Chapter 6

WHAT TO MAKE OF EMPTY SPOOLS

GATHER up all the spools you can find, big, little, thick, and thin; no matter how many, you can use them all. There is no end of fun to be had with these always-on-hand, easily found toys; they may be made into almost everything.

=Spool Houses=

are very simply constructed. Begin building by standing ten spools in a straight row for the front of the house. Make one side with seven spools placed at right angles with the front. This gives you one corner of the house. Build the back parallel to the front by standing nine spools at right angles with the side. You will then have two corners of the house and three sides. Add a row of six spools along the empty space between the front and back of the house for the fourth side, as in Fig. 56. Remove the third and fourth spools from the left-hand corner of the front of the house to form the doorway, and examine the foundation--see that it is even and straight before erecting the walls; then continue the building, placing a spool on top of each foundation spool (Fig. 57). Build on another layer of spools, except over the second and third spools at the right hand of the doorway opening (Fig. 58). Add another row of spools (Fig. 59), and another (Fig. 60). Lay a piece of pasteboard box over the top of the walls (Fig. 61), and make the roof of a piece of almost any kind of paper by bending and creasing the paper down along the lengthwise centre and up along the lengthwise edges. Place the roof on top of the pasteboard ceiling (Fig. 62). Do not have the roof project over the end of the house where you are to build the chimney, for the chimney must be quite close to the house. Select large spools for the chimney and build it by standing one spool on top of another until the chimney extends above the roof. You can top the chimney by laying a piece of cardboard over the last spool and placing two small spools on it side by side. Enclose the yard with a spool fence; standing the spools a short distance from each other, as in the photograph. Use spools of larger size for the gateway, topping them with two smaller ones (Fig. 62).

Make the yard into a cheerful

=Sunshiny Garden=

(Fig. 63), with flowers and trees of paper and tubs and flower-pots of spools, where the clothespin people may go for recreation.

The trees are easy to make and are very effective; they are simply fringed strips of paper rolled like a paper lighter with the large ends stuck into spools. Cut a strip of green tissue-paper fifteen inches long and five wide; then cut one-third of the strip narrow, about one inch wide, and fringe the remaining two thirds (Fig. 64). With the thumb and first finger of your right hand begin to roll the corner as shown at A (Fig. 64). Continue rolling, and the fringe, which forms the foliage, will stand out on the outside of the rolled part or trunk of the tree. When you reach the solid, narrow part of the paper strip it will roll into a smooth, round stick, forming the lower part of the tree trunk. Paste the last wrapped corner of the paper roll in place and clip the tree trunk off even across the bottom edge; then press it into a hole in the centre of an empty spool of ordinary size, and there's your tree! You can vary the foliage by crimping the fringe with knife or scissors before the strip is rolled into a tree and by having the fringe of some much longer than that of others. If you use different tones, tints, and shades of green, running from very light to dark, and make a lot of them varying in height, the trees will look very pretty and they can form a jungle where toy wild animals can live; or a number of the trees might form a playground or a grove where dolls may go for a picnic.

In the photograph of the group of trees you will see a number of pots of flowers. The flowers are disks and squares of different bright-colored tissue-paper, each one with its centre pinched together and twisted into a stemlike piece, which is pushed down into a buttonhole-twist spool. Around some of the flowers a smaller square of green may be used for foliage.

You could make an extensive flower garden by using a great number of these short, flat spools and bits of gay tissue-paper, and they can be arranged and rearranged in many different ways.

It is possible to make all kinds of toy furniture of spools. If you want

=A Bedroom Set,=

use four spools for the legs of a bedstead, place them in position and lay a piece of stiff white paper, bent up at one end, on top of the spools. The bed will then be ready for the doll (Fig. 65).

