Printing on fabric: I used a clear contact paper, I stuck it on fabric, scanned the wall paper and printed a marvelous fabric, MORE THAN THAT, I reused the contact paper for print on the other side of the same fabric, so you can use this if for example, you want to make a curtain and see from outside window the same design as from inside. Contact paper really works.

Maria

Graphics Programs: Do you have either Publisher or Print Shop on your computer? You can make your own signs; PS, especially, has lots of clever ideas and graphics.

Dani

Currency Converstions Website: A good web site to keep on file is The Universal Currency Converter (tm). You can convert just about any money to any other money instantly. It's a great help, and updated every minute: www.xe.net/ucc/

Dani

Software for Filing Tips: I keep mine in a program called treepad. It is freeware a really easy to use. You can find it at http://www.treepad.com.

Michelle

Software for Filing Tips: It sounds like what you want is a database program - like Microsoft Access. You can put in fields that are searchable categories (for example quot;furniture", "accessories", even the different materials like "wood" or "clay", and then put the actual text of the tip in the memo field. I don't know if the memo field would be searchable, but you can have a number of different searchable fields to cover whatever you need to be able to search on. You can probably cut and past the tip into the memo field without retyping. It really isn't as complicated as it sounds. Compared to dBaseIII, Access is a piece of cake.

Charlene

Keeping up with Digests:

The following may be interesting to other subscribers who are having trouble keeping up with SS and other digests.

Small Stuff is a major commitment. There are five or six SS digests most days. If I read a digest completely it takes 15 or 20 minutes. If I just scroll through and don't find much to read, but subject lines, it takes less than 5 minutes. Daily reading time is between 20 minutes and two hours depending upon content. Two hours is too long for a person with a full scale job and a miniature business. If one is away, even for a few days, catching up takes just that much longer.

Lots of the information available from SS is very valuable to me. It is the best place to keep up with news of miniatures and miniaturists worldwide. Many topics are interesting, entertaining and technically valuable. But it's very time consuming.

So, what's a person do? Certainly, I am not alone among 1500 subscribers. Here are some recommendations to streamline reading the digest.

1. <and most important> Put a clear, concise description of your posting topic in the Subject line, so anyone can choose what to read. <re Small Stuff 345>, <this and that>, <odds and ends> or <I need help>, doesn't help! It will be more useful to everyone if you identify your subject as, <electrical wiring>, <anatomically correct dolls>, <cat whiskers>, <gnats gums> and the like.

2. Answer specific questions immediately. Somebody almost always answers specific questions in the next digest. If you are behind in reading your digests, check to see if someone else has already given the information.

*****I want to underline the above and say "amen!" If you are behind, don't fire off comments and responses that may have already been sent in ad nauseum.

3. Use personal e-mail to answer personal questions. Any posting speaks directly to as many as 1500 people.

******Again, I want to emphasize this point! Ask yourself before you post: "Is this of interest to the majority of the SS subscribers?"

4. Check the archives before asking questions.

******I would have put this one as number 1.

Small Stuff is a great resource but it is evident from recent postings that there is a time/value dilemma for many. The people we like to hear from most often, who have the most to offer, are also very busy. If this offends anyone, my sincere apology because that is not my intent. The enthusiasm exhibited in Small Stuff is great for miniatures. These are a few recommendations to help some of us keep up and stay active. ******and have a life! ;-)

Pete

TRANSLATIONS - There is a really cool site that you can go to that will TRANSLATE any web site into English instantly! It stays exactly the same to look at, even the text font stays the same. No sub titles! http://babel.altavista.com/translate.dyn

Leslie, in Buffalo

Computerese: Here are two great sites to help decipher what all those funny symbols, soliloquies and other abbreviations mean in computer language (like LOL, ROFLOL, TTYL, BTW, DQMOT, and :-* and ;-^)

http://www.whatis.com/chatterm.htm

http://www.whatis.com/emoticon.htm

Anita Myers, Arnold, MD

Search Engines: Most (if not all) Search Engines have a link somewhere on their homepage to "Add a Link" or "Suggest a Site". You click on the link, fill out a form, and then your site goes into queue to be added to the database. There are also several free services out there that allow you to register for several sites at once filling in a single form. My favorite is http://www.addme.com/ which registers you for the top 34 search engines at once-- the process takes about 2 hours. They include all the big ones except AOL.

