Wee House Craftalong

Despite the name, this craftalong is for all things miniature, no matter your scale or if it’s a full dolls house, a roombox, or even just a cute tiny thing you made to sit on your desk. All scales are welcome as long as it’s miniature, all craft types, all skill levels. Dolls optional. :slight_smile:

In our former haunt this craftalong was started in 2011 by @Knickertwist, it’s archive can be found here.

We have a challenge to keep us busy during the current outbreak here. Everyone is welcome to participate, no fancy supplies or skills needed.

Notice:

I was going to wait until this list was perfectly and exhaustively done before I posted, but to get things rolling and so we can squee about the tiny things sooner, I’m posting this as is and editing more in-between naps. Hopefully, it will be mostly done within a day or two but there are always new things to add! I’ll make it prettier later. Onward!


Scale

Though I am of the opinion that scale is only as important as you make it in any given project, it helps to know a bit about it so the resources make a lick of sense. With few exceptions, scale is typically measured in inches, the most common scale is 1:12 which means one inch in real life equals twelve inches in the miniature (or, a foot). Here is a page explaining some of the most common ones.

You absolutely do not have to pick or stick to a common scale. Follow your heart! Or your doll, or your space, or your glasses prescription. Whatever suits you.

If you do feel like working to scale, I find this hobby calculator to be invaliable.


Resources

This is a list of resources for tips, tutorials, etc to help make your miniatures and maybe even provide some inspiration. It is by no means exhaustive, the internet is vast and miniature websites tend to hide in tiny nooks so if I have missed one you love, feel free to tell me and I’ll add it.

I’ve left off Pinterest because most of us know to go there, but also many of the image files have degraded from being saved and resaved and aren’t very high quality any more unless you can still click through to the source. However, definitely use it for ideas and have a browse. You never know, you might find some that works for you.

This is also primarily about free resources, though there are many excellent paid plans, printables, so on and so forth on places like etsy and your local dollhouse stores if you’re lucky enough to have one.


Houses

Almost anything can be made into a house or roombox, including literal boxes. If you are going to buy an actual house please do shop around as prices can vary drastically on the same items. I find this is especially true of those puzzle houses and the new kits that have come out of China in the last few years (always check Aliexpress and eBay when pricing those, in my experience, they trend cheaper than Amazon and certainly cheaper than the Etsy resellers but your mileage may vary by location and when you check so always check don’t rely on silly old me).

Please remember, too, you don’t need to buy anything to come and play. Make it out of boxes if that’s what you’ve got. Many a beautiful dollhouse or miniature scene has been. :slight_smile:

  • Popsicle Stick Dollhouse – A simple house made out of popsicle sticks.
  • Jennifer’s Lets Build A Dollhouse - Instructions for building a Tudor-ish dollhouse.
  • Haunted House Template – (PDF Warning) Templates for a cardboard haunted house.
  • fun_and_craft – This whole youtube channel is full of simple to make dollhouses made with mostly cardboard and paper. Though they’re made in 1:6, you could easily scale the majority down to whatever size you need.
  • MyFroggyStuff – Though she does a lot of toy unboxings, Froggy also does a lot of miniatures. My favourite house of hers is probably this foam board house but she has many other cool ones including this Mystery Shack from Gravity Falls. A lot of turning cereal boxes into rooms, also, if you look through the playlist.
  • Little Glitter Houses – Tutorials and patterns for those Christmas houses that could be scaled up (or not!).

Printables

Printables, or more fondly called “printies” are things you can print at home or wherever you have access to a decent (preferably colour) printer. They’re great for filling up shops, decorating, wallpapering amongst other uses and are really handy to have.

  • Jennifers Printables — Mostly wallpapers, but also has labels, groceries, toys and assorted things.
  • CDHM — A variety of free printables in 1:12 scale. Seemingly mostly in older/Victorian styles.
  • Small Stuff’s Print Mini – A variety of useful printables in a variety of scales.
  • La Maison de Lauren — This is in French but it’s simple enough to navigate and has a lot of vintage style printables.
  • Go Make Something — From art, to plates, to tree skirts and many things in-between. Some Americana style pieces.
  • Hitty Doll Printables — These are a bit of an odd scale, made for the larger, hand carved Hitty dolls but should be easy enough to scale down. Includes a mixture of items in vintage styles.

Tutorials

  • 1 Inch Minis By Kris – A truly wonderful place to look for detailed tutorials on how to make furniture for your tiny abodes.
  • CDHM Tutorial List - Extensive, worth a browse.
  • MyFroggyStuff - Again, but this time specifically her playlist on miniature items she has made outside of the house and room building videos. Usually made out of household items!
  • The Square To Spare – Another youtube channel, this one is mostly modern style miniatures.
  • SugarCharmShop – No longer posting but full of excellent tutorials for almost anything you could want to make.
  • Bently House Minis – Lots of tutorials and such but especially of note is the Cardboard House series.

