Hot Tubbing

This post marks the debut of the downstairs patio of my dollhouse. For only a short while I debated which diorama to display. Approximately 3 months ago, back in June, my husband suggested featuring a hot tub as the main centerpiece, an idea that I instantly loved, although I knew it would take more time and effort than usual to acquire all of the necessary materials and then put them together. Thankfully, I had 2 important teachers to assist me: patience and perseverance.

For the hot tub, I used a clear plastic spinach container, first peeling off the sticker on the bottom, then applying adhesive remover to get rid of the remaining sticker glue. Next, I trimmed the perimeter with scissors and superglued approximately half a sheet of blue construction paper to the bottom of the container, on the outside. To the inside of the container I glued the bottom half of a clear plastic cube that came with a card game. After allowing the glue to dry, I trimmed the construction paper to match the outside perimeter and lined the inside perimeter with 47 ceramic pie weights. Then I followed Steps 2 and 3 for creating Smooth Water in the article "How to Use PVA Glue As a Water Effect," making a few alterations along the way, such as using clear glue instead of white.

I knitted the towels in Garter Stitch using US 5 knitting needles and Lily Sugar'n Cream Solids & Denim yarn in the colors White and Light Blue.

The ladder is made entirely of popsicle sticks. I cut 2 sticks into 4 rungs of equal size and then attached them to the rails with tacky glue.  

To display the potted plants and smart speaker, I used the top half of the aforementioned clear plastic cube.

For the first plant, I rolled a piece of yellow modeling clay into a tube and then stacked it on top of itself, creating a coiled pot. Then I shaped a piece of green clay into 2 leaves, etched several veins onto each leaf using a toothpick, and partially tucked the leaves inside the opening of the pot. The last step was to roll some blue clay into 11 tiny balls and arrange them between the leaves.    

For the second plant, I created another coiled pot, this time using a longer tube of clay in the color light gray. To make the flowers, I gathered a small amount of pink clay, separated it into 3 balls, and flattened each ball by pressing down on it with my thumb. Then I rolled the edges up to form a taco, pinching the bottom part closed while simultaneously opening up and flattening the top part. Finally, I used a toothpick to carve multiple grooves inside each flower. To make the vines, I shaped 5 pieces of dark green clay into tubes with tapered ends, inserted them into the top of the coiled pot along with the flowers, and then twisted the ends, curving them slightly upwards, downwards, and to either side.

For the smart speaker, I used a cylindrical spacer left over from a project of my husband's. To one end of the spacer I superglued a piece of black foam sheet which I later trimmed with embroidery scissors. Next, I carefully drew some symbols onto 2 pieces of white foam to represent the power button and the controls for volume up, volume down, next track, and previous track. Then it was simply a matter of gluing the foam pieces in place, as shown below.  

It seems only fitting that I share my labor of love today, the first Monday in September that many Americans celebrate by parading, barbequing, and hot tubbing.  

Happy Labor Day!