The Nightclub & a How-to...

I have been busy lately, but off an on I have been working on a nightclub diorama for a dolly playdate in the future with some friends. We all agreed we wanted a nightclub theme, and I stated since it is held at my house, I would build the set. Easy , right? Nope, just another excuse to shop for more cool props on ebay or make my own!

Here are some photos of the set so far. The nightclub itself sits on a four foot folding table in my den, and is 47 inches wide and 24 inches deep. I have yet to make the doors or the stage for the band. (I have some cool instruments coming I bought in a lot on ebay- they even include drums and amps, and a keyboard plus 7 guitars!) hopefully they will arrive before the playdate. The set is built of foamcore, for the walls and ceiling and builder's foam wrapped in silver wrapping paper for the floor, and tubing wrapped in silver paper for the columns you see.

The chandeliers are Christmas ornaments I picked up. I used the mini dollar tree clamp on lights over the silkstone Betty Draper to show how the lights will sine on the stage. The black and whtie dance floor is a placemat from Pier One. the little gargoyle statues I added for some gothic interest. I need to build the stage, but that will be pretty simple. So far its dimensions I have figured out to be 23 inches wide and 10 inches deep and will go across the end where the silkstone stands.

Now for the dolly how-to:

I made the bar & nightclub standing bar tables from items from the local Dollar Tree and used LIquid nails clear to adhere them. (you can probably buy the liquid nails at the dollar tree as well, or walmart)
The bar is made of two napkin holders stacked together, on topof a butter plate and its lid. The butter plate is turned upside down on its lid, and the two napkin holders are place on top of it, and adhered lightly with liquid nails for stability. These items are made of clear plastic and are in the kitchen utility section of the store.
Here is a picture of Rock steady with the bar. He is a little tall, but it will do. I might put a longer table top on it in black foamcore , haven't decided yet.

Now onto the bar nightclub tables. They needed to be tall enough for the dolls to stand at around the dance floor with drinks, and look bored. You remember clubbing, right? You got a table near the dance floor so you could be 'seen'. (lol...been a while since I was single and partied!) The base for the tables is a 4 1/2 inch glass votive tea light holder. These come in three different sizes. I took Frank sinatra barbie with me in my purse to compare height, there is one taller than this and also one smaller than this- that might make a great table. I used a package of small 3 inch square mirrors from Michael's for the tabletops. They cost $1.99 and if you use your coupon this week you can get 50% off . I am thinking of going back and looking for more of these votives, as I have some more mirrors, but don't know how many dolls will be attending the nightclub party. It is just a group of us that love dioramas and putting dolls and props together, we don't care if it's Barbie , Fashion Royalty, vintage, or so one, just all of us love dolls of any size.
Note: I got my liquid nails at the Home Depot, but you can also buy it at walmart. It basically runs about $2-3.99 for the good clear stuff. I probably spent a total of $6-8 for the items to make the bar and tables, altogether, which isn't bad.
The silver wrapping paper that the floor, the columns are wrapped in also came from Michael's and was 3.99, again I used my 50% off coupon (yeah I'm cheap that way, lol) and the first roll was used to wrap the floor, so I had a cool empty tubing to make my column you see in the front of the nightclub, lol...I keep stuff like this in my 'stash' which makes for diorama fun when I build, as the design comes about what I have on hand. I would say my most expensive output for this diorama was the builder's foam from home depot and the foamcore in black!
Enjoy! More photos to come!
~Lisa