Distressing Wood: Here's where you can go "wild"! Take out your aggressions and frustrations!! Get out those whips and chains!! And just go to town on the workbench. Seriously: a mini brass hammer, an Exacto knife, a piece of small size chain, a salad fork -- all make good dents, gouges and chips in a workbench. Then go to it with the wood stain and paint splashes / drips. Don't forget the drips on the floor and down the front legs of the bench, too.

Patricia / Redwood City, CA

Freezer Shelves: Have you thought of using plastic embroidery mesh? You can get it in different gauges and if it is not exactly the size you require for your shelves it is very easy to cut the pieces out from between the holes. You are then left with rods of plastic joined by the crossway bars. It also takes paint very well, so you could spray or paint it silver.

Maureen in Hemel, UK

Freezer Shelves: If I were making a refrigerator shelf, I would buy the thinnest K and S aluminum tubing (available in some mini shops and model places). It bends easily and glues well with super glue. Bend the square around a piece of wood the size you want your shelf, having the ends meet in the center of one side. Support the joint with a piece or wire glued inside. Cut the cross pieces long enough to overlap the square, and flatten the ends with a pliers. This tubing cuts quite easily just by rolling it under an X-Acto blade. Then glue them in place.

Alice Zinn- Pt. St. Lucie FL

Hutches: http://www.zing.com/album/pictures.html?id=4292796609 Here is the link again for whoever wants to see what I did to "bash" some of the inexpensive hutches from Michael's. For the person that asked about the copper punch, I bought the copper in a roll at our local craft store (Ben Franklin's) a few years ago. It is about a 36 gauge - I think the manufacturer was Ankara. I draw my basic design on a piece of paper, then lay the paper over the copper and punch small holes along the lines until the pattern has been copied. You can use a sewing needle in a pin vise to do this and get fine lines. Use a good heavy duty needle. The "saguaro ribs" in the doors are made from bamboo skewers, cut to length and split into two pieces so one side is flat. I used a router to put a groove around the edge of the back sides of the doors to have a place to fit the copper/ribs into.

Bonnie Gibson

Refrigerator Shelves: It occurred to me upon reading the various suggestions for Jonathan on making shelves for his refrigerator that it might be a modern fridge, in which case many (perhaps all) of them have shelves made of tempered glass. A piece of acrylic might replicate that very nicely.

Janet in Baltimore

DOJO Mat: Wouldn't fun foam be about right to cut mat s out of? I don't remember them being very thick, so the thickness should be close, and they would have that springy texture.

Teresa from Canada

Luggage: For anyone interested in miniature luggage, you might do a search on eBay for a seller with the ID of 'judia41'. I bid on a three-piece set of luggage from her and for the price, I am very pleased with it. So much so, that I ordered more directly from her rather than through eBay and they were very reasonably priced too. They're not leather - they're obviously blocks of wood that she covers with various fabrics (in my case, tan). She adds contrasting edging trim, a little tiny handle and really tiny brass hardware. To me, they sure look like a set of luggage!

Mary Lynne in Huntington, WV

Luggage: Although I make and sell mini luggage, both the kind that opens and the kind that doesn't, you can easily make your own. The non-opening kind should be made over blocks of balsa wood, basswood or something else porous so that the leather glues on easily. There are instructions for the opening kind in my 'Open Sesamini' book, carried by many stores on this list.

Alice Zinn

PayPal Customer Service: Buried in the site is a toll free number which I have used and got helpful live people. 1-888 221-1161

Carol

Weathered Wood: Hardware stores carry a product called "Weather It". This is a designed to age new wood on exterior construction-decks, fences, etc. It gives a silver/gray hue of very old wood but does not eliminate all of the natural color of the wood you apply it to. I love this product. I have used it to weather shingles, age a log cabin and dozens of other projects through the years. I have just used the last of the gallon I bought over 10 years ago. Rather cost effective I would say.

Becky Holliday