How to make a vintage Coca-Cola machine...

Left the before photo of a simple box to be transformed into something special. Right, the finished,
 old-fashioned soda pop cooler. The drinks are kept cool at any public location where folks may
need a refreshment. 

         Our doll's vintage Coca-Cola machine is an old-fashioned bottle dispenser/refrigerator. When you insert a pretend coin - the side door unlocks and a ''doll'' may pull a drink from the rack. Of course, this is all make-believe, but our dolls don't mind that at all.

       Supplies you will need to make this craft are: a tall narrow box (ours measures 3 1/2'' x 3'' x 10''), masking tape, white school glue, red, black and white paper, silver metallic tape, and finally a few vintage Coca-Cola stickers. The stickers are available all over the web; I had no difficulty in finding these at ebay. 

       Coca-Cola made a multitude of vending machines in many different sizes. So your box may be of an entirely different size/proportion than the one I made for our 18'' doll Diner.

       If you wish to create personal crafts without worrying yourself over copyright theft, purchase the craft materials that are generated by company contracts with merchants. In this way, you will be complying to the law and your crafts will take on the professional appearances of those items you wish to reproduce for your dollhouse or doll playsets. 

       As you can see from my photos, I simply glued layers of cardboard together on my box in order to mimic the general features of an old-fashioned vending machine. Then I covered these areas in masking tape, colored paper, and stickers before Mod Podge was applied for the final coat.

       Older designs for Coke machines tended to have rounded corners and red and white graphics. The mechanical features like a coin slot, a glass door, or the kick-plate at the bottom of the machine where often made from polished stainless steal. All of these features I covered with metallic tape to emphasize their shiny silver properties. 

• How to make bags of sugar for the doll's pantry while decoupaging with original, company manufactured papers.
• Here I've created a Hotel Logo that may be freely used by students only for their doll builds.

Find a doll sized crane arcade game . . .

A child's bank operates like a crane toy arcade when collecting coins for safe keeping.

       This ''Crane Bank'' is a miniature version of a crane arcade game. If you insert a quarter, the lights on top will flash, circus music plays and you can use the control knobs on the side to manipulate the mini crane inside to drop a toy down the chute. Claw machines in life-size versions may be found in a variety of shops and entertainment venues like: bowling alleys, arcades, pizza parlors and grocery stores in the U.S. This small bank version stands 12 inches tall and is the perfect size for our 14'' - 18'' dolls to play with.

• Candy Claw Machine at FamousTubeKIDS
• Vintage arcade games by 80s ToyHunter
• See doll-sized juke boxes, one is a real radio!

DIY a Doll Sized Hostess Stand and Grill

Hostess Stand made from a box.

        A hostess stand may be used as either a reception desk or a concession stand in a doll playset, depending upon the theme of the toy. It is a counter where doll visitors are greeted often in hotel or restaurant toys or counters where food or other shop merchandise is payed for by dolls while living in their pretend environments. 

       Just right, you can see that I have constructed a homemade hostess counter that is very tall, 9 inches, because it is designed to suit several of our family's 18 inch doll playsets. It is constructed from a simple box, 8 1/2'' x 11'', and four recycled wooden marble runs. I attached these marble runs with wood glue, groove side facing inward, at each corner of the box. Then I decoupaged the walls of the hostess stand with contrasted faux wooden panel papers. After all of this dried, I then cut a counter and glued it to the top of the stand and then decoupaged another wooden paper pattern to it's surface.

       I could have left this doll furnishing alone at this point but I decided to glue in shelving so that it would better serve as a concession stand for the ''Americana Bowling Alley.'' 

       This stand will also be used in both a pizza parlor and a hotel in future displays. It is much more practical to build one of these counters for multiple playset themes than to make many of them. However, some parents/children may prefer to design more than one hostess stand in order to expand play with multiple sets at the same time. I will include a few lower counter tops in future posts that are designed to accompany this one under alternative themes.

       As for the color, I chose to keep it a bit modern with clean simple lines and in natural stained wood tones because this is my personal preference, not because it is popular. Your child may wish her hostess stand to be hot pink or purple. Many doll crafters are also still devoted to the grey, neutral color palettes used in early 21rst Century dollhouses and will select white for their doll furniture no matter what the latest furniture craze is about.

