Wednesday 31 August 2016

How to make a modern miniature toilet

Seeing as my dollhouse is modern style, I wanted my toilet to be 'floating' or 'wall hung'.

For some reason I have got into carving balsa wood, probably because I have accumulated sooooo much of it doing all these dollhouse renovations and I'm getting sick of everything being square!

So tools needed for a modern toilet - a block of balsa wood, this one started at roughly 6cm x 3cm.  Remember balsa is very soft wood so it is easy to cut and sand and that makes it my preferred choice of wood to use as you don't need power tools.

Other tools needed are a box cutter, small hand saw, sand paper, pen.

Get out your ruler and briefly measure the area you want the toilet to be placed to get an idea of the overall size.  My toilet is going to be about 3cm x3cm square and about 2cm in height.


I googled modern toilets to get an idea of a shape I wanted to use.  I then briefly sketched a pattern onto the outside of the wood block.

Try and use a handsaw to cut off as much excess wood as possible.  Then with the box cutter start by cutting off the corners to make more of a curved corner.

I started with a 'back' on the toilet but went a bit crazy with the craft knife and accidentally cut if off.  I should have cut the back in with my hand saw....


Once you have cut most of the wood away you can use a corse sandpaper to even out all the bumps.  I find it easier to hold the sandpaper on the bench and rub the wood over the sandpaper.  If the sandpaper is flat on a bench it sands more evenly.  Course sandpaper can leave big scratches so be careful not to push too hard.  Once you are happy with the shape finish off with a finer sandpaper to give a nice smooth finish.





This is how I will mount it after I have painted it with some white paint.  I will add finished photos when the bathroom is complete.

How to make a modern miniature side board



You will need, a handsaw or a box cutter, sandpaper and wood glue.

Firstly cut your piece of wood to size.  In theory it would be a lot easier if you used a square block of wood, but I only had this long skinny piece so I cut 3 strips the same length.  I clamped and glued the 3 pieces of wood together to get the shape and size I wanted.


 Next step is to mark the wood using a ruler and a pen.  I just randomly drew a few lines in different directions.  Carry the pattern over to the top of the wood.

Next use a metal ruler and run a box cutter or a hand saw over the lines you have drawn.  Be careful to go slowly so that the saw does not 'jump' and mark the wood beside where you want to cut.  You want the cuts to stand out, so don't be shy- make a fairly deep cut.

Next I folded a piece of sandpaper (120 grit) in half and used this to deepen and even out the cuts in the wood.  (Photo below)
Once you have finished making the cuts, give the whole cabinet a final sand to remove any pen marks or scratches.

This photo shows how I have folded the sandpaper in half and used it to make the lines deep and even.

Make sure you keep refolding the sand paper regularly as it wears out quite quickly and won't give a nice clean straight line.

Finally add some legs.  I made two small rectangles and sanded one corner down to give it a different look.  But you can quite easily just cut a a rectangle slightly smaller that the base of the cabinet and just sit it on that.