Wood shavings tip: Take thin wood shavings, dunk them in water 'in and out' - no need to soak - and flatten them under weights for a week to make sure they flatten, putting them between newspapers to absorb the water. Then peel off paper. Voila - the thinnest flat wood, which can be cut with scissors like paper, to make flowers or anything for which you may ordinarily use thin card.

Helen from York, England

Shingling Angles: Don't know if you all are aware of this but we do something when we weave a valley when shingling a gable, etc. We cut a group of shingles diagonally, works best with rectangular as you can use both sides, and start from the inside. It makes the weave line up perfect and you can judge when you get close to the end whether you need to adjust a shingle or two towards the edge of the roof. We find this saves quite a bit of time. Hope someone finds this helpful, I know we like to do it this way.

Rick & Bonnie

Shingles: Water-based products and dollhouse shingles don't mix. To apply shingles, use a glue like QuickGrab. To stain shingles, use an oil-based stain. Fun tip: get a large freezer bag, pour in a couple of ounces of stain, toss in handfuls of shingles, zip-lock the top of the bag and shake until the shingles are evenly coated. Sprinkle the shingles out of the bag onto several thicknesses of newsprint and let dry.

Sally Cook-Thomas

Shingles: How To's/Hints: Cutting and staining: Some years ago I found a pair of hand-held shrubbery shears at my Home Depot, for about $5.95. They are the tool I have used to cut shingles. Mark your shingle with a dark pencil line, and use a quick or fast cutting motion. Once you have got the first perfect one, mark it as your pattern, on both sides so you don't glue it on the roof by mistake (can you tell I have done that before?)

I use any stain from the local home improvement store or hardware store to stain shingles. How to stain shingles: Start with an empty plastic gallon milk jug. Cut off the top portion with the handle. Poor in all of your stain. Now put in a handful of shingles and stir, remove and lay out on newspaper to dry. The drying takes about 24 to 48 hours, and then you are ready to start your shingle installation. You can also dunk a few shingles in the stain can prior, and let them set in the stain for 15 to 20 seconds to test the color. I do this 4 to 5 times, with different lengths of time. The longer they are in the stain, the darker the shingle will become. Be sure to write down the time you used in your test, let the shingle dry and choose the color you prefer.

Andy

Applying and staining shingles: On my log house, I glued the wood shingles down with carpenters glue. After it dried for a few days decided to stain them as the color matched the logs too closely. At Michaels I purchased a color stain in regency red made by "Anitas." I used a small 1/2" brush and carefully started at top of ridge of the roof. Had no problem with runs and love how it turned out. Doing it this way the shingles didn't warp from wetness as they were tightly glued down.

Alice Prosky

Lattice: plastic needlepoint canvas can be used for lattice. Get it in white and cut diagonally to get the criss-cross design. I have also seen it 'straight up and down' on older houses.

Martha Simpson Nock

Rockler Woodworking: Some of you may remember them as The Woodworking Store of Minneapolis. We have used their products for years and their selection and service is excellent. Great selection of hardware for boxes and cases in full scale.

Pete Boorum

Greenleaf/Tyco/Falls Wood: Address to get replacement parts or instructions. Here is the info:

TYCO Wood Products Inc
58 North Main Street
Honeoye Falls,
NY 14472
716) 624-9330

They were Greenleaf, became Tyco and are now Falls Wood Products.

Phyllis Williams

Free Wood: I have found a great supply of "free" beech wood. I wanted something for my porch floor that would like 1x12 planking lumber, and discovered that painter's stir sticks work just great for that. My porch is beautifully warped looking as each stick was not "perfect" to the next, but it's the look I want. I have also used them to make shelves and other small items. They take paint beautifully and as long as the back can't be seen, the advertising printed on one side doesn't matter. Maybe your local paint store doesn't have printing on them, if so, so much the better. The best things in life sometimes ARE free!

Sharon Begley

Foamcore, gator board, etc: If you are looking for a place that distributes foamcore, gatorfoam, etc., try the following site: http://www.gatorfoam.com/main.htm. International Paper website, it has detailed information about all the products, their qualities,etc., as well as lists of distributors around the USA and the rest of the world.