       In our bowling alley, I use this hostess stand as a counter for the dolls to serve the traditional foods purchased at bowling alleys in the United States. This fare includes things like hot dogs and chips, burgers and fries and also malts and milkshakes.

       I wanted to make a more authentic looking commercial grill with glass windows in order to view the food as it cooks. But, I wasn't really sure how to make one until I spied a small, plastic earring box at a garage sale. Apparently, these are often sold at dollar stores according to my adult children who often marvel at my ignorance...

Supply List for The Commercial Grill:

• one plastic earring jewelry box
• grocery fliers with interesting pictures of grills, hamburgers and hotdogs, flames and charcoal
• silver metal tape (This gives the grill a commercial grade feel)
• small cardboard tubes (roll these and make alternatively)
• extra cardboard (cereal box)
• Mod Podge for sealing and applying the decoupage
• Sculpey for food (coming soon)

Left, The doll sized commercial grill assembled without food. Right, the grill and it's parts.

 

       To make this commercial grade grill the unique features are necessary. This kind of grill allows hungry dolls to see through the top while the hot dogs are spinning on the warming tubes and the hamburgers are sizzling on the grill. I will post pretend food for the grill and link to it here soon!

Step-by-Step Instructions for The Grill:

1. Wipe down the plastic jewelry box with something like Windex. This will remove dirt and oil from it's surfaces so that glues will work better. It will also improve the application of the metal tape.
2. Cut pictures of grilling dogs and burgers from your local grocery store fliers and apply these using Mod Podge on the sides only of the plastic jewelry box. You may also decoupage the lower front half of the box in front using clippings of words like: ''Summer Fun'', ''Sizzling Hot'' and ''Grilling Greats'' Just as long as you leave enough of the transparent lid undisturbed for the viewing of grilling meats.
   
3. Cut and shape slender tubes to fit on and over the first plastic earring bar and glue them together.
4. There are four tubes, the same shape but the second tube from the front has a slip down it's length so that this tube fits over the plastic earring bar and hold the rest of these tubes in place. 
5. Cover the cardboard tubes with metal tape.
6. Underneath the earring bar is a plastic shelf, cut a piece of cardboard to fit over this shelf and cover it with metal tape. Fit it tightly in place, this is where hamburger patties are grilled.
7. Inside of the drawer shape vertical, thin walls cut from cardboard and covered with metal tape. I made two inserts to create three sections inside the drawers where condiments may be stored.
   

The grill shown open, lid up and the grill shown with the extra drawer for assembling the hot dogs
 and burgers with toppings is seen open and empty.

Above are three signs, print and choose one to decoupage to the front of your grill.

• See an outdoor grill craft for dollhouse backyard decks and patios

Lounge Seating for Our Doll's Bowling Alley

Lounge seating for our doll's bowling alley is made with cardboard boxes and wooden blocks.

        Box seating for dolls can be made with just a bit of imagination and a few supplies. The seating here was made with cardboard, decorative paper, wooden blocks, white school glue, masking tape and Mod Podge. This set may also be used as additional seating for our Sock-Hop Diner. I covered the lounge chairs with a paper that would look attractive across the room from the My Generation Diner playset. (I have restored this piece for our Sock-Hop Diner that I will link to from here in a future post.)
       The table was purchased from resale. It was once a votive candle stand. I painted and decoupaged it with faux wooden paper to compliment the seating in our doll's bowling alley. The dolls can set their scorecards and drinks on the table as they compete with their friends.

Left, the beginnings of a lounge seat made using cardboard and masking tape. Center, the seat
covered with decorative paper and white school glue and the wooden blocks attached at the 
bottom using wood glue. These have yet to be painted. Right, a detailed look at the side table
used between the two lounge chairs.

