Build A Doll's Bed With Rails

This doll's bed is suitable for 16" to 18" sized dolls 

        The four legs should first be cut, the two long ones being 7/8"x 7/8"x12" and the two short ones 7/8"x 7/8"x 9 1/4".

       These should be planed up square and smooth and the top edges chamfered 1/16", as shown.

       The two side rails are next made  3/8"x 2 1/2" x 20 1/2".

       The four cross rails, two on the headboard and two on the foot board, are are made 1/2" x 1 1/4" x 8".

       Seven slats are next made 3/8" x 1 1/4" x 8".

       Two long supporting slats, on which the seven slats previously made rest, are now made 3/8" x 1" x 19 1/4".

       Three upright slats are now made for the headboard, two being 3/8" x 1 3/4" x 8", and one 3/8" x 3" x8". Three similar slats are made for the foot board, two 3/8" x 1 3/4" x 5 1/4" and one 3/8" x 3" x 5 1/4".

       Seven holes should be carefully bored where the cross rails and legs are joined. Use a small drill about 1/8" in diameter.

       These holes are 2 1/2" up from the bottom end of the legs and 1" down from the top ends. In assembling these parts, use glue, brads and 1 1/2" No. 8 round-head screws, as shown on the drawing above. Next place the slats, as indicated, using glue and 1 1/4" brads. Take pains to space these properly and center them on the cross piece. All brad holes, wherever placed, should be set with a nail set and the hole filled with hard beeswax.

       In nailing in the brads, rest the bottom support on the corner of the bench, so as not to strain the cross piece or legs in pounding with the hammer.

       Next attach the long side rails, having their ends flush with the outer side of the leg. Use glue and 1" brads. See that the rails are attached square with the long edges of legs. The two shorter supporting rails (3/8" x 1" x19 1/4"), are next nailed to the lower cross pieces at the head and foot of the bed, and close up against the long side rails. A few brads, 1" long, should be driven through from the side rails into these to help secure them in place.

       The seven cross slats are carefully spaced, glued, and nailed in place with 1/2" brads. While nailing, place a block of wood beneath the ends for a bearing.

       All pieces should have been sanded previous to assembling, and the bed may now be either stained or painted. If painted, a priming coat should be applied first. After this has dried it should be carefully sanded with No. 0 sandpaper and the finish coat applied.

• An 18" wooden doll bed design made with slats is here.

What is A Nuremberg Kitchen?

       Nuremberg kitchens date back at least to 1572, when one was given to Dorothea and Anna, the Princesses of Saxony, daughters of Augustus, Elector of Saxony aged five and ten. Since then, many adult collectors as well as children have owned multi-room dollhouses, but these one-room kitchens seem to have almost always been thought of as girls’ playthings. They reached the height of their popularity in the 1800s. In the early part of the century they were assembled by artisans working from their homes, who produced a remarkably large volume of toys made by hand. By the later part of the century they were being manufactured in even greater numbers in industrialized factories by such firms as Moritz Gottschalk, Gebrüder Bing, and Märklin.

       German mothers would pass on their childhood kitchens to their daughters, which became a widespread practice by the nineteenth century. By this custom, Nuremberg kitchens that might have been very up-to-date when first made would be noticeably old-fashioned after decades of being handed down as a family heirloom. Similarly, while many nineteenth-century German toy manufacturers offered miniature versions of all the latest kitchen gadgets, their catalogs also showed toy kitchens that went virtually unchanged for decades, as did many of their pots, pans, and dishes. Thus, late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century examples often incorporate components that were distinctly anachronistic by that time.

       Nuremberg kitchens were also often associated with the Christmas holidays. In many German families, they were only brought out to be played with at Christmastime, when they served as part of the traditional holiday decorations and as a seasonal toy. It was popular to give little girls items for their toy kitchens as Christmas presents, on their birthdays and similar occasions.

