Chinese Room: To the person who is interested in making a Chinese room... If you are going to make a distinctly Chinese room, which is going to be in China, it will definitely be different from a Chinese room in a more western surrounding. The latter would have meant that the Chinese room will have details which would have been influenced by Chinese stuff or culture and other details of the more western sort of decoration. In there earlier eras, the Tang, Song, Ming and etc Dynasties, they are ruled by the ethnic Han people in China. These dynasties spanned from AD 618 to AD 1644. Then comes along the Manchu people, who conquered China and ruled till Dr Sun Yat Sen set up the Republic of China at 1911. Then comes along the communists. For a Chinese room in the Manchu era(In this latter part of China history, which is also when the European countries started to take advantage of the weak emperors and government in China, which also resulted in lots of foreigners entering China(whether it were missionaries, opium traders or travelers)) in China, it is definitely not as flamboyant or and richly decorated as the Victorian era. You should be doing up a bedroom, right? You could divide the room into two parts, if it is possible, separated by a pink drape hung on a semi circle oriental looking wooden frame for those richer young ladies. It would surely consisted of a kang (a sort of a Chinese bed) and a dressing table in the inner chamber. In the outer chamber, a round mahogany table with round stools and display cabinet of some sort. Some scrolls with Chinese calligraphy would help. And don't forget the red seal mark on the bottom right hand corner of the scroll. The walls should be rather bare, not pink, or wallpapered, but again, the effect would not be nice. For ladies' shoes, if the lady living in that room is a Han, then the shoes could be small(in actual size, it is only three-inches so you scaled that down!) However, the cruel practice is not fashionable with the ruling Manchus. The men in that area would have shaved half of their hair away, leaving only a pigtail hanging down to show allegiance for the Manchu emperor. The richer males would have round caps that fitted the scalp perfectly with a piece of rectangular jade on the front of the cap. For clothes, never imperial yellow(bright yellow) as it is truly reserved the emperor only. Perhaps a demure pink or pale green for the young lady. Only women in imperial Manchu court(the Forbidden City in Beijing) wear headdresses so it would not be relevant for the typical room. For make-up on the dressing table, the lipstick would have been just a piece of red paper folded in half, which the young lady would applied by pressing her lips onto the paper. other powders are arranged neatly on the dressing table by the maid in small boxes. Since you are doing late Manchu era, then maybe you could included some western stuff lying about. Round, gold spectacles would be useful for poor-sighted Han or Manchu courtiers. They could be bestowed upon by the ruling emperor, in an act of reward. The official would have been mighty pleased!! For Japanese, tables are low, with no chairs, merely cushions. Lots of bamboo mats. They sleep on a futon. They have sliding doors. Chinese houses have double doors that opened. Women wear kimonos, a big difference with Chinese ladies. Japanese words may look similar to Chinese characters but Chinese calligraphy will appear more complicated while Japanese consists of some Chinese characters with other Jap. characters with simpler, concise strokes. I love Chinese furniture too, and I got a few in miniature, though I do not even know where to put it!!!!!! Bought some really exquisite mini Chinese vases and urns, plus a couple of the blue porcelain barrel-shaped stools! They come up to quite of money but I think the workmanship is great! All these are quite distinctly Chinese, so for a Chinoiserie effect, I think you can still keep the display cabinets with the array of vases and books, wallpaper the walls and maybe add in some other western influence.

Jaclyn, Singapore

Chinese Musical instruments: My mother has some Christmas ornaments that are close to 1" scale. They are really beautiful, made from real wood and strung just like the real thing. I don't know the names of the instruments in English, but there is one that looks like a mandolin, one that looks like a banjo, a sort of fiddle with two long strings and the bow UNDER the strings, and a "Chinese Piano" (a kind of stringed instrument that lies on a table, with many strings). (I have often been tempted to take them for my own miniature uses, but have resisted successfully for the past 15 years.) She also has some wall decorations, with similar miniature instruments mounted on a small scroll in a frame for hanging.

Celeste in Boston

Musical Instruments: I don't know where you can get the instruments but a mini Chinese zither would be perfect for the accomplished lady!:)

Jaclyn, Singapore

Dull X-acto blades: Did you know you can sharpen X-acto blades on a whet stone and get a little more life out of them?

Barbara

Sharp Exacto Blades: I have just finished a Brooke Tucker class and she told us about an observation she had made with Exacto knives. She said she bought some of the plastic handled ones, and after using them for several months, she realized that the plastic handled ones stayed sharper 2 to 3 times longer than the metal handled ones. She said her only clue as to why this happens is that the plastic handle has just a tiny bit of "give" to it, and perhaps that extends the life of the blade.

Patty Adamson in Bandera TX

Sharpening Xacto knives: For years, I sharpened Xacto blades using the striker strip on a matchbook. The grit was just right to achieve a good edge with a bit of work. After I quit smoking, matchbooks were not as common around my house; but I found a neat sharpener at Micromark  http://www.micromark.com. It is item 81619 and does the job really well for the normal dulling that occurs with use. It will triple the life of your blades.

Dave

Xacto knives: Tip from the newsletter I put out years ago: I kept 3 Xacto handles in different colors. The red handle always had a new sharp blade, when it began to dull, I'd move it to a blue handle and put a new blade in red. When I next replaced the red, I'd move the blue to a green, the red to the blue. OK, this sounds complicated, but much harder to explain than to do. This way I immediately could pick up a sharp blade when needed, and used the duller blade for things like cleaning up metal castings, scrapping dried glue, etc. Also: usually only the tip of the blade dulls, the rest of the blade usually stays sharp. One test--run the blade along magazine pages--if the paper tears, it is dull. A sharp blade cuts cleanly. And remember, like most tools, a dull blade is MORE dangerous than a sharp. And one more tip-most everybody uses the standard #11 blade, but also pick up some #16 blades. The sharp edge is about 45 degree angle and very helpful for many miniature uses.

Dean Jenson

SHARP things: It can be a nightmare losing a craft knife, needle, razor blade, etc. if you work in an area others will be using (especially a couch.) I have finally learned to put a glued piece of velvet ribbon (it can be anything like that) on craft knives so they won't roll, and I keep a magnet near where I work so it is easy to put items back on there...OR use it to 'vacuum' around the couch and floor when I realize something is missing. I also keep a flashlight nearby, as that sometimes catches the 'shine' of the needle or pin, etc. when I am looking. Still, it is easy to misplace a straight pin, so try to get in the habit of putting things like that immediately back on top of the magnet.

Rose

Rolling Xacto knife: Go to a stationery shop and get yourself a pencil holder for each knife. Its a triangular thingy that you put a pencil through to teach kids to hold their pencils right. This will stop those rolling knives.

Elli

Rolling Xacto knife: The relief for the rolling off the desk problem is easy. Get an eraser tip for pencils. You can find a couple of sizes at "anymart" to fit the handles you have. Put the eraser on the top and it will help keeping the tool from rolling. (By the way, many mini-tool suppliers will sell you things to do the same thing, except they will cost more.)

Dave Brazelton