Silk Hats: Here's how I make them:   I iron stiff fusible Pellon to the silk.   Cut out the shape wanted.   Then I rub tacky glue (making sure I don't use too much glue) onto the Pellon side of that piece.. I even rub the glued side onto wax paper to remove any excess glue.   Then I lay it, glued side down, to another piece of silk and iron the pieces together.   Next-- cut the second piece of silk to match the shape of the first one and glue bunka or other trim over the raw edges.  

For a really stiff brim, you can glue the silk pieces to card stock.   Then roll a dowel or pen over the pieces to help break down the cardstock fibers so you can shape the brim.

Viola

Peddler Dolls: Female Peddlers wore standard women's clothing for the time. Notable additions to the costume would be a warm, woolen cape with a hood, a white mob cap and under it all...the famous red, flannel petticoat. (That's how you can tell an "authentic" peddler.)

Laurie Sisson

CPU Fans: [However, I did see the rack of CPU ceiling fans. They had 2-inch,1-1/2-inch, and 1-inch sizes. I bought one of the 2-inch size for $14.97. It says it is 12V. Now I have to figure out how to wire it into my contemporary Florida-style dollhouse without setting fire to it.....]

Keep in mind that most (probably all) of these fans run only on DC (direct current). Cir-Kit (and other dollhouse electrical suppliers) provide transformers that are AC (alternating current). You will need to provide a separate transformer, or use a diode bridge to convert the AC to DC.

Tom Kari

Cir-Kit wiring: I have rented the Cir-Kit tape wiring video from my local mini store for free. It is ten times easier to understand than the printed instructions. You can also rent it from NAME if you are a member, or if you are in a NAME mini club.

Lynette in WNC

Battery Lamps: look in the sporting goods section at WalMart or in Home Depot/Lowes for keychains with 1:12 scale Coleman lanterns with replaceable batteries. I've used them as is in camping scenes and also repainted the base and added a printable lampshade from Jim's http://www.printmini.com site to "civilize" them for indoor rooms. Works fine if you don't mind them all having the same style base!

Loretta

Flashlight Lighting: One of my first dollhouses was the Marxie Mansion Dream House (by Marx) - around 1962ish. It was fan-tab-u-lous! It had a ringing doorbell, Florida room, kidney shaped pool with diving board, and "a light that really lights" ... I memorized the commercial for life! Anyway, it had two lamps, one was a floor lamp, the other a table lamp that had batteries in them. To me, they made my house so enchanting, especially in the Florida room with its frosted louver windows.

If I remember correctly, the bases of the lamps reminded me of penlights. The batteries slipped inside. There were no cords anywhere in that tin house. When I first built my Coventry Cottage, I knew nothing of wiring, and had covered the interior walls with plaster, so I could not tape wire. (Now that I know how to hardwire, I will eventually do that). But, I went to Joann Fabrics and found some little penlight (flashlights) in a couple of sizes. I disguised these lights inside of floor plants, behind furniture, inside of Michael's hutches. They made great indirect lighting. Purists are probably choking on their coffee as they read this, but I wanted light, and that's all I knew to do. I got pretty creative with these until I learned more about wiring.

Now, my suggestion with the Dollar Tree string lights (I've got some of them too; used in room boxes); maybe you can make a lowered ceiling. Use a piece of frosted gallery glass, and place your lights above that. Look at some recessed or lowered ceilings in real life, and get some ideas. You could make track lights around the ceiling, and use some molding to 'hide' the wires. Make a "ceiling gutter" with some model magic and hide your wires in there. Of course, this all depends on the style and mood of your room(s) too. But I don't see why this cannot be done if you're intent on trying them. Keep in mind, your batteries won't burn very long - but I don't keep my dh's lit for long anyway.

Stacey T

WOOD TURNINGS: Off the top of my head, they could be used to make plant stands/candle stands, candle sticks, hall trees, porch rails and stair banisters as well as porch posts. If you could drill them lengthwise, floor and table lamps; split them lengthwise and the fancy woods would make moldings to apply to cheap furniture or picture frames to gussy them up, or to miter and apply to walls to frame out wood paneling effects.

Loretta Sniarowski

Southwest Room box: I did make a Southwest Room box using Styrofoam as the structure. I used spackling paste for the stucco, Red Devil brand is very light texture and easy to work with. The first coat is the hardest to get to stick to the Styrofoam, but after that it is pretty simple. You just apply the spackle, let it dry thoroughly, sand it and apply another coat. It is a time consuming process but gives wonderful results. My 1" scale room has a smooth stucco finish and my 1/2 " has a rough textured stucco finish. I think I applied about 12 coats, on the smooth finish, but they thin and sanded. I applied several coats of my finished paint color as well. The stucco will absorb the paint. Feel free to e-mail me if you would like more info.

Lillie in Texas

Southwest House/Stucco/Styrofoam: If you will apply a thin coat of white glue to the styrofoam, foamcore or insulation foam, the spackle will grab on immediately and the work goes much quicker. .

Susan Wise

Cleaning tips for antiques and stuff: They have lots of information on cleaning things from ink on dolls to silver polishing. I spent a lot of time copying some of the tips in the cleaning section. They also have links on other subjects- worth a look. This site mentioned you could remove smoke smell with clay cat litter.

Just scroll past all the auction stuff to the area labeled; Antiques & Collectibles Arena... Categorized discussions of Antiques & Collectibles. http://community.otwa.com/3/OpenTopic? a=cfrm&s=386293084

Kerrie