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I spent a bit of time working away at my kitchen appliances. The blender, food processor and scale were actually fun to make. It really challenged me (and my patience) to find all the component pieces. I realized I have a lot of stuff in my house that can be mutilated into a miniature.
Rather then make a bunch of small posts about each one, I decided to write a mega post about all of them. I will pin each separately for ease on my Pinterest page.
The Mixer
This cute little mixer came from Ebay via Fullrich 2009. A great store.
There was no way I was going to attempt to make a mixer from wood. I like my fingers too much.
The Toaster
The toaster was an adaptation of Minicrochetmad's tutorial.
It was super easy following the instructions, and interpreting the pictures in some cases. I used my Dremel to round out the top edges. Oh so fast!
The knobs are slices of tiny dowel and the lever is a piece of bent metal from a tea light sliced up.
It measures 2.5cm long by 1.5cm wide by 2.2cm tall (legs included)
The legs are just larger seed beads. The cord is glue stiffened embroidery floss and the "plug" is cardstock.
The whole toaster got 2 coats of Mod Podge gloss to seal it.
The Blender
I got the scraps of stuff together to make the blender and really had no clue where to go from there.
Then I found the Doll Diaries Blender Tutorial. It was intended for American Girl dolls, but it was simple enough that I could shrink it down.
You know when you just need something that looks close and feasible to inspire you? This was it.
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| Dollar store glitter glue and a seed bead container (red top) |
I used an old plastic tube that was a container seed beads came in. If you're Canadian, think WAY back to Lewiscraft. That's what the price tag said. It might be 30 years old. Thanks mom!
The glitter glue is a tube, but its soft and mushy, perfect to slice for a handle.
The base is a 1.5cm by 2cm deep by 1cm tall. It was a 1/2 inch block I just sawed down. I then used my file to round off the sides and the top corners.
The face plate is 2 pieces of balsa. 1 piece holds the knobs and extends the full length of the cube, but not as tall (the gap is where you put the Kitchen Aid sign). The knobs attach to this part, which were slices of tiny dowel.
The round front piece was rounded off using a file. The buttons are scrap balsa cut as thin as possible.
The 2 face plates extend from the base cube a total of 5mm.
The total height of the blender is 1 1/4 inches (3.5cm). The plastic tube is just under 2cm in height and 1.3cm in diameter.
The "blade" inside is a clear plastic bead that looks like a snow flake (sort of). Its a cheap plastic kiddie bead, nothing fancy. Check the dollar store!
The lid is a button. The stopper is a round thing that is button like, but had no holes. A bunch came with the bag of dollar store button I purchased. A slice of dowel would work just fine too! 3mm tall and a 5mm diameter.
The handle was tricky! I used the glitter glue plastic and sliced off a piece. It does bend but, its a little bit stiff, so try bending and gluing that. Didn't work. So, I took the strip and scored it closely so it would bend easier (the scores are on the inside).
I glued each end separately with Quick Grip.
The cord is embroidery floss I stiffened with glue. I then poked a hole in the blender and jammed the thread in. The "plug" is a piece of cardstock.
The yellow base and the lid all got 2 coats of Mod Podge gloss to seal it.
The Kitchen Aid label was via Google images. Find a tiny one first, its easier to make smaller because the resolution is likely better.
The Food Processor
The greatest best mistake I made! The mixer was supposed to be the blender. That is, if you had a stunted blender that wouldn't hold more then half a smoothie at a time.
It also started as the Doll Diaries Blender Tutorial. But if you cut your plastic tube too short it becomes a food processor! Winner winner chicken dinner.
It measures 1.5cm wide by 2cm deep by 1cm tall (just the base). Total height is 2.7cm.
The wood block and face plate follows the blender (see above). but the 2 pieces that hold the knob and buttons extend out only 3mm in total.
The knob is a slice of tiny dowel and the buttons are balsa scrap cut as thin as possible.
This actually looks more like my Cusinart
The plastic tube body is a seed bead tube, like the blender, but I used the screw top end to look more like my food processor. It's 1.cm tall (excluding the feeder) and 1.3cm in diameter.
