Mid-Century Faux Fiberglass Chairs for Barbie

Fashion dolls ranging from eleven inches to fourteen can sit comfortably in these faux Mid-Century Modern chairs.
On the far left are two Brat dolls and on the far right is a 14 inch Mattel Barbie and a Lisa Frank doll seated together
in the same set of Mid-Century modern, doll chairs.

       These faux fiberglass chairs are made from paper mache of course! I painted them bright orange and covered their lower halves in faux wood grain shelf paper that I purchased from a local dollar store.

       This project was indeed made simpler because of the shoe forms. Some shoes are sold with these cardboard inserts included in their box. These paper mache forms keep the shoes looking new and prevent the crushing of shoe tops in transportation and storage.

       In this post I will demonstrate how I transformed the orange, faux fiberglass, chair designs. I used the bottom halves of each shoe form for these designs.   

Photo by Schlaier, Read more about the Eames Fiberglass Armchair
Visit the Eames Office at YouTube and watch films.

Supply List:

• spray paint
• faux wood grain shelf paper
• cardboard shoe forms
• wood putty
• sandpaper
• light weight cardboard
• Gorilla wood glue 
• masking tape

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. I cut each shoe form in half to make four separate chairs for our fashion dolls.
2. Next I shaped the bottoms of each chair to their unique curves separately, because not a single one of my faux fiberglass chairs is identical to the others. Place the chair, seated side up, on top of a piece of cardboard and trace around it with a pencil. Now I had a template to work the bottom half of the chair with.
3. I then taped and glued a piece of three inch wide cardboard around the circumference of the cardboard template, overlapping one end onto the other approx. 1/2 ". Then I glued this in place.
4. Tracing a template around the extended template on top of an additional piece of cardboard, I cut a closed end for the chair's bottom side. After gluing this chair piece on the bottom, I let it dry overnight. 
5. Using the Gorilla wood glue, I firmly glued the top half of the chair to the lower and let the entire chair dry again overnight.
6. I smoothed on the first coat of wood putty on the upper half of the doll chairs and also used masking tape to cover the lower half of the chairs, keeping these clean and free from paint. It is necessary to keep cardboard clean and free of paint so that shelf paper will adhere to surfaces properly.
7. At last I sanded the tops of each chair smooth and spray painted these surfaces with a bright orange color. I had to repeat these steps several times before achieving the smooth faux fiberglass surface I wanted.
8. Then I removed the masking tape and cut the faux wood grain shelf papers to cover each chair's bottom halves.
   

Left, paper mache shoe forms come with some shoe purchases in the U. S.
Center, the lower cut chairs with attached bottoms.
Right, the tops of each chair are covered with wood putty. and then sanded.

Left, the first spray paint layer. Center, I have smoothed more putty over the painted surfaces to repeat
 the sanding and painting. Not only does this give the surfaces a more finished, glass-like look,
 it also strengthens each chair. Right, all kinds of dolls may sit comfortably in my Mid-Century
furniture: Brat dolls, Barbie dolls, Lisa Franks dolls etc...

Multiple angles showing the shapes of these plascale Mid-Century Modern chairs.