Mini Casserole Dishes: I found 16 brown mini casserole dish-shapes in a box of Belgium chocolate sea shells today. The chocolate seashells are by Aimee pralinerie and I think that I bought them at Walmart before Christmas. You know the hard plastic that the shells sit in --that are the exact mold of the chocolate. Well when you turn over the container, on the bottom jutting out are tiny shapes of casserole dishes that you can cut out! They are just the right size and shapes as those ceramic dishes you cook in with the fluted edges.

Marlene

Mini Hat Stands: There is a gal Linda Kravitz who makes the most fantastic Victorian hats I have ever seen. She does have the stands. Her web siteor email her

Cindy

Findings: Look at the ends of pull chains in your attic, at thrift shops, at yard sales. Many of the ends are designed like tiny bells, usually brass or gold color, but I found one the other day that is silver plate, probably from a lamp.

If you buy beaded necklaces at yard sales to pull apart, be sure to take a close look at the clasps. Depending upon the design you might find, S&P shakers, Clothes hooks, even glamorous metal or rhinestone purses.

Marcie

Watch Parts: Earlier this year for my Dad's birthday I bought him a picture of a very old steam train. It was made of internal clock parts (wheels, clogs) and gold and silver wire to simulate the 'inside' mechanics of the train. The same thing could be done with the watch parts. It looked really effective. You could also use them to make a grandfather clock - have you ever seen one that shows the internal workings through glass?

Yvonne

Watch Parts: I'd love to construct some modern art sculptures with the gears and did find one part that looked like a minuscule Chrysler Building maybe 1/4" tall (hope I can find it again). I also saw something that I thought would make a spiffy quarter scale spatula. There were lots of wheels, too, for teensy pull toys.

Pam

Mini Musical Instruments: Ken Mannings musical instruments are exquisite. His address is 15468 85th Ave., Surrey, B. C., Canada V3S 6V9. His phone # is (604) 597-2991.

Marlene

Mini Hat Stands: Get some cheap golf tees, and 1" Styrofoam balls. Turn the tee upside down (put a little wax on the flat part) and stick a ball on the point. Use your pinking shears to cut a tulle circle about the size of a coffee cup rim, gather up and place over ball. I use wire to hold it in place. Trim with a bow topped with a rose and everyone will want your hat stands.

I make and sell porcelain head hat stands to display hats on to sell, shows how great the fit a "real" doll, but to leave the hat on a stand, the golf tee works great and everyone wants the stand with the hat. One side effect that is nice, the tulle helps hold the hat in position-no pin or wax needed.

Jan

Watch Parts: A friend uses pieces for sconces, door plates, canisters in 1/144 scale and the little discs look like CDs. If there is a notch in the disc, it can be slipped under something so it doesn't show.

Maria

Groucho glasses: I think the folks that sell those Groucho glasses are Wright Guide Miniatures.  I can't find a web site for them, but they might be listed in your show catalog.

Trish

Chalk Boards: For anyone that needs to write on their miniature chalk board, I found that a correcting pen works great. It is white out in a pen, called Liquid Paper and can be found at about any pen/office supply aisle. It writes small and white and gives the appearance of chalk on the miniature chalk board! Doesn't run and is not too thick either.

Laura Busch

Knives: I just got in a ton of Getzan's knives and they are beautifully done.  You can see them on my website at www.spminiatures.com/getzan.htm

Carol

Microscope: There's one in a case in the Hobby Builder's Supply catalogue that just came this week.

Marilyn

Knives: J. Getzan can be reached at jgminis@yahoo.com I am sure that he will gladly supply his address.

Ann Hendricks

Door mats: Until recently, Fazoli's carryout plates had a grid pattern on the bottom; since they were black anyway, cutting rectangles the right size created instant "rubber" door mats. 

Loretta

Molded Clay Plates: Patricia Laker, a multi-talented Ohio miniaturist, taught me this way to make plates about twenty years ago. Maxant Buttons to Cover are shallow, straight-sided metal bowl-shapes with smooth rims, in several sizes for making fabric-covered buttons.  The technique:  roll clay to a thin sheet, press bowl down into it, and in one motion "cookie-cut" a disc of clay and lift it out, still inside the bowl.  (Works more often than you'd think it would.)  Then bake the clay or leave it to dry and flip or tap out the hardened disc.  The result is a coupe-style plate, edges slightly lifted.  Pat started with an air-drying clay called Pendo, and found that slight shrinkage resulted in plates exactly to-scale.  That brand went off the market.  I settled for Sculpey, and the results were still pretty good.  Now there are more options.  You can start with colored clay, or paint as you wish, or provide a white base and apply decals. I made some decals from color photocopies, getting different sizes from a single original.  Imagine one could do this resizing on a scanner, too - right?).   Button forms made by Prim and Dritz have a saw tooth rim (not always visible inside the package) that doesn't work, though if you have some on hand you can try for a fancy-edged plate.  Maxant's refill packages are a better buy than the ones with the forming tool inside.  I'm sorry, I don't know about international availability under this or another brand name.  Best bet is probably to visit or phone places that sell sewing notions and inquire.   (And if you find you don't like making plates this way, you still have a set of shallow bowls.  Or planters.  Or potential buttons.)

Mary

Making plates: I have used plain buttons. Fill in the holes with clay or plaster and sand smooth. Paint. I got plates a plenty. Bowls, only a few.

Bob

Pictures: As a jigsaw puzzle fanatic I'm always picking up puzzles here and there to put together and now have a stack I've already assembled.  I recently noticed that a small 1/12th scale picture of the completed puzzle appears on each of the 4 sides of the box lid.  They are backed by cardboard and feature prints by Thomas Kinkaid, Mary Engelbreit, Charles Wynsocki and Anne Geddes, among others.  They are a great source for ready-to-be-framed mounted artwork.

Pam

Tiny mugs: I have a new member of my family named Darla and they don't make a Darla.  I Used sandpaper to take off the old name and typed a new one on the computer, 3 coats of nail polish, rubbed off the paper backing and presto I had a new mug with Darla on it. An extra coat of Nail polish and it looks like the others.

Gail

Recycling: The caps from BD ultra-fine lancets look just like mini Tupperware glasses and the caps from my needles look like they would make pedestals for 1/4 inch scale tables.  Grommets and rivets can be turned into candles and candlesticks.  Wall cavity plugs & brass washers have become lamps.

Charlene

Saved junk: Those little individual jelly serving tubs at restaurants make GREAT sink basins!  And just about any shape "blister pac" (the clear plastic "bubble" that covers a carded item) gets saved.  The plastic is great for windows in a pinch, for fish fins, and some of the shapes are good for bathtub liners.

Beverly Michie