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What about making a roombox dollhouse? What a birthday present - one roombox a year, designed to fit together to make a house - stairs and entrances co-ordinated into the whole.
Remove scratches from Plexiglass, plexiglass polish. Be careful when using the scratch removers as you can make them worse. The rule of thumb is if the scratch is deep enough to catch your fingernail in, it's too deep to fully remove. Start with the polish that has the red label along with a very soft, clean cotton cloth and use just a little polish on the cloth. Use smal circular motions and let the polish dry and turn "whiteish", then wipe it off with another clean cotton cloth. If this works, then clean it with the Novus cleaner with the blue label. Use the polish with the green label if you are experienced using it as it is very abrasive. If you attempt it using the green label, you will need to then go back over it with the red label and then the cleaner.
What can you use to make a roombox? There are wooden roomboxes, and display cases for sports memorabilia sold by Michaels, but if you make the roombox yourself, make them the size dictated by the project. The rooms in a house are not all the same size, so roomboxes needn't be either. If you make a project that requires little space, it would look out of place in a standard sized roombox. On the other hand, if you have a large, or very busy project, a little larger space looks less crowded and more appealing.
Hatboxes, cheese boxes, a 'slice' of a barrel or keg, all make wonderful round roomboxes.
Use foamcore and a picture frame to build the box to a desired size, large or small. Clear acrylic caulk does a good job attaching the picture frame to the foamcore.
Finish the outside with fabric applied with Tacky Glue. It gives a neater, more durable finish and is less likely to be spoiled by handling than wallpape. Apply sewing trims around the "window" portion of the box -- possibilities are endless.
Roomboxes can be recessed into walls between the studs, or into cupboards.
Also, think outside the box, as Paula Miller does, to create these scenes in clear plastic globes. Or this Christmas cloche by Alyssabeths, using a Dollar Store round glass bowl/vase.
Smaller scale projects can be incorporated into bookends such as as these by Paula Isaacs.
Other ideas: chocolate shop inside a chocolate box,laundry inside a wash powder box/bottle, kitchen or bakery nside a bread box, beach inside a bucket, a scene inside a gift bag, box or card, picnic inside a picnic basket, cooking cakes inside a cake box, street scene in a lantern, fairy tale scene in a old book or book box, something in a bird house or feeder box, antique shop in something old and aged, scene in glass lampbase, dance studio in ballet shoe box or bag, beautician in old hair dryer container or box, classroom or library on bookends, lunch scene in child's lunch box, flower shop in a plant pot, camping/fishing scene in a trout creel, child's birthday party in a cookie tin, greenhouse in a terrarium, teashop in a tea chest, study inside a old case, genie in a wine carafe, jewelry shop inside a jewel box, bar inside a wine box, class room inside a suitcase, sewing room inside a sewing box, makeup/hair salon inside a makeup case, making jam inside a preserving jar, clock shop inside a clock, the old woman who lived in a shoe, kitchen In paper towel holder,pirates inside a fish tank, tool shed/garage in a plastic toolbox, DJ/music/band theme in a old radio, Halloween inside a paper mache pumpkin,Teddy bears picnic inside a picnic basket, music shop or dollhouse inside a old guitar from a flea market, make-up artist scene in a clear make-up case, PC nerd scene in a old monitor, ice cream shop in a old ice cream container, milkshake shop in a milk carton, Japanese tea room in a tea chest or tea caddy, basket shop inside a basket, cook inside a recipe box
To accessorize in a scene, use tiny little details to add depth to the scene such as paper tole steps through a window or door. It's the little extras that make me look at a room years later and say I'm really proud of that room. The following link will show Steve's room by Bonsai Kathy in NC.. She writes: A bit of background on the room. I made this as a gift for my Aunt after my cousin was killed in an AWACS plane crash in Alaska in 1995. It was a memorial to him and I wanted it to be really special. So I asked numerous family members for their thoughts of what the room should have included. One aunt wrote that for sure it needed mustard sandwiches as my cousin used to make them for his younger brothers and sisters and tell them how delicious they were. He was a real practical joker. They loved him so they believed him. :) My uncle said it had to have a red bike in it, Steve was an avid biker, runner, hence the gym bag, pianist, reader, loved ice hockey, was multi-lingual and my uncle told me that no one really knew just how many languages he was fluent in, including things like Arabic and Icelandic, Russian etc . My biggest memory of him was whenever we'd get together and there was a piano he'd always play the moonlight sonata for me. I loved that song and so the music on the piano is the moonlight sonata and there is a music box hidden behind the window that plays the moonlight sonata. The doll was commissioned from Darlene Mobley in California and she did a really good job of capturing my cousins look. I made almost everything in the room. The piano, doll, cup, bike, dog and tv are all that were purchased. When you look at the room in person it's pretty 3 dimensional as I used paper tole on the staircase and the scene through the window. The quilt that's on the floor was hand done and we didn't have the fine tip pens we have now days. All the little squares have things on them relevant to Steve's life and hobbies, and interests.
Roomboxes can be made from picture frames by Joanne Swanson
To create an illusion of depth, try paper tole like Kathy Hendricks did here. She says: "the stairs were very time consuming and you need to find a picture that is the exactly right perspective and size for it to work which is what takes me so long when I make a box. Do a search on the internet for paper tole to get exact directions but basically you find a picture that works either through a door, window or as in the case of the bonsai box where the edges are hidden by the fence. Then you get several copies, look at the picture carefully and find all the things that would stick out further in 3D and cut that section out over and over and very carefully glue one on top of the other, for added depth use a piece of ACID FREE, yes shouting as that's important, cardstock or matboard or foamcore, depending on the amount of depth you want and glue it behind the top pic and the exact one behind it. Make sure it's placed carefully to line it up perfectly. I do mean acid free as this is paper and if you don't use acid free, all the time it just took you to do all this work and it is very time consuming to do this, will be destroyed in no time at all from acid burns and yellowing of the paper.
Another way to create depth is to select a scenery picture, one of your own or taken from a magazine, then layer in front of it 10 sheets of clear presentation film. It's that presentation film, or overhead projector transparencies, that give the flat picture depth.
what about painting a silhouette of people in action on the glass front of your roombox? eg, father lifting child into the air in front of living room scene.
Links to roombox projects
photo albums, webpages.
Note: if someone has done a garden roombox we do not link it here but in gardens page - this place is reserved for links to roombox collections (i.e. someone has created more than 5 roomboxes covering different subjects).
Ichiyoh Haga - Dollhouse Miniature Artisan, remarkably detailed creations, His technique for patina can not be bettered! Operates a school for miniaturists.
Lamp Box - garage sale find from Chris P, which she plans to renovate
Channel molding - from Miniatures.com, used to create a frame to insert plexiglass. Molding on 3 sides, (mitred of course, and the plexiglass insert with molding glued to the top, and a knob so it can be remoced easily.
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