Bakery / Sweetshop model in 1/12 scale (P2) >click here to see models on my Flickr page<

Interior Stairway

On a building that is this complex and detailed, I like to start with the interior and work my way out to the walls rather than start with an empty shell and work inside. Some spaces are going to get pretty tight anyway as time goes on, so I like to finish things out right down to the paint then build on from there.

The first part I made for the interior was the curved stairway. This was thanks to Marsha at Enchanticals for the clever idea :)


I ripped pine strips for the treads & risers then glued them in long extrusions. I then cut the treads to a equal width using a stop block on the band saw. That put a slight V shape on one side which became the inner radius. Everything is constructed on a scrap of 1/4 luan to be cut to finished size later.









To keep the stairway fabrication consistent I found a glass mug with a fairly parallel vertical wall. Each tread is just glued & weighted to the tread below and allowed to dry before adding the next. As the stairs grew I raised the glass with a block of wood underneath.


I did a drawing with a cross section of the entire house on graph paper to work out the stair count, etc to make it easier later on. The landing will become the main floor, the bottom of the stairs will be an implied basement. That will end on a stone floor and be the 'kitchen' area with mainly 'old world' brick & stone construction











Stair Rail Assembly

From the landing on up there was no support under the stairs because I wanted the option to detail underneath. It was somewhat flexible so I made the handrail pieces long enough to reach all the way to the floor. That helped stabilize the piece.


The tall vertical piece is a 3/4 'post' (9"x9" to scale) that will accept the stairway as it continues back around itself. I pre cut a vertical notch in it to lock in the front door, which is set up at the same height as the stair landing. Everything is glued down to the working surface which in turn will be glued to the model base.

The tabs of wood under the landing are just to glue in the sub floor of the first level. Then the finished surface will be 'planks' ripped on the table saw and glued to that sub floor. This locks everything together really tight so it lasts for years.

Bakery / Sweetshop model in 1/12 scale (P1) >click here to see models on my Flickr page<

Front Door & Stain Glass construction

Layout & fabrication of the front door

For the Bakery / Sweetshop project, I started with the most basic element, the front door. I did a whimsical sketch on graph paper to keep it in a 1/12 scale, then used it as a template to cut the pieces.

I rip all my pieces on the table saw from 3/4" pine shelving, rough shape on the band saw, then clean up on the spindle sander. The clear window is 1/16" clear Plexiglas cut to shape on the band saw.

I like to use 4 penny finish nails as the hinge pins. I always prefer this to store bought miniature hinges that wear down and deform over the years. When I build the threshold and header frame, there are holes to receive the nail heads, with a small washer as a spacer in between. The "Old World" hinges are just made from bits of basswood pieced together in place, drawn black with a sharpie. Because everything is wood (except the clear Plastic of course), its all carefully glued with white glue, then wood stained.




"Coloring" the stain glass

The stain glass "lead" is just a thick black thread about 2mm thick, carefully glued on with white glue. As a rule, it doesn't stick to clear Plexiglas in the long term, but it will hold it down long enough to drip in the color inks.

The ice cream cone was just an afterthought. Originally, it was just going to be the random pieces of glass, clear in the middle with a color border. This piece is a Sweetshop / Bakery, so it stands to reason there may be ice cream as well, plus the fact that Snowfern makes the most amazing mini ice cream cones :)

The coloring is from the kids 'light catcher' craft toys where you drip the color inks into the clear plastic frames then hang in the windows. For the cone itself I wanted to suggest a shadow by using a drop of brown and several drops of yellow, then carefully swirling them together with a toothpick. This is not unlike old world glass, to have distortions and color variances. The clear is used in the other open reservoirs which completely lock down the black thread to the clear plastic. Use very sparingly for the very first coat because its water based and will dissolve the white glue and the black threads will just liquify into a messy bowl of spaghetti. Just a single drop of clear (or color) and carefully move it to the strings and let it soak in then dry overnight. That locks them down. The next day, refill the reservoirs with multiple coats, filled to the top (the clear is like milk, but dries clear). As it dries it recedes down and can take another coat again in a couple hrs. Mix colors, add clear over colors, have fun with it.




The finished door from the outside

The door and frame should always be a complete unit then installed rather than trying to make it all as separate pieces and build into the wall. Work out any problems on the workbench rather than deep inside a room box.

I cut all 4 vertical frames (2 inside 2 outside) at once on the table saw, then shaped the freehand look on the band saw and spindle sander. The actual jamb is 1/16 thick and follows a parallel cut to the thicker frame, just stepped in slightly.

Only the outer (exterior face) frame & jamb can be cut on the freehand curve. The door itself and the interior frame must be true vertical, or else the door can't swing inward. The effect therefore is an illusion that the exterior face of the door is just as "crooked" as the frame.





The finished door from the inside

Typically an exterior door swings into a house. The exterior side gets the free form crooked frame, but the inside must have a straight vertical frame parallel to the hinges or the door will bind up when you try to open it.

Technically, you could curve the doorknob edge as well like on a Hobbit-type house, I will play around with that on another door sometime.

The header above was stacked pine pieces and parallel cut on the band saw then spindle sanded. The compound curve within was just 2-part polyester resin spread in the stair step, then a dowel with a rounded end drug thru it for the finished effect.

The door now swings nice and free with no friction. The wood fin above is the attachment surface to the rough cut opening in the wall above the door. There are slots along the 2 sides for the same vertically (they just weren't in the picture).