Paper dolls and other paper toys

Sometimes, people change. Sometimes, circumstances change. Nobody will be surprised to hear that I haven’t looked at many paper dolls lately. Which is why this blog had only one entry the past 2 years. (And even that is not really a paper doll, but inspired by one.)

I found myself with a lot of spare time lately. I tried to find a place I can volunteer, but there is very little an autistic woman without own transport can do in an era of social distancing. So, I watched too many Youtube videos. I ended up watching Ara Bentley from Bentley house minis. She makes the most amazing, detailed 12th scale dollhouse scenes.

“Okay”, I thought. “I can’t do what she does, but I can maybe start by making one small house scene. Just a façade from cardboard and paint. And little pieces of cloth for the curtains and transparent plastic for the windows. And a little bead flower pot and artificial flowers to decorate the house front, and a sticker house number. And what about another texture of cardboard (corrugated with the hills and valleys visible on one side) for the roof? And…”

This was fun! After that little façade, I got more ambitious: I tried a book nook and spent ages making mini books. The next attempt was a coffee shop. I started the beginning of July, and finished about a week into August. Here is the result: Boeretroos Koffiekroeg en Soet Gebak (Boeretroos is an Afrikaans expression for Coffee, and the rest means Coffee shop and Sweet baked goods). Everything, except where I state otherwise, was my work. Where this is wonky, you have nobody else to blame – only me.

Floor: Foamboard, covered in popsicle stick wood and coffee-stained. (One thing I will do different next time is to not get impatient. At first I put the foamboard and glued-down popsicle sticks under heavy books for the craft glue to dry. I found that if the piece is covered with a book, it takes ages to dry. I removed the books. With nothing to weigh it down, it curled up while drying.)

Walls: Foamboard and cardboard covered in a coffee-theme wallpaper (found on the Internet). The left wall has a plastic window with paper frame, the back wall a cardboard shelf and paper door.

Door to the (not actually made) kitchen: Paper painted with acrylic to look like wood, and cut to make a wood inlay picture of a coffee mug and teaspoon.

Ex-fireplace, changed to be shelves: cardboard, chipboard, wall crack filler. The coffee and tea tins on the shelves are pictures I found on the Internet and modified and duplicated to make many sides of the same tin, printed and assembled. The cake is made from cardboard layers, wall crack filler for icing, beads, and paint. The packs of rusks are made from matchsticks.

Shelf behind counter: The coffee packs are my own computer design, printed and assembled. The book and menu on the second shelf are also my own design. I printed my menu and book cover and assembled it. The coffee cups are 3D printed and not my design. The coffee maker and coffee pot are my own, made in cardboard and paper.

Counter: Made from cardboard and chipboard, with a plastic window. The food on the top shelf is a Peppermint Crisp tart (from clay in a bowl cut from a Strepsils blister pack, decorated with brown shards of paper for grated chocolate and tiny pieces of green foil for the Peppermint Crisp), cupcakes on a tray (sturdy card stock, foil and a toothpick for a tray, with clay and paper cupcakes), and a milk tart (made from clay in a beer bottle cap repurposed as a baking dish). On the bottom shelf, the food is a cherry pie (clay, shreds of red paper and transparent glue, also in a repurposed bottle cap), and a fridge tart (layers of card with a bead cherry and paper mint leaf on top).

Cash register: Made from cardstock, foamboard, a matchstick, and printed keyboard and display (pictures for printing found on Easy DIY Miniatures) and printed money.

Table and chairs: From wooden kebab skewers, cardboard, card stock, and plastic straws. A lace flower was stuch to the back of each chair, to see if it looks like carvings in the wood when covered. (Note to self: Rather use paper straws in future. Plastic straws are a nightmare to paint.) Cloth coverings on the seats.

Table setting: Cloth, self-designed and computer-printed menu, jug rolled from paper, sugar jar from a cut section of milkshake straw, and computer-designed and printed papers for sticks of sugar. Coffee mug 3D printed by someone else. Cake: Clay on a paper plate.