The small circle on top is the "feeder" where you feed in food as its spinning. I used some plastic from a mechanical pencil, but a straw could work too. Its 7mm in diameter and 3mm tall.
The handle is required some thought. I ended up using the left over scraps from the Chrysnbon set (see above picture with the glitter glue for reference). I cut it and rounded the cut edge with a file. I then painted it black and glued 2 seed beads to it.
Quick Grip held it together nicely. I then painted the seed beads silver.
The blade inside was the same bead used in the blender, also painted silver.
The "food" inside is green painted kosher salt.
The cord is embroidery floss I stiffened with glue. I then poked a hole in the processor and jammed the thread in. The "plug" is a piece of cardstock.
The wood and handle both got 2 coats of Mod Podge gloss to seal it.
The Scale
The scale was never on my radar until I got on a small appliance role.
Ebay didn't reveal anything I liked, so I decided to make one myself using real life scale pictures I found on Pinterest.
The wood base is 1.5cm wide by 1.3cm deep. The actual rectanglar body piece is 1cm wide by 1.1cm deep by 1cm tall. The top of the triangle is flat because that is where the round disc components attach into.
The scale face is 1.3cm in diameter.
What's with all the odd measurements, you ask? Well, I didn't really measure as I went so I didn't notice until I was typing and measuring!
The bases edges were rounded off using a file. It was then glued to the triangle and the gap willed with wood filler and sanded smooth.
I then painted it "Gray Wolf" by Marth Stewart (craft paint).
The scale face is elevated using a small slice of wood dowel painted silver.
The scale face was taken from an image of a real scale, just shrunk down to work in scale. I sandwiched it between 2 pieces of ridged plastic packaging I took out of my recycling box.
I trimmed the whole face with silver paint. The paint hid the tiny dots of Quick Grip glue I used to stick it all together.
The scale top is 1.5cm in diameter. It is used as a jewelry pendent, you would glue something to it. I snipped off the metal loop. Found 20+ in a pack for $3 at Walmart.
It sits on a 1.5 cm long strip of egg carton. I tried wood, but it split every time I tried to put the metal supports through it.
The 2 metal supports are metal head pins you would use in earring making. It has a flat blunt end not a loop. The pins went down through the egg carton strip and into the tiny holes in the base. Strip plus pins are 4mm tall. The strip and pins were all painted silver.
Everything (minus the face) was given 2 coats of Mod Podge gloss.
The Stove
The stove was from the economy kitchen set from The Little Dollhouse Company. It was white and blah blah bland.
It met its day with 2 coats of medium grey base coat and 4 coats of silver. I left the inside white. The top was painted black, and I added new knobs on the top with beads and nails. It beat the gold nubs they called knobs. And I made the burners silver too.
I wanted a designer stove. So, I Google imaged the Wolf stove logo and slapped it on. I made the red knob that Wolf stoves have with a bead and a nail.
The "digital" display is just white cardstock with arrows and 375 degrees painted on in a pale green paint. A piece of scrap plastic was applied over it.
The Fridge
You can't have a designer stove and not a designer fridge! Only the best for Miss Kitty.
Again, I Google imaged the Sub Zero logo and Mod Podge'd it on.
Tip: Find a tiny logo image. I find them clearer and easier to shrink down further in Word.
The fridge wouldn't stay closed when it was installed. My floors weren't even I guess. And an open door is waaaay too tempting for a toddler to rip off, so I devised a plan.
I used a tiny 5mm magnet as a closure. I was scared to use it with a little one, so I made up a sealed compartment. In the picture (left) you can see a silver square in the top left corner. Its a square piece of balsa. I drilled out just enough space that I could push the magnet deeply into the wood and it be snug. No More Nails adhesive was applied behind the magnet too. I then took a piece of metal from a tea light and cut it the squares size. I used No More Nails and glued it over top the magnet. The magnet was now sealed away. The cube was glued in the corner using No More Nails. On the door I both nailed and glued on a upholstery tack. The door is now tough to open! I win Mr. Door!
There you have it! The appliances are done, done and done. I hope I was clear. If not, just ask away in the comments and I will try to clarify or send you an additional picture to help you along.
