Hi Miniaturists!
I have been wanting to make this radio for a long time. I purchased a refrigerator magnet back in 1996 thinking it was 1 inch scale, it wasn't.
I thought it would be a good candidate for the blog tutorial. It's made mostly from card stock with a little mat board.
Print 2 copies of the patterns onto card stock.
Cut out one pattern of the shell.
Trace the shell pattern onto mat board, twice.
Cut the two patterns out.
Glue two strips of card stock together using white glue. I am using white glue for this piece because I don't want it to dry too fast. We need to work with it a bit.
After you've glued the two pieces together cut a strip 1/2" (13mm) x 3-1/8" (79mm) long.
For the rest of the tutorial we will use yellow carpenter's glue, I have Titebond right now, but Elmer's carpenter's glue is just as good.
Score a line in the center of this strip using the back of your craft knife.
Fold the strip in half, molding it a bit with your thumb and forefinger.
See the little bit of curve I've got?
Apply yellow glue to the edge of the mat board shell pattern and starting with the fold at the center top, glue the strip to the mat board edge pressing as you go.
Don't trim the extra card stock off, yet.
Apply yellow glue to the other mat board shell pattern edge and glue it to the assembly you've just made.
Let this dry, trim off any extra card stock you might have.
Set this aside for now.
Cut out the grille first, cut along the lines so that you have kinda of a square, (I didn't measure that).
This will be trimmed to fit later.
I made a small slice with my craft knife for my scissors to slip into.
Using scherenschnitte scissors and I do think they make the cutting easier, I cut out the design.
These scissors have a sharp point and short blades. You cut with the tip, don't take a big bite with the blades.
Cut the design's line off. Don't leave any of the design's line on the finished grille.
When you have both grilles cut out, carefully spread yellow glue onto the card stock, be careful around the grille area.
Press the two grilles together. I used a toothpick to smooth the edges with. This cleaned up any little stray nubs.
Now, cut out the frames. I cut the inside of the frame first, I thought it was easier.
Cut the design's line off on the inside of the frame. Can you see the line I left on the waste piece? Please ignore the measurement on the waste piece.
I cut on the line for the outside line.
I do apologize for this "inside and outside cutting of the lines."
When you have both frames cut out glue them together with yellow glue.
When gluing the frames together match up the legs first, the top will take care of itself.
Center the frame over the grille and glue the frame onto the grille with yellow glue.
Trim off the extra card stock around the frame.
Measure a 1/2" (13mm) up from the bottom of the frame, make a mark, do this on both legs of the frame.
Using a pencil and a ruler make three vertical lines on each leg of the frame, try to get them equally spaced.
I want to make impressions on these lines. I used a very small ball stylus I found at Michaels, I think I found it in the isle where the glues are.
If you don't have a stylus use a toothpick, you'll need several because you will press the point off and you need the sharp point to keep the impressed line very narrow. I did this and then I took my metal straight edge and deepened the lines. This worked very well.
I am pressing with the toothpick. As I said you will need several, you want the line to be very narrow.
I don't show it in the picture, but use your straight edge to line up your toothpick or stylus.
Here I am deepening the lines with my straight edge.
A tip: The quicker you can get to this while the glue is still wet underneath the more pronounced the lines will be.
Glue two strips of card stock together with yellow glue.
Now, cut a strip just on the other side of the 1/16" (2mm) line and 1-1/2" (39mm) long.
Cut two short pieces from this strip to be glued at the top of the vertical lines on the frame's legs.
In this picture I've shown you another way to put these small strips on.
I've glued the strips so they wrap around the edges. I think this looks a little more realistic.
So, you can glue the strips on top or around the frame.
Cut another strip to fit between the legs of the frame at the bottom.
I am going to talk a little about this decorative stacking of mat board. It makes an "ogee" edge. We've done it in previous projects and it's easy to do making a nice, real looking edge. Just a word about how much "reveal" is shown. "Reveal" is what is showing. I don't like giving instructions that have, "Cut on the outside of the line or inside of the line, or just over the 1/4" mark"; but in miniatures sometimes this is the only way to describe it. I have given you dimensions for the bottom platform, but you can measure the front of the radio (the frame and grille part) and decide for yourself how long and how wide you want these pieces to be.
I HAVEN'T GLUED THE FRONT ON, YET.
I have the radio body setting on the first layer of the platform to see how much reveal I have. I can trim at this point if I want less.
