Clay: In Bluette Meloney's classes we used Paper Clay for tiles and it is fabulous. Roll it out to about a quarter inch, put glue on surface you are tiling, place it on the surface, use a stylus of some typed to draw your lines delineating the tiles, keep wiping the stylus and sort of round or soften your corners to make the tiles look real and not manufactured. Let it dry (overnight is best), then dry brush some color on it. For terra cotta use Georgia Clay or similar color and give it a base coat. Then dry brush a little lighter shades (go for brown or gray palette but stay in which ever you choose) Adding those additional colors gives it a depth you wouldn't believe.

You can get a stone effect by using grays, ending up dry brushing a bit of white lightly on the edge surface of the tile, probably on the same side on all the tiles, because it gives the effect of light on them. If anyone who has ever been in class with me is reading this you are probably rolling on the floor by now, since I am the student who always has a million questions and needs help and here I am giving advice....but that's what a good teacher gives you the confidence to do!!!!

Molly Cromwell

Dragons for a Dollhouse: Felicity Price has some excellent dragon needlepoint designs in her book "Needlepoint 1/12 Scale". She has coordinated rugs, pictures, cushions, etc, all with dragons. Not all the designs in the book are dragons. It is an excellent book for anyone who likes miniature needlepoint, as it has many different design schemes/themes, such as teddy bears, nautical, Chinese, flowers, etc., and each has several coordinated items to carry out the theme.

As for other dragons for your house, I would try Chinese gift shops, or even museum-type shops, where you might find a really small one made of jade. Or, look for earrings or charm bracelet charms that are dragons. Do a search for "dragon" on all of ebay, and who knows what you might find.

Jonathan in Israel

Grout for marble floor- I put one inch tile on the floor of my mini kitchen and bath. I used the tile adhesive to glue it down ( the real stuff) and mixed up real grout for it. Since the mini floor doesn't get wet, the grout stays white too.

Teresa from Canada

Marble tile grout: Get the lightweight spackling from the hardware store, and wear a rubber glove. Stir the spackling, dip your gloved finger in water then scoop up a bit of spackling and "smoosh" between the tiles. When you are done "smooshing" wipe the entire floor with a wet towel. Smooth over any disturbed grout lines with a wet gloved finger. If you used grey marble, the white spackling will do. For colored marble, tint a bit of grout with waterbased paint and stir very well (make more than enough for the job as you don't want to be trying to match the color halfway through) As your dolls will not be walking on the tiles and spreading dirt and germs, I wouldn't bother to seal the grout. Much less work than grouting a big floor!

Whui

Paper clay floor: I have used paper clay to tile the floor of my dh kitchen quite successfully. Roll it out quite thinly and apply to a base with glue. It doesn't have to go down in one piece; because it takes time to dry, you have lots of time to work with it flattening and pushing bits together. When the base is covered, press in tile indentations (I used a bamboo shishkabob skewer). When happy with the coverage and look, let it dry. When dry, I painted with a grey wash being sure to get a it in all the grout lines. After this has dried paint your desired colour remembering to vary it on different tiles. I made mine to look like terra cotta tiles. Finish with a varnish of your choice.

J. Strobel

Paper clay floor: it sounds like you did your paper clay floor in a very similar way to how I did the floor in the Three Bears Cottage. One thing I did differently was to add a bit of gray paint directly to the clay before spreading it since I was making a gray stone floor. It made it a bit more gooey and probably took a little longer to dry, but it gave a good base color to work with.

Christi Walton

Arts & Crafts Stencils; all the stencils I've seen at shops and shows seem to be Colonial style. However, I've seen plenty of Art Nouveau style rubber stamps with organic forms that would be compatible with Arts & Crafts. You could treat them like "reverse stencils" like the life-size wall stamps in craft shops, and paint different acrylic colors on the flowers, leaves, etc., to stamp on the wallpaper. Colors are generally very, very earthy, almost drab. Also check with shopowners; Broadnax Prints wallpaper carries an extensive line and may have what you need. Have you researched A&C style books?

