DIY Miniature Bookstore (shelves, books, brick walls)

Hi guys, it's Cath. Today we're going to finish the inside of this miniature bookstore dollhouse that we built in the last video. I'll be using ordinary craft supplies to create the brick wall, wooden bookshelves, and a ton of mini books that actually open and close. As a reminder, this is where we left off in the last video. The structure and exterior of the store is complete, but the interior is completely bare. Let's get started with the bookshelves first. I'll be using these jumbo popsicle sticks for the main structure. Because they're thin, I doubled them up by adding wood glue in between two sticks. Use binder clips to keep them together. Once the glue is dry, measure and cut out a 4 3 4 inch length. I mark a line at each rounded end and score the wood. Cut deeply into the edges, then score the other side. This will give you a clean edge when you snap the excess wood off. Make six of these. These will be your shelves that the books sit on. To hold them up, we need two 1 3 inch thick square dowels. I use a miter hand saw to cut each one down to 8 inches long. Place these down vertically. Then starting 1 1 half inches from the bottom, add your shelves spacing them 1 inch apart. This will give each shelf just enough space for 1 to 12 scale inch books. I use ordinary wood glue to hold these shelves in place. All done. Isn't this so much easier than it looks? This bookshelf goes on the right side wall of the store. I won't be gluing it in until all the walls are painted, but I'll where the wood touches the wall for now. The second bookshelf is even easier. I use the same double layered popsicle sticks for these shelves. Cut 5 3 inch lengths and 2 4 1 half inch lengths. Glue the shorter lengths onto one long piece spacing them 1 inch apart. Then add on the second long piece. This bookshelf will go at the edge of the left side. Mark where the wood meets the wall. Now let's get into the fun of painting some brick walls. The first step is to This base layer will make all the additional layers more opaque and rich. Make sure to avoid the areas we marked earlier. I like to avoid painting these areas because the paint will weaken the glue adhesion. When the red paint is dry, use a pencil to mark horizontal lines on all the walls. Space them a quarter of an inch apart. Take gray paint and a thin liner brush to go over all the pencil guidelines. Just relax your hand and lightly pull the brush. This step is actually very therapeutic. Be patient and it'll all be worth it. After the long horizontal lines, add short vertical lines 1 inch apart to create tiny rectangles of bricks. I stagger each consecutive row half an inch for a more realistic look. Then add various shades of red and brown into each rectangle. Space the colors out randomly. Don't worry if some bricks look too dark or too light. It'll all tie together at the end. So much fun and I love the results. Now you can add the shelves back into place. I add wood into all the bare areas and press the shelves into it. This small shelf gives the door just enough space to open and close. Next, let's fill up these shelves. I have a more in-depth video tutorial on miniature books that you can check out on my channel. Today, I'll show you a few easier versions. The first step is to print your book covers. I found most of mine on google images by searching for book cover printables. Be mindful of any copyright restrictions in case you want to sell any of your minis. Scale them down to three-fourths of an inch in height and print them out. I'll be making a ton of books today. Cut out all the images. For the book pages, I fold over a simple piece of printed paper four times. Then cut it in half and stack it. Use the binder clips to keep the pages tightly together. Draw a line and cut the excess cleanly off. Some tips here are to use sharp blades and don't press too hard. If you cut one to two sheets at a time, you're sure to get a clean edge. Spread a bit of wood glue on the edges. This will keep the pages together. Once the glue is dry, cut off a strip the width of your book. Make a cut down the side to match the height of your book. Add some glue and wrap book cover over the stack. Fold extra long covers over the first and last pages. How cute is this Harry Potter book? You can also glue the covers on before cutting the edges. Just make sure to go slow and cut one to two sheets at a time. I like to add on a coat of polycrylic varnish to the covers. This brings out the vibrance of the images, prevents fading, and adds a bit of thickness to the covers. This final touch makes all the difference. For extra special books, add metallic gold acrylic paint to the edges. I love matching miniatures to real life counterparts. An even easier method is to use one quarter inch thick foam board for the pages. Cut out a size that matches the book cover you're using and glue the cover on. Couldn't be any easier. If you have a lot of shelves to fill and not enough time to make a ton of books, you can make fake stacks. Google image search book sets and print out the images of the sides. Trace that onto foam board. Cut out three of these and glue them together. Glue the image to the front. Then cover the jagged sides with paper. Paint the covers and then paint lines along the top to simulate the look of separate books. I made over 200 books for this bookstore and over 50 of them are goosebumps. Now it's finally time to fill up the bookshelves we built at the beginning. I really like adding in minis I've made in other videos like these IKEA inspired drawers. I also added this mid-century record cabinet and record player we made last year. Add in a mini acoustic guitar and a world map. Your scene is complete. The tutorial links to all these extra items are in the info box below. This was such a fun project and I love how it's customizable. This project took a few weeks to complete so I'm giving a shout out to everyone who's been keeping up with me on Instagram. I really hope you guys like this video. Give it a thumbs up if you did and make sure to subscribe for more. I'll see you next time. Bye!