Peddler Dolls: Female Peddlers wore standard women's clothing for the time. Notable additions to the costume would be a warm, woolen cape with a hood, a white mob cap and under it all...the famous red, flannel petticoat. (That's how you can tell an "authentic" peddler.)

Laurie Sisson

ROOM BY ROOM - KB TOYS: !   Thanks for the advice from fellow miniers on the Room By Room  Boxes.   Picked up the Kitchen, Bath and Dining Rooms at K-B Toys for the $15 reduced prices today.   Would like the bedroom and living rooms, but   they were not in stock.

Great starter for the little ones, and kit-bashing possibilities for us older kids.  The dishes resemble the Chrysnbon ones, and am thinking of painting them.   The plain walls could use some pretty wallpaper. The curtains go into the trash box--would like to frame scenes over the window openings on the back of the boxes.

Had a little 4-yr. old here Sunday before I picked up the rooms.  I don't usually have dolls in my houses, but the first thing she asked was "where are the dolls".  Little ones love having dolls in houses, so when I got the boxes set up I hauled out my Fisher Price dolls to go into them. Even though not in perfect scale, they are great since they bend at so many joints, and the children won't notice the difference. Sure wish they were 12 v. lighting instead of batteries, but then you can't have everything.

Dolores

Scenic water in doll mold:  What would you get if you poured something like Scenic Water into one of the molds for a tiny porcelain doll? A miniature ice sculpture? A ghost? The Ice Queen?...hmmm... If anyone's tried it, I'd love to hear what happened.

Kai Alimayu

Scenic water in doll mold: Using the mold for scenic water would not work. The scenic water that i have used does not go hard stays quite soft compared to resin.

*** Note from Anne: doll makers correct me if I am wrong, but isn't it important for porcelain molds to retain their porous properties? Wouldn't Scenic Water clog the plaster pores? ***

Sharon

Scenic water in doll mold:  *** Note from Anne: doll makers correct me if I am wrong, but isn't it important for porcelain molds to retain their porous properties? Wouldn't Scenic Water clog the plaster pores? ***

You are correct on this. The mold needs to draw the moisture from the porcelain so clogging it with another material is throwing away the money spent on that mold.

Laurie Sisson

Scenic water in doll mold: Someone wanted to know about using scenic water in doll molds, and Anne pointed out that it shouldn't be in plaster molds that you make porcelain doll parts with. (True!) But I think the person who originally wrote was referring to some kind of rubber or plastic doll molds used with resin. In that case, it might work as long as the medium you're pouring hardens enough to keep its shape. I'm interested to know if anyone winds up with "see-through" people or "ghosts."

Paulette in IN

Scenic Water in a doll mold? Did I miss something? It conjures up all sorts of weird ideas. Why would want anyone want a jell-o face or body unless for a Halloween surprise or an alien? SW is not suppose to be hard or replace resin. It is another way to approach an effect. In the case of ponds and other water type projects, it may be more realistic. I can't see that I'd possibly want to ruin a doll mold by unmolding the SW from it. I usually take a Mickey D stirrer and run it around the edge to loosen it. That may harm a plaster mold. I usually use molds that are rigid plastic, ceramic, metal or hydrocal. You can also use the fish jell-o molds and put SW over like aspic. SW bodies?????? I'm going to have to get some better samples on my web site. http://www.scenicwater.com

Deanna from beautiful downtown Thiensville

How to Put Together a  doll kit: Go to http://www.happinessisminiatures.com then click on Miniature Tales & Tips.

Lynne

Cloth dolls: Magic Cabin Dolls has a variety of dolls appropriate for a child's dollhouse.

They have modern and pioneer style dolls that are premade in 1/12 scale by the Kathe Kruse Doll Co. I ordered a pattern from them last year to make my own posable soft dolls for my daughter's dollhouse. The pattern has boots or shoes made from modeling beeswax (I'll substitute polymer clay) so the dolls can stand up, very much like Laurie Sisson's "Foot". They also have kits for a variety of "fairy folk"- smaller dolls made from natural materials or inspired by nature. http://www.magiccabin.com

Kim in Las Vegas

PaperClay 'Doll': Marianne asked about clothing dolls with this. I had wanted an old looking figure for a roombox so, just for fun, I cut a pic of a female figure from a mag article that featured crèche dolls. I sprayed the paper w/ a sealer first, wadded up some PaperClay and pressed it around the figure so it would appear 3-dimensional, tucking it in at the waist, pushing it out from the sides and back for the skirt and forming a ball at the top for the head and hair. I checked the PaperClay site and found that it could be baked to hasten the drying process. After it cooled thoroughly, I glued the paper to the form. (I think I used YES glue.)

