I really love the chimney of this dollhouse and decided to finish it identical to the box photo. I decided to use a product called Magic Brick.
I first assembled the chimney. I then finished the 2 backers and flues. All of these parts must be painted before they can be assembled.
In order to apply the magic brick, you have to paint your item the color you want the "mortar" to be. In this case, I wanted it white so I painted the entire chimney assembly white.
I couldn't take photos of the actual process because its extremely messy but basically the way this product works is through a brick stencil sticker. You apply the stencil sticker by wrapping it around the chimney. Then you mix the Magic Brick dust with water in a container until it's the consistency of oatmeal. You then apply it over the stencil, to fill in all of the little brick openings. You then pull the stencil away and you are left with raised "bricks." For more detail, the instructions are here.
The product creates really nice, realistic bricks. I was really impressed with the outcome. It looks like I really did apply bricks to the chimney, one by one. The texture is realistic but the chimney is still surprisingly lightweight.
The only drawbacks are:
1. It is a messy process.
2. You have to be very careful you do not add too much water to your mix or your bricks will not hold together.
3. The sticker stencil is narrow, so you have to continue applying it as you work your way up, making sure that you stagger your brick pattern as you do.
4. You must paint your bricks afterwards. You could use a spray paint before you remove the stencil, to make the job go quicker but these are miniature dollhouses. Using spray paint around them, on such a confined small space is nearly impossible. The paint would go everywhere. So you are left having to paint each brick by hand. A steady hand and a lot of touch ups are involved in this process.
That's a lot of little bricks. I am happy that I didn't decide to do the entire foundation of the dollhouse, along with this chimney. The chimney was work enough.
I used a mixture of paint and lightweight spackling compound to create the texture to the top of the chimney. It was the same texture I used on the porch roof.
I then applied the backings once the bricks were dry. You really need to wait 24 hours to ensure you will not smoosh your bricks flat when handling the chimney.
I then installed the flues.
I installed the chimney on the side of the roof, above the bay walls and held it straight using a paint bottle and masking tape.
