Planning a Miniature Spiral Staircase

Hello and Welcome!!

Spiral Staircases are beautiful...they always, if well planned, create an elegance to a room and provide a conversation piece.  We are so drawn to these coiled, curved shapes that it seems that they may be hard wired into our brains.   They touch our emotions in a way that angular and straight lines just do not.

The process to build a spiral staircase appears to be somewhat difficult, but with a few simple ideas, the basic staircase is quite straightforward to build.

Spiral Staircase build for 3rd Floor

My staircase was inspired by the staircase pictured at the following url:  http://www.pinterest.com/pin/278519558175248192/

I've not brought the photo forward, because I am not sure of it's copyright status.  But when I saw that staircase, I knew exactly what I wanted to do for the Steampunk Chateau 3rd floor staircases.  My version is a modification, since I didn't bring the top of the stair over the bottom...I liked the single spiral better for my application.

I thought I would pass along what I learned in the process of planning this staircase...it really was not that much more difficult to accomplish than the other, straight staircases.   I hope the following will make the process easy and straightforward for you if you have always wanted that spiral staircase!


Step 1:  First, you must draw a circle the size of the final spiral staircase you want to build.   I am sure you will be impressed by my sophisticated tools!

Step 2:  Find the center of the circle by drawing a line through the halfway point of the circle.  (if you want to get scientific, check out the web!  I just eyeballed it!  Looking at my photo now, I "might" have missed the mark!  We'll pretend its the shadow effect, OK?)

Step 3:  Use the center point to center a full circle protractor.  Mine is a 360 degree full circle protractor by Helix.  

Step 4:   Using the center line of dots (at an angle to the scale measurements above in the Helix protractor) draw a circle the size of your center "post".   You may not use a post in the final build, but you will need one to gauge a straight center line as you build.   I used a cardboard paper towel tube, so I measured that circumference and then drew the center circle using the dotted slots in the Helix protractor.

Step 5:  Determine how many treads you want in the spiral staircase.  

The tool at http://www.blocklayer.com/stairs/stairseng.aspx can help you decide the number of treads and risers you need based upon the height of the staircase you need. 

Step 6: Determine the angle you need to obtain the correct number of treads required to reach the height you need.

To do this, use the formula "360/x=Y". In the example I am drawing for this demonstration, I am using a good round number of 16 treads, so in the formula, I divided 360 by 16, and get 22.5 as my equally spaced angle to obtain 16 treads.


Step 7:  Placing the protractor at 0 on one of the two lines you have drawn, begin advancing the protractor by 22.5 degrees each time, and then draw a new line.  (you will adjust to whatever measurement you need for the number of treads you require)

Step 8:   Continue clear around the circle until you have reached the original line, advancing exactly 22.5 degrees before drawing each line. The original line should be the same mark as the 360 degree mark.

Step 9:  Now you are ready to adjust the design to meet your requirements.  I wanted an Art Noveau look to the staircase, so I routed the end of the staircase outward.  You can adjust in any way you prefer to create a unique design.

Step 10:  Remember to stop the center of the staircase design where you want the post (or invisible post) to be when you are done.  I was using this paper towel tube as the center point.  This could be adjusted to be narrower or larger, depending upon the requirements for your dollhouse decor.

Now build to print!  As you cut and build, you will want to use the center post ( a real one during the build!) to help you keep your staircase spiraling straight upward.  Butt the end of each cut tread and riser against the center post in order to ensure that vertical rise you will want.

Good Luck on your very own spiral staircase!  I hope this has taken the mystery out of the process!

Until next time!

Doug S

P.S.  For those of you who are wondering what happened to that resin floor pour...it is still in work! However, good news...it is hardening well! I just need to buy MORE of the resin...sigh.  But more on that later!!

Grand Staircase Railing Balustrade

Morning folks!

While I have been waiting for the Entry Floor tests to complete, I have been busy!  I started work on the Grand Staircase Stair Railing balustrade.

Here are the couple of things I have been toying with using for the balusters.

It says Stair Railing to you, doesn't it? 

First, a jewelry connector I found at Hobby Lobby...and immediately thought...stair railing!!  These I know I want to use...

