DOLLS AND DOLL-HOUSES
What little girl does not love a doll? The more variety in their size
and style the better pleased is she. Below are a number of suggestions
for simple home-made dollies that may be prepared as a birthday or other
surprise by older brothers or sisters.
A FEW DOLLS
=1.= =Clay-Pipe Doll=
Ink in the eyes, nose and mouth on the back of the bowl of a pipe; dress
in calico gown and apron, and put on a sunbonnet to conceal the top of
the pipe.
=2.= =Clothespin Doll=
Ink features upon the head of the clothespin and clothe as either boy or
girl.
=3.= =Wishbone Doll= (_Wishbone_, _sealing-wax_, _material for
trousers_)
Clothe the two limbs in trousers and ink in the features upon the flat
joining bone. Feet may be made of sealing wax melted, pressed into shape
and attached while still warm.
=4.= =Peanut Doll= (_Peanuts_, _sewing-silk_, _glue_, _thread and
needle_, _silk for dress_)
Make into Chinese doll. Take one peanut and ink in the features, making
the eyes slanting. Glue on a queue of braided silk. String together
several peanuts to make the body. To the upper one add on each side one
or two as arms and string several together to make legs. Dress in
wide-sleeved jacket and wide-legged trousers of Oriental design.
=5.= =Yarn Doll= (_Skein of white cotton yarn_)
Cut the skein into lengths of 12 inches. Double the skein over in the
middle and tie a string tight around about two inches from the top,
forming a neck and so making the head. Tie another string further down
for a waist line, but leave out a few threads on each side, of which to
make two arms. Tie these near the ends to indicate wrists. Before tying
the wrists cut the threads to right lengths for arms. The features may
be put in with ink.
=6.= =Cork Doll= (_16 or more corks saved from olive bottles, etc._,
_smooth wire or hairpins--three in number_)
String several corks upon the wire or hairpin for head and body. Through
the second cork from the top run a hairpin sideways for arms, and fasten
two corks upon each projecting end, cutting off any of the wire that may
extend beyond the cork. Through the lower cork of the body run another
hairpin and fasten two corks upon it for legs. Turn the end corks
sideways to suggest feet. Dress the doll as desired.
=7.= =Paper Doll= (_Fashion papers and catalogues_, _scissors_, _paint_,
_paste_)
Most little girls find great pleasure in making their own paper dollies
and the garments therefor. Fashion papers and catalogues afford many
dolls for cutting out, and tissue paper, crinkled paper, the lace paper
found in candy boxes, etc., form the raw material for beautiful Parisian
gowns.
Dolls may of course be cut out of white paper and beautiful countenances
painted upon them, or holes may be cut in the head for eyes, nose and
mouth.
=8.= =Rag Doll= (_White cotton cloth_, _cotton batting_, _paints_,
_scissors_, _needle_, _thread_, _water-color paints or blueing and
red ink_, _raveled rope_, _etc._)
Cut a large newspaper pattern of a doll. Then double the cloth, pin the
pattern upon it and cut the two sides for the doll. Run neatly around
with close stitches, beginning at the neck, and when nearly finished
turn inside out, stuff with the cotton batting, and sew up the head.
Paint in the features or use blueing for eyes and red ink for mouth and
cheeks. Ravelings of rope will make silky hair, and fingers may be
indicated by stitches.
SOME DOLL-HOUSES
=1.= =Cigar-Box House= (_Small cigar-box_, _paste_, _scissors_,
_pictures_, _etc._)
A cigar-box, small as it is, will give great delight to a child who is
aided in furnishing a little room. Stand the box up on the long side.
Paper with wall paper of a small design. Then furnish with things made
by the child himself; pictures cut from catalogues, and other
accessories as described below.
=2.= =Pasteboard-Box House= (_Four pasteboard boxes_, _glue_, _paint_)
Select four strong pasteboard boxes of uniform size. Boxes such as the
"Martha Washington Candles" are packed in will do. They measure 7 x 11
inches. Lay aside the covers and remove any paper which may be attached
to the inside of the box. Spread a thick paste of Spaulding's glue or
furniture glue over the surface of one side of a box. Fit one side of a
second to this glued surface and put aside to dry. The third and fourth
boxes are treated in the same manner. When securely glued in pairs place
the boxes with open sides facing you. Cover upper outside surface of one
pair of boxes with a thick coating of glue and set the second pair on
top of these in the same position.
Now, one has a pasteboard house of four rooms--two upstairs and two
downstairs. When securely fastened together cut in the partition
separating the two upper rooms a door four inches high and three wide.
Two windows measuring 3 x 4 inches, two inches from floor, may be cut in
the back of the house. The same treatment may be given the rooms
downstairs. One may arrange a kitchen and dining-room downstairs and a
parlor and bedroom upstairs.
Oil paints, such as are used in painting furniture, which come already
mixed in small cans, may be used for painting the exterior of the house.
In using this paint it is well to remember always to put sufficient
paint on the brush to cover the entire surface of the wall of the house,
from edge to edge, without lifting the brush. A strict observance of
this rule insures a neatly painted surface. If desired, one may use
yellow, green, or any light color for the interior.
