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| A whale weather vane with wire bent letters for the pretend wind to spin so that the dollhouse residents know from which direction their breezes and storms are blowing; N for north, S for south, W for west and E for east. |
I designed this miniature weather vane for my daughter’s thrifty dollhouse flip. You will need a few supplies to make one like it: Sculpey, cereal box cardboard, masking tape, white school glue, a wooden skewer, two or three beads, paper covered wire and paint.
First, sculpt a whale from oven-bake clay and poke a whole into the belly half of the whale so that it can be mounted onto a skewer after baking. Use a tacky glue for this and let it dry over night.
Then thread onto the skewer a wooden bead. Twist paper above it and below it to keep the bead in position.
Then bend a wire approximately a foot (not too long or too short), into the shape of a capital “W” on one end and then wrap it around the skewer below the bead and give it a bit of space and then bend the end of the wire into a capital ”E”. Clip the excess wire off of the ”E.”
Next, bend a wire approximately a foot (not too long or too short), into the shape of a capital “N” on one end and then wrap it around the skewer below the east and west part of the weather vane and give it a bit of space and then bend the end of the wire into a capital ”S”. Clip the excess wire off of the ”S.”
Wrap a bit of paper to stop the directional signs from falling off the skewer. Cut the weather vane to fit your doll’s house through a whole on the roof.
To paint the weather vane to look like weathered copper: spray paint it first with copper paint and then second dry brush on a light coating of black acrylic and second of green. If you wish more copper to show through, gently rub the painted surfaces gently so that the spray paint shines through. repeat these steps if necessary until you are happy with the results.
On the inside of the dollhouse, glue a small block in place under the pitch of the roof to hold the weather vane in position. Do not put glue into the hole directly because this will prevent the whale weather vane from spinning altogether.