Make Your Own Village Pub

Once again I went to visit my new grandson this month and didn’t have much time to design. Thus I decided to make SVGs in Inkscape of one of the early buildings I originally designed in Cricut Design Space. This building is based on Gus O’Connor’s Pub in Doolin, Ireland. From TheJournal.ie: “SINCE 1832, GUS O’Connor’s has been a fixture in Doolin, Co Clare. Over the years, it has garnered a reputation as one of the best regarded traditional music pubs in Ireland.”

My son and daughter-in-law honeymooned in Ireland and spent several days in Doolin, as that was where her family had immigrated from. Afterwards my daughter-in-law asked me to make her the pub out of cans. Several years later, my husband and I had a chance to vacation in Ireland and had a pint in the pub. The night that my husband and I visited it was packed, even though it was the middle of the week! We really enjoyed the music. After that we went to a different pub each night to listen to music.

Here is a picture of the pub that I made out of cans for my daughter-in-law.

Though I designed the pub with windows on either side so it can be freestanding, it can also be lined up with businesses on either side as is the case with the original pub. Here I show the Village Pub between the Victorian Firehouse and the Corner Store. Of course this pattern can also be adapted by changing the signs to make a different type of store instead of a Village Pub.

This Is How You Make The Village Pub

Size of the finished building as designed will be approximately 5 3/4″ W x 3 1/4″ D x 5 1/2″ H. These measurements do not include the size of the base. I consider this an intermediate pattern.

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The Village Pub Specific Materials

My free pattern for the Village Pub from the A Cottage in the Forest Library. Design #76. Get the password for free by filling out the form at the bottom of this page
Cricut Extra Fine pen to draw the signs. Or you can use a Gold Glitter Gel Pen like I did, but you will need an adapter for your Cricut Pen holder.
Optional: White pen: the Sakura Gelly Roll Pen to draw the windowpanes on the velum. It requires an adapter for your Cricut Pen holder.
Optional: Winsor & Newton Galeria Acrylic Sand Texture Gel if you want plaster looking walls.
Optional: A Stacked Stone Wall Stencil (I will publish it as design #77 later this week) from the A Cottage in the Forest Library. You will also need grit paste.

Favorite Materials Supply List

Cardstock, Cardboard (Kraft Board), 30 point Chipboard, or Aluminum Can – your choice!
Translucent Vellum or pictures to go in the windows.
Glue – If using cardstock, I suggest Bearly Art Glue or Art Glitter Glue. For aluminum cans, I use Aleene’s The Ultimate Glue. For cardboard or chipboard houses, I like Aleene’s Fast Grab Tacky Glue. I put it in a bottle with a thin metal tip.
If using chipboard or kraft colored cardboard, start with a base of either Liquitex white gesso or black gesso as primer.
Decorative papers (optional – for cardboard.)
Multi-surface satin finish acrylic paints or Ranger Distress Inks or Distress Crayons (for cardboard or cardstock.) Both the FolkArt and the Craftsmart paint brands work equally well. If you use distress inks, make sure they dry thoroughly before handling the pieces or you will have stained fingers. I speak from experience.
Glitter Gel Pens. I love these for coloring in small details. The company also carries another set with metallic, neon and fluorescent gel pens.
Tim Holtz Texture Paste or Tim Holtz Distress Grit Paste to make brick or stone chimneys, walls or sidewalks. I actually prefer grit paste as it makes my stonework look rougher or more craggy than texture paste.
Stencils to use with the texture or grit paste to make stone or brickwork. Be careful to buy or make stencils that fit the scale of your building. For brickwork I often use the Honey Bee Salvaged Bricks stencil or the Stretcher Bricks stencil I cut myself. For stonework I usually use either the Chimney Stone stencil I made myself, or the Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Mini Set #28 Stencils.
Bone folder (optional, but strongly suggested) A bone folder helps you make sharp folds when you are using cardstock or cardboard. I have found it even helps with aluminum cans. I now use my bone folder to deepen score lines all the time.
A Cutting Machine like a Cricut Maker or Cricut Explore
A hand-held craft blade like an X-Acto knife or Cricut TrueControl Knife. I also have a hand-held knife called the Excel Knife. It is nice in that it uses the cheaper craft blades, but the blade doesn’t work its way loose like the blade in my X-Acto knife often does. You will also need a cutting mat or a glass media mat to cut on.
Metal Edged Ruler with cork backing
An Embossing Machine and folders.

