Eero Saarinen Chair

I had a request for how to make the tulip chairs in my "First Apartment" room box.  I went shopping for the plastic glasses and couldn't find them the same shape.  They've gone and changed things on us, again.  So I won't be doing a blog tutorial on those.  You can get them made now, I've seen them in Hobby Builders and at shows.  I believe they are about $12.00 each. 
Thank you for your comments, all ready, I really appreciate that so many people are following me.  I have always wanted to belong to a mini club, I guess we have one now, don't we!!  TTYL  Kris

Candle Sconce Tutorial - How to Make a Non-Working Mirrored Back Candle Sconce For Your Dollhouse From Paper

I was inspired by a picture from a catalog, I love catalogs, too bad they aren't sending out many these days.
These are non-working, but you could make them work by using brass tubing to hold the wire and use a real light bulb.  I used 3 different finishes, all easy to do.  First, I used colored paper for the flowers and did a white "wash", second, I painted the sconce dark green and gave everything a gold "wash" and last I just used white paper for everything and gave it a "dirty wash".  I think they turned out pretty good and I hope you get a chance to make one.

 


First, cut about in inch (2.5cm) of sewing thread, I used white, and attach a clip to one end.  Dip the other end into Deco Art Triple Thick Brilliant Brush On Gloss Glaze.  That's what I had on hand, if you have another gloss glaze, certainly try it, it might take a few more dips to make the size of drop we need, but it should be fine.  Hang up the drop to dry. 

 This is our faux light bulb.  We will dip this a couple of more times during the tutorial until we get it to the size we need.

I am using some old acrylic mirrors, 1"x3/4" (2.5cm x 2cm).  (Just had to have a bunch for all of those dressing table perfume trays I was going make!) I did a search and couldn't find those, but found glass mirrors at www.craftamerica.com , #1613-47, .99 for 8 pieces.  You can also check Michael's.

If you don't have the mirrors on hand but have saved some nifty shiny packaging, this is great to use, too.  With an oval template you can now make any size sconce you want.

Sharpen your pencil and trace around your mirror onto card stock.

Use your ruler to mark a line 1/8" (3mm) from this drawn line.

Draw your line around your first line.

Cut this card stock oval out and set aside.

Trace around your mirror again, this time on mat board.  Measure and mark the 1/8" (3mm) line around your traced line.

Mark the center of the oval, at the bottom.

Measure from the inside line 1/2" (13mm) down and make a mark.

Place our ruler onto your drawing, line up an inch mark (cm mark) on the center.

Slide the ruler down until the outside line of the oval is a 1/4" (6mm) on either side of the center.  Make a mark on each side.

This is what you should have, now.

Draw lines connecting your marks, making a triangle.

Cut the oval out from the mat board.

Put a new blade in your craft knife and make a light scoring line first.  Then press harder as you go around the line again.

Dry fit the mirror and trim if needed.

Now, cut the sconce frame out.

Draw a 1/2" (12mm) diameter circle, (I used a circle template) onto mat board.

Draw a line through the center.

Cut a half circle out.

Mark the center of the half circle, make a hold with a "T" pin and then use a 1/16" drill bit, (just over a mm) to drill a hole in the half circle.

This is what you should have,now.













I am using yellow wood glue for the gluing in this project.  Glue the half circle to the sconce frame right under the oval opening.  Let dry.


Dip your light bulb, again, please.  Try to get a nice tear drop shape.

Cut a small square of card stock and rub it over the edge of your table to curve it.
If your half circle is dry enough, fold this piece of card stock over the triangle part of the sconce frame.
Trace a line onto the card stock.  We are making a cone at the bottom of the sconce.

After you've traced your line, cut out the shape.

A note:  Do you see the extra piece of mat board I've glued under my half circle?  You can add this, it give the half circle more strength when you are folding the card stock around the triangle.

Glue the card stock shape onto the bottom of the sconce.

In place of the metal tubing I am going to use a "Q-Tip".
Cut the cotton tips off.

The "Q-Tip" stick is too large of diameter for the sconce.  Use sand paper to thin the stick.  The sand paper should open up the seam on the stick.

Unroll the paper until the stick is about a 1/16" of an inch in diameter.

Glue the seam closed.

Dry fit the stick into the hole in the sconce.

Set the stick aside for now.

Glue two strips of card stock together.

Cut a strip about a 1/16" wide.

Glue part of the strip to the top of the cone.

 
Cut 5 pieces from the strip about a 1/2" (13mm) long.

