Dyeing dolls hair green or purple " If your doll hair is real mohair or some other "real " fiber you could use a fabric dye. A word of caution though, very hot water might shrink your fibers. Also, try not to agitate "hair" too much as this could cause a tangled, matted mess!

BTW, if "hair" is man-made fiber, I wonder if you could use some of those sprays that are made for coloring artificial flowers. "Design Master " is one brand that I've seen at A.C.Moore. Michael's might carry them too.

Joanne from South Jersey

Floating your fairies; use very fine wire coated with silver paper and wrap one end round a flower fairy and gently curve the wire, poking the end into a fairy scene wall, for example, well it makes the flying fairies sort of move as one walks up to the scene, a bit like the diamonds set in that 'trembling' way on tiaras in the 19thC, so as one moved one's head, the diamond flowers trembled. And if you jump up and down it makes the fairies air sick. Also if you have spare flowers and were making the flower dolls, you can snip petals from the spare flowers to make a little bodice for the front and back of the doll.

Helen from York

Dyeing dolls hair: It depends what kind of material the dolls hair is. If it is natural fiber like mohair or silk it will take the dye very nicely. If it is artificial fiber, you will have a problem getting a deep tone. For colours like purple or pink on natural fibers - Kool-Aid (the unsweetened kind) works great and you only need a few minutes. Actually any food coloring is great on natural fibers. You can also experiment with natural dyes like onion peel, tea, oak bark, walnut shells, beet root or elder berries - even a ropy red wine.... And of course all the Rit dyes work great too.

Heike Boam

Doll Sizes: Sammy Smith's web site is well worth a visit in any case, but she includes something that must be of special interest to people who buy and combine dolls from different artists. She points out that two 5-and-a-half inch dolls may have wildly different proportions, even though both represent slim young women. She's included an illustrative photo. Definitely worth thinking about. URL: http://happinessisminiatures.com/

Mary, Oregon

Paper Dolls: I notice someone has asked for paper dolls. I use this site to download paper dolls for my grand daughter...it's excellent. http://members.tripod.com/~bobbie24tj/paperdolls.html

Gail in Arizona

Teen Age Dolls: I have used Levi Parker's "kelly" for the 11 and 12 year old, feel that she is not quite as large as she should be, however by making her as a fully poseable soft body she could be a little taller, I like the two other heads of Deborah as 16 year olds. I have my favorite posted at

http://www.angelfire.com/celeb/anniesweepeople

Annie B

Printable Paper Dolls: Here is a paper doll site with printable paper dolls. It also has links to other sites! http://www.ameritech.net/users/macler/paperdolls.html

Parisa

Printable Paper Dolls: Someone was looking for paper dolls. I just found one at Bonnie Lavish Miniatures under printables at this address http://home.dmv.com/~lavish/printables.html

Rebecca

Holeless Beads: Here are a few of my uses for small holeless beads.

'Eyes' for all of my Faeries, Goblins, Pond Pixies and embellishments on dragon's scales. (Use green, blue or black, clear, yellow)

'Raspberries' for Faeries to hold. (Use red and pink)

'Bubbles' (Use multiple sizes of pearl and clear) overflowing in rusty tubs and old men bathing there in.

When light hits the clear glass bead of a Faery eye you can almost see the glint of mischief and life in them.

Fill an old wooden scrub bucket with them to simulate suds. And put a few on an old mop which can then be propped along side. Use clear tub caulking and mound in bucket also drip it down the sides. Put a bit of the caulk of the tip of the mop. Sprinkle beads over entire caulk surface. Then sprinkle with purple blue ultra fine glitter.

VERY important tip: Put bucket and mop on pan with an edge. (Take it from the voice of experience!) Leave overnight In the morning just remove the unstuck beads and use again. I keep all my extra beads and glitter in a "suds baggy" to use over and over.

Looks cute with a scrub woman or just to stand in the corner of a room.

Lyn Trenary

Victorian clothing: Two sources I can recommend are Joanne McCracken's book "Dollhouse Dolls" and the British magazine "Dolls House and Miniature Scene". dolltedemf@aol.com. The McCracken book was published in 1980, so you might be able to find a copy on-line. She not only has lovely patterns, with ideas for a personalizing them, but instructions for doll making that even *I* have managed to reproduce. (My lack of coordination is a by-word among my friends! Sorry, I can't help you with the 'homemade look' problem.) The British magazine is pricey ($87 a year!) but really well worth every penny, in my estimation. In addition to patterns - men, women and children - for all eras from Tudor to Edwardian, they also have mini-history lessons on the monthly theme, so if you are planning, say a garden or a nursery, you know what and why to put in a Tudor setting rather than adding Victorian anachronisms.