Remember to sand the two short ends and the one long front.
Apply yellow glue to the bottom of the radio body, center the mat board and glue the mat board on.
This picture is showing the back being flush, nothing should be sticking out on the back side.
I have my first layer of the platform glued on. Do you see the half round edges?
This is the second layer of the platform. The measurements are: 11/16" (18mm) x just under 1-3/8" (34mm). Measure in from each side 3/8" (9mm) and 1/8" (4mm) deep. Cut this center piece out. This makes it looks like the platform is on legs.
Sand this layer just like the first.
I've got the second layer of the platform glued on. This is the second radio I made and I think I have too much reveal on the ogee edge.
At this point I would like you to sand the top of the frame between the added pieces above the vertical line. I didn't do that, but I think it would make the radio look nicer if that edge would be rounded off, slightly.
I've never been able to do a good faux bois finish, you still might not think I do a good finish! That's why I didn't do this project, this needed to be "wood". Mat board makes very good painted furniture projects, I wasn't sure about "wood". I spent a few hours looking up how to paint this finish. The best information, at least I think it is, is the orange base coat! This works, it really does. I used Delta's Ceramcoat Pumpkin, give the body and front two coats and let dry.
Next, I used a flat brush, it was 1/4" wide, and I brushed on Delta's Ceramcoat Burnt Sienna. I squiggled my brush a bit. I have streaks, but I also covered up enough of the orange to tone it down. I DID NOT use any thinner or glazing medium.
In this picture I am using a small round brush to fill with Burnt Sienna at the seams.
I wanted you to see the brushes I used.
I took a picture of the sponges I use. I like these because they have small holes. They are called silk sponges.
I used a sponge and dabbed on Burnt Sienna, again, I did not use any thinner or glazing medium, yet. The front looks like "burled" wood. I wish I had left the "ribbon" grained effect on the sides. There is always a veneer on the full-size radios of a "ribbon" grain mahogany. I think I will make another and leave the graining on the body.
I suppose you could experiment with using a slightly different color on this dabbing step.
Let the paint dry on your radio pieces. After they are dry spray them with a satin finish spray, I use Krylon's Acrylic Crystal Clear for metal, wood, wicker and more, Satin, it says indoor/outdoor on the label, too. "A protective, non-yellowing clear finish." I buy it at the Wal-Mart! Let this dry.
While the radio pieces are drying we can make the knobs.
I used tiny circles punched, stacked and glued together for the knobs. You need at least, if not smaller, a 1/6"circle. I used part of a larger punch. I will sometimes buy punches for their secondary shapes. This one has a good leaf, plus little circles.
You can use Fimo if you have it.
I stacked and glued with yellow glue 6 to 7 layers of the circles.
Here are my knobs. You need four, I don't know why they needed so many knobs.
I stuck pins in the knobs and painted them black. For this I used Delta's Perm-Enamel Black.
I folded a piece of card stock in half and free hand cut a small shape for the dial frame. I've drawn a pattern for you, but you might have to cut it a bit smaller, you be the judge.
I painted this a metallic gold color, let it dry.
Now, I mix a dark brown paint, I used Folk Art Artist's Pigment, 504 Van Dyke Brown,with a glazing medium. Not quite half and half, more paint than glazing medium. Paint on or dab on with your brush. With a small rag, I used a scrap of an old "T"- shirt, dab the paint off. If you find that your dark brown paint is wiping off you may have too much glazing medium in the mix, let the paint stay on the surface a little longer before you dab off. You want the dark brown paint to stay in the crevices to show depth.
Here are my two pieces of the radio with the dark brown paint dabbed off.
For the "cloth" behind the grille I mixed up a little gold color paint. I didn't have a gold color, I liked the one I mixed the night before, it was a little darker. I couldn't remember what colors I used the when I tried to mix them the next day. You use what you like.
For a little surface interest I sponged on a little metallic gold paint.
Glue the front onto your radio body.
Now, paint a little square of off-white paint where the dial frame will go.
Let this dry.
Glue the dial frame onto the front.
Glue your knobs on.
I painted a little red line in the middle of the dial.
I've got to tell you the picture doesn't do this justice, this little radio looks much better in person.
I hope you give this a try, our little rooms need some music and our little ladies need to listen to their "stories"!
Have fun, expand on it, make it better, just keep making minis!! TTYL Kris
