Pirates Pub: How about a carved bow sprit of a beautiful woman attached to a false column against a wall. I seem to remember seeing one somewhere. Maybe one of our fellow shipmates knows the whereabouts of one. How about some ratlines attached from the floor to a loft instead of a ladder. The loft could hold some barrels of ale and maybe a chest of pieces of eight, pearls, and silver and gold booty hidden in the corner. I can see this string going on for a while. What fun!

Spencer

Pirates Pub: Your Pirates Pub sounds wonderful. I'd love to offer hints for accessories but I see the people first! I made myself laugh out loud as I envisioned a bunch of drunken rowdy pirates( many of the missing various body parts) <G>having their way with the boozy, wild-haired, loose wenches! LOL One of the pirate's collapsed from too much rum and his parrot is taking a bit of the brew.

Pearl Jordan

Pirates Pub: In your pub I would have a shelf or barrel where all 'hooks' have to be deposited prior to entry. That minimizes the possibility of bar room fights ending in fatal wounds. What about a pegleg stand? Sorta like an umbrella stand for wet umbrellas but instead it could be for wet peglegs (you know - wooden legs). A Parrot Refreshment Centre where tired parrots can perch and get refreshments? A Stolen Booty deposit box? An eye patch refurbishing service? A hat stand with bandanna style scarves hanging on it in the corner of the room? Instead of a bucking bull in the other corner - a Plank? Women?

Trace, Melbourne Australia

Pirate's Pub... if you've ever played Lucas Arts' Monkey Island, they have great ideas for pirates, including a pub. The pub is right on the pier, and when you walk in the door, there are several round tables & chairs, ship's wheel chandeliers, etc. Then there is a red velvet curtain, almost like a stage curtain, with Very Important Pirates sitting at a long table, next to the kitchen door. Scruffy dog, fireplace in the corner, grungy cook, peg legs, eye patches, etc. Lots of pewter mugs, etc. Sounds like lots of fun!

Cindy in MA

Pirate's Pub: The first thing that springs to mind is a trollop or two! Pieces of eight (gold coins), a pegleg, a hook, those green glass balls with the rope netting around them (floats), pewter tankards, sawdust on the floor (for unfortunate spills), shark jaws on the wall, netting, cutlasses, a treasure chest, Blind Pew, phew! A good idea would be to rent some pirate theme videos. Yellowbeard is a favourite of mine, then there is Cutthroat Island, and the Muppet Treasure Island, and then there are the classic; ones with Errol Flinn (a good Aussie boy!)! But for REAL style, you can't beat The Dread Pirate Roberts and his pirate ship Revenge1

Fran in Melbourne

Pirate's Pub: Pewter tankards, spittoons on the floor, buxom wenches serving beer. Oil lamps swinging from the beams, maybe two pirates having an arm wrestling competition. A thin mongrel, a few bones on the floor. A skeleton with a noose round its neck swinging from a beam. A lobster pot ,model ships, a ship's figurehead. Bottles of Rum, a dagger lying on a table. Jar of tobacco on the bar.

Jay from Rugby U.K

Pirate's Pub: Hubby had some great ideas...how about a Jolly Roger banner? And maybe a ships wheel? A bust of a mermaid off a ship's front? Not to mention shells,nets, and wenches...

Crystal

French Furniture With Caning: If you want mass-produced furniture, Bespaq has a variety of French styles. Some of the pieces have inserts that simulate cane. If you want beautifully made handcrafted furniture with real caning, get in touch with Nicole Walton-Marble nmarble@srpynet.com. Nicole also teaches her caning technique at shows occasionally. Nicole's French furniture kits are available on Renee Kutcher's site at http://www.miniaturefloors.com/artisan.htm