Dani

New Doll Book: For those interested in making, dressing and wigging Polymer clay dolls, I have just been sent a book for review, that I absolutely love. It is called 1/12 Scale Character Figures for your Dolls House, by James Carrington. The instructions are not only clear but detailed, covering every aspect of creating a character, including facial expressions, hands clothes, wigging etc. The photos are also beautiful. I am not certain if Tom Berkner carries the book yet, but you can call the publisher at: 01273 488005. This is in UK) e mail is: pubs@thegmcgroup.com

Mary Kaliski

Fuzzy animals: Alice Zinn makes cute fuzzy animals of all sorts. See your miniatures dealer.

Beth

Furry animals: Annie Willis ( she makes gorgeous furry animals ), she can be contacted at: Fine Design 21, Shawley Crescent Epsom Downs, Surrey KT18 5PQ ENGLAND Tel/fax 1737 210886

Margaret Pitts

"1/12 Scale Character Figures for the Dolls' House" by James Carrington - This book is printed in the U.K. and hasn't made it to the U.S. yet. But, as a miniaturist/book fanatic, did I wait for it to get here? No, I ordered it from Amazon in the UK This book is fabulous if you want to try sculpting your own dolls in polymer clay. There are great color photographs of dolls with real character to their faces. The instructions are well-written with very good illustrations. Not only that, it is written with wit and humor. Just to give you an idea of James' sense of humor..... He wrote about how, as you get older, gravity pulls the face downwards and with it, features such as the eyes and mouth. He says... "If you are of a certain age, and feel very brave, test this theory by placing a mirror flat on a table, and lean over it to look at yourself. (Remove all sharp objects out of the way before you do this!). The effect can be devastating, and you may find yourself not daring even to glance down in public for the rest of your life. Of course, if you are young, this will not happen - well, not today perhaps, but it will, so work on your sense of humor now; you'll need it!" For anyone who sculpts dolls or is thinking about giving it a try (like me), this book is a "must have".

Paula in NJ

Dolls in Miniature: There is a book named "Dollhouse Dolls" by Joann McCracken. Published 1980 by the Chilton Book Company, it describes how to make dolls from clay and instructions for dressing them. I have found it very useful. It may be in your local library.

Elaine Foster

Character doll scale. I have the book you mentioned (and like it), but found another that is much more helpful because it contains several scales for adults, teens, young children, & infants. It also teaches an easy armature method for the dolls. Get "How to Make Perfect Dollhouse Figures" by Kitty Mackey and I'm sure you'll love it as much as I. Inside the book are charts of the above mentioned scales.

Also, just want to mention to you and all the newbies who need/want to learn about how to do various things, check out

http://www.mindstorm-inc.com/

This company (I'm just a satisfied customer) has videos on so many subjects that you can view in your own home...replay as many times as needed to learn the techniques. I highly recommend all their videos. I wouldn't take for mine! For your use, I recommend: by Margene Crossan: "Sculpting Whimsical Faces" and "Sculpting Characters"...both showing how to make funny as opposed to "pretty" people; by Evelyn Lentz Flook: "Sculpting Miniature Dolls 1" & "2"...both teaching the actual sculpting (with armature) of the dolls, with an enclosed paper chart for sizing them; and last but not least, by our own Viola Williams: "Wigging Miniature Women" and "Wigging Miniature Men, Children & Babies"...wonderful demonstrations of the how-tos of that job.

Rita Pierce

Wood hardener: I first asked about Minwax's wood hardener because someone mentioned using it when working with "found" wood like driftwood or interesting-shaped roots. But when I spoke to people at the Durham Wood Show Minwax stand, they said carvers used it to strengthen wood for carving fine details like feathers. I need something like that for my wooden peg dolls. I can make them down to about 1 1/4 inches high quite easily, but when I go below that, no matter what wood I try, the joints get very fragile. I'm down to about 1/64 inch thick wood for each piece. So the hardener might work. Apparently you mix it 50-50 with acetone. It's available at Home Depot. To save anyone else trying somewhere smaller, Home Hardware as a group don't carry it and won't order it.

Frances

Star Trek: I've gotten a lot of X-Files "action figures" which are juuuust about right for 1:12 scale scenes. I know there must be many similar Star Trek figures around. Check your local hobby stores, toy stores, and on-line there must be many Star Trek sites that might help.

Melissa

Teenage Dolls. The only ones I have found, unfortunately for those of us in the States, are by Katy Sue dolls in the UK. Her web site is www.katy-sue-dolls.com

She has an incredible range of dolls in all sizes, both sexes, and can be poured in any color.

Dani

Holeless Beads: The tiny glass holeless beads suggested for grapes are available in Michaels and other craft stores. They used to come in long plastic tubes with stoppers, but now come in little plastic bags. BTW, they make good simulated buttons too! And the pearl ones make nice jewelry!

Alice Zinn