Building the Single Peak Dolly House

Post by **Lynn** » Sat Jan 09, 2016 7:21 pm

Howard your houses came out great I really like the red roof with the windows and the door.

Regarding the staples of all the pictures I've seen the Dolly houses bases didn't have a botton piece of cardboard so I am thinking the staples just held the base together and gave it the strength it needed to prevent it from clasping, but I don't have an original so just a therory.

Post by **Laurie** » Sat Jan 09, 2016 7:38 pm

Lucy, I have had the same problem with uneven coating of houses. I do a side at a time, but I was tapping out the glitter with my finger and from a spice jar. The last house I just did, I shook the jar with my whole hand and was not frugal with how much I used. It came out a lot better. The extra just shakes off anyway so that's not a problem. It is much easier to coat evenly with 'coconut', but I think glitter and mica just need more practice.

The Dollys that I have, without a flat base, have a little metal clip like piece at each corner to secure the corners. That might be what you meant by staples.

Post by **Howard** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 7:28 am

Laurie...

I know exactly the "corner staples" you described...I spent way too much time looking for then on line in late 2015...they're last century fastening technology...if my memory serves me correctly, they had the name " bulldog" in the description...or "bulldog" could have been the maker...so far I haven't been able to find them...

Howard...

Post by **Laurie** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 2:25 pm

It would be neat if you could find them Howard. I wonder if they are still made. I have one of the nice, heavy, fully coated Dollys that Ted had as a HOM in 2009 and that base has the corner clips on the main base, and then the fence is attached over the top of the main base with actual staples. The staples cover the corner clips and just hold on the fence. I think maybe anything goes with the Dollys. Kind of interesting.

Post by **Laurie** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 3:24 pm

Here is my version of the 1st Dolly house, using Lynn and Howard's plans. Like Lynn, I am building a more traditional set. So many of the Dolly sets were interchanged with patterns and colors and I am loosely following the houses found in the 1941 Ward's Wishbook on Ted's site.

: Dolly House 1A.JPG (269.54 KiB) Viewed 17571 times

Post by **Lynn** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 4:06 pm

Laurie

Your Dolly house came out so nice. It looks like you used paint for the snow, I really like it, true to the originals. Your mica looks right on, I know how hard it is to get just the right flake size.

I am really enjoying seeing everyones houses!

Post by **Howard** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 4:42 pm

Laurie...
You're a fast worker!...really fast...looks "catalog fresh" to me...

(I wonder how many thousands of dolly houses were delivered to homes across America during the years the company was in business)...

Thank you for posting your version...

Howard...

Post by **Laurie** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 4:47 pm

Thanks Lynn and Howard. I did use paint for the snow, and try as hard as I may, this is the finest I could get the mica. It's not near as fine as the originals, but I like it, so it works for now. I'm still going to experiment with the mica though.