A little table can be made in a moment's time. All that is necessary is to choose a large spool and place a round piece of paper on the top (Fig. 66). Make the bureau of six spools close together in two rows of three spools each, and cut the top of a piece of paper with a high extension in the centre, which you must bend upright for a mirror. The washstand can be four spools quite close together covered with a piece of paper. A piano is easily made, but you must think it out for yourself. Use a small spool for the piano-stool.

=The Lamp=

(Fig. 67) is a spool with a little roll of white paper shoved into the hole and a circular piece of paper crimped around the edge for the shade. Unless you need the spool to use again in other ways, you might paste the paper on and make a lamp which will not come apart.

You can glue the tops on the table and washstand and the mirror on the bureau also; though this is not necessary, for if you are careful and do not knock against the furniture it will remain secure.

Now make the toy

=Kitchen=

with empty spools, and the entire kitchen will not cost one cent of money.

See how firm and substantial the little kitchen furniture looks in the photograph with its fine stove, dresser, and wash-tub (Fig. 68). Use four spools for the feet of the stove. Over these lay a piece of pasteboard about six inches long and four inches wide, allowing it to project beyond the front feet to form the apron; then build on the body of the stove, making it of spools two layers deep, as in Fig. 69. Cut a piece of pasteboard to fit over the spools for the stove top, and have it long enough to stand out a short distance at the back; then you can build on the stovepipe (Fig. 70).

Make the dresser of spools and strips cut from pasteboard boxes (Fig. 71).

For the tubs stand four spools close together, and set a little round box on top of them. Make the washboard of a piece of paper folded many times backward and forward, fan fashion. After carefully creasing the folds, pull the paper out slightly and put it in the tub for the next washday (Fig. 68).

After cooking,

=A Dining Table=

will be needed. With eight spools and a piece of pasteboard cut from a box you can make a fine dining table; the legs of the table are four columns of two spools each, as you see in Fig. 72, and the chairs are made of spools with bent pieces of cardboard pasted on top. The decorations of the table are small spools with bright tissue-paper for flowers arranged at the four corners of the table, and the plates are the round pasteboard tops from milk bottles.

When enough furniture has been manufactured, build

=A Wagon=

Cut Fig. 73 from heavy paper or cardboard that will fold without breaking. Bend all the dotted lines and cut all the heavy lines in the pattern. Push a burnt match, or a wooden toothpick through one hub, then through an empty spool and the second hub. The spool forms the wheels. Screw a small pin cautiously through each of the two projecting ends of the match, piercing the wood and leaving the head and point of the pin standing out (Fig. 74). Tie a knot in the end of a string to prevent its sliding out and thread it through the hole in the dashboard.

By laying narrow strips of paper on a table or on the floor to form a boundary line, you may make a

=Sunday-School Room=

Leave an open space for the doorway at the opposite end of the room from the organ. Build up a column of four large spools at each side of the space and connect them with a strip of paper laid from the top of one column to the top of the other.

Build the fine, large pipe-organ close to the edge of the back room. Stand eight spools in a row tight to each other at equal distances from each boundary side line. Build the row up three spools high, then skipping the end spools, build on two layers of six spools each; again skip the end spools and build on a layer of four spools. Crown the last layer with two top spools. Across the centre front of the organ stand a row of spools, two high and three long. Over them lay a piece of paper bent lengthwise through the centre for the key-board and music-rack. Bend another piece of paper for the music and stand it on the key-board against the rack. Make the organ seat of two spools placed side by side in front of the organ with a strip of paper laid over them. Let the seats for the doll children be rows of three spools each. Place the seats one in front of another in parallel lines a short distance apart and allow a wide, lengthwise central aisle between them. All this is shown in Fig. 75.

=Trolley Car=

Hunt up an old pasteboard box, for you will need a box lid about fifteen inches long and eight inches wide as a foundation for the realistic trolley car (Fig. 76). Use eight spools for the wheels; place two spool wheels near the front and two near the back on each side. Lay the spools down flat and rest the edge of the box lid on the body of the spools; then stand a row of eleven spools on each side of the top of the box