"Borrowers" scene:I've bought 2 movies on the Borrowers (Little people who live in walls and under floors in houses, and they "borrow" whatever they can find to use - they are about dollhouse size and actually use dollhouse furniture if they're lucky enough to live in a home that has a dollhouse) .....it occurs to me that this is the perfect project for the grandchildren! - Because it's so imaginative and doesn't require special intricate work. Household items become mini goods.

Paulette in IN

The Borrowers: Joan Steiner's Look-Alikes books. ...they are worth a look, if not for anything else, just to see the ingenuity of this artist. They are actually children's books, and all of the scenes are made up of found objects. (for example, in one scene, she's used a disposable razor as a vacuum cleaner) While most of us might consider using "parts" of a household object (with much sanding, scraping, and painting), Ms. Steiner just puts the whole thing in there, and the results are really delightful. She does use miniatures in her scenes as well, but not very many, mostly she uses just things you might find around the house. I think she is the ultimate "Borrower"!

Deena in Miami

The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe - A pair of old high top ladies' boots or shoes. I think it will need to be in 1/2" scale, to get a lot of children in it. I'm going to mount the shoe on a piece of plywood, which will become the yard - and cut windows and door in the shoe and put frames around - and I'll have to have a roof with a chimney pipe.

Paulette in IN

Shrink Plastic Sheets: I use the plastic sheets of the clear Shrink It plastic sheets for the wings of my Indian fairies. I used the clear glitter paint for the design and let dry, then put Modge Podge over it so it wasn't sticky. I also make my bear wings from the clear sheets. I tape the pattern to the plastic and colored them with permanent magic markers. You can use paint or colored pencils to color with, but you have to sand the plastic first. I use small rectangle pieces of the plastic for the windows in the front of my tiny room with a view bags. The sheets can also be used for templates. I trace the patterns onto the plastic, cut them out, trace the pattern onto the fur or the fabric. I make tags for my teddy bears, by using a rubber stamp on the sanded plastic. After it's stamped onto the plastic, I sign my name and it let dry, then punch a hole in it. The ink for rubber stamps won't set after the tags are baked, so I carefully coat it with Modge Podge after its cooled. The design is about 2" long, but after it's baked, the tags are only about 1/2" long, but you can still see the design and my signature. After I'm done with my bears, whether they are my miniature bears or my big bears, I take one of the tags and sew it onto the bear. I also make business card key chains out of the white sheets. Enlarge the business card, so its about 4" x 6", cut it out, then tape it to the sheet. Use a fine permanent marker and trace the design and the words. Punch a hole in the corner and bake it. When it comes out, it's the size of a business card and add one of chains that has the balls on it and you have a key chain. I can only find the Aleene's plastic at Hobby Lobby. Michaels has the Shrinky Dinks plastic sheets. They come in Bright White, white, and white sheets that have already been sanded.

Sherrydon

Elves & Santas: I notice a few enquiries for elves etc. recently. Mine are porcelain and china-painted and I am happy to email photos to anyone who wishes to see them. I also have Mr. & Mrs. Santa, plus a delightful Sleeping Santa - last year I made him up relaxing in his long johns on Boxing Day, opened box of chocolates beside him and a half-empty glass mug of beer.

Pam

Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle: I was just browsing the web and I came across this amazing site.
http://www.msichicago.org/exhibit/fairy_castle/Fc_home.htm

I've never seen anything like it - now I have a reason to go to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago! If this castle cost $500,000 in the 1930s, I cannot imagine what it would cost today. Nice feature that you can look at specific detail by clicking on them.

Evelyn (in Saskatchewan)

Painting Fimo: If you are painting Fimo then only use acrylic based paints as anything else will react with the clay. You generally paint afterwards although there are some innovative artists who experiment with paint and clay in the oven, but let's not go there right now!!!! Most of the commercial craft paints will do the job quite nicely and for the more experienced artist then Daler Rowney or Winsor & Newton both have a range of acrylic paints and these would be found in your local art supplies shop.