Some things to keep in mind:

* Most (but not all) search engines do not charge a listing fee—Read carefully!

* Most of the more popular search engines can take a long time to list you in their database. It took 6 months for some of them to list my site, so be patient. The more popular they are, the longer it takes.

* This may be obvious, but when filling out forms check your spelling carefully! One wrong letter makes a big difference!

* Some search engines allow you to list in more than one category, but many do not. Most of them are pretty close to: Recreation/Hobbies/Scale Models/Dollhouses&Miniatures

* Category words (META Tags) in your page will help your page turn up in searches easier. If you don't know how to add META Tags, check out http://websitegarage.netscape.com/, they have a neat tool that will write the html for you (they have lots of other great web tools too, all free).

* Think carefully about the keywords you give to search engines too. Always include your business name, and common variations/misspellings too. ex. dollhouse, dollhouses, dolls house, doll house, dollhose . . . and so on.

Michelle Fox

Web Lingo: Here's one site that explains a few of these terms http://www.chatcircuit.com/div/acroemo.html

There are thousands of such sites - try searching on emoticons +acronyms

Sandra in New Zealand

Visiting SS URLs: I use my mouse to copy the full URL (especially the long ones that wrap down to another line) by clicking at the beginning with my left button, holding the button down and dragging the mouse to the end before releasing. This "highlights" or marks the text (URL) you want to copy. Then, I either click on "Edit" and "Copy" or I use the keyboard shortcut of holding "Ctrl" down while clicking "C". This copies the marked text to your computer's invisible clipboard.

Then, I go to the location window near the top of my browser (I use Netscape, others use AOL or Internet Explorer - your browser is the software you surf and view the Web with) and I click my mouse inside there. If there is a URL there, I delete that while pasting in my copied URL by either clicking on "Edit" and "Paste" in my browser, or another keyboard shortcut of Holding "Crtl" while clicking "V". Then you can hit your "Enter" key and be on your way to see the sights/sites!

Anne Gerdes

Grainy Printables: If the files you are saving from the printables save as BMP files they will be grainy when you print them. Trying "save as" to save them and save as jpg and increase the resolution.

Alice Zinn

Tips for Posting to Digests: Small Stuff isn't changing - it isn't going to have more chit-chat, and it isn't going to be more stiff. All *we* are asking for is a little more self regulation from people as it sometimes pushes the guidelines. The guidelines though are there as a direction that the digest takes. There are many other mini-based online lists - this is how this one is. It has a great climate, but it won't stay great if people don't think as they post. Small Stuff is about minis, so questions are always welcome.

There is no point in saying the same thing that has been said 25 times already (but you haven't yet read them, because you are behind in reading your digests). Best to make a note to yourself about it, and wait until you have caught up before posting your reply. This way you are sure that you are offering something fresh and new on the subject. Your reply will be welcome, because it *is* new info, even if it is "late".

Professionals are necessary to the well-being of Small Stuff. They are often the ones with great solutions based on their experience.

We want everyone who loves miniatures and is willing to live by the list's guidelines. Respect one another. Topic: minis. No posting prices of items you are selling. Signature lines no more than 4 lines. Respect copyrights.

It's pretty simple!

Administrators

Cartridge Refill Kits for printers - I used to use them to refill the cartridges in the printers in my school (elementary school classrooms go through LOTS of color ink!). They were pretty easy to use, and less expensive than buying new ones every time, but there are a few important things to know. First, don't let your cartridge get completely dry - it won't take the refill ink if it is dry. Second, you can only refill two or three times. After that, for some reason, the cartridge won't work very well. Third, make sure you clean the cartridge well (where the ink comes out). Sometimes it gets really gummed up and won't print well, even if there is still plenty of ink.