       The purpose of Nuremberg kitchens has usually been explained by dolls’ house historians as meant to teach girls lessons in housekeeping and cooking. However, these model kitchens are probably better understood as meant to encourage girls to adopt traditionally gendered social roles by making housekeeping seem fascinating through the appeal of attractive and impressive playthings. It would have been much easier for mothers to teach their daughters how to cook by taking them to the real kitchens in their homes and having them observe and assist with preparing meals than to provide miniaturized counterparts. Also, given that these toy kitchens had layouts that were more aesthetic and theatrical than accurately representational of real kitchens in full scale houses, that they often evoked nostalgia as family antiques or as deliberately old-fashioned new products, and that they were often associated more with the festivities of Christmas than with the practicalities of everyday life, Nuremberg kitchens were probably not truly meant primarily to provide girls with practical training in the skills of homemaking. Instead, they were intended to generate wonder and amusement, to make kitchens seem magical, and thereby inspire girls to anticipate and desire their traditionally expected future roles as homemakers. Read more...

• See more Nuremberg kitchens and ideas to make your own here.

presented by Pat Arnell.

Dolly Asleep

"Be quiet, our dolls are asleep."

 

Dolly Asleep

by Keeler

Dolly's in the cradle

Falling fast asleep;

Hush, little mamma,

Run and take a peep.

Shut are dolly's eyelids,

Cover up her arm;

Keep the little dolly dear

Sage from every harm.

DIY a Potted Privet Tree For A Doll's Patio

Left, Tape the hollow paper tube inside the pot. Right, the finished potted privet tree for our doll's patio garden.

       In order to craft this potted privet tree for a doll you will need to collect the following materials: a small pot of some kind, newsprint, Mod Podge, a fork, a hollow paper tube, decorative gravel/rocks, masking tape, brown and tan acrylic paints, white school glue, paper mache pulp and a plastic plant globe from your local hobby supply shop.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Tape the hollow paper tube inside the pot. Be generous with the tape.
2. Crush newspapers or newsprint around the tube to stabilize it. 
3. Use masking tape to cover both the paper tube and the crushed paper around the tube.
4. Pour a generous amount of white glue on top of the ground cover around the trunk of the tree.
5. Push a single layer of tiny rock into the glue to cover the masking tape.
6. After the glue dries, and this will take several days, pour more glue on top of the rocks and let them dry again.
7. Mix your paper mache pulp according to the instructions on the package. 
8. Layer the pulp onto the paper tube and then drag a fork through the pulp from top to bottom of the tube. This will give the tree trunk a realistic texture. Let this dry. It will take quite a while if you don't set the project in the warm sunshine.
9. After the paper pulp has hardened, paint it a solid dark brown color.
10. When this paint is dry, take your brush and lightly cover the raised areas of 'tree bark' with a lighter shade of brown or tan. Repeat this step a third time with an even lighter color.
11. Seal the trunk with Mod Podge.
12. Now you can fit the plastic plant globe over the tube to make a convincing tree for your doll's patio garden. When you want to store the tree, remove the plant globe and keep it in a clean plastic bag.

Left, Crush newspapers or newsprint around the tube to stabilize it.
Right, Use masking tape to cover both the paper tube and the crushed paper around the tube.

Left, Layer the pulp onto the paper tube and then drag a fork through the pulp from top to bottom of the tube.
This will give the tree trunk a realistic texture. Right, Pour a generous amount of white
 glue on top of the ground cover around the trunk of the tree.

Left, After the paper pulp has hardened, paint it a solid dark brown color. Center and Right,
When this paint is dry, take your brush and lightly cover the raised areas of 'tree bark'
 with a lighter shade of brown or tan. Repeat this step a third time with an even lighter color.

This doll wears a folk art costume...

 

Description of Coloring Page: folk art, folk floral patterns, embroidery details, apron, lace, leather shoes, curly locks, doll from central Europe

Don't forget to drag the png. or jpg into a Word Document and enlarge the image as much as possible before printing it folks. If you have a question about this coloring page, just type into the comment box located directly below this post and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

Goodnight

Goodnight

by Crawford Neil

I hardly see you standing there,

Half in shadow, half in light,

Light winds brimming in your hair

That brushes fancies on my cheek.

Yet I have seen you every week

Since one a dozen moons ago,

And said the hard "Goodnight" I owe

To sleep-dulled eyes that look once more

Around the great, half open door;

I hardly see you, yet I see,

As in a haze of ecstasy,

A ghostly shadow made of you,

That bids me say goodnight anew,

A lock of hair that falls just now,

Upon the white and upright brow,

A glance which troubles me with pain

To say goodnight; again--again.