Have borrowed several from my local library, and as somebody else mentioned re wainscoting, frequently the style had wooden paneling over most of the wall, with a wide frieze border at the top, between 2 and 3 feet wide.

Loretta.Sniarowski

On framing: I recently did my first frame, which I silver-leafed. I have a great tool that helped me a lot, which is a framing clamp. It is basically four long screws and bolts that square up your frame perfectly. I recommend it. I used a miter box, some scrap moulding, wood glue, the clamp and a silver leafing kit. Once you get the frame clamped in, be sure to press it down flat on your work surface to make sure it is nice and even and flat.

Lynette in WNC

Wallpaper Woes: I too had trouble with paper bubbling and peeling off the walls and ceiling. I was told that I should have primed the wood with FLAT latex paint first. Then I should have used wallpaper that is meant to be painted. This may be purchased at any DIY store. It also comes in many textures-if you want that. You have to purchase a large roll, but you could share it and the expense with friends.

Shelby

Wallpaper Woes: if you have any more of that paper, you could use a spray sealer prior to painting and see if that helps. Could you make a template of the ceiling area and do all the painting, etc., before gluing it up? Another idea - go to a home improvement or wallpaper store and get large samples of some textured papers to try out. They are made to be glued.

Christi Walton

Wallpaper Woes: Go to an office supply and look at the textured card stock. I have some cream colored that I love for ceilings. I just cut it to fit and covered it with tacky glue and put it up. It is thick enough to cover any imperfections and looks great. You don't have to paint it or anything. If you do paint it do this and let it dry before glueing it up.

Talks to Birds

Wall papering: I use Minigraphics wallpaper paste. For ceiling paper I used Minigraphics ceiling paper and have been able to paint it. I use a foam brush to apply the paste to the paper and I let it dry for a couple of minutes before putting on the paper. I've had no problems and the paper has been up for about 7 years.

Carol

Ceiling Wallpaper: Have you looked at the white, embossed paintable wallpaper borders at the stores? I haven't pulled any all of the way out but I keep looking at them as a potential ceiling. My latest ceiling is the paint/kleenex version of stucco. I patted it into place with a foam brush and it looks exactly like a full scale textured ceiling. Quite happy with it!

Reva in Loveland, Ohio

Textured ceiling: "Another idea - go to a home improvement or wallpaper store and get large samples of some textured papers to try out." I visited SOME SSers personal page that had a textured ceiling ... loved the site, can't remember the poor lady's name, sigh. Annnyyyyyway, what she did was use paper lace doilies! You know how they stick together? I think she said she left about 4 stuck and used them for a ceiling medallion.

Chrissy the Hyphenated

Interesting Interior: I went out to my co-worker's house for a party, and walked into the most fantastic, well put together house I have ever been in. She kind of had the interior done almost like a church with various catholic type iconary (is that a word?), striking colors, towering gothic imagery, beautiful antiqued metal ware, lots of antique toys, wooden furniture, candles, elegantly framed mirrors and statuary (stone and antiqued brass) everywhere, but placed in such a way that there wasn't like it was cluttered, just "well placed". Her living room looked out onto a small garden fountain. It was like what I imagine visiting Martha Stewart must be like. I had to take a breath in, I just had to, and it was like stepping into the pages of architect's digest. I know two things for certain -- I want to be there on Christmas eve (it is where everyone who is of the religion to celebrate Christmas would want to go, believe me, especially if you want a victorian type celebrate!), and I would love to make this woman's house a miniature so I can have it in *my* house. Sigh, another project, another day:).

