Making a Miniature Fireback - Tutorial

Hello everyone,

We are back to another weekend. So much to do like always. 

Today I am just going to do a quick post as tomorrow we have the draw of the two free give aways. Quite a lot of lovely people have signed up and I am looking forward to announce the lucky winners. You are still in time to join in. I also wanted to welcome six new followers of my blog. Welcome  Karen Harris, R Howard, Jules Collins, Ann Hill, Wilma Knipe and Julie Daves. I really appreciate it.

Today I will be sharing you a small, quick tutorial how to make firebacks for your dolls house fireplace. They are very simple to do but effective. You don't have to be a genius to them I think everyone can figure it out but I am so pleased how they turned up that I wanted to share how I came to do them.

Hand Made Fireback for dolls house

As you all know I am working on my Kate's cottage and I need to make two firebacks for the two fire places. Before I purchase any kind of miniatures usually I ask myself "Can I do it myself?" Usually the answer would be "Why not!"

So to do these firebacks all you need, is : dark polymer clay, graph paper, jewelry plates and black paint. 

The jewelry plates can be easily purchased from any crafts shop. To give you an ideas this is what I used.

Jewelry plates

So the first thing you need to do is measure your fire place. See how big you want it. I have made two; one larger than the other. It is very important that you don't make it too big or too small.

After measuring the fire place I sketched the pattern for the firebacks on the graph paper. It is much easy to use graph paper you will definitely be getting all the measurements and right angles perfectly drawn.

Pattern for fire backs

When you have cut out the pattern, roll out your polymer clay. Try to roll it on the baking try that you will be using to bake the lot.  Make sure that it is flat and thin. Make it big enough that the pattern covers the area, Then place the pattern on the clay and cut the extra clay away. Once it is done remove the paper pattern and position one of the jewelry plates on the flat clay and press down.

When that is done. With the extra bits of clay, roll it in a fine roll to add the edges around the fireback. This will give some extra detail and looks fuller.

Pattern of small fireback

If you are making a bigger fire back you can add more details to it. You can use small tiny charms to dent in the clay. I have used a ball tip tool to add some more detail around the fire back.

Adding more detail to fireback

When you are happy with the designs you can bake them leaving the metal jewelry plates on them. (Please make sure that they are metal, if plastic they will melt). Adjust your cooking temperature according to the polymer clay package instructions.

Painting the fireback.

Once they are done and cooled then you can paint it with black paint. Everything has to be covered in the same color,

Finished fireback

As soon as they fire backs are done you can fit them in your dolls house. 

And here are the firebacks placed in their fireplace. They just look perfect.

Large fireback

Small fireback

I hope you will find this simple tutorial useful. If you need more help please don't hesitate to contact me.

See you tomorrow for the draw and enjoy it.

Take Care.

Rebecca xxx