Round one end of each piece.

Glue the pieces to the cone.

It's all right to overlap the ends, we will sand the tip when the strips are good dry.

When the strips are good and dry sand the tip.


Glue a strip of the card stock at the tip of the cone.

Rip a small piece of paper from a sheet.  Roll, wad and scrunch it up, make it soft.

Unroll this piece and tear a smaller piece from it.

Add some glue and roll this smaller piece of paper up into a tight ball.

You might have to do this a couple of times to get the right size ball to glue to the bottom of the cone.

When you get the right size ball, glue it to the bottom of the sconce's cone.

 Cut another strip of the doubled card stock.  This time make it thinner than a 1/16".

This thin strip is the vine.

Glue a wavy line onto the frame of the sconce.

Here's my vine on the frame.

I've bent my thinned "Q-Tip"  using a 1/8" dowel.

Dry fit this into the sconce.

When you are happy with the shape, paint some glue onto the sticks to help keep them stiff.

Get your punches out!  Remember, these are supposed to be "metal" flowers or surface decoration, don't get hung up on realism.  After shaping, just about any shape will do, get creative.


Remember, www.franticstamper.com has the best selection of punches I've ever seen, and cheap, too.

A word about paint, I found this tip and I want to pass it on.  If you want to dull or grey your color down, add it's complementary color.  I have a green here so I add a bit of red to it and it greyed it.  I thought that was cool.

A note about paper.  I used copy paper for the white sconce.  For the colored flowers I used from a variety pack of color paper from www.hankypankycrafts.com.  Ruth Hanky's website is the best for miniature flower making and the variety paper pack is very reasonable.

To save your paper, cut it into strips and feed it into the punch only where you need it.

This is how I shape just about everything.

First, I put the punched shapes onto dampened paper towel.  We don't want them soggy, but damp.
Then, I use a stylus, for this size of blossom I've used the smallest one I have.  I put the blossom onto a piece of craft foam and press down into each petal.

I then turn the blossom or leaf, whatever shape just about, over.

I press the stylus into the center.

You can see I've painted the sconce green and I've added some leaves.

Try to remember that you glued on the vine for a reason, to see it.  The first sconce I made I went crazy with the flowers and cover the vine.  Just because you've got flowers punched and shaped doesn't mean you have to use them all, Kris.

Another tip, I waxed the sconce to a heavy sheet of cardboard to work on it.  That really helped out.

I've added the flowers and painted yellow centers in them.

This is the sconce that I painted a dark grey green.  After I painted the sconce I mixed some gold metallic paint with acrylic thinner and brushed lightly all over.  I dabbed off with a dry brush.

I use green paper for my leaves and glued them on after I applied the gold wash.

This is the first sconce.  Everything was white paper, I painted it white.  Then I painted on an acrylic varnish.
Next, I mixed grey, brown and black together with water and brushed it all over the sconce.  Because I had glue all over the thing the dirty wash went to the cracks that the glue caused.  Glue can be used in a pinch as a cracking medium.

I'm dry fitting the stick into the sconce.

I want to see if I need to trim off the end.  This whole piece is going to be the pipe and candle.  We are adding the "flame bulb" to the tip.

Pierce a hole into card stock. Drill a larger hole into the card stock.

Use a 1/4" punch to punch out a circle with your 1/16" hole in the center.

 Use a large ball stylus to make a cup shape from the 1/4" circle.

Thread the cup onto the bent stick.

Cut a strip of card stock about an 1/8" wide, maybe a little wider.  This is up to you.
Glue the strip to the stick, leave enough of the stick for your "candle".
I wrapped the card stock around the stick twice.

 Push the cup up to the bottom of the glued on strip and glue the cup to the strip.

I'm dry fitting, again.

I'm adding the white "wash" to the sconce.

I'm dabbing the wash off with a dry brush.  

This is the sconce after the white wash was dabbed off.

Paint the bent sticks with the candle holders to match your sconces.

I sprayed the sconces with clear satin spray before I glued on the "bulb".

  




Go back and find your mirror and oval piece of card stock.  You laugh, have you taken a look at my table?

Glue the mirror into the center of the card stock.

  





Glue the mirror into the sconce.

Glue your "bulb" onto the candle.  I left just a tiny piece of the thread on the tip of the bulb.

  Here they are.


I hope you get to make one of these.  I think they would add a little charm to any dollhouse.

Have fun, expand on it, make it better . . . . . . .just keep making minis!!

TTYL     Kris