Furry Animal Dolls: Try Alice Zinn for your furry animals. Hers are wonderful and she works from pictures.

Jane Ratcliffe

Wigging: I'm not a big fan of wigging but it can be done! I took a class at the Tom Bishop show here in CA this past summer and feel a lot more comfortable with it. There are some instructions on the site below - Wigging Part I and Wigging Part II. http://www.excel.net/~cscroggi/

Marsha, Newark,CA

Dolls- depending on what you are looking for, many mini-shops carry poseable dolls suitable for children, resin dolls, and, of course, my personal favorite, porcelain dolls, which I get in kits from any one of the auction sites . There are also links to many sites that sell the dolls. Try this for starters: http://myminiatures.com/ and click on dolls for some suggestions.

Barb in PA

Dollhouse Dolls for children to play with: I have some wonderful dolls in both my houses (at least I think they are.) I think they would be perfect for your granddaughters. They are called "Loving Family" dolls by Fisher Price. They are fully poseable and durable. They come in sets of two for about $5 per set. You get Dad and baby, Mom and baby, and brother and sister. They can stand and even do some extra things, like rock the baby and toss him in the air. They come in black and white. I have a complete set of each color.

Tonya, Brooklyn, NY

COSTUMES: I watched a segment of Martha Stewart's show this morning (proving what a rotten person I am). Topic: Making Halloween costumes from crepe paper, little "flower" getups for children. These could be made about the same way in miniature, but I also recall that Yorkshire's Helen has been dressing fairies from fabric flowers, and those would work for parts of kiddy costumes too, wouldn't they?

The trick-or-treat tradition is said to have started in the US with Irish fleeing the potato famine in the 1840's, though it probably wouldn't have been adopted quickly by inhabitants of those big grand houses. Google.com, given "Halloween history," came up with plenty of references. I stopped at this one on the first page, because it summarizes trends in the 20th century:

http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/pumpkinave/history.htm

Especially for Southwesterners, here's a page crammed with information about the Day of the Dead:

http://www.azcentral.com/rep/dead/

For a dome scene, a gaggle of little girl dolls, different heights and shapes, outside a doorway in their flower getups; grownups with treats on the other side? And for somebody who itches to make some madly extravagant costumes: how about a giddy 1930's costume party in an Art Deco setting?

Mary (Oregon)

Costumes: Look for the Susan Sirkis wishbooks. You may find them at the library. One has 18th century costume patterns, including men's clothes, which is the basic pirate look (believe me, I was hooked on old Errol Flynn movies as a kid!), then make your scoundrel a tiny eye patch, wrap a gaudy bandana on his head, and give him a little jump ring earring. Metallic paint on a plastic cocktail sword will convert it to a pretty convincing saber.

Loretta Sniarowski

Resin Doll Painting: I love altering resin figures. Wanna, if you just want to alter the hair, get your acrylic paints out. A nice easy transformation. These figures glue well with super glue, so one can saw them up and re-glue in a new position. Saw their accessories off; drill holes in their hands make them hold real mini objects. For new clothes, remove excess resin clothing with sawing, and then use tissue paper to make new clothes. You have to paint with enamels then, as the tissue paper doesn't care for water-based paints. Try not to inhale the dust from sawing, it smells vile, no doubt it is very bad for us

Helen from York, England

Inspired - New DOLL Publications: Do you ever have that BLANK feeling? You know the one, piles of gorgeous material sit in front of you, and there is that doll! That undressed painted doll just STARING at you!.... and you have - eee gads

.... DRESSERS BLOCK!

Want to know a couple of different ways to solve it? First of all, upon returning home, I received in the mail my Premiere issue of DOLL COSTUMING magazine. Promptly RUN - don't walk to your nearest doll store (or porcelain store) and buy this! I personally don't get too involved with historic clothing, but the incredible old photos, background info and wonderful line art will get you stirred in NO time!

The other new discovery is the 'La Poupee Modele' book, Volume II. This book contains authentic patterns from the magazine (1868-1885). In case you're in the dark about French (me too) roughly its like the doll's doll dressing patterns from the Victorian age. Do you love those French hand sewing techniques, pins, tucks and pleats? (or .. in my case do you love making it LOOK like that?) This book will definitely show you how! Cost is about $70 - but perhaps on your Christmas Wish List.

Lastly SHARE! Yup that's right! That's how you can get inspired BIG time! Many of the newcomers feel stranded on a doll making island with no directional sun shining on them. This is where YOU can come in.... How many of you have received a little surprise from me in the mail - gratis? Contests or just because? Remember how HAPPY you were at that surprise? Do this for a newcomer!! It doesn't have to be on this list, my FF list or any other list....just reading a basic newsgroup where the traditional........"I'm trying to wig a doll body that's sat in my cupboard for years ..... etc,etc.". WRITE this person, steer him/her to our lists, send them a tiny chunk of hair and a URL for directions.

Or better yet, a chunk of yummy material! What does it cost you? A stamp, maybe a $1 but YOU had the power to nourish and INSPIRE someone! That feeling is awesome .... and guess what?

(Ok my dirty little secret comes out....send lots of surprises because I keep buying 1/4 yd sections of materials that I'm just going to HAVE to have and use someday, but has sat for months..... so when I open those boxes, I find my long lost wonderful ideas of creation and there goes the DRESSERS BLOCK!

