Photo of brightly painted dollhouse furniture for the dining room in pink and blue. |
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Monday, May 22, 2023
Knockdown Mini Dining Set
Saturday, April 1, 2023
Three Printable Doll Dish Patterns
Printable dishes below are made available for young students to craft with using their personal home computer printers. Carefully cut out the designs below and decoupage them with Mod Podge onto cardboard or oven bake clay. Choose the pattern that best compliments your doll's dinnerware!
Old-European Dishes |
Persian Rose Dishes |
Spinning Star Dishes |
Wednesday, February 8, 2023
Blue and White Chinaware for Dolls
On the platter is Fair Mount near Philadelphia by Stubbs Staffordshire. I've made it printable and of a color similar to the Blue Willow plates. |
Indigo or Cobalt blue and white are by far the most popular combinations in transferware but it also comes in brown and white, black and white, green and white, red and white....well, you get the idea. It has been manufactured for over 100 years from many different ceramic companies. Staffordshire is probably the most famous company to produce collectible transferware.
- A Guide to Vintage & Antique Transerware China
- Transferware: It's not just blue or Chinese
- Transfer Printing Demonstration at Spode
- Transferware China - 101 Class by Adirondack Girl at Heart
- "Little Blue Willow Plate" story for children
- Printable Blue China Plate poem
- Blue Rose Dishes for Printing and Crafting too...
The Blue-Willow Plates that tell a legend of two lovers. |
Small sauce bowls. These are hand painted blue and white. |
A small, three inch tall vase made in China and it is blue and white. | |
Blue and white doll sized tea set, added to the set this week. |
Lovely small salt cellars fit in perfectly with this collection. | |
Collection of Blue Canton Chinaware sold 100 years ago. |
The Legend Behind Blue Willow China
"Everybody knows Canton Chinaware - the always popular open stock "willow" pattern - with its pagodas, bridges, streams, boats, little figures of men and women, and the love birds. A quaint legend has it that the story depicted on the china tells how a mandarin had an only daughter, Li-Chi, who fell in love with her father's secretary, Chang.
The mandarin forbade the match, so the lovers eloped, hiding for a time in a gardener's cottage, until at last they attempted to make their escape to an island which was Chang's home. The mandarin pursued them, whip in hand and would have killed them had not the gods come to the rescue and changed the two into a pair of turtle doves.
In the design will be seen the mandarin's house with a fence round it, the gardener's cottage, a bridge over which the mandarin ran after his daughter, who, with a staff in hand was accompanied by Chang. Above are the turtle doves, and beyond is a boat crossing to the island. At the time of the elopement the willow was shedding its leaves, hence the name of the design."
Saturday, January 28, 2023
Doll Sized Fruity Porcelain Plates
There is something very charming about small dishes, especially sets that are as lovely as these. Together with the bowl of vegetables they will make an irresistible table setting.
Left, strawberries. Center, gooseberries. Right, rose hips. |
I did not find them in the same place but picked up the hand-sculpted dish of veggies in an estate sale and the bone china coasters online. They are all so perfectly sized for our 18'' dolls.
These small, doll sized veggies are hand sculpted porcelain from France and so is the bowl. |
In the future, I will continue to include more additions to this set on this post as these are either collected or crafted.
Left, blackberries. Center, raspberries. Right, blueberries. |
More Fruity Crafts:
- Make a strawberry, heart shaped doll cake...
- Make a versatile framed print from a fruit greeting card
- Paint a strawberry jewelry box for a doll...
Very delicate lattice porcelain dishes with fruit decal centers and gold painted edges. |
Wednesday, January 25, 2023
Elegant Bird Printed China for Dolls
K & A Krautheim Selb Bavaria Germany Bone China coasters make lovely formal place settings for the 18" dolls. You can hang them on the walls of a dollhouse dining room or set an adorable table for your dolls to eat at. We are going to collect center pieces and occasional china pieces to accompany this set in the future. Then I will post the editions here for visitors to see.
Left, Eurasian Blue Tit. Center, Yellow Bellied Flycatcher. Right, Eastern Red Breasted Blue Birds. |
Coasters make perfect tableware for 18-20" dolls. These may range from 3 1/2" to 4" depending on the company that produces them. The plates here include birds that start off as decals that are then fired onto the china in a kiln. Then after the plates cool and real gold rim is painted on by hand.
Left, Goldfinches. Center, Chaffinches. Right, Splendid or Scarlet Chested Parrots. |
- See Raphaelina's unboxing of the "Empress Royal China Mini Tea Set.
- DIY American Girl Tea Time Set by berri ag
- Floral Printables for Dollhouse Dishes here.
Carved marble fruits and dish from Mexico make a festive tropical center piece to go with the bird plates! |
Saturday, April 16, 2022
Antique Printable Rugs
Two printable antique rugs below for your personal dollhouse decor in a doll dining room, parlor, bedroom or living area. Drag them into a Word Document to make them smaller if you need to. Click directly on the images to download the largest available size. Cut them a bit longer and paste on a fringe if you like.
A floral motif for a formal Asian Rug. |
Decorative birds, horses, elephants etc... on an antique rug from India. |
Thursday, April 14, 2022
Cut, shape and paint doll sized silverware...
For this craft you will need a small, sharp pair of scissors, light wt. cardboard, white glue, white typing paper, grey acrylic paint and Mod Podge. This project is not recommended for young children; it is quite difficult for them to manage the detailed cutting. But, if you are an adult or older sibling you may have the skill and patience needed to make the cuts.
