Cleaning Old Lace: Old lace can generally be cleaned just by soaking it in clean warm water. Let it soak for 15 minutes or so, change water and repeat if the water looks dirty. Dab any dirty spots with a clean white cotton towel once it has been soaked for a while. I would use very mild detergent as the last resort if the lace is still dirty. Again let the lace soak in the solution, dab the obviously dirty spot with towel. If you used soap, make sure you rinse out all of the soap with warm water. Dry the lace by laying it flat, on top of white towel, roll up the towel and press gently to squeeze out some water, then unroll the towel, and let the lace dry (either on this towel or a drier one).

Vina

Cleaning Old Lace: To clean old lace , soak in solution of mild dish detergent and hot water, that will remove most of stain , rinse well, if any stain remains use a weak Clorox or Clorox2 solution. Remove lace when spots clear , rinse well again and wrap carefully around a glass jar or bottle, leave to dry, and won't need to iron. **If lace is really old it is sometimes frail, support when washing- put on cooling rack or screen or in strainer and swish up and down through solution. That's what I do with frail antique doll clothes and laces and old wigs.

Regina, Wilmington, Delaware

China Silk: Habutai silk is a bit heavier than China silk. I don't think that most fabric places today even know the various kinds of silk (or other exotic fabrics and finishes) that one can find in a textile book and used to be able to buy in stores. China silk is very, very thin, and transparent, and so light that yards and yards of it hardly weigh on your hand. It has an ethereal quality to it. Tracey, what was it you need the China silk for? If for mini dresses, I would even think that a heavier silk like the Habutai would be better, as it wouldn't be 'see-through' and might drape a bit better. There are loads of very light silks used for blouses and they (used blouses) are easily found in thrift shops here, and cost relatively little.

Rose

Painting Chrysnbon Pots: I don't know how Teri did hers, but I've done a spatter painting technique in mini when I did the Crysonbon pan set. I wanted it blue with black spatters. I painted the basecoat (blue), and let it dry. Then, I took an old toothbrush and dipped it in black paint. Point it in the general direction of the piece you're decorating, and run your thumb through the bristles. Its rather messy, but a great effect. Very easy. You might consider wearing gloves if you don't like the idea of getting paint all over yourself. I used acrylic paint.

Sloan

tin roofs. I work in a dental office have access to the lead backing off of the x-ray films. These are about 1.5" x 1" & about the thickness of heavy duty foil. We roll them through one of those paint tube rollers meant to squeeze the paint out of the tube. This makes them corrugated. Then we just line 'm up in overlapping rows. Only drawback is they get heavy with a lot of them so need a sturdy roof. (DH did make do with a small structure & only a cardboard roof.) They also make great patches for a shack type roof.

Marty in SC

SPLATTER PAINTING: I use the splatter method with red primer to give effects of rust on items. I find I get my best splatter shapes by sweep spraying it from at least two or three feet away. And as you said, just a spritz at that. It is very easy to over (do) spray it. Best suggestion is to practice on some thing like a paper cup until you get the feel of it. I also use a turntable in my spray booth ( a closet with a vent fan in it) so I can rotate the items being painted with out touching them.

Bill Hudson, Eugene, Oregon

SIMULATING CAST IRON: I use the same method to simulate cast iron. First spray a coat of black primer at regular distance then spray more coats from two to three feet away, letting it dry between coats. If you do it correctly it should produce a rough surface like cast iron. To add more realism to it alternate last coats with red primer and black primer.

Bill Hudson, Eugene, Oregon

Distressing Workbench: I'd take it out and set the top on some gravel, and step on it hard a couple of times. Then, I'd take it back inside and use a stiff, steel brush and scrape the top (a little) and vigorously on the sides around the top where he has cut boards and worked. I'm assuming the backside of the bench would be against the wall and won't be as badly distressed. Take an emery board to that edge to ever so slightly round off the edge on the back. This will distress the sides.

Once you've put on your oil and/or varnish on it to give it a richer hue and color, take some India ink and mix it with rubbing alcohol (doesn't take much India ink, but you can experiment with how dark you want to make things by starting with less alcohol, then adding more until you like the result). I keep my mixture of this in an old baby food jar. Take a paintbrush and work this mixture around the edges where things are normally dirtiest or darkest. (You can make the workbench really convincing with this. I used it to age a wooden handcart in the roombox my daughter and I made of her grandfather's wholesale fruit business, and it looked terrific! It also works to tone down the newness of aluminum or steel, too. You can how the cart looks by going to: http://www.zing.com/album/?id=4292729099)

George Held

TEXTURING BASSWOOD FOR WORKBENCH. Precut your basswood workbench top and glue the cross braces on the bottom of the top. (sense???) Hold the top securely by clamping the cross pieces from below. Now, lightly and with the grain, deep grain the wood with a stiff bristled wire brush such as is used to remove loose paint in full size work. Don't overdo it. A little is probably more appropriate than turning the plank into hard weathered drift wood. Round and smooth the corners with fine sandpaper. If I were doing my own former workbench from here, I would apply a coat of dark brown stain over all, let it dry, rub it out well. Along the front edge, wire brush again with a less aggressive brush and ACROSS the grain. Put your emphasis near the center or wherever your Pop does most of his soft cutting directly on the bench. Do an overall wash with black paint allowing it to set into the cuts and grooves but clean it well on the surface. Finally, steel wool polish and top off with the deepest oxblood shoe polish you can find. Not too much shoe polish but rub to a wonderful old patina. As a final touch, use a very fine jeweler's saw blade to put a FEW cuts down to fresh wood along the front edge just to show that the bench is still actively used.Look closely to see if there is a penny laid into your Father's bench top somewhere. If there is, be sure to represent it with a bit of copper wire or whatever but do not ask about it until some time when conversation lags and you need him to tell you a story.

Mel K.

Distressing Wood: I am also the proud owner of a work bench that has enjoyed years of usage by my grandfather. Recently I took a class and I know that we "distressed" the wood by using sandpaper on the edges to give it more of a rounded (well used) edge. Also I have used an Exacto knife to take out small pieces of wood as gouges. Don't forget all those things that I am sure have been spilled on the workbench - like paint splatters.

Suzy