Part 7

A TOY DOG KENNEL FOR A TOY DOG

=Material Required to Construct a Toy Kennel=: a small box without its cover, the cover of some larger box that is square, and cardboard.

Here is a picture of Fido, my little dog. I made him a kennel so that he could stay near the doll-house at night and be a watch-dog. Perhaps your dog would like one, if he is a play dog.

If you do want to make one, I will tell you how.

Take the lower half of your box. This is to be the building. Turn it over and stand it on end upon the piece of cardboard you have. Draw the shape of this end. Add to it about four inches in height. Cut this piece out and cut another like it. Glue one to each end of your box. Be sure your box is inverted before you begin. It should rest upon its rim.

Next, cut each end piece glued to the box to a point at the top. This makes the point of each gable side under the roof. These are the points that come under the roof to support it.

Cut an opening under one of these at one end of the box. It should be shaped like the door of a dog kennel.

Where is a large flat box cover? It is to be the roof. It ought to be about four inches wider than the width of your first box. (For making the kennel roof, see Diagram Three, _E_, page 171.)

Fold this cover downward in equal halves to make a slanting roof, and place it over the points of the dog kennel that come front and back of the little building. There is the kennel all finished! Whistle to Fido! Come here, Fido, to see the nice kennel made for you. Don’t you think that it would be fun some day to make a smaller one for the little china dog?

Oh where, oh where has my little dog gone! Oh, he hasn’t gone far, for you see I built him a kennel from out of a box, And now he stays home here with me!

HOW TO MAKE A TEDDY BEAR’S WHEELBARROW

=Material Required for Making a Toy Wheelbarrow=: the lower half of a candy box or a similar shaped box, one round pill-box for the barrow’s wheel.

The Teddy Bear’s wheelbarrow that you see in the picture was made from half of a candy box; some strips of cardboard made the legs and wheel supports, and a round pill-box made the wheel.

Do you wish to make a wheelbarrow to play with? Perhaps your Teddy would like one. I will tell you how to make it, shall I?

First, take the lower half of your box and take one end rim off. Then, from the upper part of the rim next to this side, cut out the handles of the barrow. _Next_, cut out the cardboard half-way around the lower part of the box between the handles. This is the frame of the wheelbarrow.

Cut two short cardboard strips each a half-inch wide and each three inches high. These are the rear legs. Glue them to the toy at either side at the back.

After this, cut two strips of cardboard a half-inch wide and five inches long. Glue these to the forward part of the wheelbarrow’s frame.

When all are well dry, press the point of a pin through one of these wheel supports, through the cover of a round pill-box, on through its other side, through the other strip of cardboard in front. Then, if you like, you may put a toothpick in place of the pin, with a small blob of glue at either end, after you have cut the hub of the wheelbarrow off to make it a correct size. Let the glue dry well, and then Teddy may have his toy to play with.

My Teddy and I play at gardening with artificial flowers on the floor. Sometimes, I make flowers from tissue-paper to use. Can’t you make them, too?

One day I cut for Teddy Bear A wheelbarrow with greatest care. It is a box, as you can see: It made a ’barrow splendidly! Some artificial flowers made A little garden that we laid; It was a very happy day The time we made this garden play.

OFFICE FURNITURE FOR DOLLS

=Material Required to Make the Office Furniture=: the end of the lower half of a shoe-box makes the desk, a spool with a round box cover makes the desk-stool, a high round box four inches high makes a flower-stand, the cover of a box nine inches long makes a chair.

My dolls thought it would be fun to have an office. I had a little favor that was made like a tiny typewriter, and a telephone that came as a favor, too. You can buy these at any caterer’s or at a candy store.

One of my dolls was a stenographer. You can see her in the picture. Her name is Dosia—Miss Dosia. The other doll is the bell boy or errand boy.

To make a desk for the office, take the half of your shoe-box. Cut legs in its forward rim, leaving each corner. From the side rims cut the two rear legs. (To cut table or flat office desk, see Diagram Six, _D_, page 178.) Paint the desk with India ink and it will look like the one in the picture. If you prefer, use paint, but be careful not to use the paint too moist.

The spool makes the desk-stool. Paint it to match the desk, and stand it on end. Over the top, glue a round pill-box. Paint this also. It makes a very cunning stool for a doll eight inches in height.

The stand is easy to make. The plant on it was a favor, too. The stand is just a box about five inches high. It is put on end and painted.

The chair takes no time at all to cut. Just find the cover of a box about eight or nine inches long. Cut the rim off from it half-way around, starting at the center of one long side. Bend the part that has no rim left on it upward to make the back of the chair, and cut the legs from the lower rim of the rest of the cover as you cut legs for the desk. (To cut a chair, see Diagram Six, _C_, page 177.) It is fun to have a doll’s office. With it you can play at business. What is your business going to be? Are you going to be a lawyer, or the principal of a little doll’s school? Maybe yours will be a real estate office for Boxville!

