Painting Plastic: You might find it easier to paint with model car paint (e.g.: Testers) since it was made for painting on plastic.

Viola

Priming Plastic: You need a bottle of Acrylic Gesso (I use Liquitex) it is something I can't make miniatures without. It looks and goes on like white paint but it is slightly chalky and it keys into the plastic and provides a good base coat for acrylic paint. It can be used to prime practically anything - glass, stone, silver, wood .....

It is water based so you can wash your brushes with water – but wear an apron or something as it does not wash out of fabric easily.

Lesley, Johannesburg, South Africa

Tung oil: Tung oil is natural. It oxidizes in the can once opened and has a short shelf life. More than two coats of pure tung oil is not recommended because it may never dry. Tung oil varnish dries better. Tung oil is an ingredient in marine spar varnish.

This is a good natural finish for table tops and would be fine for floors and paneling in a dh. In my opinion it is too thick and hard to control for furniture, but I haven't used any in a long time. About 18 years ago I made a full scale coffee table in cherry and finished it with two coats of pure tung oil. The finish has held up fine. In those days I used it on lots of full scale furniture.

Pete

Chrysnbon Kits: The Chrysnbon products are WONDERFUL. Just remember to use a Testers glue, and I use Testers Model spray paint. The detail on these items is wonderful, and you really can't tell they are plastic when finished. If you need a dull finish we use a Testers Dull Coat. Testers comes in both gloss & matt. Their Gloss White is perfect for porcelain. Can even look very much like wood by staining. I have never had a problem putting together a Chrysnbon kit. They go together beautifully. I have made several of the Victorian Bathrooms. One thing about the Chrysnbon kits is all the neat accessories that come with each kit. ie: towel bars, t-paper holder, plunger, etc. Have fun!

Diane

Chrysnbon bathroom kit: that kit finishes up very nicely! The details that can be achieved in that material are more delicate than I've seen in porcelain. I've finished three of these kits... love 'em. Once you've got everything glued together and any flashing worked off, you can "prime" the plastic by using spray automotive paint. This makes it easy to paint on one of the acrylic craft paints. I've used eggshell enamel which gives the set an old fashioned pale yellow look. A couple of coats and you'd never guess there's plastic underneath. I've also done the cookstove several times!

Marilyn

Chrysnbon kits:  In my opinion, the Chrysnbon kits are marvelous. Yes, they are polystyrene and some people would not use them because of that, but you can't beat them for fine detail and perfect scale. They were designed and marketed for people who could not afford to by the equivalent in wood or other materials so that they, too, could enjoy fine minis. I have used the Victorian bathroom in vignettes and they look great. In fact, it would be hard to duplicate the fine detail in ceramic or porcelain for this particular kit. I have used the "oak" kitchen pieces in my Victorian house and my Easter vignette and am happy with the result. You can certainly mix these kits with other pieces made of wood, keeping in mind the scale of all of them together. Go for it unless the plastic bothers you - but they certainly are anything but "tacky", so have no fear on that score.

Jeanette

Art Nouveau Furniture: In a pinch you can fake your own art nouveau. Decorate plain furniture ornamented with jewelry findings. Paint to meld the "ingredients" or consider them ormolu. You can order findings from JAF or prowl Goodwill/yard sales for likely bits. I just got some very nouveau large dangle earrings to disassemble and add to a commercial brass bed to glitz it up at the Goodwill for fifty cents. For ideas, see Patricia King's books; the Victorian furniture book has several nouveau designs.

Loretta Sniarowski

Art nouveau: The Art Nouveau furniture in Patricia King's books is cheap import furniture or odds and ends (buckles, hair ornaments, pizza props) assembled into furniture that she decorates with nouveau-style findings as grillwork on glass doors, galleries on chest and tabletops, drawer pulls, etc. Then she spray paints the whole thing to meld the elements together (can also use faux finishing techniques).

Loretta Sniarowski

Decorating Furniture: << Could you please elaborate (a little bit) on decorating plain furniture with jewelry findings? >>

I have decorated furniture this way, and you might want to try it if you don't have luck with jewelry findings. When I was very, very new to miniatures, I didn't know much about where to buy supplies or how to make things, so I began experimenting... and the following little trick worked very well for me.