Lauren

Recycled Ink Cartridges - I agree with the others who said not to use recycled cartridges. Couple of years ago after my employer tried to mandate use of them to pinch pennies, they damaged so many printers it cost much more to repair and replace them than using the admittedly pricey new ones would have. However, given the discussion about plastic interactions re Fimo, maybe you should store your cartridge in foil between printing jobs instead of plastic-bagging it in case the same problems apply to the plastic cartridge.

Loretta Sniarowski

AOL Tip: For all you AOL people, I got kicked off AOL today because of the way I was sending hyperlinks. I used to bring up my Favorite Places and then just drag the address into my email. AOL said that is a no-no and if they catch it, they scramble all your passwords so you can't log on. The way we are supposed to do it is to bring up the site, then click on the little red heart and then click on "add to mail". I learned something new today after several years of being with AOL. They said they assumed I was a hacker.

Carole Pierce

Searches - The program I used is called Copernic and is a free down loadable program from http://www.copernic.com It searches 13-16 search engines at once and filters out a good percentage of non related sites.

SmallStuff Member

Search Engines: I've noticed several people asking about sites for research. If you go to http://www.google.com and put in your topic, you will get lots of good sites. It may look a little strange the first few times you use it because there is no ADVERTISING. Just a nice clean screen and a great search engine. I've pretty much stopped using the others this one is so good. And I spend lots of time searching the web for work and for fun.

Quinn

Dithering: When a printer prints, it only can spray solid color. Not tints...the bit of ink hitting the paper is as dark as the darkest spot of ink the printer can print. To make colors look lighter, say, turn red into a pink, it does so by combining magenta, yellow, cyan ( a sort of sky blue), and black together in masses of tiny dots closer together and further apart. The best way to picture it is that it's printed in the same colors as your Sunday funnies. Except, that the Sunday funnies are printed in dots that are sized and lined up into rows of 65 dots per inch. Your HP printer prints anywhere from 360 dots per inch to 1200 dots per inch (dpi) and higher.

The number of colors that may be created with this combination of colors, is very limited, about 256 colors. This limit is called a color gamut. If the color you try to print falls outside this gamut, the colors will shift to the nearest neighbor (in the color wheel) to the color being printed. That's why colors will shift from printer to printer, from screen to printer, etc.

Now we add in another problem: to print a smooth graduation of color, such as a shadow, or a graduation from dark purple to bright yellow, there are thousands of color variations. So the computer tries it's best to get things looking good, and it uses several methods of doing so. One method is dithering. It will mix masses of color together in "clumps" so to speak, in an attempt to create the color as it should be...imagine the work of a pointillist painter, or an impressionist. There are two forms of dithering: pattern dither and non-pattern, normally just called dithering. In pattern dither, the dots are all lined up in neat rows, like your newspaper. In non pattern, of course, the dots are strewn randomly.

So now, let's throw in just one more variable: the paper. The dots of ink hit the paper, and immediately spread. The amount of spread is related to the quality of paper. 360 dpi paper will spread more, and is generally a lower grade. So too, is the quality of the print you get. Printing at higher dpi ratings requires better papers. For photo quality, buy photo quality paper. It comes in matte and gloss finishes, and you'll get excellent reproduction.

Now for a little further note: I don't know how you "grab the items" you want to print from the printables sites, but if they saved for web use and transfer, then they are saved as 72 ppi (pixels per inch, which basically works the same as the dpi, but it's electronic for your monitor), to a max of 150 ppi. Any higher resolution than that and the size of the file is prohibitively large for transfer over the internet. So, what you get is a low-resolution image to print, and are printing with a high-resolution printer. Dithering at low resolution causes the graininess you spoke of.

Dave Pierce

Dithering: Dithering is the technique that printers( the ones that computers use) use to enable them to create the thousands of colours that the eye can see from the 4 colours that the printer has in it's cartridge. This is done by Printers ( thats people like me ) by creating a halftone with regular dots. I did't see the original question but if you are trying to creat a flat ( solid colour) that is not cyan ( light blue) magenta or yellow then unless you have a printer with resolution of at least 600x600dpi you will get poor results.

Marc