Fridge magnets: I am going to try my hand at making a "fridge magnet". What I am going to do is to use some tiny stickers I found in the dollar store and put them on black construction paper. Then I will cut out around the sticker (in this case I found sheets of the most darling kittens, far too cute;)) and attach it to my fridge, possibly with a grocery list. There are some very cute mini stickers out there, and this is just another use for them:).

Kim From Canada

Strobe or Disco Ball: Do you mean "disco ball" as in the sparkly thing revolving over a skate rink or dance floor? Start with a ping pong ball (1.5" diameter" or the ball from a roll-on deodorant bottle (1" diameter). Start gluing colored sequins.
If you want it to slowly revolve, use an appliance timer motor mounted on the topside of the ceiling. Poke the shaft through a hole in the ceiling and connect ball to shaft with appropriate sized bit of brass tubing and epoxy glue.

For a strobe, go to a "real" electronics supply shop (as opposed to radio shack) and ask for a variable speed, reflex oscillator kit with LEDs. If no electronics shop in your neighborhood try to find a ham radio club. Those people should be excited to show off their electronic skills and expertise.

Mel K. in Las Vegas

Disco Ball, Motorized: Possibly a simpler way to get the ball to revolve would be a battery operated clock motor. Attach the ball to the shaft for the second hand, which would give you one revolution per minute. This can be used for other things. I made a toy shop that I wanted the dollhouse to revolve so all sides could be seen. Clock motors can be purchased from craft supply for a few dollars, or better yet check a thrift shop. Just be sure to get one that has a second hand. A battery operated second hand has a slight jerky motion, but I do not think it is Objectionable.

Dean Jenson

Disco Ball, Motorized: There is a quartz clock movement available with a "sweep" second hand, i.e. no jerking. Klockit is one mail order company that carries them but they don't show a web site. Phone 1-800-556-2548, they're in Wisconsin.

Ruth, Grass Valley, CA

Disco Ball, Motorized: At Christmas time, you can buy a small attachment for a string of miniature lights. It replaces one bulb. The ornament hung from this gizmo revolves. I adapted one for a hanging light in one of my stores. Possibly an oversimplification of your required solution, but often, the simple way is the most effective.

Becky

Candles: an alternative to fimo is to use toothpick tips. Yeah, I know, that is what I said too, but I painted some tips the other day with gloss acrylic, and glued it into a candlestick holder it looks quite realistic.

Kim From Canada

Making candles: This is a Dutch website with lovely projects, including candle making. Go to: http://members.tripod.com/vanderhelm/workshop go to "Workshop kaarsen" and click on the picture. The instructions are Dutch, but it is easy enough to follow the process only by looking at the pictures.

Betsie, South Africa

Candle flames: In those tourist shops(at least in Colorado) They'll sell tiny pieces of rocks in small bottles. Amber or carnelian make great flames to glue on top of mini candles. They sparkle in a lighted room!

Michelle, Loveland, CO

Candles: I make mine out of porcupine quills. They are a translucent ivory color and look remarkably like candle wax. You can also dye them in RIT dye - -- my red Christmas ones are gorgeous. Be very careful of the dark tips - -- they have microscopically small barbs like fish hooks, and if you get one imbedded in the skin of you or your kids or your pets, it stings like the devil to pull them out. The other end has a root-like thing, and this is the wick. You can trim it to the size that matches the scale of the candle and maybe dab it with white acrylic paint to make it look more like a candle wick

Vicki

Candles, revisited: You could also use the middle part of the pick for a straighter line candle as well, I have done that with centerpieces. In that case I used bits of sewing thread as a wick in the middle.

Kim From Canada

Tropical Fish - I saw an aquarium at a show, where the artist was kind enough to share her "secret". She said that she had color photocopied the fish, (mirror-copy for the back side), cut them out, and put a seed in between the papers for "stuffing", and glued the papers together. Don't know if you have enough time to make your own fish or not, but these were quite convincing.

Deena in Miami

Wicks for Sculpey candles: I've never worked with Sculpey, but I should think that if you put a small needle through your candles before you bake them, then thread a bit of white cotton sewing thread through the hole and secure it with a bit of glue, that would work. You could also fray the end just a bit and rub charcoal or cigarette ash on it to make it look as if it had been snuffed out.

