Between myself, and the students in my workshops, we have wired over 1500 dollhouses. Never had a problem that couldn't be solved. The main things that you need to pay attention to are:
- - - Put the eyelets/brads in tight enough (previously I explained why eyelets are better, and they should be inserted with my tool or by drilling a hole before you insert them)
- - - Wrinkled tape can usually be flattened out by take the edge (where two surfaces come together) of a piece of wood and rubbing it over the affected area.
- - - If you want to paint over the wire, spackle over it first, just enough to prevent the edges of the tapewire from showing.
- - - Take photographs of the wiring before you paper the house (and write dimensions on the photos if necessary) to enable easier finding of the tapewire.
- - - When inserting the test probe, hold it at an angle, not perpendicular to the wall - seems to make better contact.

Tom Berkner

Roombox lighting: <<<Wendy wrote : I started looking at how roomboxes were lit and noticed that many were lit by larger bulbs at the front of the box, hidden by the box frame, rather than by scale lighting fixtures. Is this common, and what is the reason for it?>>>

I actually prefer this approach. Miniature light fittings are beautiful, but they are expensive and you need quite a few of them to get a good level of light. Concealed lighting gives good light without having to worry about the authenticity of period fittings etc.

It is also considerably easier to run tape wire along the edge of a box than to run it all over the interior. I occasionally use flourettes, but here in SA we can also get 12V torch type batteries and fittings which are very inexpensive - I'm sure that they must be available in North America.

ley, Johannesburg, South Africa

Wiring/Papering
1) primer paint the walls;
2) put together the shell;
3) tape wire the whole house;
4) install ceiling paper;
5) install wallpaper;
6) install lights.

Tom Berkner

Dollhouse without lights: Visual arts normally utilize very specific and intentional lighting to help establish mood, discreetly direct viewers' attention, and offer opportunity to fully appreciate the artist's handiwork. Such light, however, does not HAVE TO originate from within. Miniature fixture lighting CAN help bring miniature rooms to life.

In all practical fact, however, the very finest examples (Thorne Rooms?)only suggest interior lighting while actually using exterior or concealed reflective lighting to accomplish the desired ends.

Intended heirlooms expected to be preserved for generations should NOT include components with fragile electrical filaments which will require countless manual intrusions for repair. In short, NO! You do not need to electrify your dollhouse. DO, however, consider how you will illuminate the collectable treasures within. People standing close to look in will tend to block light from behind themselves but light spilling through windows, interior doorways, etc should be used wisely as should darker crannies and dramatic shadows when planning your decor.

Mel K.

Lumber & Building Materials

Warping Foamcore: Inserting pieces of wire coat hangers into the foam between the layers of paper will strengthen and protect foamcore from warping. Before painting, spray a sealer on both sides of the foamcore. Several light coats. I prefer spray Gesso because it creates a tooth that grabs the paint or other application I wish to apply. - It is not a good idea to use a product like paperclay directly on the foamcore. There is too much moisture involved. It would be the same as leaving your structure out in the rain. As an alternative - spread out your mixture on a dummy pattern form of wax paper.

When your design has dried, seal it for strength then glue it to the foam core just as you would apply wallpaper. As in any application, consider the strength of the foundation. You would not glue heavy velvet to a sheet of typing paper BUT you could glue a sheet of velour paper to the same sheet of bond.

Becky

Securing paperclay: My daughter got this information directly from Rik on Sunday at the Philadelphia Show. He told her to coat the substrate, in this case he was talking about polystyrene, with yellow carpenters glue before applying the paperclay.

Wendy in Clinton, NJ

Paperclay Brick/stones: I took close up digital pictures of the class I took with Rik Pierce this past summer and put them on my website. There are pictures of my bricks, fireplace stones, and stratified rock.
http://www.sylvan.com/mini

My experience with paperclay has been that you can play with it and play with it and play with it and play with it some more! If it gets too dried out, I just dip my fingers or a brush in some water and dab it on the paperclay to add moisture. A few times I even added a ton of water to a semi-dried paperclay section and kneaded the paperclay completely back to life.

The secret to my fireplace rocks was that I used a stiff stippling brush and I "attacked" the paperclay over and over until as much depth and interest that I wanted appeared. Sometimes I'd add blobs of extra clay to random sections so there would be more paperclay to mold. My rate of speed in class was one of the slowest - simply because to create that much diversity in each fireplace rock required that much more poking!

The stratified rock was created by experimentation. Slashing horizontally over a lump of paperclay with a clay tool - and then pouring a small glass of water over it and seeing how it smoothed and mooshed together all the lines - letting it air dry a bit - slash some more - pour more water - repeat.

Laura Isabella

Paperclay Brick/stones: I took close up digital pictures of the class I took with Rik Pierce this past summer and put them on my website. There are pictures of my bricks, fireplace stones, and stratified rock.
http://www.sylvan.com/mini

My experience with paperclay has been that you can play with it and play with it and play with it and play with it some more! If it gets too dried out, I just dip my fingers or a brush in some water and dab it on the paperclay to add moisture. A few times I even added a ton of water to a semi-dried paperclay section and kneaded the paperclay completely back to life.

The secret to my fireplace rocks was that I used a stiff stippling brush and I "attacked" the paperclay over and over until as much depth and interest that I wanted appeared. Sometimes I'd add blobs of extra clay to random sections so there would be more paperclay to mold. My rate of speed in class was one of the slowest - simply because to create that much diversity in each fireplace rock required that much more poking!

The stratified rock was created by experimentation. Slashing horizontally over a lump of paperclay with a clay tool - and then pouring a small glass of water over it and seeing how it smoothed and mooshed together all the lines - letting it air dry a bit - slash some more - pour more water - repeat.

Laura Isabella

Hay Bale: Old straw brooms and whisks are a ready source of material for bales and many other items.

Becky

Rust proof pins: You can get the pearl head pins or the smaller pins that have colorful plastic ball heads that are rust proof. They are in the notions section of Wal-Mart if you don't live close to a Jo-Ann's Fabric store or some such. They work excellent because their bright colors make them easy to find and they last forever. I've had some of the same pins in my glue bottles for years. I also find myself using the pins for other things too.

Some of them become miniatures themselves and other become useful tools for different media I work with. I have only purchased about three containers in over ten years, but I do use them, so that couple of dollars you spend would not be wasted.

Peggy