Garden Hose: To make a hose I use wire that has a green plastic covering or you could paint some green. You could probably purchase green wire in the gardening section of a hardware store. To make the nozzle, use the end of a biro.

Karen from Dubai

Garden Hose: Go through your findings or go to the fabric store and get a grommet (those little metal things like a crownless hat that are inserted into belt holes to strengthen them). Then look through your medicine chest and glue supplies for an expired bottle with a very fine nozzle; cut away the rest of the bottle. Paint these pieces a matching brass color. Look around the hardware store to find plastic-coated wire the right diameter to fit inside the grommet, preferably green. Buy about 18 inches. Glue the grommet, quot;brim" side out to one end, the nozzle to the other. Coil around a paint bottle, tying raffia if necessary to hold shape.

If you don't have grommets, they have enough uses to justify buying a small box. Glued to the top of a fancy bead, they make the cup for a candleholder. Cut and paint a skewer slightly less than the width of your bathroom, slide a curtain onto it, put a grommet on each end brim side out, glue the grommets to the walls, voila, your shower curtain has been hung. Punch a paper crown for the grommet hat and use with pompoms or q-tips pulled off the stick to make tiny snowmen with top hats, etc.

Loretta Sniarowski

Garden Hose: I assume that the hose will remain in its coiled or what ever position it is placed in; therefore; Ideas;
1. Very thin rope of clay with "brass" spray nozzle
2. Appropriate thickness of wire, painted garden hose green.
3. Cotton twine (appropriate thickness) wet with glue so it can dry in the position you want and then paint.

Dr. Bob

Garden Hose: Cut bell wire in green or white to the length you want (20 inches looks best) remove green covering with a razor blade for the 2 ends (about 1/4 inch.) Using the barrel clasp from jewelry cut the jump rings off with wire cutter and glue end of wire through the tiny hole in each end of clasp with crazy glue (one side is a male and the other female fittings.) Let dry and roll hose around a medicine bottle and voila - Garden hose!

Gail

Bespaq: Bespaq produced a catalog about 6 years ago but it's been virtually sold out and out dated for 3 years. He has put out a few update flyers from time to time. He is not on line but his products are available through my web site http://www.dragonflyintl.com ( I can order in anything I don't have in stock) or through many others.

As for as how extensive is the line. It is very large. They produce most items in several finishes, Fruitwood, Walnut, Mahogany, White, Unfinished, or some hand painted. His latest pieces are hand painted on silk or on the painted wood surface. They do all styles including Chinese, Mission, Queen Anne, Federal, Victorian, and many others.

Bespaq dates from the Mid 80's when Pit Ginsburg incorporated after Fantastic Miniatures went out of business. He bought out several of the products from that company and continued to work with the owners of Fantastic Miniatures making the products in Taiwan until Pit Purchased a factory in Mainland China and moved his production there. All of his pieces are hand cut ( no lasers are used) and his workers are paid very well. His master carvers are paid better then some doctors in China. I was recently reading an article of Chinese Arts and sadly China is loosing it's skilled craftsman to the more global society. Skills that were once passed down through the family are now being lost to the younger generations who want things faster and more modern like their Western counterparts.

How Large is the Line - I can tell you I've been to his warehouse in San Francisco many times and it is about 6,000 square feet of warehouse space stuffed from floor to ceiling with boxes of furniture some places on 2 floors. It is amazing that He can find anything in there yet amazingly he not only knows all his stock numbers but where things are at in the warehouse. My Hat is off to Pit Ginsburg of Bespaq for bringing us a quality piece at affordable (savable) prices. When the day comes that we loose him from this industry (hobby) it will be a sad day indeed. He is a true Gentleman of our Hobby.

Deb (the Dragonlady)

Glove Pattern: There's a full-size glove pattern online at http://www.glove.org/site/default.htm, which you could probably scale down and use (or just use the thumbnails). I'd cut it out, not cut out the thumb hole, fold and glue together, then cut out the thumb and glue its two sides together and glue it on the body of the glove. The double thickness of the leather or cloth would make the glove look real.

Alternately, you could glue thin leather to itself, then cut out the gloves and thumb pieces and assemble. Of course be sure to make the right and left gloves different ;)

Maura Bass

Tapestries: For the person who needs medieval tapestries, SP Miniatures has a couple of wonderful tapestries. Check them out on the new arrivals page. They are suitable for a late Medieval-early Renaissance setting. http://www.spminiatures.com/

Jeri

glass jars with corks: whoever was looking for small glass jars with corks, they have them at From the Heart Miniatures: http://www.miniature.net/FromTheHeart/sale3.htm

Graceanne

Canning jars/mason jars: I remember someone was looking for canning jars or mason jars. Cotton Ridge at http://cottonridge.safeshopper.com/89/cat89.htm?385 has Mason jars with removable lids Stock #FAR-40002. Glass canning jar with wire closure Stock #DHS-8299. Set of Two Canning Jars with removable lids Stock #FAR-40134.