Judith Adams

Chinese Room: To the person who is interested in making a Chinese room... If you are going to make a distinctly Chinese room, which is going to be in China, it will definitely be different from a Chinese room in a more western surrounding. The latter would have meant that the Chinese room will have details which would have been influenced by Chinese stuff or culture and other details of the more western sort of decoration. In there earlier eras, the Tang, Song, Ming and etc Dynasties, they are ruled by the ethnic Han people in China. These dynasties spanned from AD 618 to AD 1644. Then comes along the Manchu people, who conquered China and ruled till Dr Sun Yat Sen set up the Republic of China at 1911. Then comes along the communists. For a Chinese room in the Manchu era(In this latter part of China history, which is also when the European countries started to take advantage of the weak emperors and government in China, which also resulted in lots of foreigners entering China(whether it were missionaries, opium traders or travelers)) in China, it is definitely not as flamboyant or and richly decorated as the Victorian era. You should be doing up a bedroom, right? You could divide the room into two parts, if it is possible, separated by a pink drape hung on a semi circle oriental looking wooden frame for those richer young ladies. It would surely consisted of a kang (a sort of a Chinese bed) and a dressing table in the inner chamber. In the outer chamber, a round mahogany table with round stools and display cabinet of some sort. Some scrolls with Chinese calligraphy would help. And don't forget the red seal mark on the bottom right hand corner of the scroll. The walls should be rather bare, not pink, or wallpapered, but again, the effect would not be nice. For ladies' shoes, if the lady living in that room is a Han, then the shoes could be small(in actual size, it is only three-inches so you scaled that down!) However, the cruel practice is not fashionable with the ruling Manchus. The men in that area would have shaved half of their hair away, leaving only a pigtail hanging down to show allegiance for the Manchu emperor. The richer males would have round caps that fitted the scalp perfectly with a piece of rectangular jade on the front of the cap. For clothes, never imperial yellow(bright yellow) as it is truly reserved the emperor only. Perhaps a demure pink or pale green for the young lady. Only women in imperial Manchu court(the Forbidden City in Beijing) wear headdresses so it would not be relevant for the typical room. For make-up on the dressing table, the lipstick would have been just a piece of red paper folded in half, which the young lady would applied by pressing her lips onto the paper. other powders are arranged neatly on the dressing table by the maid in small boxes. Since you are doing late Manchu era, then maybe you could included some western stuff lying about. Round, gold spectacles would be useful for poor-sighted Han or Manchu courtiers. They could be bestowed upon by the ruling emperor, in an act of reward. The official would have been mighty pleased!! For Japanese, tables are low, with no chairs, merely cushions. Lots of bamboo mats. They sleep on a futon. They have sliding doors. Chinese houses have double doors that opened. Women wear kimonos, a big difference with Chinese ladies. Japanese words may look similar to Chinese characters but Chinese calligraphy will appear more complicated while Japanese consists of some Chinese characters with other Jap. characters with simpler, concise strokes. I love Chinese furniture too, and I got a few in miniature, though I do not even know where to put it!!!!!! Bought some really exquisite mini Chinese vases and urns, plus a couple of the blue porcelain barrel-shaped stools! They come up to quite of money but I think the workmanship is great! All these are quite distinctly Chinese, so for a Chinoiserie effect, I think you can still keep the display cabinets with the array of vases and books, wallpaper the walls and maybe add in some other western influence.

Jaclyn, Singapore

Biblical Themed Minis for Children: Treasure chests: In Matthew 6:21 it says "where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." So why not fill the little chests with items representing spiritual gifts, or daily blessings, like: photos of parents or other family members, favorite food item (to represent thankfulness for plenty), a pillow or blanket in favorite color (to represent thankfulness for home and comforts like bed), toys, animal to represent pet, cross, flower, star, book; any item that might represent something special.

Paulette in IN

Decorating Ideas: Dolores from Illinois wrote:  I have a beautiful San Francisco dollhouse that my husband just finished.  It's already for decorating.  The sad part is that we live in Illinois.

If you have questions about types of furnishings appropriate for a particular period like Victorian (or anything else you can possibly think of), the best thing you can do for yourself is to learn to make good use of all the Search Engines available to all of us lucky people with Internet access.  For example: I went to my favorite SE, http://www.google.com/   clicked on the "Images" tab at the top, and typed in Victorian furniture.  The result was 2,160 images (on many pages) of rooms and individual pieces of furniture.   You can click on any image and be taken to the site where that image originated.  A week later (joke), after you have explored all the images and sites, you should have all the knowledge and ideas you need to furnish your San Francisco house.

I think search engines are one of the MOST valuable resources we have.  I use google at least once a day for something or other.