Don't ignore this type of paint as there are some wonderful interference mediums that are great for fantasy figures or simply the iridescent sheen on a fresh fish(for example). If you want to color clay before baking there are a few similar ways to do this, most suppliers of the clay may or will stock the pearled and mica powders. Powdered food coloring can be used or even cosmetic powders although the longevity of these is still subject to debate. My own favorite is powdered artist pastels, they come in a myriad of colors and different grades. The softer pastels are easier to grind to a powder and easier to use, application is with a soft paintbrush or a cotton bud. The pastels are generally inexpensive and available at art supplies shops also. There is a range of colors sold for use with cold porcelain but the only ones I have found so far are quite pricey in comparison.

As a general rule, dry color is applied before baking and wet color (as in paint) is used after baking. I hope this helps.

Jacquie Hall

Finch eggs: I ended up piercing each end with a tiny tool and blew them out. After careful washing first. Some were sent to interested Small Stuff readers and the rest I dyed. Of these I used some in tiny nests with the baby fairies I make using molds from Joyce Wolf. The fairies had their hair colored with Kool-Aid.

Diane, The Alpaca Lady

Gold Dipping: Avon cosmetics (no relation! ;o) ) here in England, have a very small bottle of nail polish in a pretty rich gold. It has a tiny brush and is meant for drawing dots, wavy lines, stars, etc. on your base nail polish. It looks like "real" gold to me. It's called Luxe Life Gold Nail Art and costs three quid here. More than I usually spend on nail polishes, but I immediately thought it would be great for minis. Not sure if you have the same in Indiana but could be worth a try if you experiment on a similar scrap piece of plastic first to see if you like it. I never wear nail polish but have a nice collection of asst. colours for paints. Love the cheap and cheerful and gaudy -especially the black! (I'm going to use my gold to paint the weathered skeleton of a physalis cape gooseberry globe to make a lamp shade. Would be great for gilding fairy wings from leaves, etc. too.) Has anyone else used this stuff?

Donna from Devon

Dragons: Shirley Peterson of Presitige Leather makes the greatest dragons! Prestige Leather 6324 Orchard Hill Dr, TX 76016 Her number (817) 561-7751 I don't know if she has a website.

Pearl Jordan

Fantasy Book Series Roombox: I want to make a roombox. I want to make it based on my favorite fantasy series, Dragon lance. I'm not sure exactly what scene from the books I want to do yet. But I do know that I need some ideas on what I kind of materials and household items I could use to make my roombox (I hope you understand my question). Here are some scenes I am thinking of doing: an outdoorsy type of scene or a scene with a bunch of magicians or a group of friends in a comfy inn. Thanx alot.

Cynthia from Yonkers, NY

Fairy Ponds: Today my 7 y/old daughter and I made our fairy ponds ala Ladybug. I used the Sculptamold (from A. C. Moore) on top of a throw away plastic lid--like a large one from a tub of margarine. shaped it roundish will little hills and a pond in the middle. We each painted our own and I helped her with the fairy dust and 'water' which is a type of sealant. I'm taking a break, she is still working on hers making a mini bridge from broken toothpicks. She also drew a tiny fairy on paper and we used pieces of driftwood from our trip to the shore. I think we still might add the butterflies--have to find the right thing to mount them on.

Kathy B. in PA

Dragons for a Dollhouse: Felicity Price has some excellent dragon needlepoint designs in her book "Needlepoint 1/12 Scale". She has coordinated rugs, pictures, cushions, etc, all with dragons. Not all the designs in the book are dragons. It is an excellent book for anyone who likes miniature needlepoint, as it has many different design schemes/themes, such as teddy bears, nautical, Chinese, flowers, etc., and each has several coordinated items to carry out the theme.

As for other dragons for your house, I would try Chinese gift shops, or even museum-type shops, where you might find a really small one made of jade. Or, look for earrings or charm bracelet charms that are dragons. Do a search for "dragon" on all of ebay, and who knows what you might find.

