This is the stove from the corner cabinet dollhouse, the red kitchen (that I still must finish).
When I wanted to make a stove I went looking on-line in Google Images for a stove that I could build.
I found one that looked simple enough and it had measurements, too. That's important for proper scale.
They also had a good picture of the grates for me to copy.
Thankfully, I kept all of this for future reference.
Going to use wood glue for everything except for a little later on and I will let you know about that.
I tried to use card stock strips glued together but I didn't like the result so I switched to wood. Wood is what I used on my original. Hobby Lobby and Michaels have basswood in varying thickness and widths.
I used 1/16 inch thick basswood, This is 3/16 inch wide and it is for the frame. For the grates I used 1/32 inch thick and 3/32 wide.
To try to keep everything square I used graph paper.
For cutting I used my Chopper. This is available from Hobby Builders.
Cut two pieces of the 1/16" x 3/16" - 2" long. This is the front and back of the grate frame.
Cut four pieces 1 7/8" long from the same stock. Set two aside for the middle of the frame.
Glue two of the 1 7/8" lengths to the surface of the 2" long front and back pieces.
Look at the picture above at the corners. The 2" piece is covering the ends of the 1 7/8" pieces.
Measure from the inside of the square and mark 3/4 inch from the side. Do the same thing from the other side.
Glue the other two 1 7/8" long pieces on the marks your made like I have. You should have about a 1/4 inch between the two pieces.
I am using my square to check on things!
Measure between the two middle pieces and cut three pieces from the 1/32" stock the length you measured.
This should be 1/4" but I want you to measure your grate for sure.
This is how I measure to set the "stop", that's the black triangle thing on the left. Be sure to use tweezers to remove your tiny pieces. The Chopper uses a single edge razor blade and it can slice you in the blink of an eye!
Cut your three pieces and glue them into the center space.
One piece is in the center. Then each space is divided and the second and third pieces are glued in each center following the picture above.
The 1/32" x 3/32" grate pieces will be flat with one side of the grate frame.
This is showing the flat side.
I've also measured for the center pieces and glued them in.
I will be using 1/8", 1/4" and 5/16" punches for this tutorial.
I punched a 5/16" circle and placed that in the center of one square.
This is the top of the burner.
Put your grate on top of the graph paper.
(I know I don't show that but you need to measure from the actual grate.)
I measured from the corner to the burner.
I want to leave space at the center of the burner.
Cut eight pieces and glue them into the corners.
Measure from the bottom of the grate to the top of the corner piece.
Cut four this length and glue them into the frame.
Measure as before, cut the lengths for the outside sides and glue them into the frame.
My center sides were just a little different from the outside side measurement. I cut and glued them into the frame.
I've measured for the inner corners and glued the pieces in.
Showing the underside of the grate.
I measured for the inner center pieces and glued them in.
Set this aside to dry.
This grate is a little simpler than the original, really take a look at the Google picture above.
Print out Nancy's patterns using the directions in the "Things to do, Things to see" list, How to re-size the patterns. Print the patterns onto card stock. We put all the patterns on this time so you won't have to measure to draw the rectangles. I still want you to measure to make sure the parts are the right size when you trace and cut them out. The patterns look simple but we are building a box and everything has to be square.
Cut out the two sides and the back from 1 layer of mat board.
Just a note: if you want to build this from basswood as I did the original I used 1/8" thick stock.
Glue the back between the sides.
Use the edge that does not have the notch.
Both sides are glued on.
Cut out a bottom from one layer of mat board and glue inside the sides and back.
Cut two tops out from 1 layer of mat board and set one aside for now. Glue one top inside the sides and back.
Another view of the box.
A view of the top of the box.
While the box is drying I went outside and spray painted my grate.
Let the paint dry.
Carefully lay the flat side of the grate on 220 grit sand paper and sand a bit.
I found a glove!
Spray the grate again. Make sure you have all the little spaces painted.
Let this dry.
Cut a strip of mat board 3/16" wide.
Cut three pieces and glue them into the bottom.
Get the other top and glue that into the bottom of the box onto the strips you just glued in.
Cut two strips of mat board 2 1/2" wide.
The strips need to be at least 4 1/2" long.
Use tacky glue to glue the two pieces together.
I found that wood glue would make the mat board curl up a bit.
Press the two together and make sure the edges are even.
This will make the oven door, the rest of the front and the four pieces for the top of the stove.
I've cut the front top, front door and front bottom.
This is a dry fit. Everything should be fitting flush with the sides, top and bottom. If not sand the top, door and bottom until they do.
I've cut the top back and glued it to the top back of the stove.
This should be flush with the back.
I measured in a 1/2" from each side of the door and drew a rectangle.
Use a sharp blade and cut out the window in the door.
The window is cut out.
Cut the rest of the pieces out: the top sides (2) and the top front (1).
I've cut a bunch of 1/8" wide strips from PAPER.
I am gluing the strips around the edges of each piece I cut. This covers up the raw edge of the mat board.
Glue a piece over the edge of the top back piece.
Glue a piece to the inside edge of the window of the door.
After the glue was dry I used 320 grit sand paper to lightly sand the edges of all the pieces.
