Baby box: How about in a toy drum or jack in the box? A diaper box would be flimsy but the walls could be reinforced with Foamcore. What about a night lighted scene in a lamp base? If you can use gift bags, you could probably use a diaper bag.

Linda in Leroy, OH

South Western Accessories: I made my annual pilgrimage to Santa Fe, N.M., Indian Market (usually the third weekend in August) and thought I'd pass on a couple of contacts for anyone who is working on an adobe/southwest project. I'm not connected with any of these resources other than as a customer:

Terry Tapia of Teseque Pueblo (say THAT five times fast!) does very fine miniature pottery - buff with black and brown designs. The pot I bought is delicately painted in an abstract "turkey wing" design and is a "seed pot" the size of a 3/4 inch bead. Her address is Rt.11 Box 20, Santa Fe, N.M. 87501. Phone is (505)983-7075.

Koinva's Hopi Ornaments at P.O. Box 2785, Apache Junction, AZ 85217 phone (480)982-1577 sells Christmas ornaments. But one of their ornaments is a wood, leather and rawhide drum 2inches high. The drums come painted or unpainted - I preferred the unpainted. It also has a drumstick.

Galeria Ortega can be located at www.ortegasdechimayo.com and 1-800-743-5921. They have petroglyph refrigerator magnets that look as if the petroglyphs are carved from weathered sandstone of irregular shapes - too cool! If you aren't into that, they also have kokopelli and other petroglyph-type designs on glazed 2inch square tiles (refrigerator magnets), suitable for imbedding in the outer wall of your adobe hacienda. Ortega also has southwest mini scenes for sale, and Mimbres art stickers in both black and white or sand and brown in case you want to do your own polymer clay pottery and stick on authentic designs. In Taos I found 1 inch square tiles with tiny recipes for southwest cooking printed on them - again, refer magnets. Didn't get the store name, but it's the gourmet cook shop on Bent Street.

Susan's Christmas Shop, 115 E. Palace Ave., Santa Fe. I always find wonderful minis at Susan's. This year it was mini floral arrangements, mini porcelain tea sets (I got one painted in the blue Russian "net" design), mini fruits and veggies, and leather moccasins. These moccasins aren't the beaded kind. They have hard leather bottoms and soft leather tops that tie around the ankles. Looks like they'd fit a Ken doll, so might be too big for most SS'ers unless you have them peeking out from under a bed or flopped near the door.

One of the artists on the Plaza, a Comanche named Gordon Tonips did the most stunning mini settings. He carves Pueblos, kivas and Anasazi ruins in stone. His work is to be gasped at! He is trying to get a website together and post some of his art. His websites are www.tonips.com and www.comancheartist.com He said he had been too busy getting ready for market to post his work, but would get to it following market. So keep checking those sites if you would be interested in seeing some wonderful and unusual mini work.

Ava in the Great American Desert,

Working Clock using Watch: The thingy sticking out the side of the watch is the "stem". I assume it gets in the way because it is too wide for the width of the clock face area of the Grandfather clock. If you want, you can mount the watch so the stem points downward where there is more room. But you say if I turn the watch in that manner the numerals will be out of whack.

Solution;
Open the watch case. Remove the crystal. At this point you have two choices.
Do nothing but remake the dial face. so the numerals are properly oriented as the watch is rotated for the stem to be down or;
If the dial face is removable (in some very inexpensive watches they are paper pasted onto a metal backing). Separate the paper dial face and then rotate the dial face to reorient the numerals. - OR -
If it is a battery operated watch you can cut off the stem and if you have to adjust the time you can move the watch hands. The stem serves a limited number of uses.
1;wind the mainspring.
2; set the hands
3; if there is a date window it sets the date. If it is not needed for any of these, remove it.

DrBob...Delray Beach, FL.

Working Clock using Watch: when I first started minis I got the grandfather clock from House of Miniatures made, years later I decided I wanted it to be real. I removed the top block and the top and the front spools from the block and made a hollow box the same size with a circle in the front, I got one of those watches on a chain that look like a ladybug case with gold wings that you squeeze to open - this was the only one I could find that the stem setter stem was at the top of the 12- as the ones at the 3 was too wide.

I put it inside and propped it in and put a hinge door on the back-so I could change the batteries- replaced the top and front decorations. It has been keeping the right time - with a few battery changes - for 15 years

Kathleen, CC,NV

Wainscoting Height; The North American old house books I have say height should be 30 to 36 inches from the floor. Anagalypta and lincrusta (spelling?) imported here from England comes in 36" height specifically for wainscoting, to be applied above the baseboard, which, in the last old house (about 1910) we did was 10". Anagalypta plus baseboard makes 46 - 52". I guess it depends on the height of the room as some old houses have 12' or higher ceilings on the main floor.

I like the chair rail above the wainscoting to be at the height of the top of the chair back so the two levels don't fight and make the room look choppy. Usually this means shorter than 36" total height from the floor.

Heather

Wainscoting height: Linda, inch scale wainscoting can be anywhere from 2" high to 6" high! I've used those heights and several in between heights on various dollhouses. I find that 3" is a very popular height. Put the 6" high in a wonderful dh kitchen and bath at the owner's request. I didn't think it was a good idea, but she was paying the bill and we 'aim to please'! It worked out wonderfully well.

Dottie in Tucson

Wainscoting Height: Linda, although we do the wainscoting to look pretty, it was originally intended to serve a purpose .... keeping your chairs from beating into your wall/wallpaper. A friend was doing this in her real house a few years back and had the same question .... she was advised to push her chairs against the wall and to place the wainscoting at a height where the chairs would neither bump against her wallpaper nor look overwhelmed by the wainscoting. Not only was the wainscoting functional, but it looked "right" in relation to her furniture. You might try posing your mini chairs against the wall in the same way. Good luck!

Paula

"Wainscoting Height: Should you happen to want to do an Arts and Crafts style house, the wainscoting goes almost to the top of the wall, leaving just enough room at the top for a (varies from about 8" to 2') frieze of wallpaper or stenciling.

Tess, Louisville, KY, USA

Wainscoting height: The height may vary according to the era that you are depicting. My son lives in a house in NC that was built in the 1860's and the height is 4' 6". This was in the hall, kitchen and bath. I have seen it from 30" to 5 feet. In bathrooms and kitchens, also nurseries, it was common to have it 5 feet high. I assume that it protected the old horse hair plaster that way. So place it where you want it or where the residents of your house want it. My families tell me all about their history and how they want their houses decorated.

Shelby

Wainscoting Height: Growing up, I lived in a house that had Wainscoting down it's twenty foot hallway and in the dining room. We had the ten inch high baseboard and then the wainscoting. But, it didn't stop at chair height like the more modern styles do. It came up to shoulder height and above that, there was trim molding (not chair rail) that was approximately three inches wide. If you would like the exact height, I can call my mother and ask her to measure it. She still lives in that house and although it's now painted, the wainscoting is still there.

Peggy O'Neill