Removing Soda cap liners (to make plates with): I've had luck using an old pair of shears to cut down the cap side across the screw top grooves. I usually make 2 parallel cuts about a half inch or so apart going from the cap edge almost to the liner. No need to be neat but be careful not to damage the liner with the tip of the shears. This leaves a sort of tab on the cap that you can pull down and away exposing a little bit of the liner which can now be pried up more easily.

Once out, you can use a small flat round button or even a US dime centered in the cap and trace around it a few times with a ball point pen. I find this gives the liner a more realistic shape, curved and with a rim of sorts. Just my method. I'm sure there's plenty more out there as this board is exploding with great ideas.

Something I've just recently found to make an even better plate are the white plastic pull rings that seal cardboard cartons of OJ. They need a little careful snipping to separate the pull ring from the solid round disk attached to it. If you make a slight mistake you can always cover it with a small piece of food. I'm proud to say my DH came up with this one.

Chris

Onionskin Paper: I had a large package of onionskin, too, and have found many uses for it.

One is old book pages. Painted with watered down acrylics it's useful for punched flower petals. I have also used it for hinging lightweight items and for strengthening awkward sized glued pieces that were going to be covered with something else.

One of the ways I figured out how to use it was to just slop on all kinds of paint and see what it reminded me of. Then I glued it on wood, cardboard and plain paper to see if that suggested anything. Glued to cardboard and painted it looked like leather. Gluing it between acetate sheets gives the pebbly look of the glass doors and transom windows in old buildings. Painted with acrylics it makes tortillas.

There are other uses which I can't recall at the moment. Just don't throw it away; experiment.

Wanna in El Paso

Onion skin paper: Your onion skin paper, if it is really light can be used to make napkins for the dining room. I have made Christmas, Halloween and floral ones. In a print program I placed the image on the four corners of the napkin just as real ones are printed. Another thing I did with the onion skin paper was to make Christmas wrapping paper with a very small design. It would also work well for those plates you were making because it would be very transparent.

Jean Day

Knight in Shining Armor: I have one by Tony Knott. I don't know what you wanted to spend and this one is a bit pricey. You can see it at http://www.spminiatures.com/knott.html

Carol

Knight in Shining Armor: Back in 1991, I ordered some knights from OMNIARTS OF COLORADO, 498 So. High St., Denver, Co.80209, (303) 722-5675. They specialize in miniatures for castles, palaces & museums. I do not know if they are still in business, as it has been a long time since I got my knights.

Kathleen

Knight in Shining Armor: Another site for Medieval things is:  House of Miniatures at www.miniworld.com. I've purchased many of their things for my Medieval Castle.

Mary Ann

Heart Shaped Bathtub: You might try a Canadian company named Model Builders Supply. They carry all kinds of items like this, modern tubs and such. Their web site is at http://www.modelbuilderssupply.com

Karen

Heart Shaped Bathtub: If you are interested in crafting one, look through the Valentine clearance shelves. I've seen items covered with a plastic heart shape. Cut off the excess, leaving a small lip, paint it on the OUTSIDE with red or pink paint, and set it inside a box-type framework. Viewed through the plastic, the painted item looks like porcelain. I've made tubs like this, although not a heart-shaped one. Now I wish I'd bought that item with the heart-shaped plastic cover!

Wanna in El Paso

Heart Shaped Bathtub: Sorry my heart bathtub suggestions weren't clear. Let me see if I can clarify what I was trying to convey. You know how in the olden days we went to the hardware store and bought a paper bag full of screws, and now they come in a package with a cardboard back with clear stiff plastic encasing the front of it? So much of what we buy nowadays comes in this type of packaging, and the shapes are infinite. Well, the plastic I was referring to was that type, used to encase Valentine somethings - I think either erasers or candy - and it was in a heart shape. I was suggesting looking for something similar in a heart-shaped packaging to make a tub. You with me so far?

If you look at a real bathtub, you will see that it has a lip, or rim around it. When we rip one of those packages apart, the plastic usually comes away with a fairly wide edging on it, used to glue it to the cardboard. When I said "Cut off the excess, leaving a small lip," this was what I was referring to; cutting away that wider edge, leaving a "rim." Also, there are freestanding bathtubs (more traditional), and there are those that are built-in (more modern). The area of the box that surrounds the built-in tub often provides enough space to set bubble bath, soap dishes, stacks of towels, plants, etc., as you will notice in pictures of modern bathrooms. I have a friend who cut a hole in the top of an old carved dresser and dropped a round sink into it for a very elegant look.

Basically, the built-in tubs are just a box with a hole in it for the tub to be dropped into. This was the box framework I referred to. When I've made these, I just made a box out of matte board and painted or finished it to match the walls or the tile in my bathroom. Whatever shape plastic I was using for my tub (oval for traditional, square or round for a more modern spa-type), I just set the plastic on the finished box, traced around the bottom, then cut out within that tracing and dropped the "tub" down into it. If one were lucky enough to find one of these pieces of heart-shaped stiff plastic, one would have to cut the hole in the heart shape, of course.

When I said "paint it on the OUTSIDE with red or pink paint," I was referring to what becomes the bottom side (outer part) of the tub when you drop it into its framework. "Viewed through the plastic, the painted item looks like porcelain," means when your tub is in place in its framework and one looks down into it, as one would look down into a full-sized bathtub, one sees the paint through the slick unpainted side of the plastic, which gives it a glossy, porcelain look. Of course, one could just make a free-standing bathtub, in which case the painted outside of the tub would look matte; the inside (unpainted side) would look glossy.

