Gypsy Peddler cart: your peddler might have equipment for repairing pots and pans and sharpening knives, and a violin, a tambourine and perhaps some castanets.

My mother, who passed away in October at 85, told me that when she was a little girl the gypsies came once a year and camped on their property in the willow groves down in the Red River bottomlands. They made furniture from the flexible willow boughs and then sold it on their travels. In those frugal days, people brought their pots and pans to be repaired and their knives and scissors to be sharpened, and Grampa got all theirs done free for letting them camp there.

Wanna in El Paso

Battery Lights: I used three in my Christmas house two outside trees and lights around the door I hid one under wood pile one as heating unit and one just inside door behind fire place as you look at Christmas room you don't see it....remember to place them where you can replace batteries... They really burn a long time.....I got my at hobby lobby in the Christmas village scene

Linda in Texas

Worry Free Wiring: A question about hidden wiring problems. . My solution: Run solid, break free sections of wire beneath siding and where it's not available in the finished wall or floor. Solder all joins. Coat them with Silicon Sealer (aquarium sealer). This will take a long time because you have to let this sealer cure or dry overnight. The wait will be worth it. You can now go on and dress the rest of the house without worry about wiring. I often run wires out the side beneath a hollow chimney or wood box or some exterior feature. Then hinge the feature to allow access to this junction. Very like a fuse box for a real house. How else to access the wiring. Maybe you can make a real looking fuse box to contain your wire junctions if the period allows.

Judie - Daytona Beach, FL

Gypsy Peddler cart: lots of pots and pans sounds right. I remember reading somewhere that repairing pots and pans was a traditional gypsy occupation -- supposedly that's why in Ireland the terms gypsy and tinker are virtually interchangeable. Maybe someone from the UK knows the tools a tinker would use, perhaps something on the order of a soldering iron, wrenches and bolts or screwdriver and screws to replace handles and knobs? At any rate, a tool box would be appropriate.

The gypsy ladies need a trade, too. Perhaps they are traditional fortune tellers, in which case a mini Tarot deck, crystal ball, and/or palmistry chart will set the mood for customers even if they really use "the sight" to read the future. Perhaps one is a wise woman who sells gathered wild herbs and hangs her inventory of dried plant material among the cookware in the cart. Another may have branched out into jewelry making, and sells exotic beaded necklaces and earrings. She would need a box of supplies and a lap cushion or tray on which to work.

Loretta.Sniarowski

Gatorboard and Foam Core: Gatorboard and Foam Core are similar in that they are approximately 1/4" thick (or can come 1/2" and thicker from specialty display suppliers) - and they both have a smooth poster board type surface on each side. BUT - the difference ends there.

Gatorboard has a hard, dense, fine-grained core. You can stick a straight pin into it, with about as much effort as you would into balsa - but the pin will hold, even under pressure. It is a sturdier board than the Foam Core boards.

Foam Core has a more open, loose, softer core. You can easily press a fingernail into it - like the white foam packing material called 'peanuts'. It will not hold a straight pin well - nor will it hold it's shape when pressed very hard, especially at the edges. It is good for small projects - or 'mockups' of bigger projects, to see how they will look. It is definitely not as'permanent' a product as the Gatorboard - but has it's place for small vignettes, small boxes, the base for larger items as fireplaces, etc., which are then finished with other materials to look like a fireplace.... etc. Foam Core tends to warp - particularly if not sealed on BOTH sides for larger projects (i.e., gesso, paint, or something similar that will keep moisture from penetrating). You must seal BOTH sides, even if you intend to only wallpaper, for example, one side.

Gatorboard must also be sealed - because it will warp, also, but has less of a tendency to do so than Foam Core. There is also, as someone mentioned, a corrugated plastic-surfaced Foam Core type board from which real estate signs are made....not good for miniature work, to my thinking.

Gatorboard, being a denser, 'tougher' product than Foam Core, can also be easily cut with X-Acto knife, scroll or table saw, and then holds a good edge - whereas the Foam Core edges can be 'mashed down' or distorted with pressure.