I sanded it w/ an emery board (the large ones are great and can be trimmed to fit in tight spaces) to shape it up and used washes to try to match the costume and hair, as close as possible. Of course the whole front is still flat but if turned at an angle in the rear of a project, it will work. I placed an old bucket in her 'hand', which gives the figure more 'life'. Also, I think leaving just a slight edge of clay around the paper makes it blend together better. Some of the paper features can be highlighted w/ just a little bit of paint for effect. It sure was a lot of fun !!

Theresa Thomas

Making Mannequins Out Of Torsos From 7" Dolls - your finished project will be a little larger than regular scale, but don't let that stop you. The torsos should work fine. Your main problem will be attaching the torso to a base. I assume it has holes where the legs fit in, so you may need to fill in with putty or clay (and then bake) to attach to a dowel rod or some kind of pole for a stand. Then the bottom of the dowel or pole can be super-glued to a large metal washer or button for the base of the stand. Or you could make a tube out of plastic (like you would use for fake windows) and glue around the hips, and this would make a stand that would go all the way to the floor. (I assume you'll be doing long skirts, so it wouldn't be seen) Even posterboard would work for this. Probably you won't want to make it any taller than 6" overall, and 5 1/2 " at the shortest (figuring from the measurements you gave) I would not leave the arms on, since headless mannequins don't usually have arms, and it's easier to glue sleeves onto the shoulders of a Mannequin, rather than trying to fit them onto straight arms already attached to the mannequin. Good luck!

Paulette Stinson in Indiana

Torso: Missed the original e-mail for who was making a torso, I presume for a dress makers dummy. I'm a total beginner with little to work with this is how I did it.

First I made a mould from clay then I made a shell out of paper mache front and back separately then I joined the two together with more paper and glue, leaving an opening at the top and placing a doweling rod at the bottom and paper mache around it when dry place doweling into a button or support of some sort and fill the shell with plaster cast. when set cover with stocking fabric eyelet for neck section. Or finish how you like. I'm really happy about mine.

Carol Downunder

1/4 scale dolls: First I use a softer clay (I like pro-sculpt). I then put it on something to hold it so you never have to actually touch the face or head, such as a toothpick or putting it on foil, visit http://perfect-touch.com/ or visit my website http://BitsnPiecesOnline.com I am linked to them, and invest in some of their sculpting tools. They have war gaming tools that are incredibly small. I have the size up from that. They make all their tools and are very, very nice.

Joni

¼ scale Fimo head: Why don't you try to put a skin of Fimo over an already baked small circle or head form, so that it does not lose shape while you are working on it. You can also use a pea sized ball of tin foil as the armature.

Mary Kaliski

Freezer Wrap: I often use Freezer Wrap when cutting out fabric for my tiny doll clothes. Once I have worked out the pattern and size on graph or tracing paper, I transfer the outline to Freezer Wrap. I use a slightly warm iron to press the waxy side of the freezer wrap to my fabric. Then I cut the fabric around the freezer wrap. (No need for straight pins to hold the pattern to the fabric, so no pinholes in the fabric.) The freezer wrap then peels off easily. I feel sure all the miniature doll artisans are aware of this use for freezer wrap.

Nancy Faye Roach - Port St. Lucie, FL

Freezer paper: It's not waxed at all, it's got a thin layer of plastic on one side, which when you iron it (shiny side down) onto the fabric, temporarily adheres the fabric to the melted plastic. If you've ever dripped candle wax on your grandma's tablecloth, you know wax and fabric don't mix too happily. I use freezer paper when I'm going to be tracing a punch needle pattern on floppy fabric, like for the chenille spreads. It keeps the fabric nice and stable while I draw on it.

Bonni in NH

½ Scale Doll Molds: Ellen in the UK wanted to know who sells and ships molds there - and wants 1/2 scale - I'm sure House of Caron has some molds in that scale - their web site is: http://www.houseofcaron.com

Paulette

Dolls: My two new dollhouse dolls arrived today, and I just had to write and say how wonderful they are! The dolls were poured, painted, and wigged by Phyllis Hill at http://www.home.earthlink.net/~minimade/page2.html and dressed in the most incredibly lovely outfits by SS's own Hazel Dowd at http://www.hazel-dowds-littlepeople.co.uk/ I really don't think I have ever seen two dolls as lovely as these -- if you would like to see them, go to http://www.geocities.com/madereo/

Madere, Silver Spring

Regency Fashions website: I don't know if this has already been sent in or not but here's an interesting site on Regency fashions. It's not a mini site but the outfits would be great for ideas on dressing a Regency mini lady. She links to a lot of different aspects of dress in this time frame. http://hal.ucr.edu/~cathy/reg3.html   

Jean in Maine

Doll's for Children to play with: I purchased a family of FP dolls when I was in Canada last year and they are perfect for my little girl (age 4) to use in the house that I am building for her.   She gets so much fun out of them.   As you mentioned, they are a bit larger than 1:12, but she doesn't mind a bit, and they are rugged enough to stand a lot of play.   I would really recommend them to anyone with small kids.

David in Santiago