These printable miniature dime store glitter or coconut (sometimes called Putz houses) can be used to create your own fantasy village or decorations from the many parts which can be combined together. The traditional houses are assemblages of similar parts, coated with thick layers of cellophane 'coconut' glitter or glass glitter. Like their larger counterparts, these miniature versions can be lit (with cool running led's) and used for miniature villages. They also allow you to become your own miniature architect, building castles, city halls, and mansions, as well as humble bungalows or ski cottages. The buildings can be printed on paper and glued to lightweight card, or illustration board, or printed on photo weight card.
1. Traditional Glitter Houses
Photo ©2008 Lesley Shepherd, Licensed to About.com Inc.
This set of basic houses has a double story, double gabled home, a basic bungalow, a conservatory or port cochere addition for any of the houses, and a home with a front porch held up by columns.
Included with this set of printables are extra doors and windows (to create your own styles or custom buildings) as well as white picket fences and parts for miniature trees to landscape your scene.
To find suitable glitter to coat these houses see the information on Glitter for Miniatures. If you dislike the colors the house parts are laid out in, print and cut out the parts and use the plain reverse of your printable as the outside of the house, adding the window and door details by gluing them in position on the plain exteriors.
2. Towers, City Halls and Castles
Photo copyright 2008 Lesley Shepherd, Licensed to About.com Inc.
You can add to your fantasy village with this set of one or two story crenellated buildings and towers. Use them for forts or castles, to build the big house on the hill, or to build a town hall, library, firehall or power station for a traditional glitter village.
This set includes one and two story tower sections, with pointed roofs, or openings for carriages or cars, rock walls, and pieces for extra balconies and crenallations. The pieces are available in light grey, or bright fantasy colors to match other buildings from the set.
On the traditional glitter houses these parts were often added to larger house designs to make them more important (and more expensive). The "port cochere" can be added to almost any building in the glitter house range.
3. Village Church and Bungalows
Photo copyright 2008 Lesley Shepherd, Licensed to About.com Inc.
Need even more glitter village buildings? Build this church and set of small bungalows which match the other building sets. You can use the clock tower provided as a bell tower for the church, or make your church into a more imposing cathedral by flanking it with two towers from the towers and castles sets
The bungalow parts can be added to the other houses, used as outbuildings or left to stand alone in your paper village. The smaller glitter buildings were often located on 'hills' in traditional Christmas displays. Used this way they can add a sense of perspective to an otherwise flat display.
