A Breakfast At Tiffany's Happy Ending!

This past week I was able to focus on the last few tasks for the Breakfast At Tiffany's custom order. The big job, creating a door based on the brownstone's, was challenging! You see, the dollhouse kit's door openings are much slimmer, and instead of a copy of the original basement door, the client wanted both doors to match. Here's the comparison photo to refresh your memory:

Client's Park Avenue Kit Left, BAT house right.

I had to try to capture the detail and feel of the door in a much more compact design. The main BAT door has two windows on top. The client said she could live without them, but I was determined to try and make that feature a reality for her. Since she wanted to paint the doors herself, this created another challenge because I had to make the glass removable. I cut the doors from 2 mm chipboard, two outer layers and an inner core, with the Maker. This allowed me to create a recess for the glass to slide into. This sequence of photos shows how the window feature will function:

Lexan and trim piece cut to size.

Slide Lexan into recess.

Lexan seated into cavity.

Insert top trim piece.

A pin hinge has to fit here, too. Tight!

I created the door parts in Tinkercad, then 3D printed detail molding pieces to fit into the chipboard recesses. Here are the doors with the detail molding glued in, dry fit into the door frames and with the two different pediment options. I included both pediment options for the client to choose from once she's seen a live dry fit. The basement door does not have windows per the client's request. I also added the same 1/16" x 1/4" trim detail onto the door frame to match the window frames. This is to try to recreate the stepped depth look of the original facade details. I think she could even add an additional 1/16" x 1/8" piece on top of all of the frames to even further the effect.

If you remember, the client had sent me both doors and their frames from the kit so that I would have exact measurements. This was great so that once I made the new doors, I could actually mount the doors into the frames. After priming, sanding and drilling holes for the pin hinges, I mounted them. The client asked that the doors open from the left instead of the right, so I changed the hinge pin holes on the door frames, as well.

Basement door front and back

Main door front and back

Doors Opened. The chipboard has been rounded off so it does not get hung up on the frame.

The client thought, after seeing the fancier large window pediment, maybe she'd want the large window above the entry to match all seven of the other slim windows. I printed a simple rounded pediment and sent both so that she could choose her favorite once she'd seen them both in person.

Large window with fancier pediment, with simpler pediment and slim window.

I was surprised that the door portion of the project went so well and so quickly! Because of that, I was able to get final approval from the client, get paid and ship her package well before the one month time frame that I quoted to her! Here's a collage of the final order, though I included a lot of extra architectural elements (not pictured) for fun.

I can't emphasize enough what an amazing opportunity this was! I was challenged in many new ways, learned so much about the possibilities of my tools and myself, and was able to help a fellow miniaturist fulfill a dream! It just doesn't get any better than that!

Now that this fun distraction is finished, I'm looking forward to getting back to the Beachside Bungalow's kitchen. Hopefully, I'll have some progress to share with you next week!

xo xo,

Jodi

3D Printing The BAT Designs

The work continues in all my spare time on the Breakfast At Tiffany's facade project. In fact, so much work has been required, that I haven't had a moment to think about the Beachside Bungalow. I hope it's not worried that I have forgotten it!

The next step in the BAT project was to start the 3D printing. Most of the files took an entire day or longer to print, so it was a long process. I also had a four day conference to attend, so time has flown since my last post! I don't have a true step by step to share, so I'll just share some info about the process that I hope you'll find interesting.

For the pediment piece to the doorway entry, it took just under 14 hours to print. I did not get to bed until long after midnight that night. Luckily, the print went perfectly so the only hard part was staying awake!

The hour glass on the left represents how much time has elapsed and the one on the right tells you how long you have left to go. After four hours and fifteen minutes, it seems like very little progress.

After 4 hours and 15 minutes.

This is what you see if you sit mesmerized in front of the printer, as I often do.

A long while later...

And finally finished...

Once the main piece and the side trim and detail pieces were printed, I could see my design in the physical world. I really like it! This is going to be one grand entryway!

The other pieces went really well, too, and will require only minor finishing! Here are the corbels. I printed the file two times to make a total of twelve of them. The customer only needs eleven, but you can always use an extra fancy bracket somewhere in a house like the BAT house.

For the large window and all seven small ones, after printing, I had to test out my design. The cornice supports were easily pulled off with pliers and fit over the window frames perfectly.

