SPLATTER PAINTING: I use the splatter method with red primer to give effects of rust on items. I find I get my best splatter shapes by sweep spraying it from at least two or three feet away. And as you said, just a spritz at that. It is very easy to over (do) spray it. Best suggestion is to practice on some thing like a paper cup until you get the feel of it. I also use a turntable in my spray booth ( a closet with a vent fan in it) so I can rotate the items being painted with out touching them.

Bill Hudson, Eugene, Oregon

SIMULATING CAST IRON: I use the same method to simulate cast iron. First spray a coat of black primer at regular distance then spray more coats from two to three feet away, letting it dry between coats. If you do it correctly it should produce a rough surface like cast iron. To add more realism to it alternate last coats with red primer and black primer.

Bill Hudson, Eugene, Oregon

Distressing Workbench: I'd take it out and set the top on some gravel, and step on it hard a couple of times. Then, I'd take it back inside and use a stiff, steel brush and scrape the top (a little) and vigorously on the sides around the top where he has cut boards and worked. I'm assuming the backside of the bench would be against the wall and won't be as badly distressed. Take an emery board to that edge to ever so slightly round off the edge on the back. This will distress the sides.

Once you've put on your oil and/or varnish on it to give it a richer hue and color, take some India ink and mix it with rubbing alcohol (doesn't take much India ink, but you can experiment with how dark you want to make things by starting with less alcohol, then adding more until you like the result). I keep my mixture of this in an old baby food jar. Take a paintbrush and work this mixture around the edges where things are normally dirtiest or darkest. (You can make the workbench really convincing with this. I used it to age a wooden handcart in the roombox my daughter and I made of her grandfather's wholesale fruit business, and it looked terrific! It also works to tone down the newness of aluminum or steel, too. You can how the cart looks by going to: http://www.zing.com/album/?id=4292729099)

George Held

TEXTURING BASSWOOD FOR WORKBENCH. Precut your basswood workbench top and glue the cross braces on the bottom of the top. (sense???) Hold the top securely by clamping the cross pieces from below. Now, lightly and with the grain, deep grain the wood with a stiff bristled wire brush such as is used to remove loose paint in full size work. Don't overdo it. A little is probably more appropriate than turning the plank into hard weathered drift wood. Round and smooth the corners with fine sandpaper. If I were doing my own former workbench from here, I would apply a coat of dark brown stain over all, let it dry, rub it out well. Along the front edge, wire brush again with a less aggressive brush and ACROSS the grain. Put your emphasis near the center or wherever your Pop does most of his soft cutting directly on the bench. Do an overall wash with black paint allowing it to set into the cuts and grooves but clean it well on the surface. Finally, steel wool polish and top off with the deepest oxblood shoe polish you can find. Not too much shoe polish but rub to a wonderful old patina. As a final touch, use a very fine jeweler's saw blade to put a FEW cuts down to fresh wood along the front edge just to show that the bench is still actively used.Look closely to see if there is a penny laid into your Father's bench top somewhere. If there is, be sure to represent it with a bit of copper wire or whatever but do not ask about it until some time when conversation lags and you need him to tell you a story.

Mel K.

Distressing Wood: I am also the proud owner of a work bench that has enjoyed years of usage by my grandfather. Recently I took a class and I know that we "distressed" the wood by using sandpaper on the edges to give it more of a rounded (well used) edge. Also I have used an Exacto knife to take out small pieces of wood as gouges. Don't forget all those things that I am sure have been spilled on the workbench - like paint splatters.

Suzy

Distressing Wood: Here's where you can go "wild"! Take out your aggressions and frustrations!! Get out those whips and chains!! And just go to town on the workbench. Seriously: a mini brass hammer, an Exacto knife, a piece of small size chain, a salad fork -- all make good dents, gouges and chips in a workbench. Then go to it with the wood stain and paint splashes / drips. Don't forget the drips on the floor and down the front legs of the bench, too.

Patricia / Redwood City, CA

Weathered Wood: Hardware stores carry a product called "Weather It". This is a designed to age new wood on exterior construction-decks, fences, etc. It gives a silver/gray hue of very old wood but does not eliminate all of the natural color of the wood you apply it to. I love this product. I have used it to weather shingles, age a log cabin and dozens of other projects through the years. I have just used the last of the gallon I bought over 10 years ago. Rather cost effective I would say.

Becky Holliday

Gray Weathered Wood: You can get that lovely gray weathering by using Noel and Pat Thomas's Bug juice. It also gives a fantastic finish to cherry wood for rustic looking furniture.

Mark and Sharon Stockton

Splattering: I've found that using a cheep toothbrush, dipping it in paint, and scraping it with anything from your finger to a chopstick works for splatter painting. Also, scrape towards yourself. I made a full-sized paperweight and splatter painted falling snow onto the stone by scraping the toothbrush, which was very lightly covered in white paint. And I've discovered that the thicker the toothbrush is covered, the bigger the splatters.

Rachel B of MD

House of Miniature kits: I stain everything before I assemble the pieces. I must have read that in some direction somewhere because I would not have known to do that myself. All of my pieces turned out very nice, much to my amazement, in some cases.

Pat, Huntington, NY

HOM kits. I agree about staining first. I had great success with the bachelor chest, my first piece. The second piece I glued, then stained and it worked out just fine, too (a half round table-cherry). Then I tried experimenting and glued, sealed then stained the hutch and bookcase top and I don't like it AT ALL. I think it will get painted now.

