2020: A Not-So-Joss-y Craft | How to Make a Doll Skateboard

It’s the last day of the year, and I finally have my Joss Kendrick craft ready for you all. Ooops. I feel like this is where I’m supposed to have some sort of reflection on this weird year that actually helped me because I finally started really sewing, and instead I have a craft for a Girl of the Year. XD

Well, it’s only sort of Joss-y anyways, so it’s fine. I decided, with Sophie and Nicole’s input, of course, that I would make them a skateboard.

Doesn’t Joss have one? I’m pretty sure she does, and I was going to make it in Joss colours and everything, but then I decided that her colours (which I’m not too sure what they even are) aren’t really MY dolls’ style, so the end result is more like Maplelea doll Jenna McAllister’s skateboard than Joss’s.

Anyhow, I’m really pleased with how this turned out, and with the exception of the bottom of the deck (is that what it’s called?), it is not that complicated or difficult.

Sophie should really not skateboard in a full long skirt like that, and I do need to make them a helmet (so, don’t try what Soph is doing at home!), but for now, it is working just fine.

Okay, so, the materials needed (with all my notes and stuff):

buttons, approximately 5/8 of an inch in diameter (that’s from one side to the other, across the centre) and stacked so they add up to 8 mm (or 5/16 of an inch, but you should probably just find yourself a both metric and imperial rulers for ease of measuring; I used 3 buttons stacked for each wheel, but you’ll have to adjust for your button width; don’t worry about it being terribly accurate, just use something close, or even a bit bigger)
a straw (you can wash out an already used straw for this – I would have, but I found a bit of straw in my crafting bin from something else)
the biggest size of wooden dowel or skewer that you can fit in your straw while still being able to rotate the dowel/skewer inside the straw
non-corrugated thin cardboard-stuff (maybe not the light grey-coloured genius because when it bends it creases and sometimes rips, but if that’s all you have, use it; I used cardboard-coloured stuff of about 2-3 mm in thickness; if you don’t have either of these, use cardstock or thick paper, you will have to stack a lot more sheets, but it should work)
sparkly black paper or similar (for the grip-y part of the deck, I used the sparkly stuff because I had it and it is bumpy and looks more realistic; whatever you do, don’t use sandpaper – I think that would ruin the doll shoes)
hot glue (I don’t have any notes for this one!)
white glue (I used Elmer’s or something similar, you’ll want something not too thick, so all-purpose or tacky glue is not advised)
a black permanent marker or two (I used one regular, one fine-tipped because I forgot to colour it before attaching things together) or black paint
Mod Podge or similar (I forget what the non-brand name name for it is; this is optional to seal the underside of the deck)
clothespins! or similar (for holding stuff in place while drying, you will get them back with minimal side effects later)
paint and paintbrushes, or markers and paper, or a printed out design, or whatever you want to do to get a design on the bottom of your board

Whew! Now that we’ve got through that, let’s begin.

First step is to find the right combination of buttons for your wheels. Clearly I was having a hard time finding 4 buttons that were actually the same, because we have bags of reject buttons that we got a the dollarstore (really, some of them are from well-known companies and we have a ton of little tags that say ‘aero’). Okay, this isn’t really a step because I told you everything in the materials section, but still.

Okay, here’s the real first step. Draw out your board. Using a ruler, and hoping that the edge of your carboard is straight, draw marks 2.5 inches (6.3 cm) from the edge. Connect these in to a line. Now make your skateboard 9 inches long. You could actually make it 10 or 11 inches if you want it longer, but I didn’t because Sophie is shorter and I didn’t want it to look weird.

Measure a point about 1.5 inches from each end and draw this line all the way across the short side of the board (you can see my little markings and lines on the picture above). Either free-hand draw or find a cup/circular-thing to trace a curve from one side of that line to the end of the board and on to that line on the other side. It’s less complicated than I made it sound, I just can’t find the right words.

If you want me to make an printable template for this part or if you want me to design some designs for the underside that you can just print out, let me know in the comments, and I WILL do it.

Now cut that out, trace it on the cardboard-stuff twice, and cut those out too, for a total of three. I used a Swiss Army Knife, but you could use scissors or a different kind of knife or something. You may have to cut out more or less, depending on the thickness of your material. Mine ended up 1/8 of an inch thick, so aim for around that.

You should also trace one of the pieces onto the sparkly paper and cut that out too. I actually cut mine out a little smaller so it would be more realistic, but you don’t have to.

Mark out that point 1.5 inches from the end on each of your cardboard-stuff pieces. This is where you’ll want to make the bend in your board.

Carefully press on it and bend it up a bit. It’s not too much of a curve, but it’s still some. Try to make sure that it’s not one bend line and rather a few or ones that don’t go all the way to the other side. Mine were more like that last one, where a line from one side would go not quite to the other side and another line would come from the other side sort of parallel to the first. Either way, you don’t want it to be a sharp curve, but more of a gradual one.

