columns on the front of this box theater, I cut a cardboard tube in half and mounted two identical pieces to each side of the front two flaps using masking tape and white school glue.
8. Cut an additional piece of cardboard to mount with glue to the bottom of the theater. Do this by tracing around both the floor and the columns on top of an extra piece of scrap cardboard. Cut it out and glue it in place, mask it with tape. This will close off the tube openings at the bottom of the theater and strengthen it's base.
9. Decoupage the entire theater using magazine paper and other decorative papers. I painted some of the surfaces and used magazine pages to decorate the columns. All of these choices at this point in the craft are completely dependent on your own aesthetic tastes.
10. Using a sharp tipped nail poke a hole at both sides just below the proscenium arch to insert a long dowel behind the front facade. This dowel will hold a curtain behind the columns, across the stage.
11. Glue a wooden bead to one end of this long dowel, so that it may be removed easily when changing out the curtain. See photo of parts of curtain above.
12. Cut two pieces of felt, 5''x 4''. Attach small loops at the tops, evenly spaced apart with a needle and thread. 
13. Poke the skewer through first hole, bead side out and work the curtains onto the skewer. Then poke the end of the skewer through the second hold at the opposite end to make the theater curtains.
14. You can cut two identical small ties to gather each side of the felt curtains together. Now the finger puppet theater is complete and ready for a show!
    

Left, center and right are is the theater before painting or decoupage. This puppet theater is not
exactly square. It is slightly narrower at the bottom and larger at the top. This was done to
 give a dramatic appearance to it's construction.

 

Related Content:

• Read more about designing children's puppet theaters quickly . . .
• DIY Cardboard Box Puppet Theater! by LaurensLittles
• There Are All Kinds of Puppets!