You can take a piece of plastic canvas and cut it up to make quite realistic ice cubes.

Mary in MS

Broken Dishes - Use washed broken pieces of eggshell. If you're talented with a tiny paint brush, paint your design on a large piece of the shell before you break it. Looks very realistic with flour (talc powder) scattered on the floor around the pieces.

Connie

Nuts on candy apples: I remember reading someplace that chopped up art gum eraser makes good chopped nuts for cakes and such.

Dani Rice

Nuts on candy apples: I made candy apples and used very fine sawdust for the nuts. They came out looking pretty good. I just put a dab of glue on my finger (white tacky glue) and rubbed it around the area on the apples I wanted to put "nuts" on then dipped it in the fine sawdust. It looks like nuts because of the color, too,

Dolly

Grated nuts - How about using a nutmeg and grating it with a nutmeg grater? The tiny pieces are multi-colored and would look just like miniature chopped nuts.

Jacqui Marlin

Baking Sheets: Many of the little 'pans' that makeup (blush, shadow, etc.) come in make great baking sheets.

Maureen in St. Albert

Candy Stores of the 1940's and 1950's - Submitted by MANY SmallStuff members -

Just wanted to pass on this web site - www.oldtimecandy.com

Shoestring licorice - Peppermint sticks - Coconut "bacon slices" - Flying saucers -;

Jawbreakers - Gum: HOT cinnamon gum that came in two forms - either a large (hollow) gumball or as a "hot dog" that was about 2 ½ inches long and about a half inch wide. Sour grape gumballs like the cinnamon ones. The cinnamon gum was bright shiny red and the sour grape was shiny purple. Both types of gum made your tongue and lips turn color - - thus freaking out moms everywhere:) - Pink bubble gum - Bubble gum shaped like cigars and it came in yellow, pink or blue. They had little cigar labels on them. - Double Bubble and Black Cat gum -

Watermelon slices, they looked like mini lengthwise half slices -"Kits" which were 4 square (less than an inch) taffy like candies that were individually wrapped in the appropriate color wax paper (yellow for banana, brown for chocolate) and then they were wrapped in clear cellophane. - Wax bottles filled with colored sugary syrup water - Fancy chocolates...kind you'd find in a regular drug store box like Whitman's, only loose - Little Milky Ways - Unwrapped orange slices - Spearmint (leaf) slices - Licorice pipes (black) - Chocolate with white dotted thingies on top...non-parereils - Pink peppermint slices - Loose Necco wafers - Tootsie Rolls - Te ugly sort of Vampire teeth - Orange 'peanuts' that were almost pure sugar - Strips of white paper (about 2"wx18"l) that had rows of small dots of candy (mostly pink) that were 3 across and the length of the strip - Candy "cigarettes" - Chocolate babies - Peppermint sticks - Blue mints - Party pastel mints - Chunk chocolate - Rock candy - Honey drops - Nougats filled with jell fruit - Starlight mints - Jell centered mints - Puffy white mints - Lollipops - Chocolate layered truffles - Kisses - Marshmallow peanuts - "Chicken Dinners" a really curious item. Definitely tasted like peanuts so why the name? - Sour apple and clove candy sticks - Bullseyes! They were caramel around a chalky white center - Jelly beans - Jujube jujy fruits - French peanuts (had a hard prickly shell around the peanuts) - Fruit slices (red, yellow, orange, green) like half-circles, transparent and with some white for segments so it looked like citrus slices - Candy lipstick (hot pink toffee-like stuff half-wrapped in foil - Candy necklaces, like Sweetarts on a string - Ice cream cones with marshmallow "ice cream" in a regular pointy sugar cone - Chocolate paper rolled cigarettes - Wax pop bottles filled with juice. (Bite the top off of the bottle, suck out the liquid, and chew the wax.) - Licorice babies - Marshmallow bananas and strawberries - Lik'm'aid straws and round wax containers about 5" long and about 3/4" thick filled with sweet liquid - Railroad Sticks? They were a creamy color with a darker swirl through the stick (not like a peppermint stick but inside) - Jars of different flavour sticks, spearmint, cherry, root beer, lemon, to name a few. - Horehound drops - Rootbeer barrels - BBBats - Mary Janes - Salt water taffy in pastel shades.

Many SmallStuff members

Baking Sheets: What I am using for fine metal for cookie sheets etc., is the sheet metal that our newspaper uses for the small weekly papers they print up. They charged me 10 cents a piece. I think I got 10. Prices will vary! Not the large sheets they use for full size papers. Just the small ones. These are about 2' by 3' and about 1/32 thick. The printed side, where the ink was used, usually has some nice news/gossip/etc about the town that is running this newspaper. But the other side is shiny and new! Any kind of scissors (not the Ginghers) will cut it and any type of pliers will bend it. Be careful though, the cut edge is very sharp. One sheet will do many mini projects! You will have plenty. I use them for lots of things not just bakeware. Just go the newspaper place and ask for the small metal sheets. Unless of course your newspaper recycles everything before you can get your hands on it. You might have to ask in advance for them to save you a couple.

Marcie

Mexican Food: Barbara Black in Albuquerque makes the most wonderful Mexican food! My very favorite miniature is a little blue basket of tiny sopaipillas (a little puff of deep-fried pastry, dusted with sugar. You dip it in honey to eat it). She also makes cactus and scores of other things, Southwestern, etc. Email address: barbara@bmini.com. Snail mail: Barbara's Miniatures, Inc., 3305 La Sala Del Oeste NE, Albuquerque, NM 87111. Phone: 505-296-1423.

