In this next DIY miniatures tutorial, I will try to explain how to make miniature windows and miniature doors.
Before, I have written a few articles about how to craft miniature walls, miniature floors, miniature roofs, and all kinds of miniature water for dioramas.
The easiest way, of course, would be to buy a miniature kit, there are lots of professional miniaturists specializing in this on Etsy. For example, the fairy garden doors from LularoseUSA are pretty awesome;-).
I made an attempt for my own fairy garden and the door and window of my backyard shed are also made by me and I'm not technically skilled at all! So you could give it a go for sure, why not?! Oh yes, my treehouse has windows as well, I almost forgot! ( it is not finished yet ).
Let's go and try to figure this one out for you, in the DIY miniatures - style 😉
Updated 12/07/23
A. How to make miniature windows?
This picture is one of the windows that I made, the one in the tutorial I can't photograph for now, as it is covered against my cat's claws 🙂
You could use a real piece of glass that is about 2mm thick, but I used a plastic sheet that was cut out from a plastic box that would otherwise end up in the trash.
I made this window with leftover pinewood with the help of my table saw. It really was the easiest way to do it for me, but I am not afraid of working with this machine.
If you don't want to do this (I can imagine that you are scared of cutting off your fingers), then you could also use (sturdy) balsa wood, but be careful of what kind to buy though, because most of that wood chips off easily when cutting especially small pieces.
And then you could spend hours and hours doing it over and over to finally get the results you want.
For this miniature window you need :
- a slat of 4 mm thick, 8 mm wide, and a total length of 26 cm to make the frame.
- a slat of 4 mm thick, 1 mm wide, and a total length of 23 cm to make the inner frame.
PS. The thickness of the 4mm slats can be smaller, but be aware that it gets very fragile and it could easily break.
- a table saw or if you use balsa wood, a crafting knife would be fine.
- (wood)glue
- a plastic sheet or a piece of glass for the window, you can choose as you wish.
A little tutorial on this DIY miniature window:
In this tutorial, the dimensions mentioned are always the outer dimensions (the longest sides), where the parts have to be sawn in miter. Since small deviations can occur during sawing, it is important to always check whether everything fits well while you are working.
1. Cut a groove in the middle of the slat of 6 mm x 4 mm on one of the smallest sides. The size of the groove is depending on the fact if you are going to use plastic or real glass. The groove is where the glass or plastic will be clamped later on.
2. Miter the slat of 4 mm x 8 mm with the narrow side upwards into 2 x 7 cm and 2 x 6 cm. Glue the parts together.
3. Miter the slat of 4 mm x 6 mm with the wide side upwards into 2 x 6.1 cm and 2 x 5.1 cm. Place the parts in the frame to see if it fits well.
4. Glue the sides and the bottom of the window together, wait for the top one.
5. First paint the inside of the window (the groove and the edges).
6. Place the piece of glass or a piece of plastic. Its size depends on the depth of the cut. So first measure the inside of the window and allow some space. After that, glue the top together as well.
7. Finish the project by sanding and painting the rest.
There you go, an 'easy' window to make. You can then glue on some small extra slats so that it looks like these in the next video.
In this video, the windows are made in a more complicated way than this, have a look!
- You could also make windows (and doors) from paper. I have never tried it, it seems like a LOT of work to do. But then again by using this technique, I think that anyone can make a miniature window, without having to use or buy a table saw.
Give this video a thumbs up, because I have no clue why it doesn't have many likes!