Books are obviously a thing I love, but so are miniatures. I’ve loved dolls houses ever since I was a kid and had a well-loved bunch of Sylvanian Families playsets along with various collections of small things.
So perhaps unsurprisingly, one of the things on my 2020 writing Christmas gift post was a mini DIY study, a craft kit made up of tiny parts that you stick together to make a tiny study full of books. I swooned over it and was lucky enough to receive it as a gift. And if you’re interested in it, read on as I’m going to do a review of my experience with it.
The good
- You can do each piece or group of pieces one at a time, in pretty much any order. The instructions advise you to build furniture first, followed by the accessories, books etc but there’s no real dependency or order you have to do things in.
- The pieces are of a decent quality. I only found one piece that was a cut a bit off and tricky to glue.
- It will keep you occupied for a good while. The number of pieces along with the need to let things dry means it will probably last you a few weeks.
- It looks awesome when finished and you feel a real sense of accomplishment.
The bad
- The pieces come in lots of plastic bags, which isn’t great for the environment but I will be reusing them. You’d expect the pieces for each item to be together in a bag, but this isn’t the case. And the key to identifying what you need is confusing, so I found most pieces by eye.
- You may need to hold things together whilst the glue dries – make sure something interesting is on the TV.
- The instructions are not always clear. Sometimes it shows you the pieces and says “assemble”. But unlike the Avengers, they won’t just do so when you ask.
- The light. You’ll notice that the working light is not in my build. This is because you have to wire it up (in miniature), use a lighter to shrink the sealant and try to glue metal with not-for-metal glue. So that did not happen.
In total it took me a few weeks. Minus the “shall I attempt the light” procrastinating that went on for, well, a couple of months. You can’t do it for too long as your eyes go funny. But glad I did it and it’s now seated on my bookshelf looking spiffy.
What do you think? Have you tried anything like this yourself? Maybe you’ve got a craft project on the go you’d like to big up? Please share in the comments.
19/09/2021 at 6:41 PM
OMG! That is adorable!
I love that so much, obsessed❤️
21/09/2021 at 5:30 PM
It is gorgeous!
19/09/2021 at 8:16 PM
Thanks for the experience share! I LOVE realistic miniatures – dollhouses, model railroading, etc., saw those kits come out a long time ago and thought to me self, “Self? If you are READY to actually do this?? You have a printer and software, and craft paper, and 40 different weights of card stock available for ordering, and software for designing (still learning!) AND – you know how to use a wide array of glues – (from 2 year old, non-toxic, won’t kill myself if I forget and eat it’ glue stick to OMG! just GLUED MY FINGERS together! Where is the rubbing alchohol/nail polish remover I keep on hands for Krazy Glue emergencies when I’m in a hurry to repair something…???!” LOL – – Thanks! I’ll keep my dream dollhouse, I’ll someday build, and make for, on the list, but the order in kits? just moved over, fully, to the ‘well, I’ll wait another 10 years and see whether they are even still available….” LOL
21/09/2021 at 5:30 PM
They’re not for the faint hearted! I wouldn’t do one again in a hurry but I loved the results.
21/09/2021 at 7:19 PM
You certainly did a beautiful job! I made complete outfits for Barbie dolls for a long time – including thigh-high lacy hose, beaded shoes and underwear – and my mom thought I was nutz even though she was a life long stitching/make it master! LOl – but um, yeah, I’m clumsy with glue – I’ve never sewed my fingers together, but I certainly have glued them together…and got the glue in my hair…and…..LOL
22/09/2021 at 5:56 PM
Wow that’s some good effort on the Barbie outfits! I think the closest I got was some scissors and a sock.
23/09/2021 at 2:29 AM
LOL! My first ‘foray’ into making for “Barbie?” Card board boxes and styrofoam inserts, from my dad, glued together to make my own ‘cardboard box, barbie house with furniture, then learning how to take a square of cloth, fold it in half, cut out a neckline and pick a scrap piece of ribbon/lace or learn to sew on a tiny button from the ‘button box’ to secure the sides/waistline – Ta Da! Insta wardrobe of dresses, short, long, stitched to resemble the culouts, dress pants in the 70s etc., LOL – I learned early on, I loved ‘making for Barbie’ more than I liked ‘playing pretend’ with her and her pals – LOL. The making of it, was fun!
25/09/2021 at 4:45 PM
It’s great how toys can end up being fun and teaching us in many ways. The funnest part of playing with my Sylvanian Families was always setting them all up!
19/09/2021 at 8:17 PM
❤
20/09/2021 at 6:52 AM
You have the patience of the saints! Great job!
My sis has always been into miniatures, but I’m the yarn-work, candle-making type. 😀
21/09/2021 at 5:28 PM
Thanks! It’s not something I’ll repeat in a hurry. I quite like mosaic making, maybe a bit of painting usually.
21/09/2021 at 7:24 PM
I’ve always wanted to “try” painting but am clueless where and how to begin.
22/09/2021 at 5:54 PM
My method is put paint (or pencil or whatever else comes to hand) on paper! I am not an artist by any means, but I do find it relaxing.
24/09/2021 at 1:22 PM
I love that so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was obsessed with everything miniature as a kid (and kinda still am). This is so up my alley
25/09/2021 at 4:43 PM
It’s cracking isn’t it? They also do other kits which are sort of tempting – but not for a while yet!