I rounded them SLIGHTLY, just so you could see the joint lines when the pieces were together. Look at the Google Image picture above.
Dry fit the top pieces with the grate, sand these pieces in so that they are flush with the sides and the stove's front top.
A 1/16 inch dowel was used for the handle. It's cut 2 1/4" long.
Use a 1/8" wide paper strip to make a "cap" on the end of the handle.
Wrap and glue the paper strip around two or three times.
Glue the handle bracket patterns onto four layers of card stock. You should have two brackets of five layers of card stock now.
I used a 1/8" punch to punch the circle out first. I then cut the rest of the bracket out.
This is the handle assembly.
I've punched out a few circles from card stock using the 1/4" and 5/16" punches.
These are going to be the burners.
Glue 4 layers of the 1/4" together, make 4.
Glue 3 layers of the 5/16" together, make 4.
I found later on that I could glue at least 5 layers of card stock together and still punch.
Glue 4 or 5 layers of card stock together.
Use the 1/8" punch to cut at least 10 circles.
Glue two circles together, 5 times, making 5 stove knobs.
Press them together tightly.
Glue two layers of card stock together and punch out at least 5 circles, extra for mistakes.
Cut the circles in half.
Glue the half circles to the center of each knob.
For the back of the knob I punched out 10 1/4" circles and glued two together making 5 backs.
I went outside to start spraying the stove.
I bought Rust-Oleum's Stainless Steel spray paint. I was very happy with the results.
I gave all surfaces a sand with 320 grit sand paper.
I sprayed again.
I sanded everything with 400 grit sand paper. I don't want to rough up the surfaces. I want to smooth the surfaces that I sanded earlier to round the edges.
After sanding I rubbed the surface down with a scrap of an old T-shirt.
All surfaces were sprayed again and when they were dry I buffed them with the T-shirt.
I have begun to spray the grate with Krylon's clear gloss finish.
I wrapped a strip of packing tape around a piece of foam core to make a sticky surface for the knobs, brackets and such.
You will see that I have cut out the kick plate from one layer of mat board.
Paint the kick plate black and when it's dry glue it to the bottom of stove in the notched area.
This is the Krylon clear gloss finish I'm using.
I've painted the burner bottoms, 4 layers 1/4" circles, the burner tops, 3 layers 5/16" circles and the knob backs, 2 layers 1/4" circles black.
I've painted the handle brackets and the knobs silver. I will finish them with the stainless steel spray paint later.
Sprayed the knobs, bracket and handle with the stainless steel spray paint.
Gave the circles another coat of black.
Painted the half circles of the knobs black.
Gave everything a coat of gloss spray finish.
The handle got a coat of gloss finish also.
Walmart has poster frames and I use the acrylic for my "glass".
Peel off only one side and spray paint two coats onto this surface. Let the paint dry between coats.
This has one coat.
Paint the top of the stove black.
Cut a piece of paper just a little smaller than the door.
Peel off the other side of the acrylic and place onto the back of the door.
Apply wood glue around the acrylic.
Don't glue the acrylic to the door.
Press the paper onto the glue and press the paper down around the acrylic.
The window is in.
Find the center of the front top and mark where you want the knobs to be.
Glue the backs to the stove front top.
Glue the knobs on.
Use a toothpick to paint a dot of white at the top of the knob back.
I've glued on the front bottom.
Continued on with gluing on the door and the front top.
Everything should be flush with the sides and top.
At a dry fit I found that the paint and paper made a slight difference in my top pieces.
I am sanding the front and back of the grate frame. I will touch up the paint later.
The sides also needed sanding.
Always dry fit.
This is still a dry fit.
Everything has been sanded in and the black paint on the frame has been touched up.
Everything is fitting nicely.
I've brushed on some gloss finish to the top of the stove.
I am marking the center of the burner placement with a pencil dot.
Cutting a stencil for the top. I punched a circle using the 5/16" punch.
drawing four circles on the top of the stove.
Glued on the burner bottoms in the circles I drew.
I little earlier I used a toothpick to paint silver dots around the burner tops.
I glued on the burner tops.
I set the grate on top of the stove, I did not glue this on.
I then glued on the top front and held it in place for a minute or two.
The last two pieces are glued onto the top of the stove, the top sides.
The brackets have been glued to the handle. I used tacky glue for this.
Tacky glue has been applied to the edges of the brackets.
I'll be honest with you I didn't measure this, I just sat the handle on and pressed and held that for a minute or two.
If you want to use a super glue you could. I don't have any luck with those. I always have a messy glue spot around the what I have glued together.
So, here is the new stove ready to move into the kitchen.
This is as easy as I could make it and I hope some of you try it out. Probably will make the refrigerator next month to finish the set.
Hobby Builders is mailing out the new catalogs on the 29 of April. My kits will be featured, so exciting. I will be adding more kits with new catalogs, (I hope, if sales go well!).
Hoping you are all having a nice spring, it's finally gotten warm around here. The gardens are getting cleaned up and planning what and where has begun!
Have fun, Expand on it, Make it better . . .
Just keep making minis!
