How to make a mini easel for your dolls house miniature paintings

I paint lots of tiny works of art, and find it almost impossible to buy very small easels to display my collection.

A couple of my arty friends over at the Folksy Forum suggested that I try matchsticks to make my own. I'm not a particularly crafty person so was a little wary of having a go myself...but gave myself a good talking to and went out to buy some supplies.

This is how I made my easels. You are welcome to have a go yourself, but please take great care if you decide to make your own easel using this method - I cannot be held responsible for your use of matches and sharp knives! 

IF YOU ARE AGED UNDER 18 PLEASE ONLY ATTEMPT THIS PROJECT UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF A RESPONSIBLE ADULT

To begin with I gathered some supplies.

PVA glue decanted into a milk bottle top:



A box of long matches:




A stanley knife with new blades, and of course my steel core craft cutting mat:





To begin, I laid a match on my cutting mat and measured 8cm




Using the stanley knife I carefully cut the match...










Then I cut another one at 8cm, one at 7.5cm, and one at 6cm.



Using a fine sandpaper I sanded down the matches to remove any splinters.




Taking one of the 8cm lengths, I lined it up with the bottom right hand corner on the cross point of a square and the top left hand corner on a cross point two squares to the right. I then carefully cut a vertical line down the top.



I repeated this with the other 8cm length, and then laid them out with the cut pieces facing each other, leaving a matchstick width gap. The bottom of the lengths were 4 cm apart.

I then placed the 6cm piece horizontally across the longer lengths, 2cm above the bottom. Happy with the position I glued them in place.



Once this was dry I took the remaining 7.5cm piece and glued it in the gap left at the top of the previous step. While the glue was still wet I positioned the back leg of the easel where I wanted it so that the whole easel would stand up.




Job done!

This little painting measures 7cm x 2.5cm, and I think it looks fabulous on this easel.



And I think you'll agree it looks even better in pride of place on my mantle piece!




For comparison, here it one of my mini dolls house paintings next to an ACEO painting which measures 2.5 x 3.5 inches. Quite a difference!







PLEASE TAKE GREAT CARE IF YOU TRY THIS YOURSELF!


And finally, if you'd like to browse my my collection of dolls house paintings, pop over to the dolls house section of my shop Stephanie Guy Fine Art: Dolls House Collection