Silver tarnish: I have read in several places that a thin coating of VO-5 hairdressing will keep silver from tarnishing. It can be used on picture frames, tea sets, etc. I have NOT tried this, so cannot vouch for it, but, as I said, have read about it in several places. Alas, DH doesn't have enough hair to make purchasing it practical, but it might be worth a try. (Why don't they put that stuff in travel size tubes?)

Dani. in Bradshaw, MD

Silver tarnish: You can keep silver from tarnishing by placing it in a dish of hot soapy water, along with a piece of magnesium. I do that with my real sized silver, and it works fairly well. As an aside to this issue, I have a set of mini silver ware, and it has not tarnished in the twelve years that I have owned it.

DeeDee in Carmel Valley

Silver tarnish: You can keep silver from tarnishing by placing it in a dish of hot soapy water, along with a piece of magnesium. I do that with my real sized silver, and it works fairly well. As an aside to this issue, I have a set of mini silver ware, and it has not tarnished in the twelve years that I have owned it.

DeeDee in Carmel Valley

Row of books, you could take a block of wood, score to make books separate looking or thin blocks of wood to make a row, then cover with the old thin leather and mark with gold lines as explained below.

To paint the straight gold line: use a C clamp (if you don't have a clamp vise on a stand), anchor with the Extra Fine Gold Pen (positioned horizontally) on a block of wood or cardstock to the table at the height you want to mark the book. Run the book around the pen tip. It works great for getting that straight line.

June in Tualatin, OR

Book spines: Get some Gold metallic thread and use on your spines for both color and dimension. Just measure and snip to fit, then run a thin coat of Elmer's down one side, it'll dry clear - my favorite two words after elastic waistband. Those gel type pens can be used to make wee dots or other accent shaped.

Molly Cromwell

Attaching accessories: I attach everything to the surface it sits on. Most of the time I use "Mini-Hold" which is a wax adhesive that can be found in most miniature shops. It cleans up off of most surfaces by simple removal, although I sometimes must use a little furniture polish to get faint residue that is occasionally left behind. It has eased my frustration level by geometric proportions, as I was constantly placing little vignettes 'just so' on my work bench, only to have them joggle into a heap when they (literally!) hit the room box. That all changed about 4 years ago, when I bought my little container of Mini-Hold. I use such small amounts of the stuff to pin the miniatures down, that I am only about 1/3 through of my container. I think it cost me $2.50, and it was well worth every penny.

DeeDee in Carmel

Plastic plates and patterns: I have decoupage pictures of dinner plates patterns from glossy print ads from the newspaper. I use Mod Podge to adhere the design to the plate. (paint plate if you want to match a color in the design). Add a couple of coats (drying in-between) and use a gold felt tipped pen to the edging. Makes a beautiful plate.

Barbara

Chintz trays and plates from Magazine pictures: I cut out the chintz plates you refer to, and made little trays with them. It was very simple, and my system was as follows:

1. Glue the uncut plates onto index card (I used stik-glue, but really, I think any glue would do)
2. Cut out the plates
3. Paint the front of the plate with clear fingernail polish
4. Use a button to 'curl' the edges of the plates (for the rectangular plate, I used the edge of my metal ruler)
5. Decorate the white side with gold ink, trim the top of the plate with the ink, as well
6. Coat the back of the plate with clear fingernail polish
7. Add as many coats of the polish as you like, until the plate is thick enough for your satisfaction. Be sure to dry between coats.

I love my little trays, and hope to use this system with other pictures, as well. I am thinking that I could go to the 'printies' sites, and look for pictures of dinner plates to print to scale on photographic printing paper, but I haven't done that yet. Have fun! I know I did.

DeeDee in Carmel Valley

Plates: Here is a site for plate pictures, (China patterns are probably protected by copyright. The images on websites certainly are. You could contact China companies and ask permission to miniaturize their patterns, they may be happy to give it!)
http://www.1800replace.com/

Marlene Chapman-Ontario

Make your own dish decals...Model railroad catalogs carry lots of ready made decals, right? They also carry plain sheets of decal material that can be used with your ink jet printer. It comes in clear and colors. Just print onto it from your computer and apply as any other decal to dishes, furniture, bottles/jars etc. Whether or not old china patterns are protected (copyright) is a good question. I would suggest going to public domain clip art programs and/or sites and copy away!

Another technique for making "china" patterns: The craft stores sell special paper napkins that are printed with beautiful patterns. You peel the layers apart. Then you coat a dish with a special glue adhesive and lay the paper in it. You then apply several thin coats of the glue. It's a type of decoupage. Can't see why that wouldn't work with Chrysnbon dishes...Any body tried it?

Kathy in Wisconsin