Knitting site:  Althea Merback. She wrote me about her knitting and gave me the URL of her website. I visited her site and I really loved what I saw. Privately she sent me some pics of the newest knitting patterns and they are really wonderful. This is the URL: http://www.coolmini.com/althea/bugknits.htm

Annelies de Kort from The Netherlands

Leather for doll's shoes: you can get leather” splits" which are pieces of very thin leather in different colors, from Etcetera, Etc. But these pieces don't have a polished or finished side; both sides are like suede. Probably you'll have to hit your local flea markets and antique shops looking for old kid leather gloves. One pair will make almost endless amounts of miniature shoes, and you can usually get them for $10. or less. Whatever color you get can be painted the color you want, after the shoe is finished. (Enamel paint will make it look like patent leather) You can use thicker leather after shaving or scraping a layer of the underside away.

Paulette in IN

Leather for doll shoes; may I suggest Home Sew.  They have a bag of leather scraps (1/2  lb for $4.75.) The bag I just ordered was full of butter soft leather mostly black but also some lovely red.  I could shoe a caterpillar if I wished. The URL is   http://www.homesew.com/   I do not work for this company but I've done business with them for a number of years and have always been pleased.

Patsy

Making a Ghost: If you go to Zing, you can see my ghost of Marley talking to Scrooge, look at the doorway in the third photograph of the album. (Not the best photo, I'm afraid. I need to redo it.) Here's how I made Marley. I did a line drawing of Marley's ghost, and then took it to an art studio. They photographically etched it into the glass. I then mounted a light directly above the top edge of the glass and boxed it in so that the light wouldn't "fall" into the roombox - only through the top edge of the glass. This caused the etching to stand out more brightly.

Here's how I would make a ghost now, by the way. You'd need a scanner (or access to some clip art), a color printer, and either Microsoft Word or PowerPoint. Find a picture of the girl you'd like to turn into a ghost (either clip art from the Web or a real photograph you can scan). If it's on the Web, you can import the photo into your document, but make sure the picture of the girl has no background behind her - just a plain white background. Make her the size you want her to be in your dh. Now rightclick on the image, and select Format Picture. Next, you'll notice there's a box that says, "Color" and the default selection is "Automatic." Click on the arrow and select "Watermark." Your girl just became ghostly. Print her on a sheet of transparency film (fairly pricey stuff, unfortunately), trim the transparency to the size that fits the window or from floor to ceiling in the dollhouse.

I think ghosts work best when put in doorways where you can "see through them" to something behind them. It also helps hide the edges of the glass or transparency and you can discreetly put a tiny piece of stripwood behind the edges to hold the picture in place, which you couldn't do if you put it in the middle of a hallway. Make sure you have enough light from behind and in front of the ghost to eliminate any shadows that might be cast. Hope this works for you!

George Held

Making a ghost: you can make a ghost simply by taking a photo/pic of the person you wish to make into a ghost scan it into your computer and then print it out on a sheet of acetate like they use to make overheads. this can be bought at any office supply or maybe even WalMarts

