Closed umbrella: If you take a round toothpick glue a bead on one end and on the other end a smaller bead. Cut a circle of fabric, place the smaller beaded end of the toothpick in center and gather the material up around the toothpick. Now wrap a piece of ribbon around the closed part of the umbrella and glue where necessary. Another way to make the handle of the umbrella is to roll a piece of black or brown bakeable modeling clay and then bend into a handle. These look really cute in a marker cap painted as an umbrella stand.

Kathy from Cedar Springs

Fur Coat Directions and Fabric: http://www.excel.net/~fsippel/MASupplies/Books/Creation.html

Towards the bottom of the page, there is a book advertised to teach making a fur coat with directions and three samples of "fur". This doll artist does a nice job. Her fabrics are wonderful.

Laurie Sisson

Pretty Pleater: You can make cartridge pleats as follows: (these will work for drapery because the pleats are not pressed flat).

Cut a rectangle of fabric about 3 times as wide as the finished width plus the width of your hems and the length you need plus hems. Unless you want a raw edge for some reason, make your hems first. Run two rows of evenly spaced basting stitches along one long edge of the fabric.

For both rows, the stitches should match, both running on right or wrong sides of the fabric together. The width of each stitch will determine the size of the pleats. When you have sewn both rows, pull the threads evenly to gather to the width desired. Now tack the points along one side of all the pleats evenly to a strip of fabric or interfacing to hold the pleats evenly. Cartridge pleating was done on skirts' waists during the 19the century instead of gathering because less bulk is created when the fabric is evenly folded.

I have seen diagrams in books showing how to make a home-made pleater, but you can hand pleat (tediously) knife pleats as follows: You need about three times the final width of your fabric plus the width of any hems. Work on a pinning board or ceiling tile. You will need your iron, pins, and 4 very flat, thin sticks (the width of one pleat to gauge the pleat widths and the length of your fabric). You might try slicing up a stiff piece of plastic that is about the thickness of a credit card instead of the sticks.

**Make any necessary hems before you begin pleating. Work with the fabric wrong side up on a pinning board or ceiling tile.
1 * Lay gauge #1 near the right edge of your fabric. Lift the left end of the fabric and fold over the gauge so that it hugs the gauge in the fold and crease.
2 * Lay gauge #2 directly on top of the first gauge (with the folded over fabric in between). Now fold the fabric over the second gauge (right to left) and crease.
3 * Leaving gauges #1 and #2 in place, place #3 over the fabric directly to the left of the stack of #1 and #2. Fold fabric to the right and crease against gauge #3.
4 * Now place gauge #4 directly over #3 (with previously folded over fabric sandwiched in between). Fold fabric over to the left and crease over gauge #4.
5 * Leaving the gauges in place, press the 2 completed pleats.
6 * Carefully remove the gauges from the 2 pleats and tack them to hold.
7 * Moving to the left, follow the above instructions again to make 2 more pleats.
8 * Repeat until you have the desired number of pleats.
While this method is quite tedious, it works. It is much easier on a narrow piece of ribbon than on a long piece of fabric, but it can be done.

Donna

Knitting terms, to the best of my knowledge:
YF: yarn forward. Pass the yarn under the needle, to the front. For instance, in ribbing, when you've been doing a knit (or plain) stitch and then want to do a purl stitch, you bring the yarn forward under the needle. No extra stitches are made.
YON: yarn over needle. When changing from purl to plain, you pass the yarn over the top of the right-hand needle, so that it lies there looking like a slanted stitch. Then you will either pass it over the next knitted stitch, to make a little line of yarn across the knitting, or on the next row treat it like a stitch, and knit or purl it, which will leave a hole in the knitting.

YRN: Same result as YON, except that you do it when you are not changing from purl to plain, but continuing to knit purl or plain. If you're doing purl, the yarn will be at the front of the knitting, so pass it right around the right-hand needle and to the front again, so it looks like a stitch. Similarly, if you're doing plain knitting, the yarn will be at the back, so pass it around the needle to the back again, and continue knitting. On the next row you will be told to knit or drop the stitch, and again you'll make a hole, or a very long stitch.
I have a very good old knitting book with clear photos of every possible stitch (up to 8 pictures per page, and there are 160 pages). The book, called Knitting Dictionary, was published by Mon Tricot in 1963, and I don't know whether it has been republished.

Frances, Erin, Ontario

Picture Frames: Mount picture to be framed, centered, on a piece of mat board, illustration board, cardstock or cardboard of a thickness that will meet your approx. finished depth needs and that is wide enough all the way around to take the width of your frame. For instance, if your frame is going to have sides that are 1/8" wide you would add an extra 1/8" all around. Use either YES glue or a quality glue stick for adhering. If you are using glass and/or a matt to your picture, glue it on top, keeping glue to the edges that will be covered by the frame.

You will be using paper strips to frame your picture. The paper may be plain or decorative, thick or thin, smooth or textured. If plain, pre-paint it as desired...for a wood look paint it a raw sienna color and antique it with a dark brown water based translucent stain. For decorative papers look in full sized wallpaper books or in scrapbook sections of craft stores. Cut paper strips to width that is the same size as depth of edge of the cardboard-glass-picture-matboard (or whatever) combination Cover raw edges neatly in four separate pieces.