I removed the wooden sills and trim and replaced them with the new 3D printed sill with attached corbels. I also added a strip of 1/16" x 1/4" basswood to each side of the frames to add an extra layer of detail. It mimics the BAT windows much better, now.

With all of the printing in progress, I concentrated on designing the front and basement doors. Here's a refresher of what the BAT doors look like:

To construct these, I will be cutting them in three layers of 2 mm chipboard: An inner core and a carved interior and exterior layer to sandwich it. The basement door will be solid, while the front door will have a panel of glass at the top like the original door.

To add the molding detail, I created an insert which will be 3D printed and slotted inside the carved top layer, interior and exterior.

My first test print of the molding inserts went fairly well, though one of the knobs fell off. A little revision to the design is in order.

I exported the pieces to be cut in chipboard as an .svg file from Tinkercad, then uploaded the file into Cricut's Design Space software. It worked like a charm, and the pieces are ready to cut. I just need the final design approval from the customer and then I can get started.

Once the door pieces are cut, I can assemble them and mount them into the door frames. I printed pediments to top the wooden door frames, too, so they'll need test fits and possible adjustments.

Hopefully, for the customer's sake and the Beachside Bungalow's, too, I'll be shipping this project out in a couple weeks!

Until next time, my friends!

xo xo,

Jodi

The Custom Order Continues...

Not much in the way of content for this week's post (a relief to some, I am sure, lol!). With limited mini time, I just continued the work designing architectural elements to be 3D printed for the Park Avenue Dollhouse. Last week, I completed the main doorway pediment and trims. That left a large window cornice and it's sill with corbels, seven small window cornices and their sills with corbels, eleven roof corbels and finally pediments and trim for the main and basement doors.

Large window, mock-up door and roof corbel.

The customer mailed both doors, the large window and one of the slim windows to me. This way, I can test fit the 3D printed pieces for a perfect fit. These elements are included in the Park Avenue kit.

If you recall, the customer wants to pay homage to the brownstone's facade from the movie Breakfast At Tiffany's. Because the Park Avenue kit is not an exact replica in scale or layout, some adjustments had to be made.

Park Avenue Kit Left, Breakfast At Tiffany's Façade Right.

By making rounded cornices for the tops of the square window frames, I think the look has been achieved and, once installed, will be recognized as the BAT facade in spite of the structural differences.

For the sill with corbels, the customer will just remove the sill and trim piece from the bottom of the kit's window and replace them with the 3D printed upgrade. 

From beneath, you can see that there is a recess that will fit down over the top of the original kit window's frame for easy installation. 

The six windows that go in the bay protrusion of the facade will have simple rounded pediments for the tops and bottom sills with corbels. I made 3 designs, and the customer picked design C.

The basement window will be much the same.

There was not enough space above the door frames to create a rounded cornice for them. Instead, I took the lintel feature from the doorway pediment and made that into a decorative piece that can be attached to the top of each door frame. In addition to the corbels that hold the pediment up, there are pedestal pieces which attach to the bottoms of each of the door frames. They are also based on the design from the pilasters that frame the main doorway's pediment piece. The doors themselves are going to be much closer to the BAT inspiration door, but for those, I'll be cutting them with the Cricut Maker. I can create them in Tinkercad, then just export them in the file format used by the Maker - .svg. 

For the corbels that will support the roof cornice, I used the same acanthus leaf bracket to comprise the details. They are the exact measurements as the more simple brackets that came with the kit, just fancier.

Kit's corbels:

Now, the real test will begin. Finding the right combination of settings in the slicer program will be the next hurtle. I've got five separate files to print, two of them twice. What I need most now is all the prayers, finger crossing and luck I can get! Hopefully, by next week's post, I'll have actual, physical pieces to share with you!

The corbel file in the slicer program.

After two hours of printing. Still 6 hours and 50 minutes to go. This file gets printed twice!

In the meantime, I finally got the 1/8" x 1/8" oak and maple in the mail from Bill and Walt's. That means I can start on the butcher block countertops for the Beachside Bungalow, time permitting. With an application of wood wax, the depth of color and richness should really come out!

So much exciting work to do, so few spare hours in the day! Happy October everyone!!!

xo xo,

Jodi