Wheels: CherryTree has a wide assortment of wheels in all sizes.
http://www.cherrytree-online.com/

jo

Balloons: Plastic balloons can be purchased very reasonably at miniature, party and craft supply stores. But you also can make you own. Use a bead or plastic egg, insert some white thread covered floral wire as a string. Cover it with a real balloon, tie it off with string. There is also a miniaturist, Fay..her email is fay@fay-vourite.com who makes lovely blown glass balloons!

Alice Zinn- Pt. St. Lucie FL

Slicing Polymer Clay Canes: My experience would indicate that in most cases "limited" reheating will definitely assist in this process. The general rule would be the thicker the cane/stick, the more helpful reheating will be. I use a coffee warming tile (from Salvation Army store) to accomplish this. DO NOT use a coffee cup warmer as this it MUCH TO HOT and can result in burning the cane/stick, or even a possible fire. Another Rule: the lighter the color of the cane/stick, the more careful one must be on the reheating temperature, i.e., white or GlowInTheDark canes/sticks will display discoloration more readily. Other methods such as dropping in HOT water, hair dryers, etc., can be used, but I find them much less convenient. If the cane/stick gets too warm/hot, it will also become too "mushy/soft" to cut and may result in pattern separation, or shape distortion, just let it cool slightly.

A NEW, sharp, Single edge razor blade is always a good plan also. It's the smallest $ part of the whole deal. The VERY SHARP, very thin Tissue Separator blades are also good, but require a great deal more CAUTION in using. NEVER use X-Acto knives to slice canes, as the blades tips are subject to snapping, and flying into ones eyes, face, etc. I personally use a modified version of "The Chopper". It has a portion of the "arm", between the two blade holding screws, has been removed to permit slicing thicker sticks/canes. For a more detailed description of cutting/slicing canes/sticks you can review my web page on the subject: http://lincsminiworld.bizland.com/HOWtoUSE.chtml

One final note: limited reheating of the sliced pieces will usually eliminate the not uncommon "slicing marks" on the surface of the slices, and it should also refresh the color.

Linc Leedy

Tips for SS Newcomers: Kay in Ottawa wrote this great list of Tips for SS Newcomers. If you like it, I'll repeat it on a monthly basis. ~anne When you contribute to the Digest, please remember the following:

1. Avoid using the "arrow head" symbols above the comma and period. It does strange things to the text for many readers.

2. Avoid writing in ALL CAPS. It makes text harder to read for most people, and some consider it shouting.

3. Hit "Enter" twice between paragraphs instead of just indenting. A bit of white space between, breaking up long posts, is a *good* thing.

4. Use the subject line to describe what you are talking about. It makes things easier for people who are looking for specific information,
or who are pressed for time and skimming the digest.

5. If you refer to a website, include 'http://' at the beginning of the URL. This will automatically allow most others to just click on it to get
connected.

6. If you comment on a website, even if it follows someone else's mention, please give the URL so others can find it. They may have just
joined SS today and not seen the original post!

7. Remember there's no such thing as a dumb question. If you don't know the answer, asking is the intelligent thing to do.

8. However new you are at minis, you know things that other people don't. Please share what you know.

Anne Gerdes

Photo Hosting Sites: Right now the most popular photo hosting sites (strictly photo hosting - not a web site) are Picturetrail, Webshots, and Epson. There may be others I don't know about as well.

The picturetrail site is at: http://www.picturetrail.com/ - It allows you to do some interesting things, but I personally hate when people put the optional music on their site. I immediately turn it off, and do the same on other web sites as well. If I can't easily turn off the music, I don't even bother looking at the site. I find it extremely annoying and it can really give you a shock when you aren't expecting it.

Webshots is at: http://community.webshots.com/ - This site has some nice features as well including a nice slide show program. The albums are easy to load and to work with. Biggest drawback is that you can't stop people from using your images on the stuff they sell on the site such as posters, etc.

Epson is at: http://photo.epson.com/ They are "powered by Photopoint" and basically look and work the same as photopoint, except they are free. Their galleries are even tied into the photopoint galleries. Biggest drawback on this one is that you can't use it for remote photo hosting (such as linking to eBay auctions, etc.) I'm not sure whether you can do that with the other two sites, either. Never needed to worry so I never checked.

Bonnie Gibson

Doll Limbs: I never attach miniature dolls' arms and legs using pins that are cemented into the arm or leg holes, because they pop out fairly often. The holes just aren't big enough to hold the cement well. Miniature dolls' arms and legs can be attached by using Super Glue or Crazy glue to glue pipe cleaners into holes in the limbs. You'll have a lot less trouble and work, and your doll's limbs will move as much as you need them to. (Antique miniature dolls that were originally "strung" with elastic are the only ones I'd ever restring.) If you're sure you want to reuse the pin, Super Glue it back in place. To seal your green eye shadow on her face, spray with a matte acrylic sealer which you can get at a Hobby or Crafts store. Sometimes it's called a "fixative" spray.

Yes, you can paint the lower legs; just use a matte enamel or acrylic paint. The acrylic paint would probably need the same sealer sprayed on it, but the enamel would not. For the shoes, glue on thin black leather and have a high tongue coming up in front with a buckle, like the Pilgrims wore. This seems to be the "in" thing for a stylish witch to wear. And yours sound like she'll be quite stylish. Hope that helps.

Paulette in IN

Doll Wigs: I got really nice doll wigs from Phyliss Hill, at Minimade Imagination Dolls: http://home.earthlink.net/~minimade/ She made them the color and style that I needed and shipped them real fast. On her web site, click on "dolls", then click on "wigs".

Helen in New Jersey

Hair Pleater: I have sold viscose for wigging miniature dolls for more than 20 years now, and I don't know of pleaters specifically for hair. All of us doll wiggers just use the same pleaters we use for fabrics and ribbons. You just wet the hair and put it into the grooves in the rubber pleater with a knife blade or thin piece of plastic (like a credit card) and wait for it to dry, or set it in a warm oven for 30 minutes. Hope that helps.

Paulette

Knitting: This site lists abbreviations. Click on the one you want and it will give you an explanation with a picture. http://knitting.about.com/library/blabbreviations.htm
Lacy afghan: click on Afghans in the frame at the left at this same site and it will give you a variety of afghan patterns and baby shawls. You might find your pattern here. You could use any of the hundreds of patterns here in miniature by just using tiny needles and thin yarn. Knit a couple of pattern repeats to see how many stitches you need to start with to get the size you want.

Kay in Ottawa

Draping Fabric: If you have very fine, natural fabric, (pure cotton, silk) you can wash to remove any sizing and use fabric softener. Then, depending on what you will do with it (table cloth, bed cover, etc., you can wet and pin in realistic folds and let dry or pin in folds and then steam and let dry. If you are putting the fabric over wood or some other material which should not be wet, protect the object with a thin piece of plastic or use a form made of clay or other material the same size and shape as your table, bed, etc. so it will fit after it is dry. I often use this to make softly draping clothing on dolls. Experiment a bit and you will work something out.

Rachelle