Kim from Canada

Pleating: You can make cartridge pleats as follows: (these will work for drapery because the pleats are not pressed flat). Cut a rectangle of fabric about 3 times as wide as the finished width plus the width of your hems and the length you need plus hems. Unless you want a raw edge for some reason, make your hems first. Run two rows of evenly spaced basting stitches along one long edge of the fabric. For both rows, the stitches should match, both running on right or wrong sides of the fabric together. The width of each stitch will determine the size of the pleats. When you have sewn both rows, pull the threads evenly to gather to the width desired. Now tack the points along one side of all the pleats evenly to a strip of fabric or interfacing to hold the pleats evenly. Cartridge pleating was done on skirts' waists during the 19the century instead of gathering because less bulk is created when the fabric is evenly folded.

I have seen diagrams in books showing how to make a home-made pleater, but you can hand pleat (tediously) knife pleats as follows: You need about three times the final width of your fabric plus the width of any hems. Work on a pinning board or ceiling tile. You will need your iron, pins, and 4 very flat, thin sticks (the width of one pleat to gauge the pleat widths and the length of your fabric). You might try slicing up a stiff piece of plastic that is about the thickness of a credit card instead of the sticks. Make any necessary hems before you begin pleating. Work with the fabric wrong side up on a pinning board or ceiling tile.

1 Lay gauge #1 near the right edge of your fabric. Lift the left end of the fabric and fold over the gauge so that it hugs the gauge in the fold and crease.
2 Lay gauge #2 directly on top of the first gauge (with the folded over fabric in between). Now fold the fabric over the second gauge (right to left) and crease.
3 Leaving gauges #1 and #2 in place, place #3 over the fabric directly to the left of the stack of #1 and #2. Fold fabric to the right and crease against gauge #3.
4 Now place gauge #4 directly over #3 (with previously folded over fabric sandwiched in between). Fold fabric over to the left and crease over gauge #4.
5 Leaving the gauges in place, press the 2 completed pleats.
6 Carefully remove the gauges from the 2 pleats and tack them to hold.
7 Moving to the left, follow the above instructions again to make 2 more pleats.
8 Repeat until you have the desired number of pleats.

While this method is quite tedious, it works. It is much easier on a narrow piece of ribbon than on a long piece of fabric, but it can be done.

Rachelle

Dutch Interiors: I found a new book on Dutch interiors at Cosco yesterday. It is called "Country Houses of Holland" by Barbara & Rene Stoeltie. Taschen publishers. A very good book for those of you wanting to do a Dutch house. I also found it on Amazon, for those of you without a Cosco.

Kaye in L.A.

1920s-1930s Decorating: I am trying to catch up on my readings and decided to respond, at this late date, to your question. I purchased a book called "Decorate A Dolls House" from Amazon.com. Their code was P-3-B75G169, author, Michael Morse. Excellent book. You will get more bang for your buck with this one. It covers the time frame from 1630 to the present day. Included are lots of tips, explanations and details on each room, and color photos.

Cora

Period furniture: I did some research some time ago and found the following to be the correct periods for the different movements:
Hepplewhite....lots of inlaid wood d-1786
Queen Anne 1702-1713
Victorian 1837-1901
Arts and Crafts 1890-1930
Tudor 1491-1547
Elizabethan period 1558-1602
Renaissance 1420-1600
Most of these periods are during the reign of the families (Tudor, Hepplewhite, Elizabethan) while others are for the sovereign herself (Queen Anne, Victoria). Arts and Crafts and Renaissance are named for the period in which the design(s) were in the making/creating. While some Victorian furniture was made after Queen Victoria's death, it is considered post Victorian. As some of the periods ran at the same time there was much influence from one to another. That is why the subtle difference between some designers furniture. Hope this helps.

Rhonda in Fl

Faux Wrought Iron: I made faux wrought iron from square profile brass tube stock, bent with pliers over a pattern and then soldered in place in a brass frame. I then painted it with a black patina finish and sponged copper colored paint on it to simulate rust. Worked really well. You need a big soldering iron - mine is 80watts - I use it for everything even dollhouse wiring (I'm very quick!) but if it's much smaller you won't get the brass tubing warm enough to take the solder properly.

Trace