Cut strips the width of the face of frame sides and slightly longer. Adhere to top. over exposed frame space next to picture (right over glass if it is being used. Do two connected sides first, overlapping the corners. Using a sharp Xacto knife cut thru the two thickness' of paper at a 45 degree angle, using the inside and outside corners of the paper strips as a guide...very simple. Gently lift up the cut edges and remove the excess paper and you will be left with a perfect mitered corner. Repeat for all four corners.

Thinner paper strips or wood strips can be added in the same manner to the face of the first strips to add dimension and interest if desired. Jewelry findings or what have you may be adhered to corners for interest. Touch up paper edges as needed with matching paint. After you have done a few as described above you may want to try using just one strip of paper to cover a side and it's edge. A bit more difficult but makes for a neater finish.

Joann Swanson

Matting Pictures: I was a picture framer for 10 years. So I do have a mat cutter at home which does make this a little easier. Logan makes one for home use that works extremely well. They are around 100 to 125 dollars depending on if you get the one that also will do straight edges versus just the beveled edge. Highly recommend that one over the other. I've used this for years for so many things that it is well worth the price. Easy to cut long strips of mat board for projects that you're working on besides cutting mat boards. Starting with acid free mat board, which is the only kind I use, Cut your mat board the size you want, mark your boarder on all 4 sides and cut your bevel. Then carefully peel several layers of the backing paper off from the front. It works like a charm, you get your bevel in scale. You can then leave it white or carefully and slowly if you've never done this before, with a marker that doesn't bleed, paint the bevel color of choice. I used gold to simulate fillet. It was very effective without balk.

Kathy in E. TN

Tiles: One of the fireplace fronts in one of the false walls (in the original Hell-House) had brick all around it, and then the wooden fireplace around that. I tried removing the bricks to reuse them, but they were just a mess when they came off, lots of junk stuck to them, and besides, I didn't like the way they looked in the first place. I started looking around for something else to use, and decided to make some tiles.

I used green Granitex to do this. I put it through the pasta machine (setting #1), and then dusted it with a little baby powder, and then rolled a bead (this is a 5/8" long gold cylindrical bead, 3/8" diameter, with a design carved in it, got them at Michael's) straight across the clay, from one side to the other. So then I had a long strip, with the design imbedded in it. Then I used a clay blade, and cut just above the design, and just below it. This bead has a line of "flashing" going down either side of it, which makes perfect "cutting" lines in the clay. I wanted the tiles smaller, tho, about the size of a mini brick, so I cut those tiles in half again, and they came out just the right size. (I have made these tiles before, only with regular pink Fimo, and at that time I did not have any baby powder, so I used some Estee Lauder talc that I had (I know, I know) and the Estee had some superfine"glitter" in it, and those tiles came out stunning. The glitter made them sort of glisten.)

I baked them (275, 10 minutes) and then coated them with varnish, and after they dry I will glue them in place and grout them with some spackle. It was quick and easy and fun, something I am not used to when we are talking about Hell-House! Tips: First of all, make more than you think you will need, you might break some when you sand them later.

Try to keep even pressure as you roll the bead across the clay, and do all of this right on a ceramic tile. Cut the tiles apart before baking, and use your clay blade to even them up and clean the edges (saves on sanding later on) Also use a super-fine grit sandpaper after they are baked (I use 400) because it is very easy to take off too much. And go easy on the varnish, or you will lose your design. Hope this gives someone some ideas... tub surrounds, backsplashes, fireplace fronts, whatever.

Deena in Miami

rubber molds - a small addition: Dr. Bob wrote an excellent set of instructions for making latex molds.

I would like to just add a couple of other things. Be sure the object you are molding can be easily removed by peeling back - otherwise it might be best to do 2 parts. (I can add that instruction if there is interest).

The other addition is after the 2nd or third coat, soak some gauze in the latex and apply it like it is a mummy - wrapping well. Any deep areas can be strengthened by putting in extra gauze at this time. The mold will be stronger and can be used more times but it won't stretch as well with the gauze. After that is dry, continue the dipping or painting as Dr. Bob wrote. Also, if you brush rather than dip, dip the brush in liquid detergent and the latex will wash right out.

Jacqui in Hilo, Goddess of Chaos

making rubber molds: I made a few rubber molds, not 40 years worth like Dr. Bob, but feel that I must add a warning to his instructions. Molds cannot be made of just any shape.

Say for instance, you have a doll that you made with its arm bent and the hand on the hip, also with it's legs separated a little. You follow Dr. Bob's instructions. However, you will never get doll, the original or any copies out of the mold. You cannot have any enclosed places, like the arm and the space between the legs. When you pull the mold off, you will rip the arm and legs off. You could get around the legs by making them separately, but nothing can be done about that arm.

I know this is as clear as mud, but perhaps someone who knows what I am talking about can explain it better without pictures.

Mary Lou in Portage, IN

Getting doll out of mold: you can get the doll out if you cut the part line on the inside of the opening that the arm makes by having her hand on her hip. Most any doll in any position can be released when you use a silicone mold. I haven't made rubber molds but I would think its the same principal. It all depends on where you make your cuts.

Nancy