Karen in PA

Mason Jars: I bought a glass one exactly like you're describing this past weekend at Mayfest/Dallas Dollhouse Miniature Event. I got it from Precious Little Things. Looks like it's catalog number AA 11192. The woman is Faith Rogers, and her email is minisbyplt@vermontel.net

Tere Perry in Texas

Clock Faces: I have black on clear clock faces in stock. I think I got them from JAF and they also have white face with black numbers. http://JBsDollhousesMiniatures.com

Jackie

Bottles in Light Bulbs: When I read the article about using burned out light bulbs to get little bottles, I was all excited and had to go right out and gather up all the light bulbs that might be lurking in multi bulb fixtures and try it. Unfortunately, I cannot remember where the article was. My first thought was an old NutShell News but I was getting several other books on minis that were available at the time so I am not sure and I also cannot begin to remember what decade it was in let alone what year. Anyway, in the article it said to first, use eye goggles and working gloves (not thin latex). These are not optional!!!. Then you take needle nose pliers and grip the "bottle" near the base where it is attached. Hold the screw part either in the other hand or a vise. Then give the pliers a strong, but gentle snap (now isn't that an oxymoron?) The bottle should snap right out. Then of course, the base need to be filed. A tip from Chemistry class here - we used to heat our test tubes to smooth out the rough top edge before use. This might work for the bottom of the bottle too. I hope this helps any one who is determined to do this. As a final note, I have no little glass bottles made from light bulbs. Every so often, I try again but I think my gentle snaps are too strong or something.

Mary Lou in Portage, IN

Mini check book: I was shredding old personal papers and stuff yesterday when I came across an ad selling decorated checks. An idea struck me about using this ad and now I have a mini check book wish it had real money in it but it still turned out cute. I scanned the ad into PSP and then cut the five checks out resized them and placed them on another graphic with a white border at the top of each check. After I printed them out I cut them apart and glued them together at the top where the white border is. Next I made a leather cover and glued it to the top of the checks. It turned out real cute although you can not read the checks you can still see enough detail to tell what they are.

Sclarise

Plain Plates for mini Food: Hobby Builders Supply sells individual plate sizes in sets of 2...meaning, you can buy 12 salad plates or 12 dinner plates or even 12 cups & saucers. They look a lot like Chrysnbon plates and say they are of molded plastic. They are inexpensive, too, and you can dress them up as you choose. If you look at the HBS online site http://www.miniatures.com do a search on plates, not dishes. Or, use their stock numbers for faster retrieval. I'm looking now for you.... Salad plates are item #40261, dinner plates are item #40252, and cups & saucers are item #40254.

Alix in San Francisco

Paper Plates: A fellow club member made me a set of paper plates using dh wallpaper and chrysonbon plastic plates as the mold. Just talked to her and here are her instructions.

#1. Cut as many circles "plates" that you will need + 2 or 3 extra for booboo's a bit bigger than a chrysnbon plastic plate from desired wallpaper. (Birthday, Holiday, patterned, or plain.) If you are working with a paper with special design, center the design in your circle. She cut hers by hand but you might find a hole punch large enough to speed the job along.(Or cut small squares instead and trim after shaping, and before removing from the forms.
#2. Soak your circles (or squares) in warm water for a few moments.
#3. Layer your circles between the plastic Chrysonbon plates (Plate, paper, plate, paper, plate, paper, plate. Always starting and ending with the plastic plates.
#4. Clamp with clothespin or other clamp and let dry overnight.
#5. Trim edges if needed before removing all the "sandwiches."
#6. If you want a finish just tack them to a board with blue tack, & spray lightly with a gloss or matt spray. Enjoy!

Diane in SFBA

Paper Plates: I don't know about shops from your neck of the woods, but there is a site called which sells cute, inexpensive decorated paper plates. Here is their info: Cotton Ridge Designs Miniatures http://cottonridge.safeshopper.com/94/cat94.htm?734

Karen in PA, USA

Paper Plates: I ordered paper plate from Cardstone and got good service. The paper plates are cheap and great for painting yourself or using with a transfer. Lacquer afterwards and you won't see the difference They have plenty of other miniatures as well, go and have a look at http://www.cardstone.com/

Dorothée from Katikati, New Zealand

On making bees from rice: I painted each grain of rice yellow & added black stripes with a thin tip marking pen. Then I cut tiny little wings out of plastic wrap & glued on the top of the grain. That was the hardest part - the plastic wrap had static and wanted to stick to me! I was able to find a cat whisker or two (thanks to Lucy & Simon) but you could also just use a paint brush hair to cut two little antenna - glue to head of bee. Make little dots for eyes. I glued mine onto a lilac bush. I have to admit they were quite time consuming & I threw away several. But they do look cute on the bush. And we all know, cuteness counts!!!! My daughter said that this project proved that I had lost my mind and do not have enough to do!!! I guess painting grains of rice does seem kind of strange. Let me know how your bees turn out. I bet you could even hang them from real fine fishing line so your bees could be flying about.

Carbomax

Fimo Baskets: Another thing I love to do, and I can't claim that it's my idea. If you feel reasonably happy with Fimo (I suppose you might be able to do this with all the other poly clays, although Sculpy 3 might be too soft) try making a mini basket by making long, very thin, sausages from it and plaiting them (flat on the table). Then you can make a super mini basket by just winding this plait around itself in whatever shape you want -

makes nice rustic style baskets for logs or bread. Last year I made Easter baskets like this and filled them with eggs and flowers (all made of Fimo) Such fun!

Florida Gill

Flowers from Fimo: Fimo can be used to make very fine petals indeed, I use a pasta machine on the finest setting for my flower petals and depending on the leaf a slightly thicker one for those. A small amount of paint applied with a dry brush and a minimum amount of water and I have managed to make some very nice flowers with surprisingly fine petals. I use Fimo as opposed to Sculpey because I find the latter too soft and it is not as strong for fine work, also it can get very sticky when worked for a while.

Jacquie