Now take one of your pieces, curved ends up, and put white glue on it. I probably put too much on, as usual, but hey, at least I’m guaranteed it’ll stick! Place your next piece on top of this, lining them up as best as you can. It won’t be perfect and that’s okay. You can always sand down the sides with sandpaper or a nail file once it is dry. Put glue on this piece and put the next one on. Pretty straightforward.

If you have more pieces, keep going. If you are making it out of cardstock, it might work better if you glue a few layers on at a time, instead of all at once to prevent major sliding.

Here’s where the clothespins come in. Use them to keep the pieces together while drying. A word of advice though: if they are too strong, they may press into your board and leave indents later. So just be careful, and don’t use too good of clothespins.

Oh, and if you’re anything like me when it comes to white glue, you may have to wipe excess glue from the edges before you leave it to dry.

This is what my board looked like after drying, from the back and the front.

Okay, so while you are waiting for that board to dry, cut the dowels/skewers and straw for the wheels. Together, they will make the axels and the wheels should be able to actually turn. Cut two pieces of straw that are 1.5 inches longs, then cut two pieces of dowel stuff that are 1.75 inches long (or 1 inch and 3/4). I cut the dowel with my scissors (they are Crayola ones, and they seem to work fantastic for everything!) and it did take a while, so you should probably use either a saw or something else. Also, it is better to cut it a bit too big and then sand or file the remaining bit off, then to cut it too small and then have to recut another piece.

I am not sure why this picture is still sideways, and I don’t like it, but maybe it’ll show up the right way on your end.

Anyway, cut two rectangles of the cardboard-stuff that are about 1.5 by 3/4 inches. It does not have to be exact – in fact I’m not even sure those are the most accurate measurements. Now, you have to bend it into five sections – four even ones and one that is about half the size. Do the same to the second piece.

Also cut about 12 pieces that are 1 inch by 3/4 inches and fold each in half, short side to short side.

Now head down to your glue gun (I only say down because I always do hot gluing downstairs, not in my room.). Glue your buttons together so that they are actually wheels. You can also cut a small circle of paper and glue it over the button holes. I did this a lot later, but now is just fine.

Now glue those first pieces I told you to fold into triangles. The small bit will be on the outside and one of the sides should be two layers thick.

Glue the pieces that were folded in half in half so that they stay, then glue them six to a stack, each one pointing the opposite way from the last.

Now glue one of those triangle things to the bottom of each stack.

Glue one (and only one!) wheel to each dowel. Try to get it put on as straight as you can.

Glue a piece of straw in the point of each triangle piece. Try to melt the straw just a little so you get a better bond. (I dropped one of mine and the straw unglued. Not fun to try and get back together.)

Here is how everything should currently be. Put the wheel and dowel in through the straw and fill the space around the straw (in that triangle piece) with glue, just to keep everything where it should be.

Note on this picture – the lower straw isn’t actually glued in yet, so it looks a little wonky.

Now glue the other wheel on and remove all those stringy bits of glue. You can also colour or paint everything except for the wheels and the top of the stack black. You may need a fine-tip to get in all the nooks and crannies.

Here’s just a picture of my drawing for the underside of my deck. Here’s the art (ooops, I meant part, but that was sort of a joke, so I’m leaving it!) where you can to have fun and do whatever you want to your board! You can paint it like I did, you can cover it in a cool paper, you can print out something, you even can use markers if you want. It’s your skateboard, so go wild!

I’m just going to show you how I did mine, in case you want to do it that way too.

To transfer my design to the actual board, I scribbled on the back of my drawing (well, it’s actually a photocopy, because there was a chickadee cross-stitch pattern that I had drawn on the other side), You only need to do this where there are lines on the other side, so holding it up to the window can help.

Then I clothespinned it, scribbled side down, onto the bottom of the board (make sure you have the right side!) and traced over my lines.

The pencil graphite transfers to the board and there you’ve got it, without having to free-hand it again! I touched up a few spots, then I started painting.

If you’re like me and you don’t want the brushstrokes to show, just put extra paint on and try to dab it as opposed to swipe, I guess. I used a lot of paint, just be careful you don’t put too much or it will crack when it dries, and that’s not really any better.

Then, once it was dry, I took a Sharpie (well, I have multiple there, because I was trying to find the best one) and outlined everything, because that’s the effect I wanted.

And yes, I was using my calculator as a surface thing to help me draw on the curved board. I actually had it the other way, so you couldn’t tell it was a calculator, but my name and school were on that side, so I flipped it for the photo. It was very helpful, and hey, it was right there on the floor! (Along with my binder and textbooks, because they have no where else to go.)

Once that’s all done, I used Mod Podge to seal the board and make it the same shininess all over. (Some of my paint was shiny, others weren’t. It was weird.)

Take the grip-stuff (the sparkly paper) that you cut out a long time ago and glue it carefully onto the other side of the board. Clothespin it while it is drying.

Carefully mark out where your wheels will go. It should be right before the curve and from the far edge of one stack to the far edge of the other should be about 6 inches.