Prairie Wagon: My husband used to work at a place called Homestead National Monument, which is dedicated to people who settled the West under the Homestead Act of 1863. The Homestead Act was in 1863, but not much land was settled until after the Civil War was over in 1865. By the early 1870s most of the good land was taken, so that was the period of heaviest migration, although people used covered wagons for travel until the turn of the century. If you like the Danish immigrant idea, the 1860s-1880s would be the period most immigrants traveled. Other settlers had started before that, though, but the land was free after the Homestead Act. Anyway, I asked him and he rattled these things off the top of his head.

Farmers crossed the prairie in canvas covered farm wagons called Prairie Schooners. These were smaller than Conestogas (freight wagons) so there wasn't room for much. In general you would take only necessities that you would need along the way or could not find once you got to where you were going. Flour barrel, water barrel, basic cooking gear, dried food such as jerky, bacon, salt pork (Preserved meats), hardtack some livestock feed, tools for farming and cabin building, but real basic like shovel, ax, saw. Rifle and or shotgun,Bible, quilt, blankets, guide book if your were smart, patent medicines, rope. Sometimes there would be "luxuries" like a trunk full of clothes, and possibly but not likely a sewing machine, heirlooms, maybe a few pieces of furniture but these things were often dumped along the way, especially when they reached the Rocky Mountains. Musical instruments were popular, but it would be realistic to have smaller, lighter instruments like a fiddle or accordion. Some tried to bring organs or harpsichords, but as I mentioned few large heavy items made it past the mountains unless they were necessities. A grease bucket and water bucket may be hanging underneath the wagon. Mostly simple and basic items, because these were poor people. Many immigrants traveled along the trails, so it would be quite proper to make this a Danish immigrant family from the 1840s to 1880s. One good book you can use as a reference is the Prairie Traveler by Randolph Marcy. This was the guidebook many immigrants used and contains a list of suggested supplies. It was the best. It's available in reprint and you can order it from Amazon.com for less than $9.00. Everett Dick's Conquering the Great American Desert would also be a good reference. Amazon.com lists this at $10.95.

Jeri Moriarty

Prairie Wagon: are you talking about a Conestoga wagon? What you put into your wagon depends on whether you want to depict the wagon before the pioneers tried to get over the mountains or after. I grew up in Colorado, and read about how the families from back East would load up all their family's best furniture to take to their new homes, but once they got on the mountain passes, the strain of trying to pull those heavy wagons up over the Rocky Mountains was too hard on the oxen. Many a beautiful chest of drawers, desk or heavy table were jettisoned along the road, because the load was too heavy to pull over the mountain. I think a lot of the contents would have been utilitarian. You would have found suitcases or trunks, some bedding (blankets and pillows), sacks of flour and sugar, tins of lard, spare rope, cooking utensils, a washtub and washboard, a kerosene lamp or two, candles, some stools or chairs, and perhaps a light-weight table. Usually a large barrel of water was attached to the wagon, too.

George Held

Prairie Wagon: I'm not a world-class expert but I would think that first you have to decide how far they were traveling. If the people were going to the Ohio-Illinois, Indiana area they could carry more "personal" items than if they were crossing the Rocky Mountains. I'm currently building a log cabin that will be in the Midwest somewhere, so they'd have room for a few favorite pieces of furniture. Crossing the mountains usually meant leaving behind all the "extras" that took up space & weight. The trails over the mountains were littered with goodies left behind to lighten the load. (I'm an antique dealer and the very thought makes me drool!!) They'd have lots of good sturdy boxes & barrels, essential tools & metal objects, coffee pot, pots & pans, etc. as these things would be hard to make in the wilderness, blacksmiths were few & far between, but most men could handle basic repairs.

I've also read about them carrying entire trees strapped to the outside of the prairie wagons, as crossing the great plains, the only other option for fuel was buffalo chips. (Side note: My mom was raised on the Colorado plains, & gathering buffalo chips was one of her daily chores. They were still plentiful in the 1920's, long after the buffalo had all but disappeared.)They would have to carry seed for crops with them, enough food to make it through a winter if crossing the Rockies, possibly a spinning wheel, (although wool can be spun from a weight). One or two books would be tucked away, definitely a Bible & possibly one or two others. Blankets would be needed for travel, as well as arrival, and plenty of sturdy clothing. Depending on the time frame, possibly a photo of loved ones left behind. The essential cow tied on behind the wagon, and possibly chickens in wooden coops on the back tail of the wagon.

It's a fun exercise, to figure out how many skills they'd have to have to make it in the wilderness, shoe-maker, candlemaker, builder, blacksmith, woodcarver, soapmaker, weaver, spinner, seamstress. How many of us would have "what it takes" these days? I know I'd be standing on a porch in St. Louis, waving goodbye, and shouting "So long, suckers!!"