Gene

Ichabod & Headless Horseman: I just had to let my other Halloween buddies know about the newest thing I've found. I stumbled upon these new action figures taken from the movie, The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow. I've long been a fan of the old story..I think the new movie is actually a little gruesome for my tastes....but I just had to tell you....the action figure for both Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman are absolutely wonderful. They are very close to 1:12th scale if not dead on. They are made by McFarlane Toys and I just can't describe the detail of these figures. Ichabod even comes with a satchel full of medicine bottles and all kinds of neat little gadgets that he uses to track the horseman. Being the Halloween fan that I am..I had to have these for my Haunted Beacon Hill Dollhouse. The Horseman comes either by himself or in a deluxe set with the horse and shriveled spooky tree. Again, I thought the horseman by himself was a bit gruesome.. he comes with severed heads to hold.....ewwwww! Anyway, I also got oneof the old crone/witch from the movie...whew is she ever ugly! I picked up an extra one of her because they were selling out of them before my very eyes. I purchased mine from http://hobbyxpress.com/ They have pictures on their site of these action figures. This is the answer to inexpensive, realistic looking figures/monsters, etc. for your scenes. Now that I've discovered how detailed and wonderfully articulate they are....I'm hooked! I've asked for the Horseman deluxe set for my birthday!!!!!!!! Although, I think this toy manufacturer most likely deals mostly with sci-fi types of action figures....I noticed they also had other scale action figures..like Austin Powers, the Beatles..etc. I say they are close to scale because the figures are on average about 6 1/2 inches tall. For the men figures, that's a great height..it tends to make the women look a little "Amazon" looking. I think the Sleepy Hollow Crone is only about 5 1/2 inches tall though. She's extremely spooky looking and I don't like the real gruesome stuff..but she comes with neat little mini accessories too...so I figure I can always do a head transplant on her with a more friendly Halloween look.Well, anyway....I was just so fascinated with these and the detail of them....I had to share it. Ichabod could actually be used in another scene from the Victorian era as he is quite handsome and even looks like Johnny Dep who played the role in the movie. As I said.....these are great figures to use on a limited budget. I for one am always glad to find things like that. Of course I prefer a miniature dressed doll......but my wallet won't let me have everything on my wish list!

Besides, I saw an article once in a mini magazine that actually showed you how to "bash" a plastic figurine to make it appear more realistic. You sure wouldn't have to do much to these to make them look realistic...they are already pretty amazing looking! Well, I'll go for now....it's not too early to start planning for this year's haunts!!!

Donna Baird (Scream Queen of Indiana)

Boarding House Occupants: Over the years, as I dreamed this dream of mine, I populated it with all kinds of people....they kept changing over the years as did my interests, however, there was always one that was permanent.......an old woman, probably widowed for many years, with all her life around her....perhaps a lot of Victorian type furniture, lots of pictures, doilies, bureau runners, an old wringer washer. Nothing broken, ready for the trash heap, just old 'stuff'

Dawn

Boarding house: You should probably have a room for the traveling salesman who uses his room as a home base for his business during the week. He isn't the one that knows the farmer's daughter, btw;), he is fairly respectable. He has a large sales case full of "useful gadgets that no home should be without". I think he may sitting at the desk working over the days receipts and going over his inventory to see what he needs to stock up on.

Kim from Canada

Boarding house: sales people of different kinds would have interesting stuff: a shoe salesman with all kinds of shoes, a jewelry salesman with watches and other jewelry, even a brush salesman (like the old Fuller Brush salesmen) - he'd have all kinds of household brushes and gadgets. Or a traveling musician with musical instruments. But I still think you already have the best idea yourself in the vaudeville actor with costumes and props. Or a magician. You could have bunnies and doves sitting around a black top hat, for example.

Paulette in IN

Boarding House: Definitely a Traveling Salesman, a Young Married Couple, a Very Prim and Proper Older Lady, and of course the Proprietor who just might be the VP&PO lady. She would have to rent out rooms since she is down on her luck. Don't forget her cats or perhaps a small lap dog.

Patricia / Redwood City, CA

Boarding House: my former husband's mother ran a rooming house many years ago in NY. and BOY! did he have some stories about the many people that lived there! But on to suggestions-- How about a magician--I picture all sorts of magic things about the room, cards, doves in a cage, colored handkerchiefs tied together, something poking out the sleeve of tux, top hat, and maybe several rabbits that have escaped their cage! Also if you can have an attic, maybe an artist resides there with paints, easel, several canvases-one-in-progress (maybe a nude?) Also an actress with several costumes and posters of herself in various plays displayed, her makeup kit?