Elaine from the We(s)t Coast of Canada

Woodworking news group: If you are looking for a site that is woodworking oriented, real-life size but will help with our mini projects, go to newsgroups ->rec. and scroll down to woodworking and join the group just as you joined Small Stuff.

Bob in Hollywood, FL

Hardwood floor:  Go to a building supply like Home Depot and get samples of hardwood flooring.  They come in about 6" square pieces and the pieces each have seven slats of flooring joined together with little metal strips underneath.  Pull these strips out and you now have lumber to build your floor.  I glued the strips to heavy cardboard and set it into the room. Looks great.

Sandy

Paper, Matboard and Foamcore: First off, get Joann Swanson's books "Granny's Kitchen" and "Joann's Do It Yourself." Both books will get you on your way. After that, just looking at the stuff that Adam did, miniatures like 1/4" scale motorcycles, airplanes, jeeps and stuff that were made out of paper and I was hooked. His stuff was fantastic. Very realistic. Had no idea they were paper until he told me. After that I just started practising. I use matboard and foamcore to make my roomboxes, tables, fireplaces, etc., painted to simulate wood, stucco, metal or whatever. I make faux rooms with pictures, 3D by layering several pictures together in strategic spots, and bending in the right place. Really looks great when looking through a door to another room. Lot's of work, very time consuming, but it sure looks realistic when viewing. Takes up less space because instead of another room you have the illusion of another room. I'm one that really loves the illusion of the whole thing. THANKS JOANN, you really started me on my way with that. She had an article on a bridal shop one day that had paper dresses hanging bent just so, that you would have thought were dresses. I always add stuff to them like ribbons, etc. that add some dimension. So there you have it for anyone interested. It really just takes jumping in there and trying it.

Kathy in E. TN

Bending Plexiglass: You do need heat to bend Plexiglass. I like to use Lexan, which looks like Plexiglass except you can put it on a table edge and just bend it without any problem - no heat necessary. As well as using it for room boxes, you can get a 'thinner thickness' to make stacking tables.

Jonesy

Bending Plexiglass: I asked my hubby who has worked with Plexiglass and he said to heat it in a 200 degree oven till it is pliable, then bend it on your form.

Sue

Bending Plexiglass: I put it on baking paper in my oven at 120°C, time depending on the thickness. Pull it out of the oven on the paper and drape over whatever you want to form e.g. a round tin for a rounded window etc.

Dorothee

Bending Plexiglass: Do your Plexiglas in the oven around 300 to 350. The time depends on the thickness of the Plexiglas. Wear heavy gloves and have your jig ready to mold the Plexiglas. You can seam it by using ethylene dichloride. You need to use caution as these fumes can cause liver damage. I use a hypodermic needle.

Nola on Padre Island

Old Veneer: I had some ragged sheets of old veneer kicking around and just put it on the outside of a mountain cabin I'm making. Wonderful aged plank siding! Score planks with black ballpoint pen, Poke the tip of the pen where you want nail holes, add a few "joints" by making a wiggly line across 'planks', then add nails in appropriate places. Outstanding results.

Source: Possibly old furniture stores, junk stores, Landfills (if you can get there). Ask junk shops to peel it and save for you, or just old veneer furniture left in the yard in the rain. Old veneer is much thicker than the new stuff. Strange to have walnut siding on a miniature cabin, but it's pretty nice looking.

Judie - Daytona Beach, FL

Constructing Dollhouses: One thing to remember if you're using a kit which is tab and slot, is not to prime or paint the tabs. Sometimes even without something on them the tabs don't fit the slots, with paint or primer they might become too big. Glue will hold the pieces together much better if it's wood upon wood.

Marilyn in Illinois

Paper Source: Picture framing shops are a great source for sheets of matboard and foamcore and are often more than happy to save their scraps for you, what goes in their trash could bring tears to your eyes....."one man's trash is another man's treasure".

Joann Swanson