Then, half in shadow, half in light,

I whisper through the murmuring rain,

"Goodnight to you, dear soul, goodnight."

Color a Sad Little Doll

Description of Coloring Page: flower, ribbon and lace, free-standing doll, out-stretched hand, bobbed haircut, gathered dress, composition doll, pouting expression, Childlike Dolls, porcelain or china dolls

• "I had a little doll"
• The Lost Doll by Charles Kingsley 
• The Sewing Doll by Amelia De Wolfjers 

Don't forget to drag the png. or jpg into a Word Document and enlarge the image as much as possible before printing it folks. If you have a question about this coloring page, just type into the comment box located directly below this post and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

The Coming Storm

The Coming Storm

by William Brightly Rands

The tree-tops rustle, the tree-tops wave,

They hustle, they bustle; and, down in a cave,

The winds are murmuring, ready to rave.

The skies are dimming; the birds fly low,

Skimming and swimming, their wings are slow;

They float, they are carried, they scarcely go.

The dead leaves hurry; the waters, too,

Flurry and scurry; as if they knew

A storm was at hand; the smoke is blue.

Color a Seated Toddler Doll

Description of Coloring Page: lacy dress, bonnet, porcelain doll, puckered lips for kissing, large eyes, open hands, toddler doll, Spring sweater, booties, Toddler Dolls, porcelain or china dolls

• The Long Ago Doll by Marjorie Barrows
• Dolly's Toilet
• The Paris Doll by Caroline Morgan

Don't forget to drag the png. or jpg into a Word Document and enlarge the image as much as possible before printing it folks. If you have a question about this coloring page, just type into the comment box located directly below this post and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

To The Fire-Fly

To The Fire-Fly.

by Thomas Moore

At morning, when the earth and sky

Are glowing with the light of spring,

We see thee not, thou humble fly!

Nor think upon thy gleaming wing.

But when the skies have lost their hue,

And sunny lights no longer play,

O then we see and bless thee too

For sparkling o'er the dreary way.

Thus let me hope, when lost to me

The lights that now my life illume,

Some milder joys my come, like thee,

To cheer, if not to warm, the gloom.

DIY Durable Boxed Doll Foods for Play

Our American Girl Doll, Molly, unpacks groceries made
with our vintage food labels.

       In order to make play foods durable, I often will craft them so that boxes can not be opened and emptied of contents, especially if I am going to gift these to a child younger than six or seven.

 Supply List:

• flimsy cardboard
• corrugated cardboard
• white school glue
• Mod Podge
• printable labels
• food labels cut from ads and/or food product

Step-by-Step Directions:

1. Print and cut out labels found under the 30 vintage labels post.
2.  Stick these to a smooth faced, light weight cardboard first. Cut them out.
3. Stick the same labels to corrugated cardboard four times over. Layering the thicknesses on top of each other. 
4. Stick light weight cardboard to the final outside layers on both the edges and the back of each small cardboard food.
5. Mod Podge the entire surface of each box shaped food.

The labels for these particular food items may be downloaded from here and printed out on your
home computer for personal crafts only. I restored them for this purpose from the public domain.
They are, however, my own interpretations, so do not resale the content or redistribute it
 from your own web pages.

Frozen strawberry boxes and the Five Roses
Flour cake box for a doll's pantry.

10 Quick Tips for Working With Cardboard:

1. Because cardboard is processed with acid, this chemical will leach out and be absorbed into paper materials glued to it's surface over time. Therefore, turning surfaces yellow and corroding them completely.. If you wish to slow this process, seal the cardboard with liquid Gesso before applying acid free paper prints of labels.
2. Apply a thin cardboard to the face of corrugated cardboard surfaces in order to avoid a rippled texture in your paper mache crafts. 
3. Many layers of cardboard compressed together, lend greater strength to your paper mache toys. 
4. Toys made entirely with cardboard and paper are biodegradable. This means you can toss them into landfills and the bacteria there will break them down naturally.
5. Paper mache toys that survive well, are also collectable.
6. Cardboard is a forgiving craft material. It can be easily manipulated, cut, molded and transformed into practically anything if you develop the skills to use it.
7. Cardboard is cheap and in many cases, free!
8. If your cardboard warps, layer heavy books on top of it overnight, or until it's surfaces are restored to rigidity. 
9. Do not store too much cardboard at any given time in one area of your home. Collect and work with it as you need it. Cardboard can attract insects and spiders who love to make their homes inside it's cracks and corrugated medium.
10. If you work with cardboard frequently, you will find that you need sharp tools to cut it. Remember to carefully store razor blades, craft knifes, box cutters and sharp scissors away from places where small children can access these tools!

