Wicker Ideas: This Bend, OR, firm makes dollbuggies and related toys in Victorian styles, wicker and iron. Apparently authentic designs; could be a great pictorial resource for wickerworkers..

http://www.newsom.com/buggies

There are also some iron hatstands. Look at them and you'll immediately start thinking of contriving your own from assorted jewelry findings, etc. We often think of hatstands as having head-size tops, but these don't. As I recall a wonderful Illinois shop for cheap hats in the 1940's, theirs didn't either. (This shop would be fun in a mini version. You bought your hats and trims separately, cafeteria style. A feast of ribbons and flowers. Probably feathers too, though I don't remember them.)

2. There's also a picture of a glass and iron bistro table. A bit flimsy-looking, but the legs are trimmed with iron cutout leaves. If you have those oak or maple leaf box punches, you might get some additional mileage out of them this way. It wouldn't have to be that particular design. You might need to thicken the leaves by layering two or three together. Or maybe the acrylic gel recently mentioned by Mary Kinloch would do the trick here? (These and other punches can be used for stone work too.)

Mary (Oregon)

Syringe caps: depending on size make good DIY components. I have a very pretty sewing box/table made from an enamel pillbox with syringe cap legs courtesy of an insulin-dependent friend. The caps took acrylic paint well. Other uses: prefab legs for modern furniture; combined with jewelry findings to make vases or lamp bases; decorated with flowers and hung as wall-pocket vases in a 30s scene; topped with a bead, wall-hung torches for a Gothic scene.

Loretta.Sniarowski

Wedding cake columns: Don't forget they make a great base for the infamous garden "gazing ball", especially since the mini Christmas balls that are on sale right now work well. Just cut the pillar down to the height you want, and plop in the upside down ball (the end with the hanger goes down the hole.) Glue on with hot glue or epoxy, etc. You could also recreate the Parthenon.... but guess that would take up a lot of space if you do it in 1" scale!!!!!

Bonnie Gibson - Tucson

Water: Fill your McDonalds "tub" with DAP Clear seal caulking. Found in any Home Depot or any store that carries caulking.

Dr Bob

Market Type Baskets: Try The Wild Orchid Mall recommended by Linda in Colorado:

http://www.wildorchidminiatures.com/

Betty Bonney

Steve Murphy's Glass Blowers Workshop address is:

http://hometown.aol.com/GLASSMURPH/index.html

Wilma Kinder

Mini Animal Skin Fur Pelts: If you're looking for realistic miniature pelts for a trapper's cabin (great project, by the way!) and if you don't want to skin real mice, how about those fake mice that cats love so much? I think they're made with rabbit fur, but they come in all sorts of colors and I bet you could dye them, too. You could cut them to the right shapes, and clip the hair, too. I got a pack of five, white and grey for $2.50.

Christine (San Francisco)

Blue Rubber Bands: ...or any other colour! Make thong sandals. Cut the shape of a foot in the rubber band. Then with glued together embroidery thread of the same colour or contrasting, or other thread or strap, bring a double strand up through where the big toe and next toe to it would be, split the thread/cord , and tack down one along one side, the other down the other side. Ta-da! You have one thong sandal! Now make one to match.

Jonesy

Metallic Creams: If you wish to change a metal color, such as a frame for pictures, you can purchase buffing wax creams from craft stores. They are used to give different finishes to wood items, and are used mostly on picture frames. Just wipe the cream on the piece, and you have an entirely new look. I moved into a 1930's house, which had a huge yellow plastic medicine cabinet. I primed it with gesso, painted it black, then rubbed in silver cream. It looks spectacular! Just like an old, tarnished silver frame. These cream waxes come in all shades of gold, silver, black, white, copper and bronze - great item.

Mary Barry

Bears: Becky Delk made the bears found at "My Favorite Things". Her address is:

Daydreams,
558 Jaquette Lane,
Grand Junction CO 81504.

The June 1999 issue of Dollhouse Miniatures has an article about her, p. 31. I'm not a doll person,but hers are so great, I ordered one last year. Plan on making a roomboxaround it.

Pat Knutsen

Victorian kitchens: The book (Victorian Dollhouses, by Nick Forder, 1996) was written in England, so I don't know if all the information is accurate for America, but here's some of the information from the chapter on kitchens.

It says the kitchen was a place of work, often the domain of servants, and therefore not decorated or ornamented. [I think that would be true even in the US in quite humble homes where we wouldn't expect servants. There would still be the hired help who'd do most of the kitchen work.] In larger homes there would be a scullery for household chores and pantries for the storage of china, equipment, and foods. By the 1870s some households had gas and running water. Also, the later in the era your house is set, the more likely that the lady of the house would have to be doing more of the work and things would be more comfortable in the kitchen.

