Dressing Room: Joann Swanson did a theatrical dressing room project some time ago in Nutshell/Dollhouse Miniatures -- check their site or the NAME project finder. I don't recall it very clearly, but think it was built as a roombox with the exterior resembling a makeup-case; had the usual large tabletop under a wall-length lighted mirror, dressing screen, lots of costumes in a wardrobe, makeup, and other props.

Loretta Sniarowski

Dressing Room: I think the most important thing would be the makeup table with little light bulbs all around the mirror, all kinds of makeup, toiletries and perfume bottles. You could have a rack of costumes, wigs on stands, star photos or movie posters on walls. The room itself wouldn't need to be large or fancy, as most of the time dressing rooms are trailers on the set. You would also need shoes and lingerie lying around, and maybe one comfy chair for relaxing? Sounds like a fun project.

Paulette in IN

Synthetic Turning Material: Here is another idea you might want to check out. I do jewelry inlay, and there is a "synthetic stone" made for this purpose. It is actually more plastic or some type of resin than stone, but looks very realistic. I know it can be turned, because it is turned into the most beautiful heishi strands and you'd have to really look close to tell that it isn't real turquoise, ivory, jet, etc. Some come with the veining you find in natural stone and some are more solid colors. It is usually sold at stores that sell jewelry making supplies. I suspect you could get it online from Rio Grande. It is usually sold by the pound, and you can probably order it cut to approximate sizes.

Bonnie Gibson - Tucson, Arizona

Viscose: I have 25 colors, and it's especially perfect for wigging miniature dolls, making wigs to go on stands, or some people use it for hair on mini pets. Anyone can email me their home address and I'll send them my price/color list.

Paulette Stinson

Nail Heads: I have used gold/brass colored paint before to simulate nail heads. Just get a bead on the tip of your brush and barely touch it to the spot, so that it leaves a raised bead rather than a flat brushstroke. Practice on some paper first. For non-brass you can use any color paint, brown, grey, black. For recessed nail heads, you can use a sharp-pointed tool to make a tiny indent, and then again use paint for a nail head (the tension of the paint droplet will cover over the hole and look like a barely-raised nail head). You can also simply use a fine marker to dot on nail heads (that's how I do floorboards, before staining). I just used this technique to attach the fancy doorknobs I got to dress up my super-cheap kit. The wood of the door is simply to thin to use real nails, but the doorknob plates have nail holes, which looked odd left unfilled once I glued the plates in place (I colored the area behind the keyholes with a marker first so they look like holes). So I used a brass color paint as described above, and it looks just like there are nails there.

Graceanne

Porcupine Quills: It took a minute, but I found the resource for quills. It's Fire Mountain Gems -- 28195 Redwood Highway -- Cave Junction, OR, 97523-9304 -- USA -- phone 800-423-2319. Sorry I don't have a web address for them, my catalogue is an old one.

Vicki Horiuchi

Porcupine Quills: You can easily purchase porcupine quills from your local fly-tying materials dealer. Just check out a fly-fishing shop near you, or if you are without one go to http://www.llbean.com/customerService/aboutLLBean/index.html. They will be able to help you.

LL Bean has a large fly fishing dept and I'm 99.9% sure that they will carry porcupine quills. They are used to imitate the abdomens of large mayflies.

Brian

Porcupine Quills: About using porcupine quills. I have been working with them for years in my beadwork and I read Graceanne's tip on removing the barbed end. She suggested sticking the tip through leather before cutting off the barb. GOOD Idea I have found something that works very well also. I put the tips into a piece of Styrofoam scrap and use that. It is a bit easier to poke into than leather and doesn't tend to bend the quills as the smaller quills can be quite fragile. Never try to cut off the barbs without anchoring them into something first. They will fly through the air and disappear to who knows where. These barbs are very dangerous and are not easily removed if one should find itself embedded in your skin. They are like a fishhook and don't want to come out the same direction as they went in. I like using the Styrofoam as the barb stays down inside the Styrofoam and can be disposed of safely.

Brooke, Wa

Quillwork: For those of you interested in quillwork, here are two supplier sites: http://www.nocbay.com/
http://www.clawantlerhide.com/
and here are 2 sites with info and samples of quillwork - mostly for embroidery with quills, but you can get some great general info on working with them:
http://www.nativetech.org/quill/
http://www.powwows.com/dancing/crafts.shtml

Graceanne

Acrylic Turning Material: contact Nicole Walton-Marble concerning a source for the acrylic turning material. She uses that material for some of her work. Their address is: nmarble@sprynet.com

Jackie