Upright wooden chair styles for miniature patterns
Building furniture in miniature is fairly common to craft people who have dollhouses or small diorama's or scenes. In dollhouse-specific stores, it is possible to pick up milled stock that is sized for miniature crafting. This is like a lumber store magically shrunk to tiny proportions. The benefit of this type of tiny milling is that very fine woods are often available that respond well to small crafting. A soft wood like balsa might be easy to work with, but it may not respond well to being handled by children or other people. A more sturdy wood is likely to last longer. In the same vein, miniature scale tools are also available to cut, shape and work with these small pieces of wood.
Instructions
1. Cut two back legs from one-fourth-by-one-fourth-inch wood board to 3 1/4 inches long. This is a mission style wood dining chair. Cut two front legs from the same board size at 1 3/8 inches long. Cut four pieces 1 inch long. These will form the backs and the front and back seat supports. Cut two pieces 1 1/8 inches long. These are your side seat supports. Cut your wood using a razor saw, a sharp art knife and a miter box.
2. Cut four spindles from one-eighth-by-one-eighth-inch wood board to seven-eights inches long. Cut two 1-inch long front and back rungs from the same wood board. Cut two 1 1/8-inch side rungs.
3. Cut one square one-eighth-inch thick board 1 3/8 inches wide and long. This is the chair seat. Place the wood square flat on the table. Mark the top-left corner with a small "A." Mark the top-right corner with a small "B." Measure horizontally from the corner of A three-eighths inches. Repeat for corner B. Measure vertically one-fourth inch from corner A. Repeat for B. Draw small vertical and horizontal lines to indicate the one-fourth-by-three-eighths-inch box in each corner. Cut along your lines and remove the wood. The notched ends are the back of your chair seat where the seat fits around the seat back wood. Lightly sand your pieces, but try not to round your edges. Stain your pieces. Allow your wood to dry overnight.
4. Tape one-fourth-inch graph paper to your work table. Use the graph lines to help you draw straight lines. Make a pencil mark on a vertical line. Measure one-fourth-inch and mark, 1 inch and mark and one-fourth-inch and mark. Make a pencil mark on a horizontal line between two of your marks that are one-fourth inch apart. Measure down 3 1/4 inches and mark. Outline your one-fourth-inch-by-3 1/4-inch rectangles. You should have two of them 1-inch apart. These are your back legs.
5. Measure down from the top of your left leg one-eighth inch and mark. Measure one-fourth inch for your top seat support. Measure seven-eights inch for your seat back. Measure one-fourth inch for your second seat back support. Measure three-eights inch to the top of your seat support and one-fourth inch for your seat support. You should have 1 1/8 inches to the bottom of the legs. Draw your horizontal lines between your legs and mark the one-fourth-inch boards.
6. Locate the seat back area between the top one-fourth-inch horizontal bar and the second bar. Measure from the edge of the back leg one-sixteenth inch and mark. Measure from your mark seven sections of one-eighth inch. Your last space to the edge of the right leg should be one-sixteenth inch . Draw in your vertical seat back spindles. Leave the first space white and color the first one-eighth inch, skip one, color one, etc. This will help guide you for assembly. Measure up from the bottom of the legs three-fourths inch and mark. Measure one-eighth inch and mark. This is your chair leg rung. Color in the rung.
7. Position your one-fourth-inch legs and cross supports over your drawing. Add a drop of gel control super glue to the end of your support pieces and allow 30 seconds for your glue to dry. Make sure you keep your pieces square. Cut a piece of chipboard that is one-half-by-seven-eighths-inch. Place the chip board in the seat back area so you can still see the top half of your spindles on your drawing. The chipboard will elevate your wood when you glue so that your spindles are centered in the one-fourth-inch support wood.
8. Add a drop of glue to each spindle and align it to the drawing, being careful to keep each board straight. Glue your spindles to the seat back area. Move your chipboard down to support your lower chair rung. Add glue and align the rung with the drawing.
9. Make a second drawing of your two front legs 1 inch apart. From the top of the left leg measure one-fourth inch and mark, one-fourth inch and mark, one-eighth inch and mark. Draw your horizontal lines and color in your top seat cross support and your chair rung. Place your chair pieces over your drawing and glue the cross support to the two legs. Place your chipboard under the chair rung and glue it into place.
10. Lay your front and back legs on their side. Your seat support and your rungs will all align. Add a drop of glue and attach them. Use your chip board to help you center the rungs as necessary. Stand your chair up after the glue dries and add a bead of glue around the top of the seat supports and glue down your seat.
Tags: inch mark, one-fourth inch, seat back, one-eighth inch, your chair