As for finishes, the walls were painted in neutral colors of beige, cream, or gray. The lower part of the wall often had a wainscoting, painted the same color as the rest of the walls and the ceiling. Sometimes wallpaper might be hung above the wainscoting and varnished in order to be cleaned easily. Floors were often of oiled and varnished hardwood with a hard, fireproof base inset for the stove. Rag rugs, carpet pieces, or decorated oilcloths might soften the floors.

Once linoleum was invented [it doesn't say when that was, but it sounds like the latter part of the 19th century], that was very popular for kitchens.

By the 1850s ornamented cast-iron stoves with bright nickel-plated decoration were fashionable. Wooden iceboxes and pie safes were still in use. The main pieces of furniture in the room were a big central table (with drawers for utensils), plumbed-in sink (could even have faucets by the end of the era, instead of a pump), reliable stove, side tables to facilitate work routines, and adequate shelf space, either in shelves hung on the wall or in free-standing cupboards.

The book also has some description specifically about the American kitchen: it says that the aftermath of the Civil War brought more rapid changes in America than in England. The American kitchen of the 1890s showed early signs of a style we recognize today. There was now room for hospitality as well as work, since the lady of the house was in the room more of the day and might use the kitchen as a place to visit over a cup of tea. Chinaware was displayed and grocery store items were stored within easy reach. Manufacturers by the end of the century designed appealing packaging so the housewife would display their products on open shelves along with the preserved foods and crockery. The really well equipped kitchen could have shelves all around the walls.

Some equipment to remember: teapot, mixing bowls, butter churn, storage jars of ceramic, bread dough crock, flatirons, clothes drying rack, spice cabinet, broom, coffee grinder, fly swatter, kitchen clock, dishcloths, drain board. You'd always find a pastry board and cutters, rolling pin, mincing or grinding machine, scales, iron or copper pots, kettles, knives and choppers, and that latest item, the jelly mold.

The text doesn't mention lighting, but there are pictures of some dollhouse kitchens, and they show ceiling light fixtures of simple hanging glass lamps. I suppose they would have been gas fixtures in the real kitchens of the 19th century, though my great-uncle remembered his family home being electrified around the turn of the century through an ingenious system of batteries kept down in the basement. I guess it depends on how modern our Victorians are and whether they're American or British.

Kay Dreher

Making a country mini: Here's a tip for those who paint little country items, I just painted a little country doll on cardstock. I did the dress in wine, and then when that was dry, I mixed up some watered down white paint and painted a pinafore over the dress. Went back with straight white from the bottle and outlined the pinafore and it makes the pinafore look very sheer. I made a front and back of this little doll. I cut her out and glued the front and backs together. I made a tiny round base out of cardstock and painted it. When that was dry, I stuck a straight pin up through the middle and went clean through the two pieces of the doll and she stands up just fine. So if anyone out there is doing country items, thought I'd pass this tip along.

Susan in VA

Miniature "Cooler" : I was looking around in dh's workshop today for something and found a package with a perfect l inch scale cooler. Now I know someone was looking for one on a past digest but this is all made, and it is even silver and the right scale. Are you ready for this? It is an ashtray replacement for a car. You know the insertions that go into the armrests in the backseat! Of course the top is hinged and opens and it is just perfect. Don't know what he is doing with it but he is as much of a packrat as I am.

I would imagine these are available at hardware stores or automotive places. Ours was bought at Canadian Tire but don't know what the equivalent would be down in the States. Hope this helps. Only problem being it is quite heavy as it is made of metal.

Donna

Lite Brite peg bottles and jars. Cut the pointed end off flush. If there is anything left sticking out, sand it off until you have the end flat. For jam/jelly jars, dip this flat end into some gold acrylic paint that you have puddled slightly onto a piece of aluminum foil. Dip it in gently and evenly and twirl so that the paint comes up the side level all the way around. Using tweezers or pliers turn the jar over very carefully and set upright onto a piece of card to which you have applied double stick tape. Let this dry very well. For labels, use the canning labels found on "Jim's Dollhouse Pages" website in the printable minis section. When these are printed onto self stick Avery Address labels or some such they work great.

Also, if you leave the Lite Brite peg with the pointed end on: paint this pointed tip gold or silver, let dry well, add a fancy gold label punched from gold letter seals, then glue lace and/or ribbon around the "neck" of your bubble bath bottle.

