WOOD TOY NEWS. Dave Szczepanek creates six perfect sets of the Little Princess keepsake doll beds and storage settees. July 1, 2013 Monday

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Melissa Phoebe Blake
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The choice of multiple types of wood add to the overall beauty. This is as fine a set of doll beds as you ll ever see from any source.

1 WOOD TOY NEWS July 1, 2013 Monday Dave Szczepanek creates six perfect sets of the Little Princess keepsake doll beds and storage settees. These highly finished sets of doll beds are going to be the most loved and cherished childhood memories of the little girls and moms that receive them. The fit and finish is fine furniture quality. The choice of multiple types of wood add to the overall beauty. This is as fine a set of doll beds as you ll ever see from any source. The plan set for the Little Princess 18 Doll Bedroom Set includes the large scale beds for popular 18 Little Princess 18 Doll Bedroom Set dolls like the American Girl Dolls and the Journey Dolls. The length of the bed is approximately 21. Dave s skilled workmanship and dedication to detail is reflected in this fine set of six beds and settees. July 1, 2013 Monday

Wood Toy News Workmanship like you see in the photograph below takes careful planning and execution. Every step of the project is followed with precision and attention to detail.

Little Princess 18 Doll Bedroom Set The sets were produced using precision planning and mass production techniques to maximize efficiency while maintaining high quality.

2 Wood Toy News Workmanship like you see in the photograph below takes careful planning and execution. Every step of the project is followed with precision and attention to detail. This is a must to achieve this level of craftsmanship. Little Princess 18 Doll Bedroom Set The sets were produced using precision planning and mass production techniques to maximize efficiency while maintaining high quality. By planning ahead and by working the plan Dave is able to set up each step of production to move smoothly through his shop. One of the most important advantages to his methodology is the ability to quickly set up and take down about any size of work station that is needed for a specific task of production. Using this technique allows Dave to run individual operations in batches of six. This moves the entire set of six beds and settees forward to completion all at the same time. This process helps maintain a consistent high level of fit and finish required for these collectible heirloom toys. 2 July 1, 2013 Monday

3 Wood Toy News Little Princess 18 Doll Bedroom Set Dave s home garage shop is a well-designed and efficient workspace that relies heavily on the flexibility and portability of each work station. July 1, 2013 Monday

Wood Toy News Szczepanek creatively selects various woods to make each set an original creation with a cherished personality of it s own.

His approach to toymaking is to create a toy that he knows that the recipient can relate to.

That s a difficult lesson to learn for any toymaker. Dave has mastered it. He understands this golden rule: Don t lose sight of customer delight.

4 Wood Toy News Szczepanek creatively selects various woods to make each set an original creation with a cherished personality of it s own. One of the most important aspects of Dave s toymaking philosophy is he truly understands the importance of pleasing both the customer and the receiver of the toys as a gift. His approach to toymaking is to create a toy that he knows that the recipient can relate to. In this case he s fashioned doll furniture that through his experience he knows will be both familiar to the receiver and also positively affect them emotionally. That s a difficult lesson to learn for any toymaker. Dave has mastered it. He understands this golden rule: Don t lose sight of customer delight. At the end of this article we ve included Dave s original submission he sent us including all the details of his doll bedroom set build and what woods he used for each set. You won t want to miss it! The two matching settees shown are part of two sets that each include the doll bed with storage. We are impressed at every view with Dave s attention to detail and durability. The choice of woods and stains are an example of the high level of aesthetic taste. The settees each have a storage bin under the flip-up seats. Girls love to hide their little doll treasures here away from the eyes of snoopy grownups. The matching pair of settees in the photo on the right show off different wood choices and a different color scheme than the settees in the above photo. Both sets are tastefully executed with artistic skill. 4 July 1, 2013 Monday

adequate temporary drying setup for the six sets.

5 Wood Toy News Little Princess 18 Doll Bedroom Set The garage floor and a plastic drop cloth make an adequate temporary drying setup for the six sets. July 1, 2013 Monday

Wood Toy News It s pretty obvious that Dave has a passion for his

And the matched sets are a perfect accessory for the 18 dolls.

These two matched Little Princess sets are going to make a couple of

The two photos above show the combination seat and lift-up lid in

6 Wood Toy News It s pretty obvious that Dave has a passion for his toymaking art. And the matched sets are a perfect accessory for the 18 dolls. Little Princess 18 Doll Bedroom Set Both the bed and the settee have secret storage compartments. A girl can never have too much storage, especially secret storage! These two matched Little Princess sets are going to make a couple of little girls very happy. The two photos above show the combination seat and lift-up lid in action. The hinging method is a simple dowel pin construction. The lid stays flatly closed with gravity. A firm grip magnetic catch might be a nice addition to ward off that snoopy sibling! 6 July 1, 2013 Monday

Wood Toy News Little Princess 18 Doll Bedroom Set Dave made the right choice to make furniture for the popular 18 dolls. It s a favorite doll size with girls of all ages.

