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Author Topic: Making a Barbie wardrobe.  (Read 4349 times)

Offline carlos marighela

  • Elder God
  • Posts: 10762
  • Flamenguista até morrer.
Re: Making a Barbie wardrobe.
« Reply #15 on: April 09, 2020, 01:12:10 AM »
Nice! You are lucky (I think). My daughter never evinced any interest in dolls. She preferred/prefers football, capoeira and beating the snot out of her older brother. The first two are vastly more expensive in time and $$ to Barbie and the latter brings little peace to the Valley.

We did paint up some Eureka Pond War turtles and she put in quite a decent effort.

Happy carpentry!
Em dezembro de '81
Botou os ingleses na roda
3 a 0 no Liverpool
Ficou marcado na história
E no Rio não tem outro igual
Só o Flamengo é campeão mundial
E agora seu povo
Pede o mundo de novo

Offline Cubs

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 4914
  • "I simply cannot survive without beauty ..."
Re: Making a Barbie wardrobe.
« Reply #16 on: April 09, 2020, 07:17:26 PM »
Stage eight - painting! A nice simple white coat (I was going to do pink, but little 'un requested white instead) with whatever I could find in the shed, which in this case was some acrylic we did the kitchen ceiling with. Ho hum. It had about four thin coats to avoid blobs and badness. The Barbie logo was (extremely carefully) cut out with the hand scroll saw (trusty fellow) and then glued to the wardrobe before being sanded down round the edges with a mini drill. The reason I glued it on first was because it's so delicate, the wood would probably have snapped if I'd tried to sand it without being stuck to a surface.

The doors were a colossal be-atch of a job. I hate hanging doors and apparently tiny doors are no better. It was incredibly frustrating trying to get them on straight and level and there was more than one false start, with me having to plug up the holes left by screws with little toothpick points and woodglue, then re-screw 2mm away.



Now you might be forgiven for thinking this was complete … you don't know my daughter. She is the world leader in changing her mind at the last minute.

Me: "Just white you want it?"
Her: "Yes please."
Me: "No pink flowers or anything?"
Her: "No, just white."

*waits till the white paint is done …

Her: "Actually, I think some swirly pink hearts would look nice."
Me: "Whu? Pink hearts?"
Her: "Yes, with some swirly blue decoration as well. But no flowers, so it's easier for you daddy."
Me: ".. sigh .."
« Last Edit: April 09, 2020, 07:20:34 PM by Cubs »
'Sir John ejaculated explosively, sitting up in his chair.' ... 'The Black Gang'.

Paul Cubbin Miniature Painter

Offline Roo

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 628
Re: Making a Barbie wardrobe.
« Reply #17 on: April 09, 2020, 08:38:09 PM »
Legendary effort mon ami

Offline snitcythedog

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  • Scatterbrained Genius
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    • Snitchys blog
Re: Making a Barbie wardrobe.
« Reply #18 on: April 09, 2020, 10:10:13 PM »
Top notch all around!
A bottle of scotch and two aspirin a day will greatly reduce your awareness of heart disease.
"Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference"... Mark Twain
http://snitchythedog.blogspot.com

Offline Cubs

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 4914
  • "I simply cannot survive without beauty ..."
Re: Making a Barbie wardrobe.
« Reply #19 on: April 09, 2020, 10:41:11 PM »
And of course …  now things have gone to shit.

In a train of unlikely events, all too familiar for anyone who has ever foolishly set out on any project with too much optimism and not enough realism, the wheels have come off.

First of all was the horrible swirly decoration, which looks awful but is probably what the little 'un wants. Okay. Then a load of very fiddly little jewels had to be glued on, the fumes from which have made me colour blind. It now looks like Liberace and Dolly Parton went into home furnishing design, but okay.

Then of course, I couldn't find my varnish. All I could find was a manky of can of aged Citadel Purity Seal with a nozzle that just spits the stuff out. Fine, thinks I, not to be defeated, I shall spray the filthy mess on in globs, but then brush it smoothly on with a clean brush for a nice finish.

So by this stage it's dark and I want to go outside to spray. I put the outside light on … and the bulb immediately blows. Of course, why wouldn't it?

Never mind, thinks I with more determination than intelligence, I'll do it by the kitchen light coming through - how much do I need to see anyway? It's just spray and brush! I give it two nice coats and leave it outside to dry.

I then go and get it ready to wrap … and then I see the smears. For no reason I can fathom, the varnish had started to dissolve the dry paint and then my brushing just smeared all that fiddly decoration up and down the doors. This is when I decided to have a breakdown. If that wasn't bad enough, I then immediately found my varnish.

So … guess what I'm doing tomorrow? Yup, a shit load of repainting. Yay.


