DIY Desks and Tableware!

Whilst binge watching Critical Role again last night, it hit me that I still hadn't got round to making Max and Juno a desk or table for their living room. (I still need to remake the sofa, but it'll do for now.)

I wasn't in the mood for any proper woodworking, so I had a rummage and a quick browse of Pinterest for inspiration and hit on the perfect combo. I've been trying to go for a sort of industrial/shabby chic look with the furnishings, and I really liked the look of old reclaimed metal and wood for furniture.

I'd bought this novelty connecting 'pipe' drinking straw set years ago as I thought it had potential, and well, I was right!

I ran another clear section through the corners and 'T' section then glued them together for strength before coating the whole lot liberally in superglue and rolling it through bicarbonate of soda for a nice cast iron texture. 

I managed to do the same to my fingers which was less than pleasant but never mind.

Once fully hardened and less gluey I painted the whole thing black, with some dark grey eyeshadow brushed over the raised areas for a nice subtle metallic sheen, then it was given a liberal coat of matte varnish and left to dry overnight.

The desk top on the other hand was little more than a scrap piece of vaguely rectangular balsa wood. (I decided what with it being made of reclaimed timber it didn't matter if it was a little squint here and there!) Rather than try to stain or weather it, I cheated, and used a piece of full size wallpaper!

I've got a ridiculous amount of wallpaper samples now - none of which were taken for actual full size rooms! Most patterns are too big for miniature use, but this particular one, of wooden crates, had plenty of potential. Unfortunately some of it got ripped which limited what parts I could use. I originally wanted a plain section without any text but this part really started to grow on me.

I used a combination of Bostik glue and double sided tape to affix it to the paper, then carefully folded and glued the edges, cut holes on the underside for the legs and glued them in place. All in all, drying times excluded, it probably only took about half an hour to make!

With a few accessories it swiftly turns into a nice little workstation for our budding artist.

Not quite in the same vein, but I did this a while ago and never blogged about it so here you go, bonus tutorial!

My friend Heather got me into Playmobil for accessories - you can order them separately online and they have a lot of potential if you're into modern miniatures. There's a lot of stuff I've bought already for use with my Julips as many of the objects are intentionally overscaled so they work for 1/12th. A few of the boxes and things work for 1/6th, but it was one rather unexpected item that turned out to be pretty useful!

Decently scaled cutlery is really hard to find and while these aren't anywhere near 1/6th scale intentionally, they work rather well. The only problem is that the handles are too short and stumpy, designed as they are to fit the Playmobil hands.

Still, where there's a will there's a way, and I had a good idea on how to tweak them.

Yup, just a bog standard cotton bud/Q tip!

By shaving down the sides with a scalpel, they slotted into the hollow shaft rather well.

Depending on the colour of the cotton buds you can get away with just gluing them in and cutting them to size.

The knives look a bit rubbish but the rest work quite well I think.

I used some nail polish on the rest though for a bit of variety.

Now I just need to make them a kitchen/dining room!