Wednesday, April 3, 2013

A Toy Baby Carriage Before and After

Mom has been wanting a baby carriage for one of her little girl dolls to play with. But after looking around online, we couldn't find anything that was both in her budget and sweet. So when we found a commercial metal carriage at the local dollhouse shop, I volunteered to make it over for her.

The carriages started off looking like this. All metal, and painted bright pink. I didn't like the way the hood came so far forward, so I bent the top section back and forth until it broke off. Then I painted out the the carriage, using green, black and gold paint. Those two steps helped a lot, but the metal hood still needed work. Mom had piece of  green leather in her supplies that was perfect for covering the hood. It photographed black, but it's a close match to the green body of the carriage in real life. I also raided her supplies for trim. The inside is padded with upholstered cotton panels.

I still need to finish the wheels. Right now they're just painted silver, but I'd like to add more of a tire. I have a very vague memory of a tricycle makeover I saw somewhere online. I seem to remember that they used the rubber casing from electrical wire to wrap the wheels, but I can't find that tutorial anywhere. Has anyone done this/ know where that tutorial might be? All my experiments so far have failed.

10 comments:

  1. They are both very beautiful and I feel inspired to try myself.
    Hugs
    Wyrna

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  2. Hello Eliza,
    That is a great transformation. It looks just great. You are so talented.
    Big hug,
    Giac

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  3. Dear Eliza, you are a wizard! The carriage looks marvelous!

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  4. I like your transformation.
    Greetings, Faby

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  5. Hi Eliza, this is a fantastic change in appearance. To me it looks like a carriage from the fifty's now. Well done! Hugs, Liduina.

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  6. Es un cambio fantástico, te ha quedado precioso.
    Lo del tutorial no lo conozco, pero hay gomas , lo venden en las tiendas de chinos , seguro que ese diámetro lo encontrarás, he sacado foto y la he puesto en mi picasa, una imagen vale más que mil palabras https://picasaweb.google.com/109159550514802719346/3DeAbrilDe2013
    un beso:)

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  7. This turned out adorable!
    Haven't seen the tute--but could the black covered hair elastics be glued around the metal wheels to simulate rubber tires?
    Love your blog!

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  8. See if you can find some black rubber 'O' rings that will fit on the wheels. 'O' rings come in lots of sizes from tiny to huge. Besides being 'O' shaped, they are made of a round rubber, and come in different thicknesses. They aren't all that different than "hair elastics", except that you can find smaller sizes, and they are just plain "rubber". They aren't too expensive, and can be found in most hardware stores, often in the plumbing section, but you'll want to go to a big hardware store to get the best selection of sizes. Sometimes you can find assortment packages of the smaller sizes to keep on hand for emergency plumbing repairs, and maybe you'll be lucky enough to find the size you need in one of combo packs. The only problem you'll have is figuring out how to glue them on to the wheels. Find 'O' rings that fit without having to be stretched (they really aren't supposed to be stretched and might eventually break), and maybe you can back the wheel with tape and press the ring onto the wheel so it is temporarily held by the tape while you glue the 'O' ring on with...well, 5-minute epoxy or maybe super glue? I don't know what kind of glue will work on "rubber" items.

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  9. What a transformation...

    Kind regards Xandra

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  10. Thanks for the tutorial!
    The little pram looks great!
    Hug
    Sonja

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