How to Make a Toy Harp

A harp can be made to fit inside a vintage-style dollhouse.

Toy harps make a nice accessory for a dollhouse, particularly if the dollhouse is Victorian or vintage, reflecting the time when the harp was a popular instrument in finer homes. There are two basic sizes of harp you can choose to make: a smaller arm-held harp such as for dolls that are made to look like angels or a larger floor-standing harp designed to look like furniture in a dollhouse. Both harps are similar in shape and are made the same way.

Things You'll Need

• Photocopy
• Tracing paper
• Pencil
• Scissors
• 1/4-inch basswood
• Rotary tool
• Drill bit
• Cutting bit
• Sanding tool
• Carpenter's glue
• Gold paint pen
• Acrylic paints
• Small artist brush
• Jewelry wire
• Gold beads
• Needle nose pliers
• Wire cutters

Instructions

1. Make a photocopy of a harp that is the size you want to make. Look for a side view. Place tracing paper over the copy and trace out the basic harp shape. Make a second drawing for the foot of the harp. Cut out your two shapes including the inside string area of the harp with scissors.

2. Place your patterns over 1/4-inch-thick basswood. Trace out the patterns on the wood.

3. Cut around the shapes using a hobby saw or rotary tool with a cutting bit. Drill a hole in the inside area with a drill bit and then use your hobby saw or rotary tool to cut out the inside of the harp. Shape the harp using contour bits and sanding bits on a rotary tool.

4. Measure along the top and bottom edge and drill evenly-spaced holes for the strings. Use a tiny drill bit and the same number of holes on each side. Make the outer 1/16 inch of each hole large enough for a small seed bead. Sand the harp. Apply carpenter's glue to the bottom edge of the harp where it joins with the base and glue the two pieces together. Allow the glue to dry for 24 hours.

5. Paint the harp using a gold paint pen. Add details using acrylic paints and a fine artist brush. You can paint in the illusion of carvings or make the gold look antiqued by darkening around the holes and joints.

6. Thread a gold seed bead through jewelry wire and twist the wire three times under the bead. Slide the wire through the first hole on one end of the harp, pressing the gold bead into the top of the hole to secure the wire. Stretch the wire to the first hole on the other side of the harp. Slide the wire through the hole. Slide a gold bead on the end and slide the wire back through the same hole. Press the bead into the hole.

7. Pull the wire gently until it is tight and use needle-nose pliers to twist the wire three times around itself. Trim off the excess wire. Repeat this for all of the wires.

Tips & Warnings

• If your harp tends to tip over, add metal plate to the underside of the stand by gluing it in place.

References

• Popular Science: December 1951