I also found these skeleton keys at a local fair...and thought...hmmm....I wonder....?

I have to admit, I am vacillating on the exact look I want.  I think the Skeleton Keys would add so much...but...

I have been casting and cutting off flashing for two days!  I am getting a little weary of casting resin, to say the least!

These jewelry findings have very fine details, and casting them is quite a chore...a little like watching paint dry...it goes on and on...!

I am using the same process I used for many of the elements of the Entry floor, and I LOVE this stuff.  It is so easy to use, and actually, for a project like this, goes quite quickly.

The first step is to use the Amazing Mold Putty to create several molds from the original piece.  This honestly takes about 10 minutes total!

Next, I used the Amazing Casting Resin from the same company...http://www.amazingmoldputty.com/.  I actually purchase mine through the local Hobby Lobby as well.  This product UNLIKE the Amazing Clear Resin Product I posted about yesterday, is a quick, easy to use product.  Yes, it is also a tad sticky here and there...but hey..you can't have everything!

To hasten the molding process a bit, I heat the silicone molds in the microwave for 1 minute...this helps ensure that the resin has the heat required to set properly.  I then mix the resin parts A and B, stirring for 1 minute....until the resin combination is clear.

I set the timer on the oven for only 16 minutes...that magic number is all it takes for the resin to get hard enough to remove from the mold.

When I get done, I have something like this...

You can see the flashing that comes out of the mold....Well, guess what!  I get to cut all of that off!

After cutting the flashing off of each piece, I end up with a near finished product that resembles the original. 

This is a lot of work...but considering I need a LOT of these...two per baluster rail, and that the findings themselves are exorbitantly expensive for what you are getting, this will save me a HUGE bundle...so it is off to work I go...!

I have done exactly 28 of these puppies....I need something like a hundred!  I will likely not be posting for a day or two!  I am buried in jewelry connectors!

Meanwhile, I continue to try and decide whether to go to the trouble to cast more of the keys...at the moment, it seems just a bit more than I want to do!  But I am sure cooler heads will eventually prevail!

Be back soon!

Doug S

The Evolution and Improvement of [his] Staircase Construction (Or "The Story of Doug Learning to use Common Sense!)

Hello folks!

One of the major reasons I wanted to blog in the first place is that I wanted to pass along what I am learning  to others.  I've gained much from others who have done that, and I wanted to pass along what I discover and encourage others to take the plunge into the Miniature world. (Who knew building miniatures could be so rewarding!)

I promised a "series" of posts on the process of building a staircase from scratch, and this is the second of that series.  In this entry, you get to see where I started, and some of what I ended up learning in the process of building the staircases I have built.

Rear view of the Grand Staircase

With this post, I wanted to show you the progression in learning that I went through to improve the final outcome on each staircase.   I hope that by letting folks see the "behind the scenes" decisions I have had to make, it will embolden someone to take a chance on themselves!

So on we go to it!

The Grand Staircase 

This was the first of the staircases I built from scratch.  I've already posted a number of pictures of that staircase...I am sure you are tired of seeing it!  So I won't post another...If you did miss that somehow...you can link to a photo of where that is right now by clicking on the "series of posts" link at the top of this post. 

For this staircase, I used hickory boards that I built up to create the base, and the same hickory boards to create the tread and riser basic forms.  

What I learned in that process was to pay attention to the grain of the woods I used!  The grain of the hickory was beautiful, but it was out of scale with the staircase...so while I had a beautiful piece of art...it was not going to work for the Steampunk Chateau!   So to improve the piece, I had to find some 5/32 inch mahogany boards and apply that to compensate for the scale differences.   What is more, adding a layer of wood to the riser made the stair look out of scale, so I had to find much thinner wood tape to apply to the riser in order to finish off the stair properly.  At the time (still in the learning process!) I didn't know where to source the mahogany wood tape, and Lowe's didn't have any, so I bought birch wood tape, and had to stain it all with red mahogany stain!

Light bulb moment?  Use a wood that has a grain and size that is in scale at the beginning if you don't want to have to have to overlay everything with another kind of wood!   I don't actually mind the extra work to overlay things as you will see, but it was still one of those "Duh!" moments for me!