Bobbie Schoonmaker

Regency Fashions website: I don't know if this has already been sent in or not but here's an interesting site on Regency fashions. It's not a mini site but the outfits would be great for ideas on dressing a Regency mini lady. She links to a lot of different aspects of dress in this time frame. http://hal.ucr.edu/~cathy/reg3.html   

Jean in Maine

Candle sconces: Couldn't resist doing a bit or research for you about how high the candle sconces should be, so I contacted the International Guild of Lamp researchers and here is their replies:

Alex Marrack (alexmarrack@aol.com) wrote: it varies, there is no fixed height. Both gas and oil lamps tend to be fixed so that one can reach the taps, or wick winder, but not always. In the domestic setting they are often lower than in public buildings, where it is necessary to keep them out of the way of being walked into or tampered with. the only thing you can say is that the lamp was always far enough from the ceiling to avoid the fire risk. with candles this could be as close as, say, two feet from the candle cup. Most oil lamps need two feet from the top of the chimney, gas lamps ditto, though the later mantle lamps produce less heat and can be put higher. I have a house built in 1807 and fitted with gas in about 1860. upstairs in the bedrooms the brackets were fixed, one per room, at one side of the fireplace, at about four feet from the floor, (this in a room that is nine feet six inches high). downstairs there were two brackets, one either side of the fire and about five feet up, plus a pendant in the centre of the room. a wall bracket placed over a desk might be very low down. .

On Jan. 07, 2002 @ 20:27, Fil Graff (fgraff@epix.net) wrote:

Non-electric Wall lamps are generally about adult head-high on a wall, as they have to be LIT and occasionally tended. Head high in this period would be 5 feet or a bit...Wilt Chamberlain's Grandpa might have lived in one of these homes, but he didn't have Wilt's height or reach. A seven footer in those days was probably Dad standing on a stool! Electrickeral lights don't need tending, so they can go anywhere in a wall.

Just be sure the Dining Room chandelier is high enough not to scorch the occupant's hair while at table.

By the way my house (shell) builder has put the light cable channels 6ins up the walls in 10 ins public rooms.

Pauline Mansfield UK

Furniture plans/architectural questions: I have found this site very helpful if you have questions on any types of old buildings, furniture or what color to paint different periods, thought I'd share it. http://architecture.about.com

Joanne, Calgary Miniature Club

Prairie wagon: The prairie wagon or schooner was basically a covered wagon used to transport household goods so almost anything that you would find in a home could be found in a wagon including upright pianos. They had to plan and pack the wagon very carefully to leave the things that they would be using accessible during the trip. Things such as trunks with their clothing, cooking utensils, etc., would be near the rear of the wagon. Also, their bedding would be rolled and near the rear. Often they would be spread under the wagon at night to sleep.

Rusty in Ky

Prairie Wagon: My husband used to work at a place called Homestead National Monument, which is dedicated to people who settled the West under the Homestead Act of 1863. The Homestead Act was in 1863, but not much land was settled until after the Civil War was over in 1865. By the early 1870s most of the good land was taken, so that was the period of heaviest migration, although people used covered wagons for travel until the turn of the century. If you like the Danish immigrant idea, the 1860s-1880s would be the period most immigrants traveled. Other settlers had started before that, though, but the land was free after the Homestead Act. Anyway, I asked him and he rattled these things off the top of his head.

Farmers crossed the prairie in canvas covered farm wagons called Prairie Schooners. These were smaller than Conestogas (freight wagons) so there wasn't room for much. In general you would take only necessities that you would need along the way or could not find once you got to where you were going. Flour barrel, water barrel, basic cooking gear, dried food such as jerky, bacon, salt pork (Preserved meats), hardtack some livestock feed, tools for farming and cabin building, but real basic like shovel, ax, saw. Rifle and or shotgun,Bible, quilt, blankets, guide book if your were smart, patent medicines, rope. Sometimes there would be "luxuries" like a trunk full of clothes, and possibly but not likely a sewing machine, heirlooms, maybe a few pieces of furniture but these things were often dumped along the way, especially when they reached the Rocky Mountains. Musical instruments were popular, but it would be realistic to have smaller, lighter instruments like a fiddle or accordion. Some tried to bring organs or harpsichords, but as I mentioned few large heavy items made it past the mountains unless they were necessities. A grease bucket and water bucket may be hanging underneath the wagon. Mostly simple and basic items, because these were poor people. Many immigrants traveled along the trails, so it would be quite proper to make this a Danish immigrant family from the 1840s to 1880s. One good book you can use as a reference is the Prairie Traveler by Randolph Marcy. This was the guidebook many immigrants used and contains a list of suggested supplies. It was the best. It's available in reprint and you can order it from Amazon.com for less than $9.00. Everett Dick's Conquering the Great American Desert would also be a good reference. Amazon.com lists this at $10.95.

