The glue didn’t smell too fumy or toxic, which was great and
seemed to set fairly quickly. This
seemed to make the whole gluing process go faster than I’d anticipated. With
the large plastic sheets now affixed to the rear of the dollhouse, I was ready
to begin on the curved attic section.
I had long thought about how this opening could be enclosed
and the only solution I came up with was to use a thin sheet of flexible
plastic. Since I wanted to use
something that I already had on hand, my only option was to use a sheet
protector. I cut the sheet protector to
the size and shape necessary to cover the attic opening. After cutting some black Velcro that I’d
used for another project to the length needed, I began gluing it to the roof
using clear tacky glue. At first, it
seemed that I wouldn’t need to clamp the Velcro to the roof, but then found
that clamping was necessary. With the
clamps holding the Velcro strips to the roof while waiting for the glue to dry,
I then focused on gluing with the epoxy glue the Velcro to the plastic.
Again, this was a lot easier than I had envisioned and only
a small amount of clamping was necessary since the epoxy glue dried faster than
the tacky glue. After leaving
everything to set for a few hours, I returned later to see how everything
functioned once it was put together. I
laid the plastic sheet protector that now had Velcro strips glued to it over
the attic opening, being careful to match up the Velcro and then stepped back
to admire my handiwork.
Success!! Or so I
thought at the time. The plastic over
the attic opening seemed to work out really well and it was cut exactly to fit
the opening perfectly. I then took
ahold of one end of the flexible plastic to see how removing it would
work. To my horror, the Velcro that was
glued to the sheet protector came off and remained attached to its mate that
was glued to the roof. It became
readily apparent that this method wasn’t going to work as I had thought.
I thought about my problem some, but couldn’t quickly come
up with a solution. My husband said
that I should use Velcro that already had adhesive on the backside, because that
might keep it in place better. He had
used some for an old computer project of his and still had some left over. I took some of it and affixed it to the
sheet protector in the exact same places where the glued strips had been. Then, I again laid it over the opening and
everything seemed to be great. I tried
to make a minor adjustment to the placement and discovered that when I pulled
up one corner the Velcro that had been glued to the roof began coming off. It became very apparent that I needed to use
the adhesive backed Velcro for the roof as well.
Unfortunately, my husband didn’t have anymore left, and I also
found that I had torn part of the sheet, so I would have to visit the local
fabric store and buy more. Last evening
after work, we made a trip out to the fabric store where I bought more adhesive
backed Velcro.
Today, I cut the Velcro to the length needed after
completely removing the old glued on Velcro that was coming off. I cut another plastic sheet protector to the
size I needed, using the torn one as a pattern. Then, I stuck half of the Velcro strips to the roof, taking care
to cover the roof areas that still had dried glue on it. Once those pieces were in place, I placed
the remaining Velcro strips over their mates that were adhered to the
roof. Then, I began laying the plastic
sheet over the attic opening being careful to align the sheet so that the top
edge was flush with the underside of the roof’s verge boards and trim.
So far, the adhesive Velcro is working out nicely and the dollhouse
is now completely enclosed. The next
step of course is to give the entire dollhouse a thorough dusting inside and
out and to also dust off the large table it sits on. My hope is that by enclosing this dollhouse that it will stay
dust free more easily because the rooms aren’t open to the air. Then I’ll only have to dust off the outside
of the house and the table in order to keep it looking descent.
Here are pictures of the finished project.