The Victorian Staircase

Second Floor Victorian Staircase

For the 2nd floor Victorian Staircase that I built, I decided to go ahead and use the rest of my hickory boards to build that staircase, since I didn't want them to go to waste, and I already had the thin mahogany boards that I needed to overlay everything.  In many ways, this staircase was easier to build, since it was a straight shot to the next floor and therefore there were no curves to negotiate.  

 Light bulb moment?   I did however, learn a thing or two with this build as well.  On the first staircase, and on this one, I used 5/32 inch thick board for the stair treads.    I got to looking at the scale, and realized that the proportion between the tread and the rest of the stair was incorrect...and decided to sand each board down to a 3/32 inch thickness, which turns out to be proportionate.  But I learned  (duh!) that sanding the thickness of a board down to a particular thickness is at best a trial, and at worst, nearly impossible without the proper tools.  This staircase has some uneven thicknesses in the treads, which is not terribly noticeable, until you put it up against the 3rd and 4th sets...which I'll share in a moment. I learned by doing something right too though!  That birch wood strip that I had to go get to recover from my first light bulb moment came in extremely handy!  The "secret" to smooth curves like those on the bottom two steps isn't just great cutting and sanding...yes, that is a part of it...but that wood strip is what finished it off!  It bends nicely into a wonderful curve that looks very natural.  On all the wood strip I used, I actually used Arlene's Tacky Glue rather than trying to iron the wood on with the glue provided on the wood strip...it is just easier, and the results were great.  
The Circular Staircase (s)

The matching pair of Circular Staircases

For this set of staircases, I applied some of my lessons learned, and thought it would be much simpler!  And in some ways it was...I used 3/32 inch lumber for the treads, and again employed that wonderful wood tape for the graceful curves.  But I had a different set of problems! Light bulb moment?   I originally set out to cut out each step the same way I had for the first two staircases.  But I have already mentioned in an earlier post that this did not work well.  I learned that in order to cut small, curved pieces (you cannot run those through the table saw!) you must cut those directly out of the large piece of wood to be able to negotiate the shapes...Otherwise those curves get in the way as you try to move the scroll saw over the lines...the tool is too wide to keep from running into the clamps and the table you have your pieces clamped to...you must keep them away from that table to give yourself room to negotiate the curves!My way of solving that problem was to use the original Foam Core Mock Up (the second of the name!  The first was a complete disaster!) as the base for the circular stair.  Because of the very small curves in some portions of that pattern, I thought it would be easier.  After all, when I am completed with the stair, none of the Foam Core will show, AND it would be supported by the wood that surrounds it. This worked beautifully (so far anyway), as the wood tape and 3/32 inch treatment I gave it completely covers the Foam Core, and will do so for the sides and bottom as well.  The only "side effect" of that is that there is a decided "tilt" as you go up the stairs that will have to be corrected by applying the wood casing on the bottom and sides of the stair correctly.  However, Foam Core is easily molded...and I felt that the results were beautiful.  The stair will be very graceful once that minor consequence is dealt with. I also made another change as I negotiated my way through the process of building these staircases.  I had noticed that the finish on both the first and second staircases was very glossy, and in real life is beautiful, but the camera bounces back the light, and so any pictures I took ended up with a fairly significant glare.

I wanted to try a satin gloss finish, and so used that on this set of staircases, and am happy with the result...It is a different, much softer finish, and suits the style of the staircase finish work I plan to create. 

I would not recommend one over the other at this point...both finishes gave very nice, but different results.  I hope that this trip through my learning process has been valuable for some of you.  I imagine for many of you most of the above is somewhat primitive knowledge, but I know that there are many out there too who will learn from my mistakes...it is for you I post this entry!  I hope it saves you time and money!

Good Luck on all your building ventures!  Until next time.

Doug S

The Incomprehensibile Miniature Staircase

Morning folks!

One of the less comprehensible tasks when building from scratch is figuring out how to go about building a staircase that is in scale, yet unique and interesting.  I have built four seven staircases for this house...(4 almost final versions, and 3 mock ups).  I know that some miniaturists shy away from building things such as staircases, because they seem so complex.

