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Author Topic: Popsicle Stick Manor. Or: D1 and his little girl build a house together...  (Read 1986 times)

Offline Daeothar

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And now, for something completely different... :D

For over a year now, my little girl has been saving up all her wooden popsicle sticks to build something with; I don't know if she got the idea at the daycare center or by observing her hoarding dad, but there we are. And lately, she's been eying the ever growing crop of sticks, proudly standing in a mug on the kitchen window sill, stating that by now, there should be enough to build a house.

And there was (to the single last stick, it turned out)...

So last weekend, we finally set to it; we were going to build a real house for her Playmobil figures. I covered the kitchen table with newspaper, cut a base from a scrap piece of 5mm MDF, and we set to work. I did some preparational work, like drilling some holes for bamboo skewers to function as a framework and off we went.

I was in charge of overall planning and cutting the sticks, and the little one was in charge of glueing everything together with PVA. Something she took to with a huge amount of enthousiasm and much less control, but we had a lot of fun!  ;D

After a couple of hours though, she (understandably) lost her focus, so I finished the last bit of the construction by myself. But most of the work we did together, and she was mightily proud of the end result. And I of her...  :)

I had to really restrain myself from going to town on our little house when she scurried off to fuss with her toys, but I just couldn't help myself and added a working door ::) She loved it though...


The finished house in its unpainted glory

When she was sound asleep, I took the finally dry project down to the garage and sprayed it with a good coat of varnish, because we had agreed that we would be painting the house the next day, and the craft paints we would be using would otherwise just soak right into the wood. And since explaining the virtue of laying on several thin coats of paint would probably be a(nother) lesson in futility when dealing with a 3 year old, I decided to just play it safe. :D

Yesterday afternoon, we took out the brushes, and on went the colors. I don't think it was a coincidence that the colors she wanted were exactly those of her Hello Kitty not-Duplo set... ::) So white, a light yellow and of course pink were put on with a largish brush (these were some serious surfaces), and we left it to dry again.


Varnish undercoated and ready for paint. Note the brush already being held at the ready!


Paint being laid down. Pink of course; lots of pink...

And when she was tucked in for the night, I could not help myself, and painted a small fairy holding a wand and paintbrush on the side of the roof, together with the first letter of her name. With Vallejo paints this time; I may be a perfectionist control freak, but I'm no masochist; those craft paints suck! lol Finishing off, the base was painted green, because it had previously been left unpainted.


She spends a remarkable amount of time running around the house sporting a tutu and fairy wings, so this was as appropriate as it gets!

I left the rest completely untouched though; this was first and foremost her project, and I wanted her to be able to be proud of her own work. I did apply another coat of varnish to seal everything in. After all; this house is meant to be played with!


I had been planning to set up a nice beauty shot, but it immediately being played with seemed even better...


That's one happy little lady playing with her Playmobil in her DIY house (and, for some unfathomable reason, a chapstick?)

Anyway; this was something very different to do for us both, but I really loved this project with the little Khaleesi, and it's been all she's been talking about this weekend. In fact, after dinner yesterday, she immediately requested my wife to give her a popsicle instead of her usual cup of yoghurt, because she wants to save up more to make another house. I can't wait... :)

« Last Edit: March 21, 2017, 07:53:29 AM by Daeothar »
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Offline Silent Invader

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Sweet.  :D

When they were (much) younger I used to make matchstick houses with my girls.
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Offline The Voivod

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Awesome dude.
Lovely project.
Props to the Khalesi
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Offline Momotaro

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What a lovely project!

Offline Noverre Man

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A real treat to see you doing some proper making, thank you.
You are never too old to be childish

Offline Vanvlak

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Great little project - nice freehand paintwork too  8) 8) 8)

Offline Vladimir Raukov

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 :-* A great build and a fantastic bonding experience! Even better, it's being played with! Kind of mysterious that there were exactly the right amount of popsicle sticks, though...

Offline Daeothar

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Thank you for the kind words gentlemen; I've conveyed the praise to my partner in crime, but the whole concept of people in faraway places commenting on what she has done has proven to be a bit too abstract for now... ;)

Like I said; it's a far cry from the painstaking detail I usually strive for, but there certainly is something liberating about not planning further ahead than half and hour and playing it loose and easy!

@ Silent Invader: now there's an idea. Those would be better suited for a smaller scale though. I must measure how they would relate to Lego figures... :D

@ Vladimir Raukov; yes; I seriously used the very last stick  on the roof and cheated a bit by using the handle bits of the bamboo skeweres we used for the shutters. I would like to say this was all due to my excellent planning skills and artizan's eye, but I must admit it simply was a happy little accident of Bob Ross-like proportions... lol

Offline Wirelizard

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Wait until she learns you can buy craft sticks by the bag... on the other hand, those ones don't come with bonus popsicles attached!

Offline Malebolgia

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One of the coolest topics I have seen in ages. You've got me smiling man 8)
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Offline vodkafan

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Excellent project. When will you introduce her to the concept of dice and modifiers for her games....
I am going to build a wargames army, a big beautiful wargames army, and Mexico is going to pay for it.

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figures bought: 500+
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Offline Daeothar

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Malebolgia: Glad to induce smiles with this little project  :)

Vodkafan: lol  

When she butts in during my painting sessions, she pulls up a chair, sits way too close for me to paint unobstructed, asks me a thousand questions (she's in her 'why?' phase right now ::) ) and starts rolling the D10 and D6 dice that somehow always seem to be lying around on my desk. This as a prelude to asking if she can paint with me (which is of course always fine).

She just loves rolling the dice; right now a game with them for her is us simply taking turns rolling dice. But she has already learned to count, and she's starting to grasp the idea of dice rolls (she also likes my X-Wing dice, but those symbols are too abstract lol ).

So it won't be much longer before we can start playing simple games. Wargames will have to wait for a bit I think (she's 3 years old after all), but I did recently buy a second hand Dutch version of Island of Blood, as it has the WHFB rules in a handy small booklet. That way, I won't have to wait for her to also learn English first... :D
« Last Edit: March 29, 2017, 10:29:04 AM by Daeothar »

 

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