Quarter 1/4 inch resources: Pamela Scott Miniatures does wonderful quarter inch in kits and ready to buy. You should also look up Sally Manwell. Her address is 902 Second Street-Liverpool, NY 13088 E-mail HDManwell@worldnet.att.net She had great dishes with cups and saucers in quarter scale at Toms show in Lauderdale.

Jan

Quarter 1/4 scale miniature web sites: Here are some of my favorite web pages for quarter scale minis:

Pam Scott's quarter scale miniature page. Lots of kits for sale, tips and one of a kind items.

http://members.aol.com/daisy21/pam/index.html

Misti's Quarter scale mini's

http://www.evansville.net/~mistidn/Index.html

B J Miniatures - quality Quarter Scale miniature furniture and accessories.

http://www.bjminis.com/

Betty Turmon

To all the brave people who love quarter inch: There are some wonderful kits put out by Debbie Young, (Young at Heart, 11468 Bloomfield Rd. Nevada City,CA. 95959) I just finished a doll trunk with shops all made from her kits. You will be thrilled by her work.

Rhoda

Great book: A number of times I have seen posts asking for a good book on making dollhouse furniture. Most of the ones I have seen posted here are quite good, but the best one I have seen so far is The Art of Making Furniture in Miniature by Harry W. Smith, it has good sections on working with all tools, types of woods, and start to finish patterns and instructions for some sophisticated furniture. This is not for a complete beginner unless you have experience building other things.

Jacqui Marlin

Shaker furniture book: Try Shaker Miniature Furniture by C. Rubin for making shaker furniture (obviously!). It's an older book i believe. The illustrations are all in black and white, but it looked very interesting and got me wanting to make some. The call number for it at our library is 745.5923 RUB.

Laura Bentley

Craftsman and Deco: Someone had asked a bit ago about Craftsman and Deco items. Has anyone seen the wonderful booklets put out by Peter Westcott (an architect) in Arizona? He has Mission, Shaker, SW, Deco, Colonial etc. Dollhouse Miniatures did an article giving some of his plans about 2 years ago I think...very nice detail and well thought out ...definitely worth securing. His address is:6256 N. 85th Street, Scottsdale, Az. 85250

Another great source of furniture ideas (for the DIY) was the Scale Cabinetmaker now defunct, but the last I knew he still puts out some collections, such as Kitchens (which, by the way has plans for a 30's kitchen), Toys, different time periods, etc. This magazine even had a sleigh which I'm making for my customized Morgan "Jack" and a wonderful buggy. There is even a Victorian grand piano! They could be purchased from Dorsett Publications, 630 Depot Street, P O Box 2038 Christianburg, VA 24073

Ana Gerard

Chicken coop: A local artisan makes a kitchen hutch with a chicken coop on the bottom. He told me that it's a copy of actualpieces and they're called Irish kitchen dressers and I have a couple on my website. http://www.spminiatures.com/csfurn.htm

Carol

House of Miniatures: According to their ad in DHM, the HOM Collector Society's web site is http://www.miniatures.com,/p>

Their mailing address is in Atlanta, GA.

Nutshell News published a number of kit-bashing articles over the years, many of them by the late Ron Benson, and several HOM kits were featured.

Kathy Watkins

Very Thin Glass: For those of you who have requested it, I now have the 6oz glass on my web site http://www.dollhouse-miniatures.com under Catalog>Bldg. Components>Windows and Door>Components. This is .027" thick (thinner than veneer). This is thin enough to use in the doors of your china hutch (in 1/12 scale). The next size up at about .040" is micro glass.

Tom Berkner

Desk: The Bombay Co. Furniture Store has a beautiful desk and chair set for 1/12 scale. I worked for them and sold many of the full sized models to lawyers so I will vouch for them. If you can't find a store in your area they have a web site at www.bombayco.com

Lori

Source for Contemporary Furnishings: One site that looks very good is Sdk Miniatures: http://www.miniature.net/sdkminiatures

Readymades and a number of kits, three scales, and reasonable prices.

Mary

Geoffrey Bishop: Geoffrey now has a web site. http://www.woodwwworks.com/

Anne Gerdes

Bespaq? There is a shop here in Charleston, SC, that carries the largest line of Bespaq in the country (according to Pit, himself!) She is on automatic shipment of 2 sets of everything he does! It is Miniature Memories at

http://www.memrees.com

She also carries lots of one of a kind artisan pieces. You can find Jack Cashmere and our own Alice Zinn!

Gayle Taylor

Bespaq: We also have one of the largest selections of Bespaq in the country. We've carried it for years and have an entire wall showcase jam packed. If you're looking for anything give me a try!!

http://www.nancysdollhouses.com

Nancy

Mattress sizes (in inches):

Bassinette 13 x 28
Sm. Crib 23 x 46
Crib 27 x 52
Single 39 x 75
Double 54 x 75
Queen 60 x 80
King 76 x 80

Joanne in Maryland

Mini-wax now makes a pen with their product in it. This would be great for getting around banisters, wood furniture, etc.

Billie

Kitchen Appliance Enamel: To get the appliance look to wood I have used the patching plaster in the little tubs. It is soft and all mixed for you. I use a credit type card and smooth the plaster on the wood very carefully and in a thin layer. Sand until smooth then do it again, and again. I paint it with a Enamel paint from the train and model car shop.

Billie Joy Eller

Kitchen Appliance Enamel: There are several ways to get a shiny finish on your furniture. One I've used was suggested by the old NutShell News. Cut a piece of white Contact Paper to cover the front of your appliance with a bit to overlap. Fold and smooth the edges onto the sides and top of the item, and then cover the other surfaces with Contact Paper, bringing it to about 1/16 inch of the edge. The second and third would be to apply several coats of Ceram Coat paint, sanding with a crumpled paper bag between coats, and if you are not satisfied with the gloss, topping it off with Future floor wax.

Dani Rice, in Bradshaw

Papa san or "round" chair is pretty easy to fake out of scraps. Materials: cheap woven straw hat (thrift shop), pizza-lid prop (preferably Y-top, but "table"-top will work), acrylic paint, tacky glue, fine upholstery braid or twine, fabric and stuffing optional. Tools: scissors, paintbrush, tennis ball, mesh fruit bag, twist-tie. Cut a 4-5 inch diameter circle out of the hat crown. Soak it in warm water till pliable and smooth it around a tennis ball. Wrap in mesh fruit bag and twist-tie in place. Meanwhile, turn your pizza prop upside down, snip about a 1/4 inch taper out of the leg ends (high end on outside, short end on inside). Paint to match wicker, faux bamboo, or wrought iron. Once the round seat piece is dry, remove from wrap and trim down so edges are even and the size looks to scale. Run a thin line of glue along the raw edge and cover with braid or twine (replacement yoyo twine at Wal-Mart). Dab tacky glue on pizza prop leg ends and pop seat on top, slightly angled, so "back" is a bit higher than "front." Let dry and you have a papa san. Add a seat cushion if you want - just cut a couple of fabric circles, stuff, stitch shut, and glue into chair. (I came up with this to use up the crown top after I used the rest of the crown with woven-in pattern as a sofa and arm chair.)

Loretta Sniarowski

Kitchen Appliance Enamel: I remember reading that Pat and Noel Thomas use enamel touch-up paint to get the enamel look on the Chrysnbon bath fixtures after painting them flat black. This might work for you too.

Sue Helm, in Dallas, TX