7 Wood Toy News Little Princess 18 Doll Bedroom Set Dave made the right choice to make furniture for the popular 18 dolls. It s a favorite doll size with girls of all ages. Be sure and read Dave s original submission for this project in his own words. It s well worth it. And it begins on the next page. Dave can be contacted at: szczepanek1643@sbcglobal.net July 1, 2013 Monday

TOYMAKINGPLANS.COM LITTLE PRINCESS KEEPSAKES We need to look for a 6 bedroom home, having just completed the recent purchased plans for the Little Princess Keepsakes from ToymakingPlans.

Assembling 6 beds and 6 settees was somewhat more than I expected in using the space in the garage shop.

8 TOYMAKINGPLANS.COM LITTLE PRINCESS KEEPSAKES We need to look for a 6 bedroom home, having just completed the recent purchased plans for the Little Princess Keepsakes from ToymakingPlans. Six beds were constructed using poplar, oak, walnut and maple woods. We will start with an overall view of the construction, and then look at each one individually. Assembling 6 beds and 6 settees was somewhat more than I expected in using the space in the garage shop. We even had to set up sawhorses in another garage bay to assemble the all beds and their settees. Two beds and settees used oak as the primary wood with walnut accents. The next two used cherry wood with maple accents. The last two beds and settees used poplar with stained poplar for accent pieces. Accents were the posts, strip pieces, armrests, and seat cushions. We used ¼ inch oak plywood for all bed bottoms and the removable panel for the beds. Also use oak plywood for the bottom of all settees. The lineup above is oak, cherry, and then poplar. The accent pieces for the poplar bed and settee combination were prestained a darker shade before assembling.

We kept some of the settee pieces separate so we can assemble them later.

9 Next, we had to stain all the items. The vehicles were removed from the garage and a plastic drop cloth placed on the garage floor before staining. Here are pictures of the garage floor during staining. Natural stain was used on all items. We kept some of the settee pieces separate so we can assemble them later. The seat cushion was left out so we can apply poly to it and the inside of the settee. After applying poly, the seat cushion can be installed and the side accent piece can cover up the hinge/pivot hole. Once assembled, the completed settee can be finished using polyurethane.

10 Here are a couple pictures of finished Little Princess Keepsakes (six princess beds and six settees). Line-up is oak, poplar and cherry. For our woodworking friends, we can look at each Little Princess Keepsake set a lot closer.

11 LITTLE PRINCESS KEEPSAKES in Poplar This is the bed and settee using poplar. Oh yes, we added armrests to the settees and wood finials instead round balls. Wood cap plates were crafted to be placed under the wood finials. Pictures of the first poplar set.

12 This is a side view of the bed and view of the headboard.

13 This is the second Little Princess Keepsakes using poplar wood and stained accent pieces.

LITTLE PRINCESS KEEPSAKES in Oak Now we can look at the

For the settee, walnut was used for the armrests, seat

A small round finial was used to accent the side of the

14 LITTLE PRINCESS KEEPSAKES in Oak Now we can look at the Little Princess Keepsakes crafted using oak as the base material and walnut for accent. Posts and accent strips are walnut for the oak beds. For the settee, walnut was used for the armrests, seat cushions, side accent panel and the strips in the front. A small round finial was used to accent the side of the armrests. This is the other settee in oak with walnut accents. Oak grain is less defined compared to the one above.

15 These are two oak settees side by side showing the accent panels and armrests. The next picture shows the Princess Keepsake bed. Close-up view of the finial used on one of oak beds. We used two different finials for the oak beds. In these views you can see the oak accent strip used on the walnut posts. In the second picture, you can see the different finial that was used.

16 More views of the footboard and headboard

17 LITTLE PRINCESS KEEPSAKES in Cherry Wood Cherry wood is the base material and maple is the accent wood. Maple posts used with cherry accent strips.

19 In these views we are showing that we had to glue two cherry panels together to get the headboard size. Naturally, we chose the better side for the bed side of the headboard. This is the other bed using cherry wood. The wood finials are different than the one above. The glued headboard panels are more obvious for this Princess Keepsake bed but we used the side with higher defined grain.

20 Thank-you to the Lewman s of ToymakingPlans for creating this design. It is our shop s hope that you find this information and pictures helpful to you in crafting your work. Happy toy making to all woodworking friends and fans of ToymakingPlans. Guess it is now time to clean up the shop and start working on the next plan or idea!

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