Molly/StormBorn

Chrysnbon plates: I've seen clear Chrysnbon plates done with lovely acrylic painted flowers and you really didn't need to know how to paint flowers! The suggestion of flowers using dots to represent the petals and leaves were all that it took. They really were charming.

Marilyn, MI

To whomever mentioned Rub & Buff as a way to make metallic minis---THANK YOU!! I have been looking for a way to make "silver" dishes, and though I have a great chrome spray paint from Krylon, it reacts badly with the plasticizer in polymer clay. But Rub & buff works wonderfully, is cheap, and works on just about any kind of surface. I was so excited I went a little nuts and colored MANY things silver, from wires to carved wood to random plastic pieces.

This was a good mini day. I went to Michaels and got the Rub & buff mentioned above, plus LOTS of 28 gauge wire for making mini flower stems and wire whisks, etc. I made 2 kinds of whisks and a potato masher... I'll post pictures soon. AND I found iron on transfers on clearance at the computer store... so I am going to try a mini quilt.

Celeste in Boston

Folding cutouts: I believe someone also suggested this, but as a card modeler, I always scribe lines with a needle tool. (These are found where ever clay tools are sold.) This is a sharp pointed metal tool with a wooden or metal handle.) I find them invaluable for many uses...one of my 'must have' tools.

Kaye in L.A.

Making boxes: it's important to score your material before folding. I purchased a Mini Boxmaker by Aleene's, and the scoring tool. It was inexpensive and easy to use.
MORE THAN YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT MAKING CARDBOARD BOXES http://www.papershops.com/boxstar/index.htm

Marilyn, MI

Making Boxes: For the longest time I have been saving and using corrugated cardboard for a number of uses and one of them is making boxes to my specifications. I make them mostly to store things in. All that is required is a pencil, steel rule, sharp razor and some Kraft Paper Tape (the kind used to seal packages). Stripping off the paper on one side of the corrugated cardboard makes corrugated tin roofs or bamboo sheets as needed.

DrBob

Miniature Doll's Dollhouse: Here is one more project for those who enjoy the printable projects. I have tried to make a miniature doll's dollhouse to put in your dollhouse.
http://fp3.antelecom.net/frog/pd_project7.html

Sclarise

Nail Heads: Well, I can offer you two methods, a quick and a slow one:
The quick one: Take gold paint and a piece of wire. Dip the wire in the paint and make little 'nail heads' on your chair.

The slow one: Take brass nails with a round head in a very small size. Drill little holes in your chair. Cut the heads of the nails and glue them into the drilled holes. I did this once with pinheads. The cutting was done with the pin and the tool in a clear plastic bag. This is to avoid danger and you are also able to collect your little nail heads.
Oh my, my mind is warming up and comes with other possible methods; I've never tried this one:

- -Take a piece of very small ribbon in a solid color and a golden thread. Sew the thread through the ribbon and make little knots at the surface. I think this might work as well!
- -You can also use these little golden balls that are stuck on the small decals Indian women wear on their forehead.
- -Or buy a package of golden holeless beads and glue them on your chair.

Marjon de Haas (The Netherlands)

Porcupine Quills: first you get a porcupine - more seriously I have gotten them three ways.
1) Straight from the porcupine. This one happened to be down the hole in the outhouse on a regular basis eating it so I'd kick the side of the outhouse to get him out (you have to do that anyway to use the outhouse for its intended purpose) and toss a blanket on him as he'd make his exit. Then once he escaped from the blanket and scrambled up a tree (after a while he'd only back off and glare at me) I'd pick the quills off the blanket.
2) From Native American friends - quills are used a lot in native dress with tribes just east of you and north of you - they often get them from road kill
3) Native American craft supply places also sell quills. They can be very thick to very thin, long to short so you need to have some idea of what you need. The ends are always brown and so you can get interesting patterns between the off white and brown parts.

By the way when you get them wet they get soft so you can bend them and then when they dry out they retain their shape more or less. The problem is 20 years later they tend to dry out and break at any bends.

Carolyn