Modern Dollhouse Miniature Bookcase_Decorated1

Finished the Modern Bookcase!

The bookcases are done!

I just finished finishing the bookcases I am super pleased with how they turned out. With that, I decided to give it a whirl with some Re-ment goodies that I had laying around.

Finished modern dollhouse miniature bookcase, just to give you an idea of the scale

This picture makes me look like I have giant man hands, but I don’t! It’s just to give you an idea of the scale.

Decorated the modern dollhouse miniature bookcase with Rement goodies

Most of the stuff used to decorate the bookcase is from the Rement Japanese Onsen set. The background is the Japanese paper my sister gave me a while back.

As for the details about the finishing process, all I used was 2 cans of Krylon flat white spray paint and lots of sand paper. I was painting other stuff too, so I didn’t just use 2 cans of spray paint on *just* the bookcases. That would be silly.

I lost count of the number of paint+sanding passes it took to get it to the level of finish that I wanted. I usually do quite a few of them with the normal sized stuff I make anyways. As for this mini book case, it was more annoying for a few reasons.

I made the bookcases out of Basswood which is a new crafting material for me, because I’ve only ever used hardwoods or plywood in wood projects. Basswood is very soft compared to the typical materials I’ve used where you can even cut fairly thick pieces of them with a hobby knife. This makes it an accessible material to many people since it doesn’t require power tools to cut it.

But one of the big down sides (in my opinion) to softwoods is that the wood fibers are not as long as, nor packed as dense as hardwoods which may result in a fuzziness, like peach fuzz on the surface of the milled wood. This fuzziness makes it really obnoxious to finish the final piece. Its even more obnoxious when you’re trying to finish teeny tiny crevices of a piece.

But don’t get me wrong, I really like working with Basswood. I can actually find it in sheet sizes that are perfect for 1:12 miniatures and it is indeed very easy to work with. In the future, I’ll definitely be giving it a clear coat of shellac and a light sand to get rid of the fuzzies before cutting and assembling. I think that should help cut down on the fuzzies when it comes time to finish the piece.

All in all, a great project and a great learning experience.

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10 Responses to Finished the Modern Bookcase!

  1. Oese September 3, 2010 at 4:10 pm #

    I love your work, thanks for sharing! the bookcase is so sweet with all the re-ment-stuff in it. I’ve got a parcel with re-ment today too.

    • Ann September 3, 2010 at 5:15 pm #

      Thank you for your comment Oese! And I love re-ment miniatures too…. I am addicted to them!

  2. Lyssa September 4, 2010 at 7:12 am #

    Aw, see? It turned out really great! *cheerleading* I work with basswood, too. It helps to sand it a bunch BEFORE doing anything else. I use 200 and 320 to keep the wood from getting ripped up since it is so soft. I think I will need bookcases like this when I get around to doing the gallery…

    • Ann September 4, 2010 at 2:17 pm #

      I did sand before cutting them, but the fuzzies still attacked during the finishing process. *grumbles* So I think pre-finishing the wood a bit helps… I’m already working on the next project… so far so good.

  3. callsmall September 6, 2010 at 8:28 pm #

    Really impressive!!! It looks amazing, and suits all of that Re-ment very well! Great job, and keep it up! If you make any more, I’d love to swap sometime 😉

    • Ann September 7, 2010 at 12:34 am #

      Thank for the kind words callsmall! I’ll definitely be up for a swap in the future! =D

  4. Leftcoastmini September 18, 2010 at 12:37 am #

    Love the bookcase. Very sleek. CM

    • Ann September 22, 2010 at 12:33 pm #

      Thanks CM!

  5. Hanna/ Miniature Chef February 4, 2011 at 4:50 pm #

    Love this bookcase it is so stylish! And the Ikea table with chairs is also amazing, you got a great talent!

    • Ann February 7, 2011 at 10:58 pm #

      Thank you for your kind words, Hanna!

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