You can see my office boy in the picture. His hat _ought_ to be taken off his head, but it was glued on, so he had to be impolite—though I made him say, “Excuse me!” for doing it. I hope when you engage an office boy, you will get the kind whose hat _will_ come off! But mine is really quite a nice boy, and his name is Bobbie. (He’d rather be called Bob.) I wish that his hat _would_ come off!

I make believe, when I’m at play, There is an office far away, And Mister China Doll goes there And sits and dictates in his chair. I made the office by the door, It’s right upon my play-room floor.

HOW TO MAKE A DOLLS’ HAMMOCK

=Material Required to Make a Dolls’ Couch Hammock=: the lower half of any oblong box that is deep. One seven or eight inches long will make a hammock for a doll the same length. Larger boxes may also be used. Some string is needed to make ropes.

The dolls’ couch hammock in the picture is easily made. Your large dolls as well as the very small ones may have hammocks. Shall I tell you how to make one?

Take the lower half—that is usually the deeper half of a box—and turn it so that it opens at top. From the front rim, cut out a long lengthwise section of the rim.

At each end of the box, run a string through a corner. Knot the two end strings that come on the ends of the box. Knot them together or tie them, so that the hammock may be suspended wherever you wish to place it.

You may make a mattress for the couch by folding tissue-paper over brown paper cut to fit the shape of your box. Better still, you may make a real little mattress from some canvas or cloth. Cut the cloth a little larger than twice the size of your box. Fold it and sew it. Then stuff the mattress with bits of paper torn to shreds. Pillows for the hammock may be made in the same way, using smaller dimensions.

You can hang the hammock under the railing on the porch, or fasten it to the rungs of a chair when you play indoors with it. I am sure your dolls will be delighted to have you make this for them. If you are a boy, you can make one for your sister. Boys ought to know how to use needle and thread as well as girls. Soldiers and sailors know how to sew. (I know a man who can do embroidery, but, of course, that is going pretty far.) A boy ought to be able to sew a mattress, _anyhow_. It is as easy as making a marble-bag.

I made a dollie’s hammock, It’s an easy thing to do: Just find an oblong cardboard box And you can make one, too!

HOW TO MAKE A THEATER OR PUNCH SHOW

=Material Required to Make a Theater or Punch Show=: a deep, square letter-paper box and its cover, and some postal cards with colored views.

Would you like to make a toy theater or Punch Show to play with? Shall I tell you how to make one out of some deep, square box about eight inches square and eight inches high?

First, take the cover off your box and lay it aside.

Next, turn your box over so that it rests upon its four rims and the bottom of the box is made the top.

Upon the upper part of the box, near the top, outline an oblong about two inches from each corner of the box. Measure it with your ruler. Its top should be two inches from the top rim of the box. The whole should be about five inches wide and three inches tall. (To guide you in drawing this, refer to Diagram Nine, _A_, page 183.)

Cut this oblong you have drawn at both sides and along its top line. Bend the cardboard inward toward the center of the box. This will make the “stage.” (See Diagram Nine, _A_, page 183.)

Just over the stage, in the upper rim of the box, cut a two-inch wide opening the same length as you cut for the length of the stage below. Cut this out entirely, so that the little dolls you intend to use for actors may be dropped on black strings through the opening and made to walk and dance on the stage. (See Diagram Nine, _B_, page 183.)

Behind the opening over the stage, cut a slit in the rim of the box long enough to slip through a fancy postal card. Slip some pretty colored view through it, and there will be the scenery for your stage. You may have pictures of interiors as well as views of out-of-doors and houses. (See Diagram Nine, _C_, page 183.)

Now, cut a piece of cardboard the right size for a sign for your theater, and print its name on the cardboard. Glue the sign over the stage as you see it in the picture. It will serve to hide the little dolls’ entrance to the stage on their strings.

Last of all, place the cover of your letter-paper box, face down, on its rim on the table or floor, and put the theater or Punch Show well back upon it so that there is place for an audience of little dolls in front. (See Diagram Nine, _D_, page 183.)

Benches for the audience of little dolls may be cut from covers of boxes two and three inches long. (For cutting benches, see Diagram Six, _A_, page 175.)

Your actors may be penny dolls, or any jointed wooden dolls such as you will find in toy row-boats at the ten-cent store.

I used to collect fancy postal-card views of all kinds of interesting places and give lectures on them at my theater. It was most fun of all, I think. I had performing Noah’s Ark animals in vaudeville there, too. There is no end to the games you can play with the theater.