Jeri Moriarty

Prairie Wagon: are you talking about a Conestoga wagon? What you put into your wagon depends on whether you want to depict the wagon before the pioneers tried to get over the mountains or after. I grew up in Colorado, and read about how the families from back East would load up all their family's best furniture to take to their new homes, but once they got on the mountain passes, the strain of trying to pull those heavy wagons up over the Rocky Mountains was too hard on the oxen. Many a beautiful chest of drawers, desk or heavy table were jettisoned along the road, because the load was too heavy to pull over the mountain. I think a lot of the contents would have been utilitarian. You would have found suitcases or trunks, some bedding (blankets and pillows), sacks of flour and sugar, tins of lard, spare rope, cooking utensils, a washtub and washboard, a kerosene lamp or two, candles, some stools or chairs, and perhaps a light-weight table. Usually a large barrel of water was attached to the wagon, too.

George Held

Prairie Wagon: I'm not a world-class expert but I would think that first you have to decide how far they were traveling. If the people were going to the Ohio-Illinois, Indiana area they could carry more "personal" items than if they were crossing the Rocky Mountains. I'm currently building a log cabin that will be in the Midwest somewhere, so they'd have room for a few favorite pieces of furniture. Crossing the mountains usually meant leaving behind all the "extras" that took up space & weight. The trails over the mountains were littered with goodies left behind to lighten the load. (I'm an antique dealer and the very thought makes me drool!!) They'd have lots of good sturdy boxes & barrels, essential tools & metal objects, coffee pot, pots & pans, etc. as these things would be hard to make in the wilderness, blacksmiths were few & far between, but most men could handle basic repairs.

I've also read about them carrying entire trees strapped to the outside of the prairie wagons, as crossing the great plains, the only other option for fuel was buffalo chips. (Side note: My mom was raised on the Colorado plains, & gathering buffalo chips was one of her daily chores. They were still plentiful in the 1920's, long after the buffalo had all but disappeared.)They would have to carry seed for crops with them, enough food to make it through a winter if crossing the Rockies, possibly a spinning wheel, (although wool can be spun from a weight). One or two books would be tucked away, definitely a Bible & possibly one or two others. Blankets would be needed for travel, as well as arrival, and plenty of sturdy clothing. Depending on the time frame, possibly a photo of loved ones left behind. The essential cow tied on behind the wagon, and possibly chickens in wooden coops on the back tail of the wagon.

It's a fun exercise, to figure out how many skills they'd have to have to make it in the wilderness, shoe-maker, candlemaker, builder, blacksmith, woodcarver, soapmaker, weaver, spinner, seamstress. How many of us would have "what it takes" these days? I know I'd be standing on a porch in St. Louis, waving goodbye, and shouting "So long, suckers!!"

SBEGLEY

Pirates Plunder: First, you have to decide on a period in history. I mean, if you want a modern pirate then he should be plundering computers (laptops!) and dvd players! If he's from the 1500's say, (with swash-buckling boots and yo-ho-ho hat etc) then some of the most valuable items are things we take for granted today: velvet fabrics in rich colours, satin brocades, fine linen, Belgian lace, well honed knives, Chinese pottery, sugar, salt & pepper - in fact spices of all sorts were terribly valuable. They are what led to the discovery of North America by the Europeans after all!

Linda, Cardiff, Wales

Pirates Plunder: I have some suggestions for pirate booty! In pirate days, anything of value would have been sent by ship as the cheapest and fastest method of transport. Here's a list of possibilities: - From China, there would have been porcelain, gold, tea, tobacco, pearls and silk (!EXTREMELY valuable - people were put to death for trying to smuggle out silkworms; it is said that a Chinese woman (who I think married an Italian guy) finally succeeded in smuggling a few worms out in her hair, and thus silk production was brought to Italy, where it was jealously guarded for many more years). - From India and the middle east, spices of all kinds (so valuable in the middle ages that a housewife guarded her spices in a locked cabinet) and fabrics (cotton?). Beautiful carpets from the middle east and western Asia. Fine horses from Arabia. - From the Mediterranean region, casks of olive oil and of wine, grain, figs, dates, iron. - From the northern regions, lumber, tin, furs, beer and wool cloth (felted wool cloth was also valuable, thus the rise of the Flemish and English wool industries). - Books were also valuable - religious volumes were often bound in wood or metal covers, embellished with gold and gems. And while we're at it, any other religious items, as the Church was the greatest source of wealth of all - gold crosses, chalices, books, paintings, embroidered altar cloths, etc. - Pillaged statuary from anywhere - Asia, Egypt, Greece, Rome. - And of course, weapons and ammo from everywhere to everywhere!

Graceanne