Tutorials & Useful Things In This Thread

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One of my goals this year is to fix up a doll house my grandpa made me when I was little. It’s been in an attic for many many years and I only got possession of if a few months ago. It’s not in the best shape but still salvageable. I plan on taking some pics this weekend and make post and see if I could get some advice on fixing a couple of trouble areas. It’s also really small and I’m looking forward to making teeny tiny miniatures. I’m not sure what scale it’s in but it’s definitely way smaller than 1:12

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Thank you for starting this craftalong!

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An easy way (usually) to work out the scale is to measure the door height. A 1:12 house should have a door 6-7 inches in most cases etc.

I’m excited to see your house. :heart_eyes:

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thanks that helped. so it’s a tiny bit smaller than 1:24 scale. 1:24 scale would have a doorway that’s 3-4" tall and my doorway is 2.75" tall

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Here’s a project I’m working on, a little door below my dad’s mailbox post. The post was stuck in an ugly blob of concrete, so when I replanted his front yard, I decided to dress it up with some decorative stonework and a little door. I still need to put a little more mortar and small rocks around the top of the door, and maybe accessorize with a doorstep or something.

The door:

Niche:

Installed:

Because there are little kids living on this street, I want to make more tiny things for them to discover in my dad’s front yard. I’m living at my dad’s place four days a week now, helping him with his Alzheimer’s, so I need to keep busy creatively.

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This is really cool. I like how it’s inset in the concrete.

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Little things like this absolutely captivated me as a kid. I wonder how long before the neighborhood kids discover it.

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Who built that little nook originally? I love that idea. It would be fun to do things like that in our yard as a lot of people walk past our house. Although, it would have to be secured down something fierce. :laughing:

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I made the niche to fit the door, which is glued in with construction adhesive. It would take some prying to get it out, although someone might rip off the door handle if they try to open it!

@Datto I don’t know if anyone has noticed it at all yet…

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It definitely looks like a door into another world. What a happy surprise, once discovered!

When I see things like this, I wonder…is that what I think it is? Who did this? Do they know what this looks like? Did they mean it? They must be supah cool! Are there others?

And then I hope for The Littles.

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I have hoped for The Littles many times

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What a wonderful craftalong, @witchery ! ACK! I dabble in miniatures now and again, so I can tell this is going to be an inspiring thread to follow! And maybe participate in! WOO!

@Ludi I am so excited by your project! I’ve wanted to make a little fairy door/scene in our yard, but haven’t yet quite gotten inspired enough to do it. We live in the woods, so I want it very forest fairy forward, so to speak. I also want it to not be somewhat squirrel and chipmunk proof. Hmmmmm.

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Oh, this is a great craftalong! Last Christmas, I built my daughter a dollhouse because she just loves the little book “Midnight in the Dollhouse.” She wanted bisque dolls like in the book, but the only ones I was seeing around were not dollhouse sized or else kind of weird and ugly looking. So with the help of YouTube tutorials, I learned how to make dolls out of wire and polymer clay! So far she has the brother, sister, baby, and nanny. We’re pretending that the parents are on a long holiday overseas and the butler and maid just get time off. haha Anyways, her house was not nearly as outfitted by Christmas as I had hoped, so that is one of my goals this year is to make her some more furnishings, not to mention the rest of the family. I don’t currently have any pictures, but I’ll try to post some soon. When I started this project, I had no idea how addictive miniatures could be!

@Ludi The tiny little door is so fun! Even as an adult, I’d be charmed to encounter something like that!

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How wonderful that you can give the neighbourhood kids some discoveries :smiley: it looks really cool!

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This will always be one of my favorite threads to watch.

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So here is my dollhouse. it’s over 40 years old and has been tucked away unprotected in an attic for at least 30 years. it’s slightly smaller than 1:24 scale. The doorway is about 2.75" tall.

The roof needs repairing but I got some good ideas on that when I posted on Discord before this site was ready. I’ve tried to carefully wipe the house down as it was really grimy. and now one wall is buckling.
So does anyone have any ideas on how I can repair the wall?

The house is 11" long, 8.5" wide and 8" tall.

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That house is amazing! I would probably embrace those imperfections and do something haunted inside.

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I am working on a wee bakery

24C0B674-B6EF-434B-B507-78DD588E7D5E

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Mmmmm delicious!

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