Mission-style doll bed

[Richard Link]

This is a Mission-style doll bed that I made for my niece for Christmas this year. Her American Girl doll is Josephina, a girl living in New Mexico during the 1800s.

The bed is made from quartersawn white oak using mortise and integral tenon construction, in an attempt to be period faithful (although it does not have exposed joinery). The carving is a southwestern-themed bear that was roughed out using a Carvewright machine and cleaned up with hand tools. My niece’s nickname is “Little Bear,” so this was a natural choice.

The finish is a simple clear shellac topped with wax, mostly due to time constraints. I gave some thought to fuming the bed using the traditional ammonia technique but just didn’t have time to make that happen before Christmas.


The beautiful quilt and pillows were made by my mom who is an accomplished quilter. She did a superb job and the bedding really makes the bed in my opinion.


Thanks for having a look. Any comments are welcome. Happy holidays.


Rick

[gary Zimmel]

Great work on the "mini" mission bed Richard.
This will be a gift that will be around for a long long time.
Your niece must be ecstatic.
And your moms quilting just puts the icing on the cake.

Very nice again...

[John Keeton]

Rick, that is a superb piece of work!! The carving and the bedding really set it off, and the whole project has a very professional appearance. Great job!

[John Thompson]

Well done Richard. BTW.. I use QSWO almost exclusively and I don't bother with fuming as I really don't care for the fumes that are omitted. You can basically accomplish the same thing with modern gel stains and dyes. That bed looks great doing just what you did.

[Richard Link]

Thanks for the kind words. It was really a fun project to build.