Remnants of cartridge paper or paper decorated in small designs can
often be obtained of paper-hangers for a small sum. It may be fastened
to the floor to serve as a large rug.
=3.= =Soap-Box House= (_Three wooden soap-boxes_, _nails_, _saw_,
_paint_)
Take three soap-boxes, wooden. Remove the covers from two and place one
upon the other to make a two-story house. Put in partitions thus: Take a
thin piece of board (from a smaller box), saw to needed height and depth
and nail it in place by driving nails from above, below or the side, as
the case may require. A stiff piece of cardboard (taken from a large
box) may be made to serve as partition. If cut to the right size the
pressure from top and bottom will hold in place.
By taking _two small_ boxes for the upper floor instead of one large one
the space which would be naturally left between can be made into a
hallway. Stairs may then be made of stiff cardboard, folded into steps,
with a strip of obliquely-cut paper pasted along the edges of the steps
to keep them in place.
If windows and doorways are desired they must be cut or sawed in after
being drawn where desired in pencil.
The third box is for the gable roof. It is to be placed on top of the
upper floor so that its sides slant for the roof. Put in place and then
mark off all that needs to be sawed away. When ready to be fixed
permanently put in place and nail through.
The furnishing of the little house gives much scope for ingenuity and
invention as well as for the exercise of good sense and good taste.
The exterior of the house can be painted with house paint, and this
gives occasion for the broad use of the larger muscles, and
physiologists tell us that the little child should exercise the larger
muscles and nerves while the finer ones are still undeveloped.
=Tiling= (_Corrugated packing cardboard_, _tacks_, _hammer_)
The roof may be given a tiled effect by covering with corrugated packing
cardboard saved from packages. Tack this on.
=Papering=
1. Paper with wall-paper. Scraps of it may be saved when the home is
being papered.
2. Oil-cloth effects may be obtained by pasting on floors or walls
designs made with the kindergarten parquetry papers. (See page 168.)
3. Friezes may be made in the same way by using circles and squares in
rows, alternately or successively.
DOLL FURNITURE
=1.= =Cork.= (See page 37.)
=2.= =Block= (_Blocks of wood or kindergarten blocks, cubes and
oblongs_)
Glue these blocks together, three cubes making a little chair, and cubes
and oblongs making a bed or sofa. Get the carpenter to saw a number of
blocks of different shapes and sizes and let the child use his invention
in putting them together. The furniture may be painted or gilded.
=3.= =Paper or Cardboard=
Take a piece of paper 1 x 2 inches. Fold crosswise. Make a dot 1/4 inch
from the folded edge and 1/8 inch from right hand edge. Make dot 1/4
inch from fold and 1/8 inch from left hand edge. From open edges
opposite fold make two parallel cuts to these dots. These cuts make the
four legs. When opened out a table is seen with two extensions for
drop-leaf. Cut one of these extensions off and a chair is made. If the
original paper is longer and wider it can be made into a bed, what were
the leaves of the table being bent up into the head and foot of the bed.
An ingenious child can vary and elaborate this furniture _ad infinitum_.
The backs can be cut into fancy form and arms given to chairs and sofa.
Use one of these paper chairs for a model, place on cardboard and draw
around the outline and so obtain a stiffer bit of furniture. Rockers can
be drawn, added to the feet, and cut out, thus making a rocking chair.
SPECIAL ARTICLES OF FURNITURE
=Pictures and Clocks= (_Trade journals_, _scissors_)
Cut from trade journals and attach to walls.
=Lamp= (_Twist spool_, _toothpick_, _half egg-shell_, _wax_)
Paste a bit of paper on top and bottom of twist spool. Through this
stick a toothpick, which the paper should hold firmly. Upon the top of
the toothpick fasten a half egg-shell for a globe with bit of wax or
glue.
=Stove= (_Cardboard_, _black ink or paint_)
Make oblong box of cardboard. Turn upside down and cut openings for top
of stove. Make a small hole in the back of the stove and insert in it a
piece of paper rolled into a stove-pipe and pasted. Cut openings in
front for the grate and ovens, leaving a door for the latter. Ink or
paint black.
=Windows= (_Thin white paper_, _oil_, _glue_)
Brush a piece of white paper over with ordinary machine oil, or olive
oil, or dip it in the oil and when dry glue in for windows, telling the
children that not very long ago that was the only way in which light was
admitted to many houses before glass became so common.
Isinglass may also be put in for windows.
=Doll's Bedstead= (_Cigar-box_, _glue_, _gilt-headed tacks_)
Saw the _cover_ of box into two pieces, one for the head and one for the
foot. Fasten in place to the box with the decorative tacks. Legs may be
attached if desired.
=Curtains= (_Cheesecloth or lace_, _needle_, _thread_)
Cut small squares of cheesecloth and let the child hem and put in
windows for curtains. Do not insist on very fine sewing for beginners.
Curtains may be edged with lace, or the entire curtain may be made of
lace, tacked or glued to inside of window.
