Miniatures – Dollar Store Style

Making Mini Fireplace Tools

Last time, I made a mini light-up fireplace. Now I want to outfit it with some accessories. I set myself a challenge to make some miniature fireplace tools, and it was a bit of a challenge. However, with a bit of thought and some simple dollar store supplies, I was able to come up with some reasonable facsimiles.

Follow these easy instructions to outfit your mini fireplace with fireplace tools.

Supplies Used:

• BBQ skewers (dollar store)
• medium popsicle stick (dollar store)
• coffee stir stick (dollar store)
• 2-inch faux leather tassel (on hand)
• small safety pin (on hand)
• barrel swivels (from fishing gear section at Dollarama)
• pearl-headed pins (on hand)
• black acrylic paint
• Fix-all glue (Dollar Tree)
• hot glue
• scrap corrugated cardboard
• light duty wire cutters

I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click on a link below and make a purchase, I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you.

• barrel swivels
• 2″ leather tassels
• hot glue gun with fine point

Fireplace Brush

 

 

I’ve had some of these faux leather tassels in my stash for some time. As I was pondering how to make a brush for my mini fireplace, I hit on using part of one of these, using a safety pin to securely hold the part I would need.

 

 

All I did was secure the safety pin about 1/2 inch from the bottom of the tassel…

 

 

…and cut off the top part of the tassel, leaving a small amount of tassel above the safety pin.

 

 

To make the top of the fireplace brush, I used a small piece of scrap corrugated cardboard. If you cut it following the vertical lines in the cardboard, it’s easier to fold. Then, I folded it so that it was flat on the top and had one section on either side.

 

 

Next, I fit the cardboard piece on top of the tassel and used hot glue to secure it. 

 

 

I then trimmed the cardboard top so that just a smidgen was left either side of the brush.

 

 

 

Next, I cut a small hole in the middle top of the cardboard piece, so that the BBQ skewer handle would be able to go part way in and held in place with hot glue. I used 3-inch pieces of the skewers as the tool handles.

 

 

 

The partially completed fireplace brush.

 

Fireplace Shovel

 

 

I used the 3/4 inch tip of a medium craft stick and cut the same lengths from a coffee stir stick to make a mini fireplace shovel. 

 

 

 

The straight edge of the craft stick is the bottom of the shovel. I glued the pieces of stir stick onto the craft stick at a slight angle toward the top centre of the craft stick piece.

 

 

This forms a reasonable facsimile of a fireplace shovel.

 

 

 

I glued the piece of skewer to the back of the shovel to finish it.

 

Fireplace Poker

 

 

This one’s easy-peasy. Just cut a 3-inch piece of a BBQ skewer that includes the pointed end.

 

Firewood Holder 

 

 

To make a firewood holder, I began with another piece of corrugated cardboard approximately 2-inches long by about 1 1/2-inches wide.

 

 

Then I just folded it into a V shape…

 

 

…cut a thin strip of cardboard for a handle to the appropriate length and glued it to either side of the firewood holder.

Painting the Fireplace Tools

 

 

I used black acrylic paint to paint my fireplace tools. The cardboard did separate in places, but a bit of hot glue, after the paint was dry, corrected that problem.

 

 

 

To paint the brush, I first dragged the tassel ends through some paint. It was an easy way to make sure that all of the tassel ends got covered. Then I smoothed everything out with a paint brush and continued on painting the rest of the tool. Again, I had to use some hot glue to flatten down cardboard edges that had separated due to the moisture in the paint.

 

 

Here’s what my fireplace tools looked like after I had painted them. They looked unfinished to me. I wanted to give them a decorative top like real fireplace tools have, but I wasn’t sure what that would be.

If you notice any places that could use a touch up after the paint is dry, a black Sharpie marker works well for that purpose.

The Finishing Touch

 

 

While wandering around Dollarama, I came across some barrel swivels in the camping/fishing section and new that I could make use of them for my purposes, with a bit of tweaking.

 

 

 

I cut the barrel swivels apart just below the barrel. 

 

 

Now, as the name suggests, these pieces are meant to swivel, so I needed to glue the part with the ring to the barrel. I tried hot glue, but that proved to be too messy, even with my fine tip glue gun. I opted for a clear Fix-All glue I had in my stash and used that to fasten it to the handles, as well.

 

 

 

Now I was satisfied that my mini fireplace tools looked more like the real thing, with the added bonus of rings for hanging.

 

 

 

To hang my fireplace tools, I hunted up some small pearl-headed straight pins and poked three of them at intervals through the cardboard surround on my fireplace. I positioned the pins so that the fireplace tools would hang just above the fireplace hearth.

 

 

With the firewood holder glued onto the hearth and filled with more “logs,” my mini fireplace is looking more complete. The plant on the other side is simply a couple of green stems stuck into a barrel bead.

I’m quite happy with the way things are shaping up. Next time, I’ll be working on things to fill the mantle.

I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click on a link below and make a purchase, I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you.

• barrel swivels
• 2″ leather tassels
• hot glue gun with fine point

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