Halloween craft Archives - Dollhouse Diary

Now that you’ve finished building the castle room box, let’s get to work on making a comfortable living space for its resident vampire.

Make It or Buy It?

You have many choices when it comes to dollhouse and diorama accessories. First, you should consider how handy you are with DIY projects and whether building a wooden table, for example, provides enough satisfaction to make your time worthwhile. Secondly, do you have the right supplies on hand, or will you have to purchase something you don’t currently have? In this lesson, I try to weigh the considerations I just mentioned, offering my take on what I think works best. I also provide some helpful sources for inexpensive purchases or DIY options.

Essential Castle Furnishings

If nothing else, you need the following to set the right atmosphere for the castle room box:

A fireplace
A table (to hold the scenery “props”)
An upholstered wingback chair
A side table (our vampire needs a place to set his food and beverage while chilling out)
A coffin (an absolute MUST for any self-respecting vampire!)

So let’s get started with these essential castle elements!

Fireplace: Make It!

These things are very pricey if purchased ready-made. They’re surprisingly simple to construct and can be made from common household materials, so I say “Make It!

For this project, the fireplace can be made of cardboard and covered in either 1) egg carton “stones” or 2) painted with a mixture of spackling compound and paint for an aged plaster look. Here’s an easy, straightforward approach from the blog Little Vintage Cottage

Table from Dollar Tree: Buy It!

While some of their dollhouse furniture is not to scale or of poor quality, Dollar Tree sells a couple of great items worth buying again and again. One is a console style table that works in a variety of dollhouse settings. If you buy online, you have to purchase a bundle of dollhouse furniture that sells for about $25. NOT worth it, in my view, so shop in person and get the table (or several, which can be used in future projects.)

Prepping the table: Sand lightly if you feel the finish is too rough. Use a dark wood stain or paint the table in your choice of color and add a finishing coat of polyurethane varnish.

Dollar Tree Dollhouse Console (stained for a previous project )

Dollar Tree Dollhouse Dresser (unstained)

Upholstered Wingback Chair: Make It!

Because the right fabric color is important to the look of the castle, you’ll probably have to make the chair from scratch. This requires about 1/8 yard of a deep red medium weight fabric. Too thin, and the chair frame shows through; too thick and it’s too stiff and hard to work with in covering the chair.

Here’s one Bentley House template I’ve used with success in making wingback chairs. See what you think, and find an alternative if you choose to.

A word of caution: Tacky glue easily sticks to fabric even in areas where you don’t intend it to happen, so it’s a good idea to keep a damp cloth or paper towel nearby to clean your fingers. I would love to say that my glue fingerprints were totally by design in this pic; it’s an old castle with aging furnishings, and the chair needs to look like it’s accumulated spider webs… but I would be lying. I didn’t clear the glue off my fingers often enough, but was actually pleased with the outcome. Nevertheless, WIPE YOUR FINGERS while working with fabric and glue.

Side Table: Buy or Make It, You Decide!

I’ve tried different table options to sit beside the vampire’s chair, and all of them have worked. In deciding whether you want to make a table yourself, keep in mind that its main purpose is to hold accessories (tray, wine bottle, glass, books, etc.)

An easy option is a wooden dresser from Dollar Tree’s dollhouse furniture collection, featured above. On this I would use a dark stain followed by polyurethane or even a crackle finish.

For a more interesting bit of detail, constructing a side table is another possibility. I’ve had good experiences with an occasional table from the following side table tutorial which comes with a cutout template, making the job really straight forward.

Coffin: Uhm, Probably Buy It!

I built the coffin shown in the Vampire Castle post myself but given the challenge of assembling the item so everything lines up neatly, I recommend buying a printable version. After researching this for a while to find the right size, I found this $4 printable template with a separate coffin and lid. After assembly, it can be painted and decorated any way you like.

Options to Make It More Special

Finally, your castle is ready for smaller accessories to go on the tables or walls. These details add to the unique qualities of your creation and can make it even more special in the degree of detail. Some options to consider:

A creepy brain made of Sculpey or similar type clay (mixture of translucent and pink clays)
Skull(s) or bones made from Sculpey (white clay with light wash of diluted gray paint, darker gray added to eye sockets and joints). Make a big pile on the fireplace hearth.
A rectangular Persian rug printed onto cardstock paper (copy, paste and resize non-copyrighted online images)
Image of Heraldic shield printed onto cardstock. (Look for themes like bats, bones, …)
Small glass bottles (look in jewelry section of craft stores) with poison labels (make your own paper labels or buy printable download version)
Stack of miniature books (MANY online tutorials and techniques show you how, less realistic readymade versions available)
Wine bottle and glasses (Ditto comment above on miniature books)

Finis! Advertise It!

Advertise your space to inform potential vampire clients. “Old World charm abounds in this wonderful residence. Great location, vaulted ceiling, natural stone flooring throughout, and incredible bonus space on the upper level for daylight sleepers…”

Okay, a little silly humor on my part. BUT be wary; you never know who will be attracted to move in to your wonderful castle creation!

Shorter days and dropping temperatures tell us that fall is here. What better time to start planning a fun project for Halloween!

