First You Build a Box....

I decided to go through the steps of building the stove while doing it. This will give you some idea how to go about any of the illustration board builds.

Here's the pattern...It is on 1/4" quad rule paper and the sizes for each piece are on the patterns.

This stove is extra small because of the area I have available. It is about the size of the stove that I had in my first apartment...And again, it is only an illusion.

I always use a T-square when drawing out patterns on the illustration board. This insures a straight piece of furniture or appliances.

Incidentally, you can use this method for all kinds of non working appliances and cupboards.

I don't recommend it for working doors and drawers.

After I got all of the pieces cut out, I built the box itself. It is closed on all sides for sturdiness. The sides fit between the front and back and the top and bottom cover the ends of the box.

Oops! I just noticed that I forgot to draw those two pieces. The bottom is two inches square and the top is two by one and seven eighths. Easy enough to measure and draw.

The box is put together and dries. Then you apply the front pieces, the top instrument panel and other add ons.

I don't add the base until I am ready with the cupboards and all. This one will be 1/2" high, to bring the counter up to 3". That is standard counter size.

If you are using this in a smaller house, you can adjust the height by simply making the base shorter.

Here's the stove all put together, sans base.
I painted it with two coats of Folkart Wicker white.

I probably could get away with a shorter base for Tessie, but I will be using the half inch because I still want the counters and all to be as visible as possible.

I decided to make it a glass top stove and have a window in the door. Since there is nothing behind the window, I simply put a piece of black scrapbook paper and a piece of leftover plastic window material behind it to give the illusion of depth. you would do the same if you were doing a front loading washer.

I used a piece of scrapbook paper for the top also. It was metallic with just a hint of purple in it. My real stove top is kind of dark blue. I took a Beryol Prismacolor white pencil and used a circular architect's stencil to draw the burners.

I doubt if the knobs will even show, once it is installed, so I faked them with small circular spacer beads and jump rings.

The handle on the front is simply a piece of a key hook like the one in the photo. I flattened it out and then cut off the section that I needed.

I have it setting on a 3/8 thickness of foam core in this photo It needs to be a bit higher. I will build the one that is 1/2" when I finish here.

The last step is to put a finish over the whole thing. Probably semi gloss. I am not crazy about gloss in mini. It always seems too thick to me. Just a personal taste.

If you want to reproduce other things with this process, just grab a tape measure, get the size of the real thing and scale it down. It's fun. Honest!

I have to go now. Tessie is anxious to move in and she is cracking the whip. Of course, as soon as I finish the townhouse, she will find something else for me to work on....

See you tomorrow.