Dana

Defrizzing Barbie: I read recently in Barbie Bazaar magazine that to defriz and untangle mix a small amount of liquid fabric softener in water and dip hair. Tangles should comb right out. I don't know if this was recommended for a vintage #1 but should work fine on the figures you are doing.

Phyllis, Coast of Maine

Defrizzing Barbie: I haven't done much with the McD's Barbies but the real Barbie's hair can be tamed with boiling water. Don't freak, it works. Take a couple of strands of hair and dip them in boiling water. If they don't melt then you can proceed. Comb out as many tangles as you can, carefully starting from the bottom. Now you dip the hair in boiling water (30 sec. or so) and then in ice water. Sometimes the hair goes back to its original style. If not roll her hair on straws or something similar and redo the boiling water. The ice water then sets the curl. If it's too frizzy, the only thing I know is a haircut. Unless you plan to keep this Barbie for a long time I wouldn't worry about the value. She has already been devalued by taking her out of the bag.

Joanne in Maryland

Defrizzing Barbie: As a longtime doll and toy collector and Barbie fan... I have had great luck using Frizz Ease Hair Serum for restoring hair. Just wet the hair and rub in a small dot of the serum. Then comb out and let dry. You will be amazed at how nice it turns out.

John Medeiros

Doll Height: I have had no trouble adjusting the height of my dolls by simply adjusting the length of the arms and legs to fit the size I want, some of my ladies range from 4 1/2 to 5 3/4, a little extra padding around the middle, whatever it takes!!

Jo h

Carol Kubesh Dolls: I'm one of her biggest fans too and have several of her dolls, the latest of which is an American Indian mother and papoose.

e-mail addy is: KubeshMinitures@aol.com

URL is: http://members.aol.com/kubeshminiatures/carol.htm

Jeanette in Wauwatosa, WI

Originals by Elaine: Shirley posted her pleasant experience meeting Bobby Campbell who sells the Parker-Levi doll molds, in Florida. The name of his and his wife's business is actually "Originals by Elaine" and while they are not a store, they do have a website. They sell miniature and large doll molds.

http://OriginalsbyElaine.com

Anne Gerdes

One of my gripes. People painting porcelain dolls faces with acrylics which will rub off. When you buy an expensive doll or even just spend days dressing one, you intend for it to last. Once the face is scuffed, when acrylics are used, it is ruined and once it is finished and dressed you can no longer paint or have it painted in fired on china paints (like the old bisque dolls whose faces have lasted centuries).

When I make something I want it to be there in years to come for my great great grand kids (if the world is here then). I also have concern about some of the new products that are not time tested. Guess we'll have to wait and see on that! LOL

Anita MH

Armature: Instead of using pipe cleaners or wire for a Fimo doll's armature, use green plastic covered garden wire. The green doesn't show when the doll is padded and dressed, and it fuses to the Fimo in the oven (low, low temperature, please!) thus creating a firmer join! I discovered that by accident when I ran out of ordinary wire.

Lynne Connolly

Paper Mache: For artists using paper mache with commercial Doll molds. Bear in mind, that porcelain will shrink 20% in size after firing. The molds are sized to accommodate that factor. I don't know the percentage of shrinkage with paper mache. This may affect the scale of the finished dolls.

Karen Bukoski

Paper Mache: I admire your inventiveness in using papier mache in a mold to get the antique dolls but I don't think you took into account the fact that the molds are oversize to allow for the shrinkage of porcelain when it is fired. The molds are plaster so you will need some sort of release. I might suggest you try Seeley's (in Oneonta, New York - a porcelain and doll mold manufacturer) antique dollhouse molds as they create smaller than 1" scale dolls - that might just be right for your method and could possibly get them to correct scale. I think John Parker, Doreen Sinnett, Janna Joseph and a few of the others who have "antique" doll molds would give you a very oversized doll as they are scaling their molds to come out to 1:12 scale (Porcelain can shrink 12 to 20% - if you get my drift). It sounded like you were looking for antique, complete with teeny feet and spoon hands so if you need their address let me know.

Ana

How to calculate scale for figures: There are some fairly standard proportions for the human body and I hope someone will correct me if I mis-remember them. The head is 1/5 the height of the body (head=1 Ft. for a 5Ft. person or 1" in 1/12 scale). Decide on the overall height, 1/5 of that is the size of the head, then the features are placed as follows: center of the eyeballs is 1/2 the distance from the top of the head; the bottom of the nose is 1/2 of the remaining height; and 1/3 of the remaining distance to the bottom of the chin is the lips. When the arms hang straight down, the tips of the fingers reach to the center of the thigh. There are probably other proportions, but those are the ones I remember. After all that, you have to look at what you have and adjust according to what looks good to you - sometimes things are exaggerated or re-scaled slightly to look right over all.

Jacqui in Hilo, HI

Scale: re: Jacqui Marlin's stats for people: I believe the head size for an adult is closer to 1/7 of full size, and shoulder to waist is 2/7. A head of 1/5 would give a young teenager, I think. The other numbers look correct, and very useful. Thanks, Jacqui.

Kay Gale