For Americans, Halloween has become as much an adult as a kid’s holiday. We’re on track to spend more than $10 billion on Halloween-themed items this year, a 20% increase over 2020, which gives you some idea of how popular this holiday has become. So, if you’ve begun shopping with Halloween in mind, you’re not alone.

In recognition of the holiday, I‘m sharing this Vampire Castle roombox, a Gothic-inspired vignette I made with input from my Allhallows Eve obsessed daughter. Because it consists of only a single room it looks appropriately creepy but doesn’t eat up counter space like a regular dollhouse or even room box. Add a little work (the fun type), imagination and you’ll have a piece of unique Halloween décor.

Set the Scene

Vampires have long been a popular feature of books and films. In his 1897 publication of Dracula, Author Brahm Stocker popularized the character than most often comes to mind when we think of vampires. Thanks, Mr. Stoker, for your contribution to this Halloween diorama!

The Vampire’s Castle roombox is my version of where Count Dracula would spend most of his awake time. You might also add a comfy coffin for him to rest in. I’ve included instructions on making the basic castle room box, and in my next posting will make suggestions on ways of furnishing it. There are tons of possibilities on items you might add, so don’t feel limited in how you finish off the room. The main idea is to give you a start and encourage you to create and go with it!

Supplies

2 Sheets Foamboard 20” x 30” x ½” (Walls and Floor)
Acrylic Paint (black, gray, and white)
Chip Board or Light Cardboard (ex: cereal box) (For staircase)
Cardboard from Regular Shipping Box (For balcony floor)
Several Cardboard Egg Cartons (For “Stones” to cover staircase)
Tacky Glue (e.g., Alene’s)
Mod Podge
Craft /Exacto Knife
Painter’s Tape
Masking Tape
Small Paint Brush
Sponge (medium coarse, preferably sea sponge

Directions:

Castle box:

Cut foamboard: (a) 2 pieces 10” x 11”1 (b) 1 piece 15” x 11” (c) 1 piece 10” x 15.”

Glue (b) to (c), then use masking tape to hold together and let dry. This forms floor and back.

Glue (a) to back and each end of floor. Tape and let dry.

Paint interior of box with light coat of white paint, allow to dry. Using sponge, randomly dab on gray paint and darker coat of gray mixed with black paint. Leave some of white paint showing.Walls and floor should have look of uncut stone.

Use craft knife to lightly cut horizontal lines on floor and walls, followed by random series of vertical cuts on floor and walls. Goal is to imitate the look of stone.

balcony flooR and railing:

Use box cardboard to form floor. Cut 1 cardboard strip 3” x 16.” Paint one side of strip with gray or black paint, let dry.

On backwall, measure and mark horizontal line that’s 4” from top of wall to accommodate floor. Dry fit painted strip to fit width between the 2 side walls. Trim ends as needed. Glue strip on its 3 sides to back and side walls.

To form railing, cut a 11 1/2″ x 1 3/4 ” strip of cardboard. Paint strip brown to resemble the look of wood. If you like, decorative elements can be added to give a more polished look. Glue strip by attaching to right wall and balcony floor. This will leave a gap on the left that will be filled by staircase in next step.

staircase:

From chipboard, cut three pieces 3 ½” x 4” each. Make accordion style folds 1” apart in each piece to form steps and risers. Join each piece using masking tape so you end up with a ribbon about 9” long. (Note: tape will be on outside of stairs and painted over later.)

Using glue, attach the set of stairs to balcony floor, side wall and finally castle floor with the last 1” section running horizontal and glued on top of floor. After stairs are dry, paint them with grey paint.

Stones to cover staircase:

Take egg cartons and roughly tear into pieces approximately 1”-1 ½” across. Dip each piece one at a time, front and back, in tacky glue. Attach the pieces on to staircase working your way down until stairs are covered with stones. Be sure to leave a small gap in between each stone to give the appearance of stones in mortar.

Once dry, randomly paint the stairs gray using the sea sponge. After this is dry, go back over stones with a mixture of darker gray paint made from black and white acrylics. Again, the goal is to create the lock of natural stone, so it’s okay if the stairs look rough and worn. If needed, sponge on a small amount of diluted white paint. Finish off stairs with a coat of Mod Podge to seal and strengthen stairs.

Finishing touches:

For a more finished look, you can create an interior wall that covers the inner edge of the staircase. In my box, I also made a non-functioning door from foamboard to go on this wall.

You’ll use cardboard to form the wall. First, make a template of the space where the wall will go. Any kind of paper works fine for this. With pen or pencil mark and then cut the outline of the area under the staircase that you want to fill. Use the template to draw the outline on to cardboard. Cut cardboard along outline edges.

Paint the cut wall grey, and cover it with egg carton stones followed by a sponge paint treatment, just as you did earlier in covering the staircase. Let dry and attach wall to floor, back wall and staircase edge with tacky glue.

Now, some real fun and creativity begin. It’s finally time to furnish your castle!

Next Step:

Furnishing Your Vampire Diorama

Tag: Halloween craft

Time for Fun: Furnishing Your Vampire Castle!