Above, the finished sample fork, spoon and knife made from cut, layered and pasted cardboard. |
I gave the pattern for the fork only three prongs because I thought it necessary to make the design here as simple as possible. My versions of this craft layer three clippings of each fork, knife and spoon with white school glue in between. Then I covered the silverware with a final layer of white typing paper to give each piece of flatware strength. While working with the tiny cardboard fork, I bent the prongs upward and shaped the spoon gently with the rounded end of a pen. The results were better than I expected but the items are still relatively fragile for a child to play with. I chose to paint the finished pieces light grey before giving each a coating of Mod Podge.
The tiny pattern for our 18" doll sized silverware. |
Similar Doll Flatware:
Tuesday, April 6, 2021
Floral Printables for Dollhouse Dishes
Below are three sheets of flowers for you to cut and paste onto doll sized dishes. Decorate with Spring blossoms in a rainbow of colors: blue, purple, yellow, pink, red and russet. Many varieties are included here: tulips, coral bells, wild roses, daisies, morning glory, violets, mums etc...
Sheet of printable wild flowers for your dollhouse dishes. |
Cut and paste lovely pastel printable flowers for your doll's dishes. |
These spring flower designs for doll sized platters. |
Friday, January 22, 2021
Painting a faux wood grain on doll chairs...
Left, Bold green and purple paint, stripes and polka dots. Right, painted with gray base coat. |
I picked up these sturdy but ugly doll chairs at my local Goodwill for three dollars a piece. They fit our 18" American Girl dolls perfectly and will make a nice option for dining room seating. However, the bold colors and patterns will not match any of the other furnishings in our giant dollhouse.
Left, I've painted the cracks in my chairs with black acrylic. Right, chairs dry between coats of paint. |
Something about these chairs reminds me of fairy tale decor. They are the kind of chairs one might be seated on inside of a cottage in the woods, surrounded by seven little men. In any case, they will look much more attractive in my own estimation after I've repainted them.
Above, stripes of grey in many tones and shades are layered on top of the chairs until transformed. |
Monday, October 26, 2020
Printable Dollhouse Tapestries
Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike cloth weaving where both the warp and the weft threads may be visible. In tapestry weaving, weft yarns are typically discontinuous; the artisan interlaces each colored weft back and forth in its own small pattern area. It is a plain weft-faced weave having weft threads of different colors worked over portions of the warp to form the design. Read more...
- Watch the Art of Making Tapestry to learn more
- See an artist weave a tapestry "hands-on" by Getty Museum
Late Gothic Hunting Tapestry. |
This tapestry is even larger; click on it to download the largest available size. |
Tuesday, March 10, 2020
DIY Cardboard Plates for 18" Dolls
Green and white print dishes for our doll's St. Patrick's Day Celebration. |
Mod Podge is a relatively tough glue that will hold up to all kinds of play inside your doll's kitchen. And when the dishes wear out, you can simply make more!
Cardboard cutouts for our doll's dishes before they are assembled. |
Friday, January 24, 2020
Sew A Doll Sized Table Skirt
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
Shape and Decoupage Coffee Mugs for Your Dolls
10 tiny, doll sized, paper mach mugs are cut from tubes and decoupaged in fun scrap paper prints. |
Cut tubes to the desired size. Cap off the bottoms of mugs with cut, molded bottoms of a recycled egg carton. |
Supply List:
- decorative papers
- tacky white glue
- Mod Podge
- paper tubes
- paper egg carton
- acrylic paints
- tiny paint brushes
- light weight cardboard
Cut narrow strips of cardboard and use tacky glue to attach these at the top and bottom side of each coffee mug. After this dries, add a second cardboard layer to the handle to give it strength. Paint the handles to make these a uniform white that match the inside of each coffee cup.
Mod Podge the little coffee mugs for a clean professional finish.
Left, decorative scrapbooking paper stack. Right, finished coffee mugs for our dolls to fill with their favorite beverages. |
Cover the cardboard handle where it attaches at the lip of the coffee mug with matching paper on either side. (see arrows) |
- DIY Miniature Doll Mug - Easy Tutorial - paper
- Doll Kitchen Miniature Mugs - plastic
- Make Basic Coffee Cups by MiniWhimsy - clay
Thursday, November 14, 2019
Sew Four Reversible Pumpkin Placemats
Our festive Halloween table is set for serving up some delicious pumpkin pie! |
A few festive touches set apart the Halloween table: paper/sticker napkin rings, punched fall leaves from construction paper and a painted black and white Jack-O-Lantern. |
Steps for cutting and ironing the placemats. |
Supply List:
- Thanksgiving and Pumpkin Novelty Fabric Scraps
- sewing machine or sew by hand
- needle with matching thread
- pattern (below)
- thin cardboard
- iron (adult supervision for this) and ironing board
- Download and print the free pattern for our doll placemats below.
- Cut out the pattern and trace around it with a pencil on the back of an old cardboard cereal box.
- Cut out the cardboard template.
- Turn to the wrong side the pumpkin novelty print fabric and use a piece of chalk to trace around the cardboard template.
- Make a 1/4" seam allowance when cutting out the fabric placemats.
- Repeat the above steps 3-5 using a novelty Thanksgiving Day print.
- Center the cardboard template on top of the cut placemats and iron down the seams by folding these around the template and pressing them down with a hot iron. Remove the cardboard.
- Layer wrong sides of each cut placemat back-to-back and sew a straight seam around the outside edge of each placemat.
- Now you can use one side of the novelty print placemats for Halloween and the other sides for Thanksgiving.
Free placemat template for 18" doll dinner table. |