I hope that this series of posts will take some of the mystery out of the unfathomable stair.

This entry will address the part all of us creative types hate... the math. I am no math whiz, so when I faced my first staircase build, I had to do a lot of research.  I still don't get math..and yet it is so essential to some tasks, and staircases are one of those areas where math remains a necessary evil.

Rather than go INTO the math...I will pass on a resource I found that takes the "math" out of the process! See, if one can avoid unpleasantness, one should.  Don't you think?

My great SECRET is this website!   

Be sure not to tell anyone, OK?  You have been entrusted with the most valuable of secrets!

There are some terms that we need to understand before the website above makes sense.  These are several components to a staircase that are part of the "math" equation.

Total Rise:

You will first need to know the "Total Rise".  This is nothing more than the final height of the staircase you desire.  For my Grand Staircase, the Total Rise is actually 12.5 ft. (inches).  (After all, these Steampunkers are the cream of the crop!  Their manse must be grand!)

This measurement is one of the more critical ones.  You should measure from the floor of your room to the topside of the floor above. Your staircase must meet the same level as the floor in the above room.

Note that in your stair build, the stair will be slightly taller than the side of the room...this accounts for the additional height for the floor above.  (The stair in the photo is ACTUALLY propped up on the side, but why would I share that?!  There really WILL be a small difference in heights!)

Now for a short aside:  Those of you doing the math...the stair above is NOT 12.5 inches tall...

this is one of those revisions I made along the way!

Ideal Rise:

This is the height that you want the riser on each step.  The riser is the front vertical piece on each stair level.

If you want narrow and steep stairs, you might use a higher number...say 8 in.

If you wanted a more gracious look, you might use a shallower rise. Standard rise, on most staircases, is about 7".


Ideal Run:

The ideal run is the length of the stair footprint from the front of the stairs to the back of the stairs, along the floor line.  This is not measured at the stair angle, but level along the floor.  The total length that you need the stair footprint to stay within is the value you would enter into the Ideal Run.

And that is all you have to have!  Press calculate, and you are left with your answer at the bottom of the page, for:

a)  the number and height of the "risers" you will need
b)  the number and width of the "runs" you will need (this is the horizontal width of each step from front to back)
c)  the length of the stringer you will require
d)  the width of the "throat"  (this is the vertical length of the stringer at an angle at the narrowest point)
e)  the total run and
f)   the headroom required

All is laid out in a nice little set of diagrams at the base of the page!

The website offers many other ways to manipulate the size and aspect of the stairway, but I will let you visit and play with the site.  I think you will find it valuable.  

If you desire, as I did in the staircase base pictured at the top of the post, you can enter the total rise of the base itself, calculate, and then enter the height of the rest of the stair..(the difference between the base and the top of the floor above), and calculate those new values. Some of the additional features of the site allow you to ensure that the rise and tread are the same for both portions of the staircase build. 

Once you have completed the basic real life calculations, you are able to take the number of real life inches (or metric measurements if that is your flavor!) and convert them using a conversion table such as the one on the DIY Dollhouse Miniatures website.    I also use the conversion table on the back of my well used metal ruler from Hobby Lobby.  Would you believe it was new in February?!

All of my measurements were converted to 1:12 scale, so it was extremely easy to convert the calculations.  If you wish to convert to smaller or larger scales, you will have to visit someone who really understands math...(in case you were wondering, it is not me!  There was a REASON I chose 1:12 scale!) 

I hope that this post will take the fear out of the hearts of those of you who have not been willing to take the plunge to design your own staircase.  If I can do this, I would expect that most of the worlds population can manage it...there was never a non-techie quite like me!

There is so much freedom in not being tied to a manufacturer's "cost effective" offerings.  Just learning this skill will provide you with the opportunity to create staircases that are beautiful and unique, using your own materials and design sensibilities. 

Have fun designing!

Until next time! 

Doug S

P.S.  I would like to welcome my 5th follower!   I am excited to welcome Simon from Miniature Enthusiast!  I am thankful to have you on board!