Linda Peterson in TN

Mexican Food: There is a seller on eBay that has wonderful mini Mexican food. Go to http://www.eBay.com/ and then the dollhouse miniature section and search using the key word Azcraft. My sister was able to get some very reasonably and it is pretty realistic. Just wait until you see a set with a good price and watch it. All of their Mexican food items repeat on eBay, so there is no need to get in a bidding war. I have also have seen some Mexican food in Hobby Builder Supply Catalog. It may be on their web site too http://www.miniatures.com or you could at the least request a catalog as they are free.

Linda in Georgia

Clay Food Books: Here is a website that sells 2 GREAT books for making clay mini foods. http://www.homestead.com/lainies/Lainies.html

Mandy

Marshmallows - I have two ways that make nice mushy ones. Either use a 1/8" hole punch and punch them out of white craft foam, or use that Crayola Air Dry clay in white, that air dries and still stays soft. It is great for lots of foods, especially breads!

Alice Zinn

Candy: For all you candy makers, check out this website for ideas. It's got nostalgia candy stuffies as well as modern. http://www.candybarrel.com/

Anita Myers, Maryland

Thanksgiving Dinner: Turkeys come in small, medium and large anyway, a 1-1/2 inch turkey would be the equivalent of 18 inches and would fall into the "medium" category, I would think. Also, the pie is about one inch across in my beer bottle caps and that would be a large pie, but not so large it would be out of scale. Most pie tins are 9 or l0 inch diameter but I've seen 12 inch ones and have some of my own,only they are Pyrex glass type. Have you made mini pumpkin pies? I'm hoping to get some done for my Thanksgiving table.

Susan at the WRH

MAKING PEACHES:

To make about 4 whole peaches (or the equivalent amount of slices), mix One pea-sized ball of yellow polymer clay, one pea-sized ball of translucent clay, and a speck of red clay about the size of a sesame seed. Blend well; this should give you a nice peach color. If necessary, add a little more red clay until you like the color--go slowly, as a TINY bit of red clay goes a long way. I can't tell you how many oranges I've ended up making, instead of peaches, because I overdid the orange color!

For whole peaches: Make a small ball the size of the peach you want. Using the side of a needle, carefully indent one side of the peach. (Make a shallow dent from the "north pole" to the "south pole" of the peach.) Pinch the "south pole" into a slight point. Gently press the sides of the "dent" back together, if necessary--you want just a hint of a "crack," as seen on a real peach. Poke the tip of a toothpick into the "north pole" of the peach--this is the little indentation where the stem would go. Repeat with the rest of the clay; bake.

When the peaches are baked, use a little artists' pastel to give the peach it's characteristic blush. I like to use oil pastels, but they are a little messier than chalk pastels, so here are instructions for both--use whichever you prefer. For oil pastels, rub a little red onto the tips of your index finger and thumb and touch the baked peach on either side of the dent; think of leaving just a smudgy fingerprint on each side. Allow to dry and finish with a matte coating. For chalk pastels, rub the pastel on a piece of paper to make some powder, then use a VERY SOFT artist's brush, or a Q-tip, to dust a little powder on each side of the dent in the peach. Finish with a matte coating.

For sliced peaches: Use the same clay mixture as for the whole peaches. Roll very small balls--about 1/4" in diameter (I'm guessing, because I don't have a ruler handy.) Pinch one side of each ball between your index finger and thumb. You are essentially flattening the ball into a wedge. Use the side of a toothpick to indent a space on the flat side of the wedge (for where the pit would have been--get a can of sliced peaches for a model, if necessary. They also make a good snack.) Bend each peach slice into a gentle curve, if desired. Bake. Glue into a dish and coat heavily with clear nail polish or a glossy varnish, allowing the varnish to drip in between the slices. That's how you get that syrupy, juicy look.

Celeste

Bread: The bread is made out of Crayola Model Magic pressed into mini bread pans cutting a slice in the tope like real bread. Let it sit over night and remove from pan. Color with chalk pastels. Use a light coat of Mod Podge to keep pastels from rubbing off. Let that dry and use a very sharp blade to slice thin pieces of bread. Model magic can be used to make many sliceable breads, cakes, cookies etc.

Anna Philpot in Georgia

Fruits: Try this site: http://hometown.aol.com/kimsminis/kims2.html They will have everything you might need. Reasonable prices and great quality.

Linc Leedy

Thanksgiving Dinner: Turkeys can be 12 pounds or 24. Chances are if it looks right on your 1:12 platter the size is fine. Most of my large (24 pound) turkeys are a little more than an inch.

Pie in a bottle cap is pushing it. Most pies are 8" - 9" or 10 " and a bottle cap would be at least an inch and therefore 12"- If you are having a big crowd (lol) and have a fairly large size table the 12" pie might work but often it can throw off the scale for your whole dinner. Try making your pie smaller and if you are using fimo and have no pan you can always paint the bottom silver to look like a pan or leave the "crust" and serve it on a plate

Gail Spector

To make shredded coconut: Make block of polymer clay in the appropriate color (white or off white for plain coconut, tan for toasted coconut, pink for pink-tinted coconut, etc.). Bake. Then use a razor blade to shave off bits. This looks great sprinkled over cakes, especially over caulking "icing".

Celeste in Boston

Cabbage/lettuce leaves: I made tea sets that looked like they were made from cabbage leaves and the technique I use would work for lettuce also.

Condition all the clay you are going to use until very soft and flexible. Mix equal amounts of green and translucent clay together with a little bit of yellow until they start to marbleize. You don't want the colors to be totally mixed but you don't want huge streaks either; finely marbled is want you want to aim for. Pinch off a tiny amount and place in a piece of plastic wrap that you have previously crumpled and top with another piece of plastic. Now press down with your finger until you get a very thin piece of clay. Peel the clay from the wrap and place on a baking tile or pan lined with baking parchment and then use a toothpick to flute the edges to look like lettuce. Bake at the recommended temp and time.

Donna in Montana