       To make seating like mine you will need to cut cardboard in one long length measuring approximately 18''x 8 1/2''. I bent one long piece of cardboard into sections approximately measuring 4 1/4'' x 5 1/2'' x 5 1/2'' x 2 1/2 inches. (see photo, above left) Use masking tape to hold this shape for one of two identical seats. Then glue wooden blocks for tall, heavy legs. These blocks for my set are 5 12'' x2 3/4''x 1 1/4''. I also used small triangular blocks glued to the upper corners of the seat backing and the wooden legs to give the lounge even more strength. This is not really a necessity but an option. You can see the small triangular block in the photos. The last two steps were Mod Podging the paper surfaces and painting the wooden blocks a brown color to go with my bowling alley color scheme.

• You can also cover and upolster a box for seating using fabric. I discuss an example of this craft method here.

What the lounge seating looks like from three different angles.

Craft a Cart for Bowling Balls

       Colorful doll sized bowling balls, pins and a cart are needed for the doll's bowling games. I used a box measuring 9''x 2'' x5'' to make the cart. 1 1/2 inch wooden blocks were glued to the bottom of the cart for legs. Glue inside just one shelf of equal size to divide the box into a cart big enough to store bowling balls.

Left, I use these balls from a dismantled tabletop pool table for 18'' bowling balls. I suppose that
the table was lost or damaged because I found the balls along in a bag for sale at our local flee
market. They are the perfect weight and size for our bowling playset. Right, see how the
balls are stacked in the cart.

What the cart looked like before I papered it. See it has wooden blocks for feet.

The bowling ball cart from three angles, finished with pastel color in the interior shelves and a hand
drawn, wooden exterior.

Both this large set of bowling pins measuring 4 inches tall
and the smaller set with 2 1/4 inch pins fit into our bowling
alley playset. This set may be used by both 14-18 inch dolls
and the standard sized 12 fashion dolls like Barbie.

Make long and low Shelving for doll playsets...

My basic, long narrow bookcase for our doll playsets. It is used to define parameters of a doll
room during play. 

       A long shelf measuring 19'' x 5'' x 2 3/4'' stretches the length of two playsets, a bowling alley and a daycare center. It marks the parameters of the doll play space when either of these two sets is assembled for visitors in our home. It is a practical piece, although not too terribly exciting to look at. The faux wooden paper blends in with other furnishings that I have built for our 18'' doll collections. The white papered interior ''spotlights'' objects selected for play and also makes these items easy to display for photography.

       Cut out the length of a larger cardboard box from one of it's sides, keeping the back and end pieces for a simple bookshelf like the one pictured above. Cut extra lengths of cardboard from that same box to add two shelves. When gluing the shelves into the bookcase, space them out evenly and make sure the lowest shelf is slightly suspended from the floor to give the illusion of table legs. Decoupage all the surfaces using white school glue or Mod Podge. This will help keep the cardboard furniture clean and durable over time.

       Later, I will upload photos of how this piece looks when used in different thematic rooms below.

• How to craft a sturdy paper mache doll table...

Craft a Small Wooden Gumball Machine

This gumball machine craft is just the right size for a doll
but it would also work well as a SWAP!

      To make this sweet little candy craft, you will need to collect a few supplies: a spool (preferably wooden), a wooden ball to attach to the top, colorful acrylic paints, tacky craft glue, a black permanent ink marker and a little cardboard for the spout.

      First, glue the wooden ball to the top of the wooden spool using the tacky craft glue. Set this aside and let it dry overnight. Then glue on a tiny circular shape for the coin insert and a small spout for the candy return. Cut these from cardboard and attach them with the same tacky glue. Let all of these adhered parts dry completely before painting the surface.

       Paint the spool portion of the craft with red paint and the globe part with white paint. Let this paint dry for 30 to 40 minutes. Use the tip of a brush or the eraser end of a pencil to paint on all of the colorful candy dots! Paint the coin insert and small spout grey. Take the permanent ink pen and write 25 cents on the coin insert. I also added a decorative black line with the marker around the spool's lip.

       You can make a toy gumball machine like this one as small as you like; simply select a smaller spool and bead to work with!

• Make a gumball ornament with kids...
• Assemble a gumball machine costume for Halloween
• How to make a gumball candy dispenser machine from cardboard
• How to make a vending machine with gumball
• Mini gumball machine for your doll by American Girl
• Where does chewing gum come from?