Cold porcelain paste:

3/4 cup of white glue

1 cup cornstarch

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon of cold cream

1 teaspoon glycerin

Mix wet ingredients until smooth, over medium heat. cook for a few minutes, and add cornstarch. stir continually until it forms a ball. remove from pan and mix thoroughly with hands( I like to cover it with a damp cloth until its cool enough to handle) Do not refrigerate. keep in air tight bag.... use in many ways. Use caulk powder to color, or paint with any paint when dry. Use cold cream to moisten molds/or when you are working with it and it becomes sticky, or dust with cornstarch ...adjust ingredients more or less

Mastic

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 cup bicarb soda

Mix all together and cook (stirring)until it forms a ball. This is used same as above

Pat Thompson

Cold Porcelain Paste:

3/4 cup of white glue

1 cup cornstarch

1/2 cup of water

1 teaspoon of cold cream

1 teaspoon of glycerin

Mix wet ingredients until smooth over medium heat. Cook for a few minutes and add cornstarch. Stir continually until it forms a ball, remove from pan and mix thoroughly with hands. (I like to cover with a damp cloth until its cool enough to handle) do not refrigerate. Keep in an airtight bag. Use as you would any modeling paste, can be molded and used in many ways... use chalk powder to color, or paint with any paint when dry. Use cold cream to moisten mold and/or when you are working with it, if it becomes sticky.. Or ..dust with cornstarch...adjust ingredients for more or less.

Another one (for some reason called Mastic)

1/4 cup of water

1/4 cup of cornstarch

1/4 cup of Bicarb soda

Mix all ingredients together and cook (stirring) until it forms a ball. This is

used the same as above. Great for flowers and tiny things!!!! and so soft to work with!

Terry Hale

2 T. mineral oil

1 C. white glue

1 C. cornstarch

White gouache (opaque water color)

Mix oil and glue in a non-stick sauce pan.   Add cornstarch and cook over low to medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until a dough forms and the pan is “clean”.   The outer crust of the dough ball will be solid, while the center appears sticky. style="mso-spacerun: yes">  Remove the ball from the pan and knead until the consistency is even.   Add about a teaspoon or so of white gouache   and knead in thoroughly.   ( CP without gouache is transparent when dry. )   Wrap ball in plastic and   put in plastic bag. It will keep a week or so at room temperature, but refrigerate for longer storage.

TO USE:

Working - Cold porcelain rolls, cuts, frills, etc., like gum paste. Unlike gum paste, however, it is extremely strong and the finished piece will last indefinitely.   If CP sticks to the working surface, cold cream or cornstarch can be used.   Cold cream on the cutter will also keep pieces from sticking.   Freshly cut petals can be worked more easily   than petals which have sat out for even a few minutes. yes">  If you like to cut several petals at a time, keep the resting pieces covered. Although uncovered pieces are not too dry to work, they will be tough.

Shrinkage - Use cold porcelain as you would gum paste, but be aware of shrinkage.   Make test pieces where finished size is critical, since CP tends to shrink by as much as 30 percent! Very thin pieces seem to shrink less than thicker ones. Plan for shrinkage when combining CP with non-shrinking media such as stamens by making the stamens stand a bit shorter than normal.

Wiring - If using wired petals or leaves, do not insert wire too close to the surface, as the paste shrinkage can leave the wire exposed.   Any water based “glue”   (gum Arabic, egg white, etc.) will work to adhere wires in CP.   Since the paste already contains glue, the “lick and stick method” works, too, but this is obviously not recommended for projects where hygiene is a factor.

Coloring - CP can also be   tinted with other gouache colors or with powdered food colors.   I recommend adding very small amounts of color to CP with white already added. Projects can be colored with petal dust and also steamed to set color.   The surface of CP seems smoother than gum paste, so more color may be needed. Projects may be painted with “petal paint” consisting of petal dust mixed with isopropyl   (rubbing) alcohol.   The color will be very vivid.   Isopropyl alcohol is poisonous if you drink it, but harmless when it dries. Projects may be dipped in coloring solution-Isopropyl alcohol with paste color dissolved in it. Projects can be spray painted or painted with acrylic craft paints.

Finishing - After the piece is assembled and colored, spray   with matte (satin) polyurethane.   A semi-gloss or gloss can be used for shiny leaves.

COLD PORCELAIN RECIPE

2 tblsp. of baby oil

1cup of Elmer’s glue

1/4 cup of cornstarch

Place in a saucepan and cook on the lowest heat for 16 to 20 minutes Turn out on to a cornstarch dusted board and knead in an additional 1/4 cup of cornstarch or enough to make a smooth non sticky paste to roll out, use cold cream instead of Crisco to grease the board with also, if you want your porcelain to be white and less translucent Use white titanium acrylic paint and add to paste till you reach the desired color. You can tint it any color by using acrylic paints also. Make sure you store it in an airtight container!

June

Cheap Room Box: A way to make a cheap room box is to buy 4 picture frames all the same (for a square one), two larger (for a rectangular one). Glue and nail together, and pull out the glass and board. Decide how many walls will be glass and reinsert. Paint or paper the board that fits back in.

Julia

Mini-Hold: You can buy Mini-hold from Craft Club http://www.craft-club.com/2001/categories.asp  

Linda Barrett

Finishing punch needle rug:   I've got the instructions for hemming punch needle rugs up on my web site: http://weevings.com/fini shing_rugs.htm   .

Bonni in NH

Dulling a Shiny Finish: Delores asked about how to reduce the bothersome glare found on heavily coated furniture. One thing that might be attempted if you have some spare time, is to gently hand-rub the pieces with some very fine ( 0000 ) steel wool. You don't need to remove the finish, just evenly scratch it, so that the top coat can adhere to the surface

Medieval furniture: "Making Dolls' House Interiors in 1/12 Scale" by Carol and Nigel Lodder, 1997, has plans and instructions for a Tudor Room, giving instructions for the room box itself done as either a kitchen or parlour and for furniture.

"Making Period Dolls' House Accessories" by Andrea Barham, 1996 also has instructions for a Tudor four poster bed and its hangings.

"Dolls' House Needlecrafts' by Venus Dodge, 1995, has Tudor soft furnishings and accessories.
These may be a bit later chronologically than you are really thinking of but are the best I could come up with.

Wendy in Clinton, NJ

Corrugated Metal roofing: Here are a few suppliers of this product. Model train sources offer a good selection of mini bulbs, metal products etc.
http://www.williamsbrosinc.com/buildings.html

http://www.oakridgehobbies.com/Gpage/G_scale_62A.html

George Hoffman

Alley scene: I'm trying to finish my alley scene but it lacks a lot. So far, this is what I have:

Three brick walls which I think I should put graffiti on somewhere, a back door of a restaurant that opens just to see in a little.  And one of those green hooded overhead outside lamps. (that gives the scene a nice evening glow).

On the wall near the back door I made an electric meter from the plastic that covers Sucrets lozenges.   I painted the alley ground with a grey/black acrylic with sand in it but it doesn't look like hot top.   Any ideas how I can make old cracked hot top?

I have three of Noel's trash cans in the corner with a miniature green trash bag. And crumpled and squashed yellowed newspapers, I have two alley cats (but I know I could use more!) some wine bottles and a fish scale.   That's it.

Now what else?   It looks too empty and lacking something.  

Judy K