SBEGLEY

Hiding the transformer. How about making a hollow 'bush' out of styrofoam and covering it with that shredded foam? Or, you could use a garden or potting shed to hide your transformer.

Alice Zinn- Pt. St. Lucie FL

Silica gel Crystals: As others have noted, the pill bottle desiccant cylinders make useful mini containers and the crystals can be used to dry flowers. Bottled in a tiny cork-topped glass bottle with a floral scrap label, the crystals also make great sparkly bath salts. Even though they may yellow, it doesn't matter for this purpose. I put them in gift baskets with scented soaps (painted TicTac mints), a tulle scrub pouf, bead perfume bottles, potpourri, a candle, etc. The baskets are the one detail every woman who sees my houses comments on -- guess we need that "Calgon take me away" fantasy in any scale!

Loretta.Sniarowski

Gel Pens: I use these for all kinds of stuff, including calligraphy and doll's faces. I prefer the Pentel, Zebra and Pilot brands, and I've had very good luck with them. I am not so fond of the Sanford (Gelly'z) or the Bic gel pens, and I've never tried the Marvy or any of the various other brands, though the technology and properties of the ink and pens seem to be essentially the same. Here are some tips for getting sticky pens to work. Hopefully you can save yours!
These always work best if they are warm before using, and should /always/ be stored point down. It's actually /more/ important for these to be stored point down, than regular ball-point pens, since they use a pigment-based ink, which can separate. It'll leave you with up to an inch of clear ink-base between the ballpoint and the pigment ink, if you leave them point up for too long, or a strange inconsistency of ink/base mixture if you leave them stored flat for too long in a warm place (this can make it separate along the length of the pen). This may be what's wrong with the pens you have now, since these are often sold in displays point-up, or in sets that are laid flat for a long time in the shops.
I'd try storing them near the stove, point down, in a pencup, so they are warm, and then trying them out on writing paper to get the ink flowing smoothly around the ball point before trying them on any projects.

Maura Bass

Resin: Resin is a two part product that create a chemical reaction when mixed together to form a plastic type material. There is the clear resin like Envirotex that is used for creating water type surfaces such as ponds and waterfalls. It can be colored to create food products like syrup over pancakes or milk in a glass. It can be poured in most surfaces and left there (like in a pond or glass) or poured out on plastic and removed ( like a spilled drink).

The other type of resin is a casting resin like Alumilite that is also a two part product but cream colored and made to be cast into molds and removed. It can be cast into a plastic, rubber, metal or paper mold. It picks up great detail.

Depending on where you are from resin can be purchased from many sources. The clear resins can usually be bought at most craft stores. They have a heavy odor so always use in a well ventilated area. The casting resins can be bought at specialty plastics stores or ordered over the net. I sell the Alumilite products but haven't gotten them up on the web site yet. Hopefully later this week.

I taught a workshop on mold making and resin casting in Chicago a couple of weeks ago and had a sold out workshop of 25. Anyone interested might check with Tom Bishop for future classes at the Chicago show. I think we will run it twice next year if we can get enough interest. I am also toying with the idea of teaching beginning mold making and resin casting at other locations next year.

Deb (the Dragonlady)

transfer-medium: Transfer Medium is available from the Craft Club Catalogue. http://www.craft-club.com

Chrissie

Leaves: I have made lots of leaves by painting pieces of tracing paper. (Get the good vellum kind.) I usually use some combination of Sap Green, and then a lighter and a darker green, or greens. The trick to making realistic leaves is to do them in several colors, never just one. Make puddles of paint on, say, a piece of waxed paper, or plastic wrap, or whatever you like to use for a palette. Lay the puddles close together, but not so close that they mix. With a large, flat brush, drag through a color, and paint a swath of green on your paper...(Oh, did I tell you that it really helps to tape the paper down to your table by the corners? No? Well, it does...because when you start painting a whole sheet of paper, that paper wants to curl right up.) Continue painting your paper with the different colors of green, laying the colors side by side...mixing some with the others, leaving some pure...you can also mix with a little yellow...white. You want to have a whole sheet of painted paper which has many colors of green. Let dry, and, then if you want to have shiny leaves, paint a layer of ModPodge Matte on the paper. (Matt sounds like it should BE matte, but it's not...it's somewhat shiny...just enough, I've found, for shiny leaves.) Un-tape your paper, flip it over, tape it down again, and repeat the above steps. Now you will have a whole sheet of various greens to use. You can now cut leaves out with scissors, or use a punch. Voila! And, you will have enough paper to make approximately a million leaves, depending on the size, of course.

Kaye in LA

Building a Dollhouse: There is a book Everything You Wanted to Know About Building a Dollhouse that is online. You can print it out - it's at: http://miniatures.com/guide/intro.html

Marsha, in CA