My First Kit - Miniature Bakery

[Riesz]

Stock image of the finished kit with all accessories and lighting assembled. The kit also includes a built-in music box.

One of the two Chinese brand dollhouse kits I ordered is due to arrive between Tuesday and Thursday of next week. Since it was shipped overseas, all of the glue had to be removed from the kit (which I think only included white school glue anyway). I'm beginning to feel very excited for the kit to arrive so I want to prepare the tools and glues I will need ahead of time!

This is a stock image of the materials included with the kit. It includes all wooden pieces pre-cut and most pre-painted, fabric and wire and other accessories for furniture, paper pack with pre-cut wallpaper and other accessories, lighting kit (must be manually wired), and music box.

Some pieces are unpainted wood, some are painted, some clear acrylic plastic, metal, cloth, and glossy paper. Would Aleene's Tacky Glue be a good multi-use glue for this kit? I'm trying to cut down on costs and I'm trying to avoid buying a dozen different types of glue. On-hand I also have a high temp hot glue gun and strong double-sided tape. I'm hoping to use Aleene's for the majority of the kit, including painted wood, unpainted wood, plastic, and fabric. I might attempt using the double-sided tape to attach the wallpaper and other paper accessories since I'm worried about the paper buckling with glue. I have my hot glue gun for the metal wires. Would those adhesives be good enough for this project?

The other tools I have on-hand are emery boards, sand paper, wooden skewers, toothpicks, x-acto knife, masking tape, clothespins, small screwdrivers used for computer hardware, sponge paint brushes. Should I pick up anything else for completing this kit?

I'll use this thread to post my progress

Edited September 28, 2013 by Riesz

[Dalesq]

I'm looking forward to watching your progress with this kit; I've been really curious about them and what comes with them.

As to glue, what you have will probably be fine. The only problem you may have is with the metal. Hot glue has its uses but can be problematic. E6000 would probably be the best all round choice for the things you aren't able to use tacky glue on.

There are numerous threads on this forum about glues, if you want to do a search. Also try googling "This to That" for everything glue.

[Riesz]

Thank you for the info! I've never heard of E6000 so I'll try to find it today. My mom suggested Aleene's Tacky Glue. I plan to make a stop at Wal-Mart so I'll try to find the E6000. I checked This to That but I noticed they don't include painted wood in the options. Since most of these pieces are pre-painted I'm worried normal wood glue won't work.

[KathieB]

Aileen's will work find for gluing paint to paint or paint to wood. I'd wonder about the wallpaper, however. Depending on the quality of the paper, it may buckle with a water-based glue. E-6000 will NOT work for the wallpaper. I'd suggest using rubber cement or contact glue for the wallpaper if it turns out to be very thin paper.

Or seal the wallpaper with hairspray (NOT water based) or artist's fixative or clear Krylon before introducing a water-based glue.

If the paper is thick, like scrapbook paper, you could use Aileen's.

[Stacey6163]

I found the E6000 at Dollar General, going to pick up another tube my next visit. One can never have enough glue.

[Riesz]

Would thick double-sided tape work to adhere the wallpaper to a painted or unpainted wooden wall? I'm not sure about the thickness of the paper yet but I thought the tape might be the safest way to attach it without fear of wrinkling or buckling.

[Dalesq]

I think it will depend on the paper thickness. You may be able to feel or see the tape under the paper, and IMO that would be undesirable. One thing you might think about if the paper is thin is mounting it to heavy card stock before affixing it to the walls. A spray mount adhesive or glue stick would probably work for this.

[havanaholly]

Melissa, Elmer's all-purpose white glue is my tacky glue of choice. I use regular premixed wallpaper paste from the hardware store of wallpapering jobs in min, too.

[DocGreen]

How's your Mandarin?! LOL! What holly said.

[Riesz]

How's your Mandarin?! LOL! What holly said.

It's OK I've only had two years of classes for written Chinese though. I live in an area with high Chinese population and have a lot of Chinese friends so hopefully they can help me out if I don't understand something in the instructions! These kits are advertised towards children though so I'm hoping the wording used is pretty basic so I can read at least most of it.

[kat57]

Cool,Melissa! What a surprising and fun member you are fast becoming! My son only took a year of Japanese and wanted to take Chinese,but didn't get the opportunity. Very cool what you guys are learning that I would never be able to!

