Accessories Page: 36 |
Making round Japanese Lanterns: I call this the "lost clay ball process" As with everything that appears so difficult, when the solution is found you can get a rubber leg to kick yourself in the backside for the simplicity of the solution. Here is what I did. Taking into consideration the size of the lantern I wanted, I made a ball out of air dry clay. Just rolled it between my palms until I liked what I had. I let it dry to hardness. NEEDED; Facial tissue. Bathroom tissue just as good. Elmers glue (white) String or thread (depends on your scale). PROCEDURE; I coated the hard ball of air dry clay with wax by rubbing with a handy candle. I cut the tissue paper into a lot of ellipses.(like in Mercator map projections) Each ellipse was soaked with the Elmers glue. I placed the glue soaked ellipse onto the waxed ball and smoothed out the wrinkles. The points of the ellipse went to north and south poles of the ball. I did this for a few layers. Then placed the string/thread on the ball from pole to pole. Covered this with more ellipses. Let the entire thing dry. With a very sharp blade I cut out a small hole at the North and south poles. A true lantern would have these openings also. I discarded the cut outs. I now had a dry clay ball covered with hard tissue paper that had string/thread sandwiched in between layers of hard tissue. Now to get rid of the ball of clay. I placed the "lantern cum ball" on a firm surface and with a hammer and nail I pulverized the dry clay ball thru the holes I cut at each of the poles. Eventually the entire clay ball was removed and I was left with a firm opaque paper lantern. The structure is called a Ryokan and is a Japanese guest house circa 1800s. Made it about 3 years ago. If I can be of any further assistance do not hesitate to ask. As a retiree I have plenty of time. DrBob...Delray Beach, FL. |
Pipe cleaner teddy bear site: Here is the site for the pipe cleaner bears. They are so easy and fun to make. http://www.pipmin.fsnet.co.uk/teddy.html Wendy in Clinton, NJ |
Molds for miniature ceramics/porcelain: This message is for the person who wants miniature molds... try www.swallowhilldolls.com I believe I got this link from ssd...looks very interesting! They have molds for many different items including tea sets etc. Kathy in Wisconsin |
Dovecote Park: http://www.joyperkins.com/myminiatures/dovecotepark.html The Gazebo was already made, which I purchased about a year ago, so I just painted it peach outside and white inside.... I added a wooden drawer knob to the top along with some additional, stained wood strips on the roof to give it a bit of dimension. All the little white flower pots are wooden, from Lee Valley Tools, and I painted them white. The tree is from Lemax, which I painted (cuz it was white for a winter scene). I made the two Grecian benches in the Gazebo and stained them a rich green with Saman stains. The dovecote is from a separate project book from the magazine Dollshouse and Miniature Scene. And as for all those flowers, it's all dried flowers, shoved into clumps and lumps of Fimo, then glued, then more glue slathered over that, then sprinkled tea leaves over it all. I don't think that will come apart ! LOL There are a couple of things I am happy with, one of which is the planter where the green foliage runs up the side and the roof of the gazebo. The planter is porcelain, from Connie Stitt, which I bought a few of at the MEM show last year. I mixed an indigo blue wood stain and a dark brown wood stain ... to the point where the 2 colours streaked together, and just sponged it over the container. Sometimes the things we fuss the least with, come out the best. The sign was an afterthought because I realized parks are usually named, and I asked my husband if he had any ideas as to what to call the park and he just came up with Dovecote Park. Okay, that seemed right, and he's so good when the obvious eludes me! The curly thingy that the sign is suspended from is for cake decorating supplies and I bought a bunch of them a couple of years ago, knowing they would come in handy for this very thing...signs! They are plastic and paint up great with a couple of coats acrylic paints.Joy in Pointe Claire |
Miniature Rugs: We have over 300 hundred designs of miniature rugs in 4 different sizes. May be you can find something which may work for your project. Please check us at http://www.anatolian-treasures.com Korhan Kartin |
Poppies: I love poppies, and did a bunch for my last garden. Not too difficult, and this is the right time of year to get the foliage. Materials are covered wire, preferably green, red tissue or crepe paper; poppy seeds, black sand, or superfine charcoal chips; tacky glue; gray-green paint; and the smallest Dusty Miller leaves from the plant tips (dried, but not pressed). Substitute other florist greenery if you can't find any Dusty Miller in your yard or around the neighborhood.Punch a bunch of red circles for the petals. Cut the wire into 1 and five-eight inch lengths and use needlenose pliers to form a small loop on one side. Dab tacky glue on the loop and attach 6 or 7 punched petals around the loop; if they're slightly overlapped and uneven, it just looks more realistic. While the petals dry, stick the wire into some styrofoam and paint the Dusty Miller leaves, then glue them around the lower stem (leave at least a quarter-inch "root" to "plant"). Finally, plop a blob of glue in the center of the flower and sprinkle on real poppy seeds or sand. Dab a green calyx on the underside of the petals to disguise the wire loop. They make up fairly quickly. Use stuff you may already have, and en masse they look very realistic.Loretta.Sniarowski |
| Printable Mini Art: I have just added some printable mini pictures that can be framed or whatever. I printed them out on white linen resume paper and it gave them a nice texture. Also put a matte around them that can be cut off if the size needs to be smaller. Sclarise |