I made a lovely theater for little dolls to-day. If you would like, I’ll tell you how. You make it in this way: Right on the bottom of a box—a pasteboard box, you know— You draw a square with space each side; that’s where the stage should go. Now cut the square right at the top, and cut it down each side. Upon the base, you bend it in. It cannot be denied This makes a “really truly” stage! For scenery you use Some pretty colored postal cards of houses, and some views. To put these in, you cut a slit upon the box’s top, And through a wider one, in front, the dolls on threads you drop.

This must be just above the stage, and wide and long, you see, The actor dolls, held in the wings, can enter easily. You move the thread and walk them round. Mine act all kinds of things: The fairy stories that I know; my sailor doll, here, sings. And you can use the theater for fun in lots of ways: Give lectures on the postal views as well as acting plays.

HOW TO MAKE A TOY MERRY-GO-ROUND

=Material Required to Make a Toy Merry-go-round=: two round bandbox covers, or the two halves of some large round box, a sheet of penny cut-out pictures of horses or animals, and a cardboard mailing-tube or a hoop-stick.

Everyone may own a merry-go-round. It is made from two large round bandbox covers and a mailing-tube. You will also need some pictures of animals or horses to use on the merry-go-round. Four or five animals are enough to use. A small box will require less.

Cut-out pictures of Indians or cowboys may be used on the merry-go-round. If you cannot have these, horses cut from cardboard will answer. To do this, find a clear outline of a horse in some magazine picture and trace it upon your cardboard. Then, when it is cut out, you will have a pattern to help you make the other horses by drawing around its edge.

In the picture, the horses were each a penny cut-out. They came as race-horses. They exactly fitted the bandbox merry-go-round that I made.

If your cut-outs are upon thin paper, paste them upon thin cardboard before you start the work of making the toy itself. Let them dry while you are making the merry-go-round.

To construct this, first take the cardboard mailing-tube that you have (or the hoop-stick), and run it down through the center of one bandbox cover as the bandbox cover stands on its rims like a platform.

Cut a small hole in the center of your other bandbox cover, and press this down over the cardboard mailing-tube, a third of the way down its length, just as you see it in the picture.

Now, take your animals mounted on thin cardboard and cut each out.

Cut narrow half-inch strips of cardboard for the poles of the animals. Glue them at equal intervals around the rim of the upper bandbox cover, inside. To their bases, glue the animals.

When you turn the top of the mailing-tube, the merry-go-round will twirl.

Paper figures cut from colored magazine pictures may ride on the merry-go-round. When it is made in a smaller size, china dolls may ride on it, and wooden Noah’s Ark animals may be glued to the cardboard strips to make very lifelike chargers.

With just two bandbox covers, I built a carousel; I cut some picture horses out— For chargers they did well!

I gave some paper dolls a ride— I tell you, it is fun! I make believe a pleasure park Is right here in the sun!

MAKING A BOXCRAFT AUTOMOBILE

=Material Required to Build a Box Automobile=: a one-pound candy box with cover, a sample candy box (oblong ten-cent size), one round box three inches in diameter, about ten inches of cardboard from which to cut wheels, four round-headed paper-clips for wheel-hubs, a toothpick and a round cardboard key-tag for steering gear, two metal buttons for lamps.

It is not difficult to make a box automobile, for nobody needs knowledge of mechanics to do it. Paste, scissors, boxes—and a pair of hands to do the work, these are all that you will need.

The lower half of the large oblong box forms the body of the car. Take the cover of the box off. This will be used later for the hood, if you care to put one on.

Cut off each long inner side rim of the box except for a corner at each end. Leave the inner rim of both ends on the box untouched. This forms the windguard in front and the back of the rear seat.

Paste the cover tight on your small sample candy box, and paste the box end to one end of the body of the car you are building. This completes the shape of the automobile.

Next, take your round box. Remove its cover. Cut the cover in half. This forms the wheel-guards for rear wheels. Paste each where the rear guards should go.

Cut the lower half of the box in half also. These halves are wheel-guards for front wheels. Paste them to the forward part of the automobile.

Cut four circles from your cardboard. Use your compass to outline them in pencil first. Make each with a diameter of two inches.

When these are cut, run the points of a round-headed paper-fastener through the center of each, and fasten the pointed prongs of the paper-fastener to the cardboard of the wheel-guards. This secures the wheels. If you prefer, you may glue the wheels to the guards. They should be painted with spokes and tires.

A narrow box rim is glued between the wheel-guards to make the running-board.

Two metal buttons are fastened to the front of the automobile to form the lamps.

