Gracies Papa Posted July 16, 2016 Share Posted July 16, 2016 Greetings all. I am new to Doll Houses thanks to my sweet and loving 6 yr old. Worked on real houses which are not as delicate for these big ole hands. Bought the Orchid doll house and it get frustrating when things don't go together. One thing it's teaching me patience and self control. Ha.Am having a really tough time with the gluing of parts and not being able to use my nail gun to construct. Could use some help on paints and gluing techniques Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sable Posted July 16, 2016 Share Posted July 16, 2016 Go ahead and shave down edges of the tabs so they fit smoothly. A dry fit with painters tape is always recommended before glueing. I use E3000 or Quik Grab (hard to find now for some reason). Again, painters tape to hold the pieces together while the glue dries. I've used manual staple guns for really stubborn joints. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraftyMtnMom Posted July 16, 2016 Share Posted July 16, 2016 You may need to shave down and sand some of the edges as well to get the whole thing to fit together without popping apart. As Sable said, dry fit... then dry fit again and again, if necessary. I am working on the Orchid and found it necessary to drill tiny, tiny holes with my Dremel through the roof into the walls and stick some pins in with glue to keep it from popping apart. That was after I shaved down the upper edge of the front wall. It is together now and makes me feel much better that the little girl who is getting it will be less likely to break it. Enjoy the build. It is a fun house to build with many possibilities. Sable, I use Quick Grip as well. I have found it at Hobby Lobby and at Wal-mart. It used to be in the automotive section, but I have been finding it in the sewing/crafts section lately. I think part of why we have been having a harder time finding it is partly because they seem to be changing the colors on the tube. I almost missed it when I went looking for the last tube I got. I saw it at Jo-Anne's Fabric's, too, after I had just bought the tube at Wal-mart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted July 16, 2016 Share Posted July 16, 2016 Welcome to the little family, Ken. My most important kit building tools are 1" wide painter's or masking tape, my Stanley utility knife and lots of new blades and a Philips head screwdriver to get the handle apart to change the blade, sandpaper for my sanding block and lots of emery boards, a tub of spackling compound and a pile of expired credit cards, and a bottle each of Probond (or Titebond) and Elmer's all-purpose white glue, my heavy duty Stanley stapler and staples. As Sable mentioned, dry fit along the way; not only will it allow you to tweak the parts for perfect fit, but by putting it together first with tape instead of glue, you will be able to see where it will be impossible for even the kiddo's little hands to fit afterwards for decorating. I have built the Orchid in both wood and plastic, and dry fitting saved my sanity both times. Also for you reading & viewing pleasure, there are two team building blogs for the Orchid. Don't 1:1 builders do something similar to dry fitting to make sure things go together properly? The construction crew who built my workshop sure did! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fov Posted July 16, 2016 Share Posted July 16, 2016 Remember, you don't have to follow the instructions! If you can think of a better way to put something together, go for it. The Orchid was the first dollhouse I built and I did it alongside my boyfriend as he built a life-sized airplane. When I couldn't make things work he was always coming up with ideas for how we could use his airplane tools for an alternative. I used metal files for sanding, metal L-shaped brackets (hidden under the porch floor and under a window seat I built into the upstairs gable) to fit the warped pieces into position, and c-clamps for all kinds of things. When I had trouble with the gable he made me a gluing jig. Later, when I moved onto the Fairfield and couldn't put the tower roof together, he used leftover fiberglass strips from his plane on the joints. Oh, and when the situation calls for it we're big fans of epoxy! In these houses the foundation is often flimsy. I've gotten in the habit of gluing blocks of wood to the backs of foundation pieces to give them more stability. If you're itching to use the nail gun you could even put together a wooden frame for the base of the house, and then attach wall pieces to the outside of that frame. Nail heads can be easily covered up, especially if you use small finishing nails. For gluing, besides the advice to shave down the tabs for a better fit if you need to, I take a pretty messy approach... I basically glop tons of wood glue in the seams being glued and then leave the house alone to dry (with masking tape or clamps holding the pieces in position while the glue dries). For example, when you glue the second floor to the sides and front of the house, first put a bead of glue around the edge of the floor that makes contact with the walls, and then with the floor in place, stick the nozzle of the glue bottle into the corners above and below the floor and lay a thick stripe of wood glue on all of those seams. It'll seep in and shrink when it dries, and you can cover up any mess and discoloration from the glue with wallpaper and flooring and trim when you get to the decorating stage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