| Preserving Printables: Can I suggest you have your printables photocopied? This is something I've been thinking about for a while (haven't done it yet) - that way the ink is heat sealed and perhaps wouldn't fade over time. Eileen |
Easel: if you have Helen Ruthberg's books, one has an easel pattern and instructions. Basically, three pieces of wooden skewer about 5 inches long, a scrap of L-shaped molding about 2 inches long, a pin, a bead, and some super glue. Drill matching holes through one end of each skewer. Slip the pin through and super glue the bead on the end to hold in place. Flip the middle skewer back out of the way, then glue the L-molding as a "shelf" about 2 inches from the bottom of the other two skewers. After it's dry, stand upright. If you want, you can use tiny eye-pins and some chain between the back support leg and the two with the shelf to stabilize further. Paint if desired. Loretta Sniarowski |
Easel: The easiest one is three pieces of square wood as tall as needed. Drill a hole through all three at the top, down about a quarter of an inch or less.(Drill so wood won't split.) Run a wire (or nail) through the drilled hole and bend ends on wire to keep in place. Bring two outside edges forward and middle leg to back. Glue and "L"-shaped tray of wood to the front two legs to hold the painting. Now you can add paint, a thin chain to keep the back leg in position and friperies of laser cut wood and molding to dress it up. Laurie Sisson |
Vince Stapleton Porcelain: I got some of his wonderful porcelain in Chicago. He is not on the net. Vince Stapleton, 120 West 7th St., Leadville, Co 80461 Mary, Clearwater, Fl |
Fire Screens: Some fire screen ideas (assuming you're talking 1:12): (1) Cruise the dollar stores for some cheap frames sized to work with your fireplace. Remove the backing and glue some needlepoint canvas screening into the frame, then paint it all the metallic shade of your choice. (2) Same frame, but look through decorating magazines to find a folk-art screen or other picture to fit and use that instead for a painted board, or paint your own if you're talented that way. (3) If you have or can find some cheap wood or plastic souvenir fans with a fretwork look, cut several segments and glue together to fill fireplace opening. For all, make "legs" from black plastic-coated paper clips -- unfold into L-shape and glue to back of frame or fan blades. Loretta Sniarowski |
Fire Screens: How about making fans out of nice wall paper decoupage onto a card board for strength, Or some nice stiffened thick lace in the shape of a fan also and maybe a button a penny or a flat bead as a base. You could paint the penny, leave as is or put lace to frame it and then glue your fan on there. Leilani |
Fireplace Screens: I've made fireplace fans (not screens) out of narrow wallpaper border, folded accordion-like, opened into a fan, then glued onto a coffee stirrer that I paint in a complementary color. (Yet another use for them.) Rosemary in Cleveland |
Polyform Modeling Compound is made by the Sculpey people and is a very soft white polymer clay that only comes in 2 lb. block. It is not readily found in craft shops but the regular 2 lb. Sculpey works just as well for whipped cream on ice cream sundaes, sodas, pie topping, etc. For example, glue a small piece of white Sculpey to the top of your ice cream sundae, then texture it into whipped cream with the tip of an X-acto knife. What do you do with a 2 lb. block? Use it instead of white fimo for all your pastels....it softens the fimo as you knead it into it into the color. Mary (Eccher) |
Mini Embroidery Hoops: The perfect 3/4" mini hoops are the wedding rings sold in card and paper shops for trims on shower and wedding favors. They can be painted if you are a stickler but they come in silver and gold. Gail |
Mini Embroidery Hoops: I think they might be easy to make with the veneer (without adhesive and about 1" wide) on a roll products out there and some findings (along with a drilled hole to connect). I have some veneer that is a light wood that looks like an in scale version of the stuff the real size hoops are) With the scale and thickness of fabric involved think they would have to be made after the piece they are to hold is made... have sliced this veneer (with a straight edge ruler and sharp X-Acto knife) stuff into fan sticks( one for each side for turning an embossed fan from my wedding response cards into a 12th scale fan) ran into the thickness problem (and thus the need to make one at a time to check for fit) when making tops for etui boxes. Even cutting from a pattern the fit varies. The pattern (that you will make) is a starting point. With the etuis, the size varied whether I reinforced the corners (with tiny strips of strapping tape) or not. Debbie |
Glass Items: glass objects remain the most difficult of all for me. I bought a bead making kit with the torch and glass rods, a couple hundred bucks worth of stuff, and the results of my efforts are laughable. But by using resin I find that little fake glass bottles are highly do-able. A lathe is necessary, though. You cast a cylinder of tinted resin and turn it in two stages to get a hollow bottle. It's not easy but it's possible. The end result is convincing and I'm always gratified when people pick up a bottle and tap it against a hard surface to determine if it's glass. Mary |
Glass Beads: Glass beads are available from Fire Mountain Gems in an astonishing variety of colors, textures, shapes, etc. Order their catalog, as their web site is not nearly as complete. Catalog can be ordered at http://www.firemountaingems.com. Molly/StormBorn |
Glass Beads: To who ever is looking for Glass, Bone or any other type of Beads and Jewelry Findings -Shipwreck Beads, claims to be "The Worlds Largest Source" Here is the link http://www.shipwreck.com/ Brooke, Wa |
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