To get an idea of what I'm talking about, take a couple of clear plastic drinking cups or those clear plastic tops off a hair spray or similar bottle. Paint one on the OUTSIDE and look down into it, and the INTERIOR looks glossy. On the other hand, if you paint one on the INSIDE and look at the EXTERIOR, the paint shows through the plastic and looks glossy on the OUTSIDE. You have a choice as to which effect you want depending on which side you paint, but of course we generally prefer to sit down in a glossy bathtub, not a matte-finish one.

By the way, those small clear plastic tops make great wastebaskets. You can paint a simple Mary Engelbreit-style rose or similar design on the INSIDE, or place a small decal on the INSIDE, then paint over it, and get a glossy wastebasket (painted matte-finish inside).If one paints the OUTSIDE, then does the rose on the outside, too, one gets a matte finish wastebasket that looks glossy inside. And of course, you can leave off the flowers or other design entirely and just have a solid color one!

Wanna in El Paso

Heart Shaped Bathtub: I have been following this for the last few days and am amazed no one has suggested a porcelain heart trinket box.I have seen them with various designs on the side and they are from 2 to 4 inches across. Nothing to do but fill and if needed sand down the edges where the lid would fit.

Carol (jody)

Sunken Tub: For a sunken tub, you might find a small candy box with a plastic, bubble-shaped lid. Turn it upside down, paint it glossy white, add a hole in the bottom with a grommet for the drain.

Lynette

Umbrella: You could get one of those cocktail umbrellas used for fancy drinks. Remove the paper covering and replace it with a cloth one.  The size is a bit large for 1" scale, so would probably do quite well for your bear since it is bigger.

Viola Williams

Orange juice carton pulls:   On 1/2 gallon orange juice "cartons" under the cap there is a white pull tab to assure that the o.j. hasn't been tampered with.  Cut the ring off the tab and you have a small plate or bowl!  Glue the ring to the bowl and you have a modern overhead light fixture for a room which is not electrified!  I have used this in a breakaway box where I used the lid as an extension of the room with a fireplace in it.Joie from NC, now in FL

Bowls: Having a clean out today and I found some old hair rollers. These are the ones with the elastic and a plastic ball at the end.  If you split the balls you get some very nice little & medium bowls depending on the size of the roller.

Fill the hole where the elastic was I guess with air drying clay and you could sand the bottom a little to flatten or make a rim from clay paint and there you have it, a very cheap bowl.

Melinda from Sydney Down Under

Wind Chimes: You are trying to make wind chimes! So am I.So far, I used jewelry findings that are cup shaped, and had 'holes' in them. I tied a really fine nylon thread to the cup through the 'hole' and to this I strung a long thin silver bead. It looks like a metal pipe you may find on a wind chime. I glued the end of it so it wouldn't come off the thread, because it didn't look good if I tied it, and it took too many knots to knot the end. I tied a longer thread with a silver sequin on it for the 'donger'. But, I am going to undo the chime threads and glue them on to the cup rather than tie them, because they hung stiff, and I think maybe if they were glued, they would hang better. There are different shaped jewelry findings so you can make different chimes.

Diana in New Zealand

Wind Chimes: How about using long thin silver or gold colored beads for your wind chimes? (Is that what they call bugle beads?) You could attach them by various lengths of thread to a round jewelry finding.

Dani in Bradshaw, MD

Wind Chimes: You can use a filigree bead cap for the top, and bugle beads for the chimes. I used lightweight silk thread. To attach the beads: Make a knot on one end of the thread. (You'll probably have to make a few - it should be small enough to fit into the bugle bead, but shouldn't pull through easily.) Put a drop of glue on the knot, and thread a needle on the other end, then pull about halfway through your bugle bead and let dry.

Do as many as needed, depending on the bead cap you are using. I attached the "chimes" by knotting the other end to the bead cap, varying the lengths of thread for each one, and adding a drop of glue to the knot before cutting any excess thread. (This is tedious though, and you might want to try using just glue to attach them to the cap - if they won't be handled much.) For the center, a flat bead, sequin, etc. can be used, and maybe a small round one for the bottom, and attached as above.

Cheri Stewart

Wind chimes: Made mine in 1"scale using the center portion of round tooth picks and plain white cotton thread.

Dr. Bob

For the modern ladies boutique, a few very lovely knitted sweaters would be very nice. They are tres chic at the moment, especially the "handmade" ones. If you can knit small things, or crochet, you can scale down a Barbie pattern by using smaller needles and finer thread. There are some interesting ones on the net at various sites, look for "Barbie" + "free" +"pattern" or variations thereof. There was also a fairly simple sweater pattern that was meant for a Christmas ornament at : http://knitting.about.com/hobbies/knitting/library/blsweorn.htm

It is strangely designed, but if you add a few stitches here and take away a few there it makes a sweet pullover. It is a very simple pattern, and has several variations (including a mock cable-knit).

Kim Bulback

Softening leather: To soften leather, use saddle soap or possibly Neatsfoot oil. You find them in the store in the section with shoe polish and laces. I use saddle soap on my leather purses to keep them soft and clean. I even used saddle soap once to clean antique family oil paintings of my ancestors. My son and I experimented on a corner with lots of stuff. There were years of grime and soot. We used water and Q-tips and went a little at a time.

The patch leather purse I got second hand, (free), was made of suede mostly and worked great for book covers. I am currently using a chamois leather to make mini purses and vests. Lets see that Indian doll needs a costume..... :)

Rhoda Conley