Offline Ray Rivers

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 5911
Re: Making a Barbie wardrobe.
« Reply #20 on: April 09, 2020, 11:49:06 PM »
Then of course, I couldn't find my varnish. All I could find was a manky of can of aged Citadel Purity Seal with a nozzle that just spits the stuff out. Fine, thinks I, not to be defeated, I shall spray the filthy mess on in globs, but then brush it smoothly on with a clean brush for a nice finish.

Spray the stuff into the lid of the can. Then you can use your brush to put it on nicely. Brush varnishing... I do it on all my minis.

Great project, BTW.

Good luck, I'm sure things will come out okay.

Offline Atheling

  • Elder God
  • Posts: 11905
    • Just Add Water Wargaming Blog
Re: Making a Barbie wardrobe.
« Reply #21 on: April 10, 2020, 07:52:12 AM »
A great idea Cubs and a lovely one at that (not that I personally think Barbies are lovely- though I would say that ;)  :) )

Offline Hu Rhu

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Re: Making a Barbie wardrobe.
« Reply #22 on: April 10, 2020, 10:59:48 AM »
Great project and all to keep the children happy.  lol lol

By the way its nice to know that others have complete cluster**** when doing DIY type projects. I couldn't help both laughing and sympathising in equal amounts about the tribulations you are going through.  ;) ;)

Offline Cubs

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 4914
  • "I simply cannot survive without beauty ..."
Re: Making a Barbie wardrobe.
« Reply #23 on: April 10, 2020, 02:15:56 PM »
Great project and all to keep the children happy.  lol lol

By the way its nice to know that others have complete cluster**** when doing DIY type projects. I couldn't help both laughing and sympathising in equal amounts about the tribulations you are going through.  ;) ;)

I'm a great believer in the 'warts and all' style of reporting. I feel it is comforting to know how badly we all balls up, no matter how experienced.

Offline Flinty

  • Librarian
  • Posts: 156
Re: Making a Barbie wardrobe.
« Reply #24 on: April 10, 2020, 04:30:59 PM »
Why I have steadfastly refused to build anything for the children, and just buy it.

I feel it is comforting to know how badly we all balls up, no matter how experienced.

You have given me hope, although I seem doomed to endlessly repeat my myriad mistakes, its nice to see I am occasionally joined in the outer darkness by others.




Offline Cubs

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 4914
  • "I simply cannot survive without beauty ..."
Re: Making a Barbie wardrobe.
« Reply #25 on: April 10, 2020, 09:32:23 PM »

Offline Tactalvanic

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1566
Re: Making a Barbie wardrobe.
« Reply #26 on: April 10, 2020, 09:49:38 PM »
Great project, and no doubt at the end , will be another class piece of your work, regardless of the hell it put you through to get there.

I find that every day, its more and more justified that I stick to being a pessimistic optimist.

No matter how bad it ends up, everyday, no matter the events that transpire I am expecting something even worse

So when that does not happen, its still a better than expected day!

Offline syrinx0

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  • Posts: 3146
Re: Making a Barbie wardrobe.
« Reply #27 on: April 11, 2020, 02:02:18 AM »
In spite of al the unexpected trials and duplication of work it will be a Cubs masterpiece.  I am sure in the end you will prevail. Might be a bit of sanity loss but failure is not an option.   lol
2024: B: 0; P: 148; 2023: B:77; P:37;

Offline Cubs

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 4914
  • "I simply cannot survive without beauty ..."
Re: Making a Barbie wardrobe.
« Reply #28 on: April 11, 2020, 02:06:03 PM »
Stage nine - decorating. Fiddly, swirly, pain in the arse decorations on, repaired and touched-up after the smeary varnish debacle, with little jewels added and a proper gloss spray-on varnish applied … twice. It's pretty much done now except for the clasp that will hold the doors shut (it's a jewellery box clasp and is on the way) and some coat-hangers (also on the way).

  I originally wanted to make wire coat-hangers for it using an ingenious method I devised myself - wrap florist wire round a ruler for the shape, twist at the top, bend one end over a bit of dowel for the hook and snip off the excess. Like I say, it's ingenious! It's also complete ballix because the wire just kept snapping at the twisting stage - anything thicker would not have twisted and anything thinner would be too soft to keep its shape. I checked online and at £2 for 20 plastic Barbie coat-hangers I was left wondering why I even tried. If the hooks on the plastic hangers are too small for the dowel rail, luckily I haven't glued it in, so I can just replace it with something thinner.


Scrubber

  • Guest
Re: Making a Barbie wardrobe.
« Reply #29 on: April 11, 2020, 02:55:32 PM »
That is so cool. What a brilliant daddy.
However if Barrie is anything like my son was, then if your lucky clothing makes it as far as the floor near the wardrobe.