Steps to Make The Village Pub

Download the Village Pub pattern from A Cottage in the Forest library
Import the Village Pub pattern into your design software
Cut out the pattern – I use my Cricut Maker.
Fold the building. Glue on Window Frames and the vellum windows
Assemble the two facades
Assemble the building
Glue in bottom insert
Add the roofs
Make base and decorate as desired

How To Make The Village Pub

Download the Village Pub Pattern

Download the Village Pub pattern from A Cottage in the Forest Library. It is design #76. Don’t forget to unzip it. The pattern is available in multiple formats – as a SVG (scalable vector graphics), DXF (drawing eXchange format), as a studio3 file for Silhouette, or as PDF file. I now include a 1″ square in with all of my SVG, DXF and Studio3 files. Scale the pattern so that the square is 1″ to make the building in the size it was designed. Of course the wonderful thing about SVG files is that you can easily scale them to make your building whatever size you would like.

Choose between whether you want a regular back with the light hole at the bottom of the building (this is the option I make below) or if you want to use the Putz Back, where the light hole is in the back of the building.

Import the Village Pub Pattern into Design Software

As of this blog post, a Cricut Design Space update in 2021 broke the attached score and draw lines. You will need to go through the pattern in Design Space and change the score lines to Score and then attach them to their object. I am still designing so that if some day Design Space fixes their problem, score lines and drawings import as actual score lines and drawings attached to their object, though I have pretty much lost hope of that ever happening.

Here is a great tutorial from Jennifer Maker’s website on attaching score lines. I make all of my score lines red so that you can tell that they are intended to be score lines.

Cut Out Your Pattern

Cut out all of your cardstock, Kraft Board or aluminum can pieces using my pattern. If you are using cardboard and don’t intend to paint your building, I suggest visiting Lucy Foxworth’s blog at Paper Glitter Glue where Lucy explores multiple other ways to decorate your cardboard house.

Refer to the PDF I included with the SVG pattern for the name of each of the pieces you need to cut out. If you are using cardstock and don’t intend to paint and glitter the building, you can texture your pieces using your embossing machine and texture folders if desired.

Fold the Body of the Building. Glue on Window Frames and Door.

Fold the building front, back and sides on the score lines.

As the original Gus O’Connor’s Pub has a stacked stone front and plaster sides, I decided to do the same with my building, using a stacked stone wall stencil I will publish later this week and grit paste. Before I stenciled the front, I masked off the façade areas with blue painter’s tape which I had cut out using the patterns for the backs of the façades. I have a detailed tutorial regarding stenciling using a mask at the Marques Tower tutorial. For the plaster on the sides and back, I brushed on Winsor & Newton Galeria Acrylic Sand Texture Gel then painted over it.

Glue on the Window Trim and the Back Door.

Glue the vellum in place if you are using it.

Assemble the Two Façades

Fold each of the pieces of both facades on the score lines.

Glue the door trim onto the front of the Façade Backs (unfortunately it is hard to capture detail in the photo with this black cardstock.) Turn over the Façade Fronts, and glue together the columns on each of the edges (marked with red arrows in picture.)

Glue the Façade Top Bar across the top of each of the columns in both Façades.

Glue the Façade Top Piece into the top of each of the Façades.

Glue each Façade front onto its Façade Back, making sure the columns are straight.

Glue the Façade Trim pieces below the windows and onto the inner columns of the larger Façade. Glue the signs onto both. I include blank signs in the pattern so that you can make your own signs within Design Space.

Glue each of the Façades onto the Front of the building.

Assemble the Building

Glue the sides onto the front of the building, then glue on the back. Glue down the roof tabs.

Glue in Bottom Insert

Check the fit of the Bottom Insert piece, adjusting any of the fold lines as necessary. You may need to trim the corners. Align the notches in the bottom insert with the doors on the Front. Glue in the bottom insert piece now as it will help to help to stiffen and square the walls of the building. Once I know the fit is right, I run the needle tip of my glue bottle between the bottom insert and the sides, making sure each side is glued securely before moving on to the next.

Add the Roofs

Fold the Main Roof and glue it in place. I shingled my roof before gluing it onto the building. The shingle I used is included in the pattern. I used 38 shingles.

Glue the Façade Roofs onto the Façades. Glue together the Chimneys and glue on top of the building.

Make Base and Decorate as Desired.

I cut a couple of “signs” out of several of the beer cans I have collected. There are so many different decorations you can use to decorate your pub!

Enjoy making the Village Pub yourself! I would love to see your finished design. Please share a photo of it with me by emailing me at Jackie@acottageintheforest.com