Doll House Miniatures - A Great Hobby

Dollhouse miniatures is a popular hobby that requires the tools of the trade and when you start making your own dollhouse miniatures you'll see that you'll need to master many trades. The first of them will likely be carpentry. For carpentry you'll first need a knife or knives. You will find one on the workbench down in the basement but you'll do better work with less aggravation if you'll get to a hobby or hardware shop and buy yourself a good one to begin with.

A workman is known by his tools. And the quality of your dollhouse miniatures will be largely reflected in the tools you use so be sure to use good tools. If you are starting from scratch, it might be a good idea to invest in a complete set offered at a local hobby shop. There is no substitute for the X-Acto brand. No other brand comes anywhere close.

X-Acto makes a handsome set nicely arranged on a plastic bed which includes 2 knives, 2 packages of blades, a ball-peen hammer, a coping saw, a small screwdriver, 3 jeweler's screwdrivers, a hot cutting tip and a soldering iron that you won't have an immediate need for. You'll also get mini-vise pliers, tin snips, sander, awl, files, block plane, tweezers, gouges, and chisel. The smaller set is just as nice but doesn't include the soldering iron or the cutting tip and only comes with one screwdriver. That's really enough for a dollhouse miniature beginner. By purchasing a complete set, you'll realize a cost savings over buying each item individually.

Set up a little work space for yourself so you don't need to clean up every time you stop working. One dollhouse miniature enthusiast set up a little shop in a small closet off the kitchen and likes to tell others how much she accomplished while she was cooking dinner. Another option is to use a spare bedroom.

An attic is ideal if you can have a telephone installed there so you won't have to run up and down the stairs or you might prefer doing without the telephone so you can get away from its incessant distractions while you're trying to work. If you have sun porch that may be an option especially if you don't like working in a dark basement. In the event you don't have any extra space you can keep all your tools in a corrugated box and use the piano bench in the living room as a workbench or some other space if you don't have a piano bench.

One other point that many dollhouse miniature makers will bring up is that you must have a sander or sanding block for finishing the wood. But remember a typical sander would never get into the little crevices of a dollhouse miniature.