Concerning the paper,if it were me,I would mount the paper to card first,as Debora says. Then if you change your mind later it will be easier to remove. I have actually used doublestick tape to mount thick scrapbook paper to wood walls for roomboxes. It's held up well for years so far. Thin paper might not work well. Once you see the paper that comes with the kit,you might even decide to use something else,with a different thickness that you can work with better. Sounds like a fun project!

[havanaholly]

Some tape adhesives will stain your paper, so you'll want to use an archival quality tape.

[Roxxie2]

What a cute kit! I have never seen one like that! I love building stores .

[Riesz]

The kits arrived today! They actually arrived yesterday but I was away and missed the FedEx delivery.

Here are the contents of Sweet Berries Time bakery. Although the instructions are in Chinese, everything is labelled and the instructions include an inventory sheets with measurement dimensions for each piece, as well as how many pieces are included. Because of this, the parts are fairly easy to figure out.

Here are the contents of the second kit, Chocolate Kiss cafe. It has a simpler design so, although I have my heart set on Sweet Berries bakery, I've opted to start on Chocolate Kiss first. I don't have much experience making dollhouses, even from easy kits, so I think starting with a simpler kit is best!

This afternoon I spent some time sorting out the parts into plastic trays so I'm able to assemble the kit easier.

I began by doing a rough layout of the storefront before gluing. Everything came pre-painted but I noticed some flaws in the paint so I repainted most of the pieces. I had a bottle of inexpensive paint on-hand in a lovely antique white colour so I spent the rest of the afternoon painting the pieces for the storefront, including the main windowed panel, so everything looks smooth and matches. Just waiting on the paint to dry before I begin assembling!

The finished building is a simple square box with a staircase attached on one side. I did a dry run of making sure the walls fit properly and everything seems to be in order out of the box. I plan to assemble the store front first, then glue wallpaper and flooring to the other panels, then assemble the back wall and side walls. I'll leave the front panel off until all of the interior details are finished. Does that sound like a decent plan?

I'm so excited to spend tomorrow working on the kit!

My little dolls are also excited to move into a nice home and out of the shabby cardboard box lined with scrapbooking paper!

Edited October 3, 2013 by Riesz

[havanaholly]

You and your little bjds are going to have so much fun with that kit!

[Riesz]

Hello everyone! I apologise for the lack of updates on my build. Had unexpected and sudden illness in my immediate family, followed by death. I've been away for the past month due to this, but I'm home now and ready to work on my kit as a means to relax and take my mind off the recent stress.

I decided to start with this kit first since the finished shop is a bit smaller than the other one and also seems slightly less complicated.

Before I left, I assembled the storefront and began gluing details onto the doors.

Here's a rough assembly of the storefront before everything was glued down. I'll take pictures later of the glued, finished front. I must say, all the pieces in this kit are very exact! I had just enough room on the pre-cut front for every piece with no wiggle room at all. Really glad I did that dry run first!

I've decided to suspend assembly of the sides, floor, and rooftop until I'm able to run to a local copy shop and have a few spare copies made of the wallpaper and flooring included with this kit. I'm nervous I might mess up with the gluing so want to be sure to have a spare or two!

Today I worked on the staircase and a couple pieces of furniture.

Here's my little workstation on the kitchen table.

Sorry for the fuzzy phone camera picture!

Each step on the staircase was a separate piece so I glued them all to the long flat board with tacky glue. The spindles are so tiny and dainty and I have no good way to keep them upright while white glue dries so I decided to use high temp hot glue gun on these delicate pieces. I attached the railing and let it dry while I worked on the furniture.

The furniture is just pieces of wood, cardboard backing for the large piece, and clear plastic for the windows. The drawer panels on the large piece are currently drying and after they're dry I'll attach beads and wire made into handles.

The other small pieces are for two pieces of furniture -- one long tall display case and one long slanted bakery case. I began by cutting the clear plastic sheet into panels for each window, gluing it to the frame, and now I'm just letting it all dry before assembly. Since I have no clamps and clothespins don't open wide enough for these pieces, I've been using rubber bands to secure the sides of the furniture to ensure it glues tightly.

I've been having great fun assembling this kit so far and can't wait to work on it more tomorrow.

Edited November 2, 2013 by Riesz

[Roxxie2]

Hi Melissa! I have never seen those kits before but it looks really cute!!!! Have fun!!