Both products can be found in arts/crafts shops - although you are more likely to find Foam Core at these types of shops (i.e., Michael's, Joanne's, etc.) then Gatorboard. You will probably have to go to a good ART or DISPLAY (for store window displays, scenery, etc.) store to get Gatorboard (and Foam Core) in large pieces - up to 4' x 8'. You can usually find smaller pieces (poster board size) at art/craft stores. You can have the art or display store cut a 4' x 8' sheet of Gatorboard for you, to fit in your car - or simply score it and 'pop' it, as you would do sheet rock or glass. (We suggest, though, that to be on the safe side, until you have tried this with scraps, that you ask them to cut it.)

Both products will stay very useable for years - if stored either on end, absolutely FLAT against a wall, supported so it won't sag and warp, or FLAT on a shelf. (I cut 4 x 8 sheets into the width I normally use for a box room, for example - approximately 12" deep by 4 feet wide - and then can cut that down to use however I need it.) They are both useful to have - and once you work with them, you will probably discover more ways to use them that we've thought of so far! (I have even used both of them for 'cornice boards' on small windows (real sized!) that I upholstered....much easier and lighter to work with than 1" x 8" lumber!)

Linda Gale

Hiding Piano Hinges: If you bi-fold your side wall with piano hinges, the end hinge will be at the back of the house and may not need to be hidden if you leave the back featureless to be up against a wall. The middle hinge should have its pin plate toward the interior of the house and, again, need not be hidden if you align that fold with an interior wall so that, when closed, that edge of the hinge simply reaches into a milled slot in that wall.

Now I tell you how to build a clock in response to being asked what time it is. - - - - - - - If you mount piano hinges to the butt edges of all panels rather than flush on the flat faces of the walls - - - they will help limit warping. The screws, however, are likely to not hold well screwed endwise into plywood. I would strongly urge you to fully frame the plywood panels with a quality hardwood capping all edges. Use dowels and a top line wood glue such as Gorilla Glue and clamping techniques to prefabricate the hingeable plywood panels.

Install magnets into the shell of the dollhouse to align with iron slugs inset into the wall panels. This will help hold your walls closed and give some added stability against warping even though slight. If the panels are large, you may even inset angle steel the full length of top and bottom edges rather than just slugs. Wherever hinge pin ends are exposed and need to be hidden, make the architectural corner trim removable with inset magnets and slugs to hold it in place OVER the hinges. Lift off the corner trim before opening the hinged panels.

Finally, once your row house is to a point where it VERY seldom needs to be opened, I would suggest screwing the panels closed in several places to (again) provide maximum support against warpage. Hide the screw heads with gingerbread rosettes painted a uniquely different color and leave a note in the house's history log as to how it can be opened up by family archeologists of the future.

Mel K.

Gypsy Peddler cart: I think that you should have (besides the pots and pans)rolled fabric, bandanas and scarves as this is what some gypsies wore. You might also try beaded necklaces or beaded jewelry as they wore that as well. If they are sleeping outside instead of in the cart, you will also need to get them bedding. Plus they should have a little dog following them as well.

Laura Jevtich

Cleaning Plexiglass: There is a special cleaner for Plexiglass. Most Plexiglass places have it. I got mine from Iris Broyles at Buffalo Creek minis. Their web site is http://www.bcminiatures.com and email is bison7@bcminiatures.com I also got some great cleaning cloths from them.

Fannye in TX

printables site in French: here is a beautiful site for printables don't worry you don't need to speak French just click away. It does have printable windows and doors food stickers etc. etc... check it out it is fantastic http://users.skynet.be/sudene/imprimables.html.

Gisèle Nadeau

Studs in Houses: I have built several structures in the way you mentioned, with studs, 1/16" plywood for the walls, wiring run inside the walls etc. Makes for an extremely lightweight house. I learned this method from Keith Long, who sometimes teaches classes at the Gulf South show in New Orleans. Most of the houses are in 1/2" scale, though the first one we did was 1" and I have built an oversize roombox in 1" this way. Keith will be doing another class next March at Gulf South.

Beth, In A Miniature Manor