Stabilizing butterfly wings: I use a clear laquer spray to give them 2 thin coats to prevent flaking, then paint a thin layer of petal porcelain on either side to strengthen them and give the wings flexibility. The petal porcelain dries clear. If preferred you can apply 2 coats to the wings to give them strength.

Karin in South Africa

Dovecotes: A dovecote was a combination of an old-fashioned chicken coop, with all the little nesting boxes, and a hollow square or circle. The outer wall had openings for the doves to come and go. These openings were generally rounded on the top; you will sometimes find cotes with square bird doors, but they were most often used if the dove cote was built into a barn wall or other brick structure. The inner wall had narrow hinged doors, allowing the farmer or his wife to stand up inside the cote and reach in and grab a squab off the nest. The insides of the nesting boxes were painted white, to duplicate the natural nests, which were coated with, um,...well, if you live near a pigeon coop, you know!

In general, only the squabs were eaten. Not only were they easier to take off the nest, but never having flown, they were very tender. At a month old, they were at their peak. Older birds were only eaten when the nests were culled once a year. Pigeons are notoriously hard to digest, and are only fit to eat when they are stewed for a long time. Such meals were strictly for the lower classes - servants and slaves.

Doves were raised not only for the squabs (nestlings), but for the eggs, down, and fertilizer. The pair of doves had four to six broods of two eggs a year, which take about eighteen days to hatch. Within a month - - six weeks in the winter - the young were ready to eat. In a time without refrigeration, such a steady supply of fresh food was vitally important. Dove guano was considered by many farmers to be the absolute best available.

The down side to this, of course, was that the parent birds thought the crops in the field were planted for them. Turn about, and all that.

Anyway, a dovecote would be a proper addition to any rural or semi-rural setting from the middle-ages right up to late Victorian times.

Dani

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)

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

Dogs with Hair: Alice Zinn (email iamazin@aol.com has been a renowned miniaturist for many years and does all kinds of animals with fur. She will do animals sculpted from a photograph also.

Drue Conrad

Dogs with real hair. Contact Peggye Mills at pegnstax@idworld.net I have two poodles from Polymer clay that have fur. She did an excellent job on them. She takes custom orders and works from pictures furnished by you.

Katherine

Discouraging Cats: We came up with a way to keep cats (and small grandchildren with sticky fingers) out of the dollhouse. We put half-inch channel molding around the edges of the back to form a slot that holds a piece of Plexiglass. Now kids can see, cats ignore, and the dust stays out of the dollhouse for the most part. (Windows are all non-working.) The Plexiglass just lifts off for renovations, etc.

Barb in Orlando, FL

Preparing Bird Feathers. I used to work with bird skins at a museum and the two methods we used to get rid of varmints were to freeze them for a few days, or if there was a bad beetle infestation, they were sealed with para dibenzine(?)- moth balls for a few days. Freezing is also a good way to get rid of varmints on wood and other natural materials.

Jacqui Marlin

Ice cubes, icicles: When I go to bear shows I made a whole arctic winter scene to show of my polar bears.

I use polystyrene that I broke of and then stacked and glued together so it would form a kind of ice float with peeks - like an iceberg. I used turquoise watercolor watered down a lot and painted some accents on the icebergs. For icicles (spelling?) I used my gluegun and then I painted that snow stuff over it and some glitter. It really looks frosty.

Some of the polar bears play with ice cubes - these are tiny bits of car window safety glass from the car junk yard or picked off the road where there was a crash. I sand off the sharp edges and then paint over with clear nail polish.

Heike Boam

Model Magic Cats -- don't see why you couldn't use it. If you are making them in scale, you wouldn't even need an armature either. Model magic does have the tendency to want to "round out" and dry before you can get all the detail you want, so you have to work fast.

Kim Bulback

Hamster Accessories: We made hamsters out of pussy willows and cages with crushed cedar chips on the bottom, fimo food in Sudafed bubble bowls and with no cutting, just a little paint. We used clear lite brites, painted the bottom of the skinny part, where it connects with the larger part, black and the tip silver. Made a little wire holder and there is a great water bottle for the little hamsters.

Mary Lou in Portage, IN

Birds: There is a new DIY-page added to Mini Lane: the 1" tropical and sub tropical birds page! Go see! The url is: http://members.tripod.com/~Folkgal/free.htm first link

Wilga

Jackalope: I've seen the big-size version at western-theme steak-house chains; doesn't seem too hard to fake one yourself. Most novelty and toy stores and some 99 cent stores have small plastic animals. Just look for deer and rabbits. Decapitate the bunny and glue or putty the head to a small wood or fimo plaque. De-horn the deer and glue or putty the horns to the bunny head. Touch up with some paint if necessary.

Loretta

Jackalope: If you really need a "Jackalope" you might try Nothern Lites Miniatures in Libby,Montana.....she seems to have different things, especially Western....tel # is 406-293-3566 or email her at northernlitesminis@libby.org

Cindy

Life-Like Dogs: Check out this site for all you love pets and a bit of humor. The artisan is Vicki Metzger in St. Louis, MO. A very talented lady and super nice. I have couple of her cats and hope to acquire more. http://members.aol.com/beeskneesminis/index.html

Sondra