=Telephone= (_Two spools_, _nail_, _tin mucilage top_, _string_, _small
flat block_)
Take a flat piece of wood about two inches square. Glue to it the flat
end of small spool. That is the 'phone. Another spool is the receiver
hanging, when not in use, upon a nail driven into the wood. The mucilage
top has the slot into which to drop the imaginary nickel.
MISCELLANEOUS
=Grocery Store= (_Wooden soap-box_, _small cardboard box_, _scales_,
_toy barrels_, _tiny pill boxes_, _sand_, _pebbles_, _etc._)
A small wooden box makes the store. A smaller cardboard box turned
upside down will make the counter, or small pieces of wood can be nailed
together by the little amateur carpenter. Buy toy scales or make some as
described below. Small barrels can be obtained at toy store or little
bottles and boxes can be filled with small quantities of tea and sugar,
with tiny bags of pebbles for potatoes, apples, etc. Cranberries make
acceptable play apples. Corn and nuts also will find places. Tacks can
be hammered in on which to hang tiny brooms, and by hammering in two
long nails and laying a narrow board upon them a shelf can be made for
the canned vegetables. Let the children make their own brown paper bags,
looking at a real one for a model.
=Scales= (_Two small square cardboard boxes, made or bought_, _twine_,
_skewer or other slender stick of wood or metal_)
In each of the four sides of a box make a small hole near the top. Take
two pieces of twine each four times the width of the box. Tie one of
these through two opposite holes of the box and the other piece through
the two other holes, being sure that the strings when tied are of equal
length. These two strings cross each other. In the middle, exactly where
they cross, tie one end of a string three inches long. Raise the box by
this string and it should hang exactly true. Arrange the other box in
the same way.
Now take the skewer and exactly in the _middle_ tie a string of three
inches. To the ends of the stick tie the ends of the twine already tied
to the boxes. Raise the skewer by this string and the boxes should hang
evenly, like scales. If they do not, slide one or the other back and
forth until they do balance.
Use in the toy grocery store. Playing store is always a fine opportunity
for indicating lessons of honesty in business. Train the child to give
fair weight and measure, even in play.
=Merry-Go-Round for Dolls= (_Cardboard_, _large ribbon spool_, _stiff
paper or kindergarten folding paper_, _slender pencil_, _tiny flag_)
Cut two circles of cardboard, one five inches in diameter; the other,
ten to twelve. Using the smaller one as a base, stand on it a large
ribbon spool (spool around which baby ribbon comes). Glue the large
circle to the other end of the spool, parallel to the other lower
circle. Make a hole in each circle. Run a slender pencil through the
upper cardboard, then through the spool, and then through the lower
circle, making an axis round which the spool may revolve, carrying with
it the upper circle.
On the upper circle paste alternately animals cut from paper or
cardboard, and benches also cut from cardboard. Elegance may be added by
gilding the spool and letting a tiny flag float from the point of the
pencil. Cut out paper dolls for a ride.
=Dolls' Park= (_Starch-box_, _earth_, _moss_, _twigs_, _tiny mirror_,
_etc._)
Fill the box with earth and sand for a foundation, and then with moss,
twigs, elder-berry sprigs, etc., fill in the fairy-like details. A toy
swan or boat adds to the reality.
=Rugs for Doll-House=
1. Make the loom by taking a slate and knocking out the slate so as to
leave the frame intact. Hammer a row of small nails half an inch apart
along the two narrow sides. Then make the warp by stringing strong cord
back and forth across the nails. Tie first around one corner nail; carry
_to_ and _around_ the two nails opposite, then back and around the next
two, and so back and forth till it is all strung. The rows of cord
should be parallel.
2. Instead of a slate, looms of various sizes may be roughly made of
four narrow pieces of wood measured, sawed, and nailed together at the
corners. A curtain slat could be so used, or wooden boxes will furnish
raw material for such. A loom 4 x 6 inches is a good size for a
beginner.
For woof, use coarse worsted or ribbon to begin with, or colored
cheesecloth torn into narrow strips.
Use the fingers at first, later a bodkin, weaving under one cord of the
warp and over one, back and forth, till a tiny rug is made. Fasten ends
by weaving in and out a short distance into body of rug. At first make
rug all of one color, or a rag-carpet effect can be obtained by tying
into a long string worsteds of various colors. If a plain color is used
a border can be made by running in a strand or so of a different color.
Let the child employ his artistic and creative abilities in making
designs for the rug with paints or crayons. Draw an oblong of one color
with stripes across the ends, one, two or three in number, at different
distances apart. Variety can be secured by taking up two threads at a
time or running under _one_ and over _two_, etc. Warn the child not to
draw the threads too closely or the rug will have the shape of an
hour-glass when finished.
A washcloth can be made thus by weaving it of narrow pieces of
cheesecloth.
Take the rug or cloth off the loom by raising carefully over the nails.
3. Another simple kind of loom is made by taking a piece of cardboard
measuring 6 x 8 inches. Draw a row of eight dots half an inch apart.
Opposite these, and six inches away, draw another row. With strong cord
sew through these a set of straight stitches, six inches long and half
an inch apart. This makes the warp. Run the worsted woof under and over
these cords as in any weaving, and tear the cardboard away when
finished.