Making frames for dollhouse wall art is a fun DIY miniature project that you can do with basic materials, or you can go fancy like these gold leaf polymer clay frames. They’re great for more formal wall art, and you can make them at home.
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Materials you’ll need.
To make these frames, you’ll need the following (all links are affiliate links, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)
- Silicone frame molds
- Gold leaf
- Mod Podge
- Paint brushes
- Parchment paper
- Polymer clay
- Polymer clay blade
- Toaster oven to cook the clay
Make sure to use the toaster oven outdoors for ventilation!
How to make the polymer clay frames.
Start with the molds on a countertop, and warm the polymer clay up by kneading it in your hands until it’s workable. Roll the clay out into a snake that will fit into the cavities in the molds.
Press the clay into the molds, trying not to overfill them too much. You want them to be pretty level so that you won’t get any bulges on the back once they’re baked.
Fill the mold and really press the clay into the cavities to pick up all of the details.
Cut away the extra clay so that the clay is level with the mold/ Be careful not to cut the mold with the blade, since the soft silicone molds can get cuts in them from sharp objects!
Put the mold on the counter with the clay side down, and start de-molding the frame by removing the mold from the frame. Don’t pull the clay out of the mold, that can stretch it. Keep the frame on the counter as you peel the mold off of it to keep its shape.
You’ll end up with a molded frame that’s not stretched out! If you need to trim off anything from the center area you can do that now using an exacto knife.
Bake the frames.
Put the frames on the toaster oven baking sheet and preheat the oven to 275F. You can go a little lower if you want to, because things that are thinner can burn (as we’ll see soon.) Polymer clay can bake at a lower temperature for a little longer and it will still work, especially for something like this.
Keep a close eye on your pieces and if it looks like they’re starting to turn brown, take them out! I was sitting on the porch and noticed that there was smoke coming out of the toaster oven and realized that it was burning, so things that are thin definitely DO NOT need to be in for the full baking time!
Luckily, polymer clay can be painted and it doesn’t really matter if it’s burnt for these purposes. If you’re making something that needs to look pretty on its own, that’s different.
Covering the frames with gold leaf.
Get the frames that you want to cover and put them on a piece of parchment paper. It doesn’t matter if they’re burned or not because we’re going to be covering them up with the gold leaf.
I use this parchment from Baker’s Signature…The Mod Podge doesn’t stick to it when it dries because there’s a coating on the paper that lets you peel the dried glue off.
Paint the frame with Mod Podge or another adhesive to make the polymer clay sticky. Make sure to get into all the nooks and crannies.
Get your gold leaf ready…I used this brand that was sent as a sample, and it worked really well, as you’ll see. Get it on Amazon here (ad)
Gold leaf comes in sheets in a booklet, or sometimes in flakes. These sheets were easy to use, and they came with some gloves to keep the sheets from sticking to your hands.
Put the leaf over the frame with the adhesive on it and pat it down with a fluffy dry paintbrush, or use your hands with the gloves. Avoid getting glue on your hands, and add more glue and gold leaf to the frame if any spots tear and reveal the polymer clay.
It’s okay to add more glue and gold leaf as you work, since the leaf is probably going to tear somewhere because it’s not stretchy. As you cover areas that are curved or that have crevices, the leaf will naturally rip, and you’ll have to fill in blank spaces.
Work carefully and press the leaf onto the surface, filling in as you go. If you use the gloves, try to make sure that you don’t get glue on them. When you’re totally done covering the frame, let it dry for a while.
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Seal the gold leaf.
If you want to, you can seal the gold leaf to keep it from flaking off later. It can change the color a little, but it will make the surface less likely to get scratched. I used Mod Podge to seal one frame, but you could use polyurethane or a sealant that’s specifically for gold leaf.
The frame on the left is the one that I put Mod Podge on, and you can see that it’s dried darker than the other two. Those don’t have a sealer at all, and I don’t think that they need one since these are small pieces that won’t be handled a lot. The sealed one was still shiny, it was just darker.
Attach a picture to the frame.
Get a small portrait or painting (click here to see the dollhouse wall art printables on this site) And cut it out so that it’s a little bit bigger than the hole in the frame. Using a piece of packing tape or duct tape, cut the tape so that it’s a little smaller than the back of the frame, and attach the picture to the frame using the tape.
If you want to do something more permanent, you can use epoxy glue to attach the pictures to the frames. Mod Podge or another type of glue might work, but it might peel off.
The end result will be pretty gilded frames that will dress your dollhouse interior up. These would be cute for a formal gallery wall or for a Victorian themed house. The shine that you get from the gold leaf is something that you really can’t replicate with paint, so the process is worth it to give your accessories an upscale look.
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