Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Vintage Doll Furniture


I received this treasure on my wedding day.  My aunt saved them for me after my great grandmother passed away.
My dad made them himself from soda cans when he was a kid.


 He made this set as pincushions for his grandmother, which is why my aunt saved them for the sewer in the family :)  I love having something that he made to remind me of him.  He was a very handy DIYer and my mom has always been crafty, I think it's safe to say I got my creative spirit from my parents.
 Apparently, this type of crafting was popular in the 60's and 70's.  Tin can furniture was also used as dollhouse furniture.   I was fascinated by the detail, and recreating this project has been in the back of my mind for nearly 4 years.  I finally decided it was time to try it out yesterday.  I googled high and low, but there really isn't much information out there on quilling tin cans into doll furniture.


So I studied the two pieces I had, and tried to recreate them. Here is what I came up with!

 It took about 2 hours to cut up and quill the cans, and the cushions took about 30 minutes. Not too bad, all things considered.
 I learned a few things just from doing it on my own, and I'm planning a tutorial to share what I learned.  I'll share how I made the chair, footstool, and hopefully a rocking chair as well.  Tutorial is up here!
Natalie was ecstatic when they were finally finished and we could play with them (she desperately wanted to play with the originals when I pulled them off the shelf to study them).  She's had little wooden people from her train set sitting on them all day :)

1 comments:

Doll Furniture said...

These are absolutely gorgeous! I love the uniqueness and the elegance.