Stucco: Try stucco patch. You can get it at ACE Hardware, or probably any hardware store - it comes in a container and is premixed. If you want you can add some paint to it for color - otherwise it dries a gray-white.

Norma

Stucco: There is a product that artists use occasionally to add texture and a 3 dimensional quality to a painting. The one I use is Schewee's White Texture Medium in an 8 oz. tub. It is easy to spread, cleans up easily (I wash my brushes in 1 drop of Murphy's Oil Soap and warm water) and dries hard but still flexible. Great stuff!!! Also makes "Tupperware" bowls ... paint it on the outside of a bowl shape, let dry, and then peel off ... it comes off inside out to what you painted which puts the smooth part outside and the rough part doesn't show when you fill the bowl!

Laverne

Thatching: Today, I put instructions on my web site http://www.dollhouse-miniatures.comfor thatching a dollhouse. Be aware, there are quite a few pictures, and they are 20KB each, so it can take a couple of minutes to load. Look under Tom's Tips--- Thatching.

Tom Berkner

Roof Tiles: I make my roof tiles out of good quality card. I wanted old, red tiles, so I painted each sheet (A4 size) of card a slightly different shade of salmon pink before I cut them out. I made separate tiles. Because I cut them with scissors, they were slightly different sizes, but a guillotine and a jig would give you a more precise tile. I wanted mine a bit variable. Then I stuck them on the roof (I know - one by one! It's very therapeutic) and used the same card, cut into strips for the roof ridges. After the glue had dried, I went over the whole roof with one thin coat of rosewood acrylic wood dye. This gives the roof extra stick, makes the red roof colour perfect, and protects the delicate card. Then I got my paints out and began to dirty it a bit. I know it's a bit laborious, but this is a hobby, and I had a lot of fun thinking this up.

Lynne Connolly

PAPERING CEILING: this is more tedious than difficult. First (and most tedious), remove the furniture and accessories. Next, get help if it's a huge house, and turn it upside down, bracing it with old pillows to protect the roof and trim and wedge it in place with the ceilings in floor position. Then get the cheapest index cards you can find and plenty of masking tape. Start around the edges, taping cards together to cover the ceiling. Overlap them as necessary and fan them around the light fixture until you have completely covered the ceiling edge to edge with taped-together cards except for the hole the fixture hangs through. Mark the "right" side of the template -- the one that will show. Gently lift this template out and use it as a pattern to cut your ceiling paper. Before you cut the paper, be sure that the "right" side of the template faces the "wrong" side of the paper. Cut out the fixture hole and the ceiling paper to size, and glue into place. If your house is Victorian or earlier, the mock-tile textured life-size paper makes a nice ceiling; some of it is geometric and faux-painted like wood would be great for a coffered Arts & Crafts or Tudor ceiling.

Loretta Sniarowski

Hot tub: I think an above-ground hot tub would be straightforward and inexpensive to make. Get a solid colored porcelain bowl in the appropriate size - tiny dog dish works well as it has the sides slanted outward - or consider a small condiment bowl - in the solid color of your choice, then cut a bunch of thin strip wood to the appropriate length and glue vertically to the outside of the bowl. Most hot tubs of this style seem to be made of unfinished cedar, so that shouldn't be to hard to find....just split into strips and sand a bit for scale... Or you can always use the trusty Starbuck's coffee stirrers (much stronger than the ones you buy in bulk at Sam's Club/Costco) but these will require a bit of stain or color. If you want a bench seat inside, make of the same wood, rather like a stair, with strips for the bench and strips for the support. Stairs leading up to the tub (if necessary) could be made of the same wood. Then stick a few snaps painted appropriately on the sides as water jets...(the little round notions used for sewing) and a tiny painted flat washer for the drain...don't forget the water inlet valve by the drain

Whui

Hot Tub: I didn't see the original post about hot tubs, but here is how I made my 'Mississippi River' hot tub. I used stained mini fencing material ( 1/4' pieces cut from a larger piece) and glued it around a wooden circle (4") gluing them up each side. I had a round bottle inside to keep the shape and used rubber bands around it until it dried. I then put brown bathroom caulking (from a small tube) on the inside to seal it. Since I filled it with 'water' I didn't put in the seats as they would not have been visible as I made the top frothy. I used the banding plastic that holds wires together to band the outside. Didn't like the way it looked so bought a roll of quarter inch copper and molded it over the plastic band. I used the drink straws from the cardboard drink cartons for the pipes on the outside. They have the pleated bend in them. Since our hot tub was done in PVC pipe they were white - so no painting on the straws. Drilled tiny indentations in the wood outside to glue them to and drilled holes completely through a cologne cap that looked like the filter system that was on our real one. Made a ladder from the same material as the sides for the steps. In the setting I made 'Tiki' torches from toothpaste caps and drink stirrers. I filled the caps with the brown caulking stuck the stirrers and some greenery down in it and let it harden. I painted the whole assembly brown. Stuck a piece of tan wool yarn into the stirrer at the top, arranged some flat wheat straw (1 1/2" long) around the outside of the top of the stirrer leaving it just enough above the top of stirrer to conceal it. Wrapped string around it at the bottom. The string started on the stirrer and went up onto the straw about 3/4". Wrapped 2 thin copper wires at even intervals on the rest of the straw I shaped the tip of the yarn to a ragged point and colored it with a black marker. It stuck up above the straw about a quarter of an inch. I was rather pleased with the results.

Carol Shea

Furniture Kits: Kallisti asked about the differences in available furniture kits. House of Miniatures kits and Shenandoah kits are produced by Houseworks and both lines are available through HBS & www.miniatures.com as well as through local miniature shops and show dealers. Almost every piece of these kits is made by the same company in Thailand. The only difference between them is their original designers and the quality of the instructions that come with them. I have been slowly, but surely, re-doing the instructions for all of these kits and it's on an as-needed-phase-in basis so it's hit or miss, depending on which kit you order, as to whether you get the new instructions or not. As I have reviewed these instruction sheets, I have to say the Shenandoah Kitchen and Outdoor Collections have had the worst. The Chippendale, Colonial and Federal Collections have needed few revisions and were pretty darn good to start with; I just improved some of the line drawings and re-formatted them. But, the quality of the individual pieces, no matter what Collection or kit, is excellent! Outstanding, really! I'm not being paid to say these things; this is based on experience.

Sally Cook-Thomas

Different Furniture Types: Yes, there is a difference between Hepplewhite, Chippendale and Queen Anne furniture, some of it subtle some not so subtle. However, none of these styles is Victorian - they are all from the 18th century. While they could possibly be found in a Victorian home as "antiques" they would not be a prosperous Victorian homeowner's first choice. The Victorian era runs from 1835 to 1903 and there were a LOT of styles in architecture, furniture and clothing throughout this period. There were many "revivals" of previous eras, like Gothic Revival and Renaissance Revival. Towards the end of the period there was Art Nouveau and Arts & Crafts. While HOM makes some great kits, they do not make any true Victorian kits. I would suggest you send a LSASE to Fernwood Miniatures, 12730 Finlay Road NE, Silverton, OR 97381 and ask for her free catalogue. Fern makes many Victorian pieces and her work is true reproductions of actual furniture.

Beth

1920s-1930s Decorating: I am trying to catch up on my readings and decided to respond, at this late date, to your question. I purchased a book called "Decorate A Dolls House" from Amazon.com. Their code was P-3-B75G169, author, Michael Morse. Excellent book. You will get more bang for your buck with this one. It covers the time frame from 1630 to the present day. Included are lots of tips, explanations and details on each room, and color photos.

Cora