I decide where I want the decoration on a piece of furniture. eg: across the wooden top of a sofa. After staining that piece, let it dry. Then I put lots of tacky glue where the design should be. Then I applied a small ball of Sculpey over the glue. Then I pushed a design into the clay. The tool for the design can be just about anything. I've used decorative buttons, jewelry, even the end of a hair Toni permanent roller. Just about anything that can leave an indentation in the clay. Remember to dust the "tool" with talcum before pushing into the clay. Remove the tool. Now use an Xacto knife to cut away any unwanted clay. Then bake in the oven until firm. The design will stay on the wood because you first glued under it. But if for some reason it doesn't, you can glue it on later. Because you baked the clay and the furniture piece together, the design will take on the correct form to fit perfectly onto the wood.

Now paint the design with acrylic paint in a color to match your wood stain. When dry, give the whole thing another coat of regular furniture stain.

Viola

Decorating Furniture: Another way of decorating furniture to give it an intricately carved look is to glue on pieces of the metallic doilies available in party goods stores. The plain paper ones do not hold up as well when wet by paint and glues. Some of you may also find fancy cut out metallic paper strips and shapes made for scrapbooking and other crafts in some of the mini stores and craft shops. I seem to remember seeing some at Earth and Tree.

Alice Zinn

Stucco: I stuccoed the exterior of my first dollhouse using the stucco power made for miniatures. I wanted a blue house, so instead of water I mixed blue paint with the stucco powder. I applied the stucco to the house using a round makeup sponge, which can be purchased several to a package at discount and drug stores. The stucco was easy to apply and looks great.

Mary in MS

Stucco: Use Bin 1-2-3 to cover the paint and then use stucco patch. I use this on a lot of my houses. It's quite easy to work with.

Norma Cevetello

Flagstone floor. I made a flag stone floor for my basement kitchen. The method is taken from Brian Nickolls' book, Making Dolls' Houses in one twelfth scale. The instructions are on pg 114 and the picture on page 107, for those of you who have the book. The flagstones are made from Formica or other plastic laminate (a whole big piece cost me R5 - about 50 p, i.e. For nothing! ANY design as you use the BACK.) You cut the pieces into 2 by 2 inches and then some into half, to make 2 by 1 inch. You first cut them straight (I used my mini circular saw) and then sand them to give an uneven edge. (I used my UNIMAT). Edges that are going to be along the front wall or back wall must be left with one straight edge. Stick the tiles in a random pattern using contact adhesive (I used Alcolin contact glue) with the *reverse* side of the laminate upwards. This is the kind of pattern ll=ll=ll but more random. So far, so good. Before you grout, seal with a layer of *satin* varnish. i.e. not shiny gloss but not matte either, sometimes called suede. Grout the gaps with spackle or Pollyfilla or what ever you call it, tinted with grey. (DEFINITELY do a test piece - I was only happy with my third colour grout.) I filled the gaps with spackle but when I took the damp sponge to wipe off the excess, it left almost no spackle in the gaps. Sooo. Leave it to dry even though it looks like you have ruined your beautiful floor. Next day, take a sanding block (I also like those sponge based ones) and sand off the excess grout, leaving the grout between the tiles. Finally varnish with another layer of satin varnish. It looks great. This makes a fairly uniform floor.

Barbara

Frank's Green Thumb, color stains, mossy furniture: I have been having fun on my 1/6th scale Frankenstein's flower & garden shop . I built the box this weekend and used the sponging technique for my walls described in the archives...I started with a lavender primer coat... then added blue and red tints to my bowl of paint...doing a "sponge job" after each color change...I finally added some sienna tint to the witches brew and the resultant burgundy-brown was my final layer. I have to say, I love how it looks...layered and deep and rich...this SS tip really worked great!

Then I stained my cornices and baseboards a reddish violet (1/3 parts WoodBurst violet woodstain mixed with 2/3rd parts Minwax natural stain)and installed them. The outside of the box is covered in fishscale cedar shingles. After the glue had dried (overnight) I mixed Woodburst green stain with the Minwax natural and stained the shingles. The result is like a fanciful dragon-green scale look....with the shingles all taking on different amounts of the color. That contrasting with the purples and violets of the interior gives me just the color contrast I wanted. I thought this would look great for a "Harry Potter" box too.