Jonathan in Israel

Mini dragon: I searched through my old Dolls in Miniature magazines. and found the name of the lady who did my darling baby dragon - she also sculpted and dressed dolls and other animals, like bunnies. This address is from 1995, so good luck:
Marianne Noller
PO Box 489
Nipomo, CA 93444

Paulette in IN

Faeries & Elves: I have a step by step how-to on making a sleeping baby fairy on my site. http://gerdesdesign.com/northwest.htm It was also in Dolls in Miniature a few years ago, and Viola may have a back issue available. I also made some elves following the basic methods of Maureen Carlson from her excellent book, recently mentioned here, "How to Make Clay Characters". Just made the ears pointy, skin green, and gave him an acorn top cap: no longer human, now an elf! There are pictures of my elves too, if you go to the URL above.

Anne

Polymer fairy instructions: Sue Heaser has a great little fairy to make step by step:
http://www0.delphi.com/polymerclay/PCC/suefairy.html

Marilyn, Mini-ing in RV

WITCH: directions on how to make a mini-crashing witch: Inspired by the real-sized crashing witches seen locally as Halloween decor, I made one in 1" scale. I am assuming that you want this to look like a witch outdoor decoration. If you want her to be a REAL witch, make her cape of cloth instead of plastic.

You need:
1 mini straw broom (or make one from a twig with raffia)
a bit of fluffy stuff for hair (unraveled Bunka, yarn, whatever)
mini-sized doll with moveable (or amputateable) arms & legs with feet with shoes (I used a small $1. plastic bendable witch from Meijier's and painted the hands a nasty greenish color. You could model them from Fimo instead or use a cheap small doll.)
Black plastic garbage bag or black cloth
mini witch hat
several inch piece of thin black ribbon or thread

Arrange the witch figure so that her arms are extended straight out to the sides from her shoulders. You may need to dismember and duct tape them back on. Only her hands and lower legs & feet will show. Arrange her feet & legs so they are extended as far apart straight out as possible. You can paint on striped hose if you want. Glue on fluffy hair, and glue on witch hat over hair.

Glue her sitting on the broom so that the broom straw is sticking out from her backside and the end of the broom handle is flush with the front of her crotch. You may need to cut off part of the broom handle so it is not too long. Cut out a cape with a stand-up collar from the garbage bag. ( Size depends on the figure. I cut out a 4" square, then notched in the top a bit for the collar. You want the cape to cover all but her hands and lower legs/feet. ) Tie the cape around her neck just below the collar, using a piece of thin black ribbon or thread. Cut jagged pieces from the sides & bottom of cape, so it looks ragged. Push up cape a bit in the middle so the broom straw sticks out. Glue cape in a few spots to hold in place. Voila! You can fun-tack (the plastic squishy adhesive stuff) her front flat to your house, building, etc. Or, wrap her arms & legs around a tree trunk. Her face should not show. You should be able to see only the back of her head, wearing the hat, plus the cape with her hands & feet sticking out in a X shape, like she crashed into the house in midair while distracted. I did a life-sized "Harry Potter" style crashing witch for my friends' excellent Murder Mystery Book Store and a popular little touch was the cell phone clutched in her cold, dead hand.

Terri Rowe

Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle Dollhouse: I tried to send this website to the digest a while back, but it must not have worked. I have this in my list of favorites because I like to go back and look at it from time to time. Anyone who gets a chance to go to Chicago should definitely make it a point to see this castle before they leave there, but you may also tour it on the following website.
http://msichicago.org/exhibit/fairy_castle/fchome.html

Once you reach the site, click on the castle at the top of the page and it will take you to the Fairy Castle Home page. (That is what I saved into my favorites list.) To me, it's a must see.

Peggy O'Neill

Medieval Clothing Patterns: I have some medieval patterns of the 'easy' type on my web site (for my other hobby, historical costuming). They are on a grid,so they can be scaled up, which I imagine means that they could be scaled downas well.
http://chimericalgirl.net/costume/costume/scapatt.htm

Maura Bass

Fairy Wings: we had angel tree ornaments at our last bazaar with the loveliest wings. The crafter had done the shapes with wire and stretched white pantyhose over them. They looked great. You could paint them, maybe with glass paint, to give them color.

Kay in Ottowa