[Dalesq]

Melissa, it's nice to have you back and sharing your process of building this kit. I'm so sorry for your loss. I hope things are getting back to normal for you.

Another thing I do for this type of stress relief is to browse the galleries for inspiration. The Spring Fling entries are just in, and if you haven't already seen them, many of the participants have uploaded great eye candy in their albums!

[kat57]

I'm so sorry for your loss,Melissa. I'm glad you've felt up to rejoining us and sharing your build with us,because I think you are right,it will help cheer you. It looks like your project's going very well. Smart idea to get some copies of the wallpaper and flooring-even if you don't need it because of mistakes,you could always use it on another project!

[Riesz]

Thanks so much everyone for the kind words and encouragement. It means so much to me!

I was thrilled to wake up this morning to a dozen nicely glued pieces waiting for assembly!

Last night I cut the clear plastic panels to fit with all the frames and glued it so hopefully today I can finish assembling most of the bakery cases.

Took some pictures too!

Here's the furniture I have finished so far. I haven't glued the doors on yet though so I can still decorate the shelves. I might never glue the doors, just maybe attach them with white putty or some other temporary adhesive, so I'm able to change around the shelf decorations whenever I'd like.

The drawer handles turned out cuter than I expected. This kit included a bag of beads and small spool of wire so I cut pieces of the wire, bent them with tweezers, then used beads on the ends to make the handles.

Here's my workstation as of this morning. I glued all the panels to clear plastic "windows" last night so today I can begin assembling the cute cases!

For this kit, I try to label almost every piece using a very light hand and a pencil, just so I'm able to keep track of everything. There are so many tiny bits of wood in various sizes it can be confusing at times!

Here's an example of the Chinese instructions. I'll be starting work on these cases today since I have all the window panels assembled. Very exciting!

Here's a stock photo of the furniture. Can't wait til I have more of these little details assembled.

Edited November 3, 2013 by Riesz

[Dalesq]

This is such a cute kit. Are the furniture pieces out of card stock or wood?

[kat57]

So cute! I love the tiny little handles-beads and wire,very cool! Can't wait to see the rest of this!

[Stacey6163]

That is going to be so cute !

[Riesz]

This is such a cute kit. Are the furniture pieces out of card stock or wood?

They're all made out of wood! The kit included a piece of white cardboard for the back of the hutch but the rest is all just tiny bits of wood glued together. A few pieces had slight defects or needed a bit of sanding but overall I've been pleased with the quality of the wood and the kit in general!

I finished all of the furniture today, made and glued the curtains to the windows, and just finished gluing all the flowerboxes. I also started work on the ornate little chandelier, which is made of gold wire and various beads. I'll try to get my fiance to help with wiring the lights, since I really have no idea how to do it!

Tomorrow I hope to have time to run to the nearby print shop and get a few copies made of the paper sheets, which include the wallpaper, flooring, bakery boxes, pictures for the wall, and other little misc. details. Tomorrow I'll definitely finish working on the doorway, including screwing on the door hinges. I want to finish the spindles and railing all around the rooftop patio as well, but that shouldn't take very long.

After that I only need to finish minor details, like gluing on the wallpaper and flooring, assembling tiny boxes and other accessories, then attaching the walls and roof and floor together!

I'll post more pictures after I finish tomorrow's projects.

[Riesz]

I took a picture of the furniture this afternoon and the chandelier pieces just moments ago but wasn't able to edit my post so I'll add them here:

Mostly finished furniture. Some of the pieces were still drying when I took this picture so the shelf on the slanted case fell a bit! I still haven't glued any of the doors either, so they look a bit wobbly. The kit includes paper bakery store labels to be glued on the flat wooden pieces of the cases. Still unsure if I'll use the labels or not...

Here are the candlesticks for the chandelier! Each piece is a cut piece of gold wire with a clear plastic flower, tube bead for the candlestick, and seed bead on top for the flame. I used a hot glue gun to exaggerate the candlesticks a bit with a melted wax look and also accentuated the flames with hot glue too. I like it much more than the standard way! Each arm also has a separate piece of wire threaded with beads for the dangling bits. Once the chandelier is completed each arm will go into a large clear flower with the LED lights threaded through the bottom. Can't wait to see how this turns out!