armymom166 Posted July 16, 2016 Share Posted July 16, 2016 Hi, Ken, and welcome! I also built the Orchid and there were times I wanted to throw the whole thing in the trash. Don't give up! When I started, I thought of it as a "practice" house to give me some experience before starting the big ones - now it is my favorite and I wouldn't part with it for anything. When it gets too frustrating, walk away until you are ready to work on it again. Things tend to go wrong when you try to push yourself to work on a house that can sense you're very frustrated! ;0) As everyone has said, dry fit. Also, be sure to use really sticky painter's tape to dry fit. I like to use either acrylic paints or the sample pots of indoor house paint on my houses so I don't waste too much. I think Ace hardware even has sample pots of a base color that they will tint for you. Be sure to prime first or you'll be putting many, many coats of paint on just like in a real house! Also, like Emily, I glued wood blocks to the bottom and corners of my foundation to give it more support. You can find these at craft stores. Use whatever tools you're comfortable with, but you might want to invest in a few miniature tools too. A small miter block and saw, some tweezers, and tiny finger drills were my first purchases. If the miniature bug bites and you decide to build a village, there's a miniature version of just about every life-size tool out there. You're such an awesome dad to build a dollhouse for your little girl! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gracies Papa Posted July 17, 2016 Author Share Posted July 17, 2016 Thanks everyone. Everyone s so helpful and friendly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathieB Posted July 17, 2016 Share Posted July 17, 2016 6 hours ago, Gracies Papa said: Thanks everyone. Everyone s so helpful and friendly Helpful and friendly enablers .... We know how addictive this obsession ... uh, hobby ... is. In no time at all you'll be offering suggestions from your real life building experience and mentally planning house #2. Welcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdlnpeabody Posted August 14, 2016 Share Posted August 14, 2016 Welcome to the forum! My daughters are slightly older and younger than yours (8 and 1). I still have a Greenleaf kit house still in the box, but my 8 year-old has claimed my first house/scratch-build as her own. I don't know about kit foundations, but I like using a furniture grade plywood base with a pair of 1" x 2" runners under it (so you can pick it up when needed), to build on. Mini nail guns would be great, but I use binder clips, small C-clamps and most often, tape to hold parts together while the glue sets. I try to use as many real building techniques as possible, but some aspects don't translate to 1/12 scale very well. When laying scale bricks, I lay them like tiles with Elmer's white glue and mortar them later the way you would grout tiles. Do remember to take plenty of photos of your progress. I don't know anyone (well, maybe my wife) who doesn't like to see works in progress here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrystalrose Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 Hi everyone I am building my first dollhouse, the orchid, and this is definitely a practice house. I have had to fix so many mistakes lol. I have a problem now that I don't know how to fix so maybe one of you can help me. I wallpapered one wall of my dollhouse with mucilage wallpaper paste three days ago and now i have darkened areas showing up. I don't know what I did wrong or how to fix it or do I have to remove it and start over. My wallpaper is white with small flowers btw. Thank you for any suggestions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
otterine Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 9 minutes ago, chrystalrose said: Hi everyone I am building my first dollhouse, the orchid, and this is definitely a practice house. I have had to fix so many mistakes lol. I have a problem now that I don't know how to fix so maybe one of you can help me. I wallpapered one wall of my dollhouse with mucilage wallpaper paste three days ago and now i have darkened areas showing up. I don't know what I did wrong or how to fix it or do I have to remove it and start over. My wallpaper is white with small flowers btw. Thank you for any suggestions. Hi, Tanya. Did you prime the walls before gluing the paper? Over time, chemicals in the wood can degrade the paper. It's possible there was something in the wood that has leeched through the paper if you didn't prime. If you did prime, was it an oil based primer that could have discolored the paper? You'll likely have to remove to start over. Maybe someone else can pipe in whether you can paint the bad paper and put new over it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrystalrose Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 (edited) I did prime with waterbased acrylic paint, white and it has only been three days. Would using too much paste in certain areas possible cause this? and what about using sealer on the wallpaper first? would that keep staining from happening? Edited August 3, 2017 by chrystalrose Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
otterine Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 I don't usually seal my paper, and the one time I did, it definitely changed the color. It's possible it was too much paste, or it could be the white base of the paper is just more prone to show spots. Do you have a scrap of the same paper you could try sealing and then glue to a scrap of primed wood to see if that does the trick? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrystalrose Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 yes I do I will try this, thank you! nice to meet you btw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
otterine Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 You're welcome, and welcome to the forum! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aquamarineus Posted August 4, 2017 Share Posted August 4, 2017 Welcome to the forum! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldenrodfarm Posted August 4, 2017 Share Posted August 4, 2017 Welcome, I am fairly new here too, I read this information with an eye to starting a house soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sable Posted August 4, 2017 Share Posted August 4, 2017 It sounds to me that your paper hadn't dried throughly and the staining was just a temporary condition caused by the still wet section. I'd wait another day or so to see if it disappears. I could be wrong though. A photo would help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrystalrose Posted August 4, 2017 Share Posted August 4, 2017 I ended up removing the wallpaper Sable. I tried Shannon's suggestion of using tacky glue on a primed scrap piece of wood, putting the glue on the wood instead of the wallpaper and it solved the problem Don't know if i used too much wallpaper paste or it was the humidity (we had 3 days of 80-100% humidity the last three days here in Connecticut) anyway this worked so much easier for me. Thank you for all the helpful suggestions everyone. this site is awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mesp2k Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 Hi Ken! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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