The real fun project was bashing some $1 furniture I bought at my local 99 cent store. I want some of the elements in the box to look as though moss is growing on them. I took a maple stained bench and used Plaid Crackle medium with an overcoat of light purple. Then I used foam railroad foliage to create my moss. I attached it with Sobo glue. I did the same to a chair, display case and trunk I am using in the room. It was a really easy and cheap project and I love the results.

John Medeiros

Tile Floor: Several rehab houses ago, I gave Emily's kitchen a fancy black and white checker board floor using a sheet each of black and white fun foam cut into inch squares. Cost a little over a dollar, was easy to lay, looked great. I'm not sure of its lifespan, since I've seen old foam furniture stuffing crumble to nothing, but you could make a paper template of your floor, lay the foam tiles on that, and lay the whole floor in your room without gluing down until you come up with a permanent solution. I've also thought fun foam would make great vintage linoleum with acrylic stenciling or spatter paint patterns. For a glossy vinyl flooring effect in modern mini homes, I've used Big Lots vinyl placemats the same way -- even cheaper at around 69 cents per mat!

Loretta Sniarowski

Order of Construction: I think that when you decide to finish the exterior of your house is a matter of personal preference. I usually do as much finishing of the exterior as possible, as soon as possible. But there are considerations in this decision. Things like whether you intend to put siding on, or if you'll use stucco, or brick, etc.

Normally, I will construct the exterior walls of the house, then apply whatever finish I intend to use on the outside. Then, I paint or wallpaper, put in the flooring in the interior, first story, except for finishing trims and windows. Next, I finish the UNDER side of the second floor (this will be the ceiling in the first floor), and install that piece.

Then, finish the walls of the second floor, install the flooring, and so on until all of the stories are complete. Likewise, I finish the underside of the roof, which is the ceiling in the top story of the house, before putting the roof itself on. I will normally hold off installing all windows and doors, and all trim pieces, (both exterior and interior) until the house is complete inside and out. It is normally the last thing I do. And, I paint and seal all trim before installing it.

However, at times, (like my current dh) that I will install the exterior trim ahead of schedule, to speed construction. But, never, never the windows. The reason for this is that I do not want to slip up and scratch the "glass" with a sharp tool, or otherwise damage the windows.

Sloan

House Painting: I always paint the exterior before I add any doors, windows or trim. I also paint the trim before I put it on the house. Sure makes life easier. Most important, in my opinion, is a good quality primer before you do any painting on any surface, then sanding. It gives a much nicer finish.

Suzi

Tile Floor: When I needed a tile floor for a room I was doing, I took acid free mat board the color of your floor, cut to the shape of the room. Then run an awl along a ruler lightly indenting your grout lines. Then go back over those lines with the colored pencil for your grout. You can then go over the top of it with either a mat finish Modpodge or gloss depending on your preference. I left mine free of either because I liked the look just the way it was. Make sure you get the fairly smooth mat board unless you want a slight texture in the finish, in which case you'll probably need to use the mod podge over the top of it.

Kathy

Tile Floor: For the vinyl type, see if you can find place mats with a finish that would work for your tiles. I have some solid color ones that I want to use for a checkerboard design. I am cutting them with a paper cutter for evenness. For ceramic type tile cut up place mats could also be used, but with space for grout in between. Or, paint thin wood with two or three coats of enamel paint and give it a gloss finish with varathane. I think the tiles should be cut out first, then painted, so the edges are nice and smooth. a thin strip of wood or cardboard can be used to space these, then grout. Lots of work, but I for one think DIY gives a more personal look.

Jacqui in Hilo, Hawaii

Floor: If you want to make floors that you can slide into your house (and out again) you could use very thin multiplex wood (I used 2 mm) or plain cardboard. Make it a tiny bit smaller then the place where you want it. Cover the missing bits with strips of wood (plinths?) that you glue on the walls. This also will hold the floor in place.

Marina