Peggy in Madison

When to stain/House of Miniatures clock kit: I'm in the process of putting the clock together as we speak! You are talking about the grandfather clock, correct? My process of assembly, thus far has been: Check all the pieces are present
Sand as needed
Glue as directed ( I used Aleene's tacky glue--in the gold bottle.)
Wipe any excess glue as this will interfere with staining as well as appearance.
Sand if needed.
Stain ( I used Minwax stain) The pieces that don't show and are to be glued do not need to be stained.
Sand again. With fine sand paper--You don't want to sand away all the stain.
Wipe pieces with tack cloth or any cloth to get rid of sanding dust.
Apply glossy coat of polyurethane (I used Minwax Fast-drying Polyurethane). Note follow the directions on the products whether to be stirred, shaken, or neither. This particular polyurethane is ready to go after you open the can.

Things I've learned with this kit:Now, if you note, some of the parts of the clock will need to be stained and polyurethaned prior to insertion of the inner workings of the clock--if you don't stain them first it will be difficult to do so after the pieces are in. Also, I would not stain and polyurethane the back side of the clock until the inner part is done and the top part of the clock is glued on.

Nursemini

HOM kits: While going through several kidney procedures last summer, I was assigned to the couch for a few months. During that time, I experimented with sev of the HOM kits, to see what assembly worked the best.

I would suggest the following:

I found that if you stain and seal after you glue there will be many places thatyou will miss getting the finish you desire, and you risk leaving glue residue on that will not take the stain.

Many projects can be worked on at once, as my coffee table was proof of that. I kept a separate tray for each ongoing kit, with the box on each so I could see at a glance which was which. The only 'human' in the house that didn't like my taking over table with all these projects was the cats. (any horizontal surface is their territory!). The kids liked it, cause they didn't have to fetch so many things for me, and didn't hear me WHINE as long as I had something to do with my hands and mind!

Lisa Lynn

Weathered Wood: I have used the following to weather wood for years. It turns the wood a silvery transparent color, sort of like the color of barn wood. Put nails in vinegar and tightly cap (use a glass container, such as a mason jar) until the nails rust. Paint onto the wood and allow to dry. It does a satisfactory job and is very inexpensive, nay---dirt cheap!!!!

Barbara from Alabama

Weathering: I've read so much about weathering and staining... I've developed a method that might work for others.

I use 1/2 cup alcohol and a dab of acrylic paint in a small jar. Shake the jar mightily, until the paint is in tiny pieces. It won't mix! When you use this concoction, it will streak nicely. When at rest, the paint will settle quickly, but just stir it up a bit. I paint and wipe, paint and wipe. Those tiny particles of paint are excellent for giving you the aged look. It dries almost instantly and because there is no water involved, won't warp your wood.

This solution will cloud the alcohol with a tint of color to wash a light coat over bright work. Pretty versatile stuff. . . I have a dozen jars with different hues and mixes. They hold pretty well in the jars too.

Judie - Daytona Beach, FL

Stucco: Here in CA stucco houses are a way of life, so many of my dollhouses have stucco exteriors. The following directions for stucco are in the warm up directions from the Greenleaf Glencroft dollhouse. The style of your house may suggest the use of a stucco surface on the walls and/or chimney surfaces. We use Greenleaf Stucco powder which is mixed with latex paint in about a 50/50 proportion. Mix it thoroughly in a separate container, not the paint can. Apply the mixture with a brush, foam brush, or roller. You'll find that a number of different textures can be created, but don't make the coating too thick. It's easier to add a second coat if you want more texture than to remove it if there is too much! Most houses with stucco surfaces, such as Greenleaf's Glencroft, have trim pieces which must be glued on over the stucco. If this is the case, keep the stucco layer thin.

Dolores

Stucco: I used spackling on my Glencroft and chiseled out where the wood trim went. I put the trim pieces up to the house and traced them into the spackling (after it was dry and painted) and scraped away. It turned out really neat. http://puxplace.homestead.com/Glencroft.html

Lita

Stucco and Trim:

1. Paint or stain all your trim pieces and let them dry for a couple of days. You want the finish to have dried and cured. You know that paint is  'soft' even after it has dried.

2. Cover all these loose pieces of trim on the finished side with masking tape. Just stick it right on - turn the pieces over and trim off any excess masking tape.

3. Glue your trim in place. Let the glue dry overnight.

4. Mix up your chosen stucco and apply to the house or box right over the trim.

5. Now  while the stucco is fresh and wet - peel off the masking tape from the trim pieces.

Do Not Let the Stucco Dry Before Removing Masking Tape !!!!

Great finish - no missing bits of stucco- no following pencil lines.

Paddy

Stucco and Trim: Stick wide masking tape round the window and door openings, as well as the insides of the frames. Put the doors/windows in place, and trace around it with a very sharp pencil. Remove windows and cut on the pencil line with a X-Acto knife (with sharp blade).

Apply the stucco (made mine with mixture of Polyfill, water and wood glue) Texture the stucco, and remove the masking tape IMMEDIATELY. If you wait too long it will be hard as a rock and tear the masking tape. When dry, paint the desired color. Finish your doors and windows separately, and then put into place. It worked for me. Everything just slipped into place.

Betsie, Western Cape, South Africa

Stucco: Dab paint on a small area. While wet apply l layer (separated from a tissue) of "torn" Kleenex. (the torn edges blend better than straight edges). Dab on with a stiff brush or smooth out gently (depending on the look you want). If more texture is desired add another layer after first is dry. Continue with entire building. Your paint works like glue. If you have any loose spots, just dab on more paint. Allow to dry. Add another coat of paint. Dry. Spray or brush on a matte varnish. Water cleanup type is fine. This will help keep the building clean. (i.e., future dust will be easier to remove).

Diane in SFBA