Dollhouse Enclosure Project Update

In February, I posted an update of what progress I’ve made with enclosing my dollhouse.  Last weekend, the weather was warm enough to have windows open.  So, I took advantage of the unseasonably high winter temperature, flung open the windows, and resumed working on re-gluing the Velcro strips to the plastic sheets using the epoxy glue.

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.

Swamablog Update

I haven’t posted anything in awhile and this is to let you all know what I’ve been doing.

Dollhouse Enclosure Project

When I last wrote I had been working to enclose one of my dollhouses.  I do have the necessary epoxy type glue that should work to adhere the Velcro strips to the plastic sheets.  Presently, I’m waiting for it to get warmer here so that I can have the windows open while using the toxic-smelling glue.

Rhoda Caroline Richardson Womble Research

I’m still waiting for the copies of the membership records of the Womble family from the Elm Street Methodist Church that I ordered from the Archivist at the Tennessee Conferences Archives, History Depository.  I called them a couple of weeks back to find out what had happened with the copies that were going to be mailed to me.  The woman I spoke with said that the minister told her he probably mailed them to the wrong address.  I gave her my address again and was told that they would be sent to me within a couple of days.  I’m considering that if I don’t receive them in a few days that I’ll send them a SASE asking for the information again, which is probably what I should have done initially, but I wasn’t sure how much 10 pages of information would cost to mail. 

Embroidery/Knitting Projects

What I’ve been doing while waiting for these much anticipated copies is working on Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum’s “Once Upon A Time” that I’m making for one of my sisters.  I had barely started it when I first purchased it back in 1995 and only started dedicating a serious chunk of my time to work on the piece in January 2012.  I’ve been trying to spend most of my weekends stitching and this past week even decided to work on it a bit during the week.

At the same time that I’m cross-stitching this, I’m also knitting a cable knit sweater of which is about a little over halfway done.   One of the knitting blogs I read suggested working on more knitting projects at one time—basically to stop being a knitting monogamist. I considered this and then while spending so much time cross-stitching during this long holiday weekend on the piece for my sister, the idea came to me to take up embroidering more projects at one time. Basically, to stop being an embroidery monogamist!  

I won’t try this though until after my current embroidery project is completely finished!

Reading

I recently finished reading Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence, a book that I’ve always wanted to read.  Another book that I’ve finished reading is While My Pretty One Knits from the Black Sheep Knitting Mysteries series. This seemed to be a better read than the knitting mysteries written by Maggie Sefton, which after reading 2 ½ of them-the third I just couldn’t finish.  I do really like the characters in Maggie’s books, but by the third mystery the story seemed to be too much of a rehash of the first two books in the series.  It was a bit disappointing to me not to finish the third, A Deadly Yarn because the budding romance between the main character and one of the guys on the local softball team interested me, the people in knitting group were great too.  I can see I’m digressing here and will have to post something just about knitting mysteries or craft mysteries in general at a later date.

Dollhouse Enclosure Project

Earlier this year I had made the resolution that I would come up with a way to enclose one of my dollhouses.  I had made an attempt in the past using clear plastic panels and thin sheet magnets, but it turned out that the magnets weren’t strong enough to hold together.

I had toyed with the idea of using Velcro and plastic panels.  This idea had progressed to the point that I bought some thin green Velcro that was intended to be used for gardening that I planned to use, but had never gotten much further with my progress. 

The project made it onto my list of 2012 resolutions and pretty much remained in the background as I worked on the other items on my list of resolutions.  After talking to my dad via Skype on Christmas day about my dollhouse, I suddenly felt inspired to work on enclosing the house again.

After purchasing a few more supplies for the project last night, I set to work on it again early in the afternoon.  Using clear Tacky glue, I glued pieces of the thin green Velcro to the top and bottom opening of the living room.  Then, I glued sections of the Velcro to the clear plastic panels, carefully matching up the lengths of Velcro that had been glued to the opening around the living room.

I set the plastic panel aside, and when I returned I expected that the glue would’ve set.  Unfortunately, I learned that the Tacky glue wasn’t holding the Velcro to the plastic very well.  I lamented at this and my husband suggested that I use super glue. 

I think I’ve mentioned in a previous post about my miniature projects that I have almost a phobia about working with super glue.  My fear is still intact, but I did follow my husband’s suggestion and tried using super glue to adhere the Velcro to the plastic panels.  This appears to have worked out great.

We’ll see what happens as this project progresses.  So far, only one room is enclosed on one side of the house.  I have the panel for the 2^nd floor bedroom in the works now and will try it out on the house tomorrow.

The back side of the dollhouse will be the biggest challenge because I’ll have to use more than one panel to cover it.  I haven’t quite worked out how I’ll make this work, but I’m sure I’ll come up with something.