Gail from Georgia

Non-working ceiling fan is easy. You need one round plastic canvas coaster (square won't work due to different mesh pattern), one dish detergent bottle cap, a couple of popsicle sticks or 4 wooden spoons (don't remember which brand of individual apple sauce packs includes them), tacky glue and paint. Pull the small knobby part off the spindle of the bottle cap and scrub out any detergent residue. Cut the popsicle sticks in half, or trim down the wooden spoons to paddle shapes and paint desired color. Lay the wood parts on the plastic canvas and trace around them, leaving a plastic canvas ring at the center, and trim the plastic canvas arms to about 1/2" long. Shape should be sort of like a Celtic cross, or gunsight. Cut a small hole in the middle of the plastic canvas to fit over the bottle cap spindle. Paint the bottle cap pieces and canvas desired color. Glue wood blades to plastic canvas cross. When dry, thread canvas and wood part onto cap spindle, wood side away from cap. Pop small part back onto spindle. Voila, a ceiling fan to glue to your ceiling with or without a plastic doily ceiling rose. Can also glue a big white bead globe lamp to the small part of the cap. Looks nice with plastic painted gold or silver and wood-finish blades, or all one color. If you don't have a coaster, you can also improvise with a small curtain ring and/or jewelry bits.

Loretta Sniarowski

Ceiling Fan: One of the first minis I ever made all on my own was a ceiling fan. I used 2 small wood beads and a wooden disk, paddle wire, short piece of coat hanger weight wire and card stock from my calling cards.

It helps to look at a real one to measure and scale down the blades. The 4 blades are made from a sandwich of two blades cut from the calling cards. Shape the outer edge either in an oval or scallop. The inner edge is straight. Glue a wire (paddle wire gauge) down center (in between sandwich), extending out the end that will glue under light bulb. Paint blades wood color. Can decorate with gold paint in a scroll pattern around edge. Paint wire gold.

Light Bulb:3/8 inch wooden bead (with or without hole it doesn't matter.) On a power sander, sand a flat side (over hole on one side) (the flat circle should measure approximately 1/8 inch diameter. Paint ball. I used Folk Art Wicker White and then painted Folkart White Pearlized paint as last coat. The pearlized paint makes it look like glass bulb.

Bulb Base: Find or cut a wood circle. A thin slice can be cut from a 1/2 inch dowel. Cut or sand the second bead in half, possibly a little less than half. (This is the mounting base of the fan fixture that glues to the ceiling.) Drill a small hole in center of wooden disk diameter of coat hanger and in your beads if they did not have a hole. Stain or paint these pieces in a wood finish. Decide what length coat hanger piece should be. It needs to go through half bead, about 1/16 to 1/8 inch showing between disk and half bead, through disk part way through hole in bulb bead. Paint section of coat hanger that will show between base and disk gold.

Assemble: Glue blade wires evenly spaced on flat side of disk. Glue white bulb over this. Let dry. Glue coat hanger wire into disk and half bead with gold section showing between. Let dry. Look at your full size ceiling fan and bend your blades at an angle like the full size fan. Glue whole fixture to ceiling.

Mary Ann Ferris

Bowls: Thought I would give you my procedure for making the wooden bowls from Michaels or other craft stores look like porcelain. The trick is sand, sand, sand, sand.

• I begin by sanding either with very fine sand paper, a paper grocery bag or a rough towel. I then seal with a water based sealer, allow to dry and followed by sanding.
• The next is a coat of gesso, which is allowed to dry, followed by sanding. Sometimes I apply a second coat followed by (you guessed it) sanding.
• I then apply a couple of coats of acrylic paint the color of my choice with sanding between coats.
• The final step that really gives the piece the "depth" china has is a couple of coats of clear nail polish. These two coats don't get sanded.

Teddie Martin aka Mama Bear

Bowls: I've also used the wooden mini bowls & plates from AC Moore, unfinished wood. Painted them white, added a little trim in green & red and wrote the words "Pasta" on the plates & "salad" on the bowls. They came out pretty cute!

Darlene/NJ

Compote: I don't make bowls, but I have made some pretty neat "compotes" for my dollhouses...... what I do is this:

• You need a clear sequin - normal size
• You need a silvered bugle bead - normal size
• You need a contact lens (old one ladies!!!!!)

Turn the sequin upside down so that it's humped up...glue your bugle bead over the hole in the sequin.

Glue the contact lens on top of the bugle bead centering it properly so that it's concave... I take a fine gold marker and just go around the edge of the contact lens. This is the compote. I usually fill mine with fruits. I try to drape some grapes over the edge carefully...yes, I glue the compote to a doily and then affix it to the table. It is rather delicate, but it looks like fine china. Over the years I've collected a fine collection of one-of-a-kind contact lenses.......meaning I lose things!

Wolfie - Georgina Hanford Simmons-Gagnon

Danimals drinkable lowfat yogurt comes in these really cool little bottles. They kind of remind me of a mannequin or one of those things seamstresses use to put the clothing on. Looks like a body from the neck to the butt, especially if you cut it in half and remove the neck part.

Anna Philpot