CHAPTER XI

AN OLD CHARIOT AND SOME QUAINT DOLLS' FURNITURE

Fig. 361 shows a quaint swinging chariot of the eleventh century; it can be made of stout cartridge paper, cardboard and stripwood (1/4 inch by 1/4 inch).

First draw on cartridge paper two arcs of a circle (about 3-inch radius), _a b c_ and _d e f_ in Fig. 362; join them by straight lines _a d_ and _c f_. This is for the floor of the chariot.

To make the sides, draw arc G H K (Fig. 363) with same radius, but portions G L and M K project about 1 inch beyond the arc _a b c_ in Fig. 362. Join G and K by the curved line, G N K. Draw the flange O P. Colour the side yellow and brown, cut out. Bend the flange O L M P and gum it to _a b c_ in Fig. 362. Draw and cut out the other side in a similar manner and gum it on; the chariot will then appear as in Fig. 361. Two seats of paper can be gummed inside.

Two pieces of stripwood (1/4 inch by 1/4 inch), A and B in Fig. 361, are then cut; their height must be determined by the size of the car. Two small screw-eyes are screwed in at C and D (Fig. 361), from which the car is slung by pieces of thread or wire. The posts, A and B, are glued and nailed to the middle of the axles, which must be flat, the ends only being rounded for the wheels. Pieces of stripwood (1/4 inch by 1/4 inch) or strips of cardboard, C, connect the axles on each side.

The wheels are cardboard discs, with a pattern drawn on them as in the figure, and painted yellow and brown.

Fig. 364 shows a pretty chair for a doll's house. It is a copy of a carved oak chair of the fourteenth century. It is made of wood or cardboard. If made of cardboard, a small square box may be used for the seat, A, to which the sides and back are gummed. The sides and back should be cut in one, with half-cuts down _A B_ and _C D_, where the cardboard is bent and gummed to the box. The chair should be painted a very light brown with dark brown markings. It looks well if made out of the wood of a cigar-box.

Fig. 365 gives a pattern of a fourteenth-century bed that goes with the chair, A can be an oblong box, covered with paper suitably coloured (light brown with panels of dark brown). B and C are pieces of cardboard (painted as indicated) gummed to each end of the box; four pieces of stripwood, D (1/4 inch by 1/4 inch), are glued on to the cardboard.

This bed is easily made of wood. A may be a cigar-box, or the bed can be made of separate pieces of wood carefully glued and nailed together.

=A Fire-place= (Fig. 366). This toy is made of wood and cardboard. Its size will depend upon the doll's house for which it is made. The mantelpiece, D, is a piece of wood glued and nailed to two wooden supports, E and F. To the back of these a piece of cardboard, A, is glued. This is coloured to look like tiles, and space C is painted black. The grate is made of cardboard (Fig. 367). The shaded portions are cut out and half cuts are made along the dotted lines. It is coloured black, bent as in Fig. 366 and gummed to the cardboard back. The fender is of wood, and is glued to E and F and to a cardboard bottom, B, which is coloured to represent tiles.

The grate may also be made of pieces of wire bent to shape and passed through holes in two pieces of wood (Fig. 368), which are then gummed to A.

Fire-dogs can be made from matches glued together as in Fig. 369. A poker and shovel can be cut from cardboard. The most convenient sizes of stripwood from which to make this toy are lengths of 1/2 inch by 1/4 inch for supports E and F, lengths of 1/4 inch by 1/4 inch for the fender, and 1 inch by 1/4 inch for the mantelpiece.