A toothpick is pressed into the front of the box to make the rod of the wheel for steering. The wheel itself is a round cardboard key-tag fitted upon the other end of the toothpick.

The front seat of the automobile is the end corner of some small box that is fitted crosswise into the body of the car and glued in place. The rear seat is an end of a small box fitted in the same manner into the body of the car behind.

Boxcraft automobiles are the best there are. They do not cost you a single penny! Repairs are always very easy to make, too.

If you care to add a hood to the automobile, it may be made from the cover of your large box. Cut the front rim of the box cover down, and slant the long sides of the cover down to the uncut end.

Paste an upright piece of cardboard about four inches high behind your rear seat. To its top, glue the higher end of the box cover.

Two small strips of cardboard may be fitted under the hood above the front seat to hold the hood up in front.

I painted the automobile that you see in the picture with India ink. You could scarcely tell that it was made out of a box when it was finished.

Three cardboard boxes—little else— Have made a car for me: It is a boxcraft model, And it’s jolly as can be! The little Boxville people Can go touring in this car; They have splendid picnic parties Where the groves of clothes-pins are!

HOW TO FURNISH A DOLL-HOUSE

=Material Required to Make Furniture for a Doll-house=: cardboard boxes of all kinds, especially flat letter-paper boxes, jeweler’s boxes, correspondence-card boxes. Pencils and spools may be of help in making some of the furniture.

When you look at the pictures of my boxcraft doll-house, you will see how well it was furnished. All the chairs and tables, and the bed—all the things that are in the pictures—are cut from cardboard boxes. You have just such boxes as I used, I am sure. Every home has them.

Shall I tell you how the furniture is made? First, I will tell you how I made the bedroom, shall I?

The old-fashioned canopy bedstead is made from a candy box and its cover. The four posts are long pencils. One pencil is run through each corner of the lower half of the box and glued tight. Then the cover is placed upon the upper ends of the pencils to make a canopy. Lace-paper is pasted around the rims of the cover. I made tissue-paper sheets and a lace-paper pillow. You can do that, too.

I made a tall bureau from eight empty match-boxes. The match-boxes were safety match-boxes with tiny drawers that are made to slide in and out. I saved till I had eight boxes. Then, I glued four, one on top of the other, and four others I glued in the same way. When these were dry, I pasted my two sets together. This made the upper part of the bureau. To make legs, I cut a low bench from a small box cover and pasted the boxes to its top. (For bench, see Diagram Six, _A_, page 175.) I sewed shoe-buttons to each drawer to make a handle. The mirror is a piece of cardboard cut oblong and pasted at the back of the bureau so that it is upright. I painted a frame around the sides of the cardboard to make it look like a mirror. The bureau cover is a strip of lace-paper. The candle and candlestick came off a birthday cake.

The wash-stand is cut from the lower half of a box about five inches long. It is cut almost as if it were a bench, only that its legs are shorter. The “splasher” is a piece of cardboard pasted upright at the back of the box.

Almost all chairs I made were cut from narrow box covers and jewelers’ hat-pin boxes. One hat-pin box will make two chairs. Each half makes one. (For chair, see Diagram Six, _C_, page 177.) Hat-pin boxes will make high-backed chairs. Other box covers make other kinds. When you cut an ordinary chair with a low back, begin to cut the rim from the side of your box near the center on one long side. When you make a chair from a hat-pin box, cut the rim off your box two thirds of the way around, leaving one end only with the rim on. The part without rim is the back of the chair. Press that upward, and cut the legs of the chair from the end that has a rim left upon it.

I made a grandfather’s clock by standing a hat-pin box on end. I glued to its upper front part the face of a penny watch. You do not need to spend a penny. Just mark the face of a clock in pencil and glue it to the front of your clock.

Really, I am very proud of the piano. It is not every doll-house that can have a piano—but you can make one, for it is easy. You will need a shallow letter-paper box and a narrow box such as fountain pens come in from the store where they are bought. Paste one long side of the narrow box across the front or back of the letter-paper box after you have stood the letter-paper box upright. The narrow box should be placed about where you think the keyboard belongs. (See Diagram Six, _F_, page 179, for making a piano from two boxes.) The music-rest is a bit of folded box rim glued to the central part of the piano above the keyboard. The keyboard is marked off with ink upon a strip of white paper and pasted upon the top of the narrow box. You can easily draw the first part of some music that you know, and place it on a tiny sheet of white paper to make a “piece” for the piano’s music-rest.

A mantel for the living-room may be made from a flat letter-paper box. Stand the box upon one long rim and place its printed side to the back. Cut from the front a mantel opening like the opening for a fireplace. (See Diagram Six, _G_, page 180.)