Gold Dipping: I have used the gold paint from the Ceramics Shop. It is called Mega Metals by Gare. Check your ceramic people. It is #MM6301. I used this on my golden Merman.

Carol Griffith

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

Gold dipping: Maybe someone will have a realistic gold dip but I haven't seen a realistic one yet. Take faith THERE IS HOPE.

Contact your local lapidary (rock hounds) club and find if they have a member equipped to do "electro-forming" This is a poor man's version (relatively speaking) of electro plating. By painting any non-metallic object with a copper conductive coating, they make it possible to plate rocks, wood, and -yes- even plastics. Once coated with the copper conductive paint, they can then plate with real 18 or 24k gold. It may not be exactly cheap but you did say your tiara has special meaning to you.

Mel K. Las Vegas

Gold paint: I swear by Testors Enamel paints - I buy the silver and gold two at a time to be sure I always have them. They work on everything BUT fimo (they never "dry" completely on fimo) They turn plastic into silver and gold! I had a Chrysnbon (sp) pots and pans set and used the silver on them and had an relatively inexpensive array of pots and pans (roaster too) that looked fabulous! Consider that for your tiara.

Patty Johnson

Gold tiara: I have used so many gold paints and I also noticed that they get that brassy look instead of gold. I have found a spray paint that really comes out gold, it was called 14k gold , I have to look for the can to find the manufacturer (my craft room is a mess because I am trying to organize everything. I bought the spray in fabric bonanza.

Kathy in NYC

Gold tiara: In an art supply store or probably even Michaels, AC Moore, etc. there is a product that comes in a little squatty pot about 1-1/2 inches in diameter. It is like paste and you rub it on with your finger. It comes in gold, silver, bronze, brass and maybe more colors. I have used this stuff on any number of things from picture frames on up. I'm not sure of the name and I can't find mine at the moment but I think it is called Rub and Buff.

Bobbie

American Woodworker Clothes pin clamps: I went to the American Woodworker site, decided to build the clamps. Dh offered to cut. When he was through, he handed me the cut-off ends, "Do these pieces look like furniture feet to you?" Yes indeed they do! They also have an appearance of Claw Feet, after a little Dremel-Time! Then I started a closer inspection of the rest of the clothes pin. Hmmmm, could be legs after dividing lengthwise?

Rita in Montana

Spa gripmasters: For the spa, could you make those gripmaster squeezers out of the back end of a safety pin? Cut off (wearing eye goggles), the pointed end and the safety end, then add tiny handles of dowels. Various sized pins for different strengths.

Peggy In Madison, Wi

Scents: I personally love the idea of adding scent and sound to the projects to make them come alive and scent in particular is a very emotionally evocative scent. People can be transported back in time to a very vivid memory by scents.

If someone wanted to add scents to their mini scene, they should check out essential oils which are used by candle makers and potpourri people to add scent to their crafts. You would only need to add a drop to apiece of cardboard or paper and hide it in the area where you want the scent to be. If I were doing it I would put one scent in this area and another one in that, rather than putting them all together. That way as a person moves from area to area as they look at your mini they will get a different scent - pumpkin pie in the kitchen, peppermint by the stockings, evergreen by the tree.

Susanna in Indiana

Scent: for those who want to add scent to their dollhouses how about making Jello molds out of the scented gel candles. I'm pretty sure the instructions are in the archives. I've one in just about each house. They are in the kitchen waiting on the counter or in the icebox or fridge. Another is on the sideboard in a dining room or on the table. It makes the doll house smell so homelike and looks pretty too

Patsy