Left, you can see that there are four layers of corrugated cardboard glued together to create the
illusion of a 'box' for the doll's Five Roses Flour cake box. The outside layer is made with
cardboard from a cereal box. This layer is smoother and yellow as is my printed logo. I didn't
 need to paint my samples for this reason; I only needed to seal all four sides with Mod Podge
 in order to give the finished craft a professional look. Right, here you see that I'm trimming off
the edges so that the boxed food items can stand on their own.

Left, a Fashionista models for the camera. She demonstrates size/scale of boxed granola.
I found these tiny photos on the side panel of product I purchased for breakfast.
They are the perfect scale for our Barbie dolls to play with and they are made with
the same method of layering cardboard described in our simple craft above.

• Remaking Play Food Boxes to Last
• DIY Miniature Cereal Box made from recycled cereal boxes

Read a cartoon with dialogue balloons talking about
the benefits of Kellogg's All-Bran cereal. This vintage
advertisement is about a food product we still eat
today and is quite common to American markets.

30 Vintage Labels for Crafting Doll Foods

The finished doll canned goods made for our American Girl Doll's food pantry.

        Here I have pictures of how I used my vintage labels to make canned goods for our American Girl Doll kitchen. You will need the following supplies to make the miniature doll foods: Mod Podge, white school glue, a printer, some thin cardboard (like cereal boxes), masking tape and silver acrylic paint.

       First you will need to print out the labels. These labels are very old, some of them date from as far back as 1915! I have cleaned, colorized and taken some of their elements out and improved some of the graphics. You may use them for your child's own doll food collection but, do not redistribute the labels from your own website. Read the terms of use here.

Left, cut out the labels. Center, cut long strips of cardboard to fit each individual canned food label
 after you have printed them out. Right, roll up the strips and tape the sides down once you have
 determined how tight these roll must be. It is not necessary for the rolls of cardboard tube to be as
 dense as you see them above here. These miniature cans are quite durable enough for play if they
 have much thinner interior walls.

       Next, cut a strip of cardboard for each canned food label measuring approximately sixteen inches in length and the width of the label's height. It is very important that you use relatively flimsy cardboard for this project. Because next you will need to roll it into the shape of a tube.

       You can 'soften' the cardboard up a bit by crushing it against the edge of a table. This will help it to curl up easier. Roll it up tight and then hold it between the tip of your index finger and thumb while wrapping the label around the cardboard form to see the size ratio of the cardboard can. If it is too small and the label overlaps too much, simple release the grip of your finger tips gently to let the cardboard spring out a bit. Use a piece of masking tape to stick the sides together once you have determined how thick the can shape needs to be.

       Set the tube on top of a piece of cardboard scrap and then drip white school glue down inside the tube. Allow the glue to dry. When it is dry, trim the bottom of the can and turn it over to glue a top piece of cardboard onto the remaining open end.

       Now apply the labels with Mod Podge. Let the glue dry and repeat several more layers of Mod Podge. If you don't have anything but white glue, you can use this to seal the labels as well. The Mod Podge just dries clearer.

       To give your canned food a professional look, paint the tops and bottoms of each can with grey or metallic silver paint.

Left and Center are the canned foods tubes lined up and waiting to dry before I trim the cardboard,
flip them over, and glue on a top for each. Right, is a photo of how the label will fit around the rolled
 tube once I apply the Mod Podge.

       Some of my food labels are for products that come in bags and frozen box food stuffs. I will post how I turned these into miniature groceries on a separate blog post and link it up below.

• DIY Durable Boxed Doll Foods for Play

Food labels for asparagus, dill pickles, pineapple, cat food, strawberries, and pears.

Food labels for coffee, a sugar cured ham, a large sack of flour, spinach,
 apple sauce, pumpkin and peaches.

Food labels for cake flour, dried peas, evaporated milk, yams, 
dog food, loaf of artisan bread and tuna.