Darlene in Baton Rouge

Boarding House: For your boarding house I would have some really seedy characters sprinkled among some 'normal' ones. Start with an alcoholic in Apartment 1, he could live in squalor with his room full or empty bottles. Next door to him an old lady pensioner. Nothing too scruffy or destitute, but a pensioner doing it tough. Across the hall, a trashy peroxide blonde floozy with long red nails and lots of men's phone numbers next to the phone. Next to her a middle aged man, perhaps an accountant who lives with his mother and has no life of his own. A biker could live upstairs and a drummer from a rock band who practices all night. Down the hall from them there could be a family cramped into an apartment with six screaming kids, a mad woman who lives with 200 cats, or a pair of prim spinsters, twins, who live a quiet and secluded life and venture out to help in the Charity shop. Perhaps if you get really stuck you could have had a fire in one apartment and just blacken the walls and outside the windows on the bricks so it looks like smoke and fire damage. There could be a dazed smoker asleep on the couch oblivious to the fact he has burnt out his apartment but lived to tell the tale. What about a truck driver who is a really big bloke, scary sorta guy? A reptile fanatic with aquariums full of snakes? A 'gothic' couple? A spiffy professional couple or an architect whose apartments are really trendy and chic? A really rich dame on the top floor with a really sumptuous apartment? A gambler who holds illegal card games long into the night with all sorts of seedy underworld characters? If I made an apartment block the Department of Health would condemn it. Would there be communal bathrooms?? You could have fun with overflowing toilets, people being caught in the shower. What about the laundry room? Dirty underpants hanging around, clothes hanging from the clothes rail from the ceiling. Whatever you decide to do a good hint is to plan your house and then construct it out of foam core board first so that you know where doors and windows should go in relation to your plan and whether they work with other rooms and landings etc. (A tip I picked up from Small Stuff!)

Trace, Melbourne, Australia

Sunbonnet Pattern: There is a pattern for a sunbonnet in DHM, May, 1998.

Maureen in Hemel, UK.

Doll Molds: Some time ago I asked if anyone had the address of the Jean Pardina mold company. I have recently discovered it -- Jean has molds for small dolls and figurines. Her website shows just a FEW of the molds she carries. Jean Pardina Molds, P.O. Box 951, Columbia, CA 95310, www.jps.net/pardinas

Judy in TN

African American dolls:

Glenda Hooker:yvelle@earthlink. net

Bill Hudson

Flip Doll: I've never seen one in miniature, but I'm sure it could be done by joining two dolls together at the hip (with heads and arms in opposite directions). There wouldn't be any legs. A long reversible skirt would double for each doll; the skirt is what you "flip" over to see the other doll underneath. The last one I saw was a Little Red Riding Hood with Grandma underneath - it also had a wolf's head that could fit down over the Grandma's, for telling the whole story.

Paulette in Indiana

Ghost: Scan or find a suitable figure in clip art. Open it into a graphics program to size it or trim it. Print it out on Transparency suitable for your printer. (available for inkjet or laser at office supply stores) Cut it out with sharp scissors and place in desired position in your scene.

Judie

Ethnic Dolls: I have ordered ethnic dolls from Dana & Gwen at www.miniatureart.com they can pour the dolls on their web site in Asian and African American skin tones. Their service is WONDERFUL and their dolls and prices are great. The kits come with painted faces, arms & legs, and materials to make the doll outfits. And they take the time to answer all your questions. I think their dolls are all 1 inch scale, but their little girl dolls are about 3" tall, so maybe that would work? I think it's great you want to have multi cultural dolls in your dh.

Whu

Ethnic Dolls: Here is her web site. Take a look at her dolls. She makes ethnic dolls in both 1 "and 1/2" scale. http://minipearls.homestead.com/Weewilliewinkies.html wee willie winkies dolls by Pearl Jordan

Mary

15th Rosary Beads: As a lapsed Catholic I would not call myself an expert on rosary beads but I have never been aware that the colour of the beads was anything other than personal choice. At school the nuns gave us blue plastic ones. My grandmother had a set that looked like real pearls (I've just had this copied in miniature for my dolls house) and I've seen wooden ones also. Unless a more knowledgeable person comes through with the answer I would guess that in the C15th rosary beads were made of wood for the peasants, and semi precious stones for the nobleman. A set in ruby red would be perfect.

Karon