Fall leaves: I made fake mini Fall leaves by painting both sides of white tissue paper different colors of browns, oranges, golds, and reds, (I used water colors) and then cut leaves out of that. Looked pretty realistic. You could probably punch several layers at a time, using the tissue paper.

Paulette in IN

Beach foam: I used a sponge. I cut off small bits of the sponge and painted it with white acrylic. This was glued to the edge of the water. Looks good if you tear the bits of sponge as it gives a more ragged look.

DrBob...Delray Beach, FL.

Beach foam: Try whipping up some wax and using that for foam

Viola

Tall acrylic boxes: I think those tall acrylic boxes could hold

Those spray bottles of Fantastic and Windex. Do not discard them. I diluted some of my acrylic paint with water and put it in the spray container and used it to spray paint onto my steel wool trees (green of course).

Next thing I found out was that if I cleaned out the paint and put in Elmer's glue with water and shook it real good. I can spray a surface with the diluted glue and sprinkle what ever I want on to the surface and it sticks when things dry out.

I also found that if I am putting sand on a surface, I first spray with the diluted glue and drizzle the sand on and then I spray after that and the sand is rock hard bonded between the two layers of glue. When I tip the diorama no sand comes off. I then flush out the spray bottle for the next time. I am as happy as a pig in mud (or was it something else?)

DrBob...Delray Beach, FL.

Cloudy Resin: the reason for the cloudy look of your pond could be that the resin was not mixed well. I've noticed in mixing resin that it becomes kind of cloudy about half way through the mixing process. Another reason could be that the sealer you used (if any) was not completely cured before you poured the resin into the pond......yes, I know these things from experience.....I've had it happen, too.

Sloan

Snow: The product I have used is Soft Flake Snow (SN140) by Woodland Scenics. Purchased at a model railroad store. I apply by mixing the snow with a very thin mix of Elmer's white glue & water - then place the snow in drift like piles on the roof and window sills.

Weller in Cincinnati

Mini pots, Karen's Miniatures carries a full line of clay pots in all sizes and shapes. She also goes by AK Products and has two addresses. I'm never sure which address to reach her so here are a couple:
Karen's Miniatures, 6020 Doniphan, Suite B-1, El Paso TX, 79932 (915) 584-9889 OR AK Products (a division of Karen's Miniatures) 1546 Missouri, Las Cruces, NM 88001 (505) 532-0939. Hope this helps ~ these pots are really nice. She took over Skycrest Ceramics business.

Debbie Noland of Sunny Southern California

Terra Cotta Pots....they're wonderful! If anyone is looking for a great source for all kinds of thing, these people are great....fast service, great quality. They are T & D Miniatures of Fenton, MO, their email is: Tdminiature@gateway.net Their phone is 636-296-3818. I'm not sure if they have a web site...but you can't beat their pots....best scale I've found.

Sloan

Live Plants: My mother once grew cacti from seeds and put them in miniature plant pots for dollhouses. It takes a long time to grow the cacti but there were a hundred or more that grow from an assorted package of seeds and a lot of different shapes and sizes. Because they grew so slow and needed very little water they could last a long time before they out grew there place in the doll house. This would be a fun project as long as you didn't need instant results.

Connie Stitt

Live miniature plants: The two women who used to enter the Philadelphia Flower Show with miniature scenes are Wanda Simons and Marnie King, both of Delaware. I saw two of their creations at the Delaware show and they were fabulous.

Beth, In A Miniature Manor

Live miniature plants: I would think that you could use the micro-mini African violets that are available now. Also, since I've made miniature arrangements for flower shows, I used mosses, miniature ferns and the like. All of the read small bonsai plants also look fine. I have a book on miniature bonsai which might give you some ideas& I would look into terrarium plantings too. You would have to limit yourself to the same kind of flowers that do well in that terrarium environment too as otherwise I doubt you would be able to provide lighting enough within the dollhouse to sustain live plants. If you wanted to just grow the plants on a light stand and place them on display within the house for special occasions, you could do that easily enough too. There are even miniature orchids for home culture too but again they would require you to grow them are plant tables and then move to dollhouse for temporary display. As for what plants you can use in a Victorian house, I would think any plant that you can grow as I've indicated would have been grown back then - I have read of many magnificent conservatories in houses back in colonial times and before that grew all kinds of exotic plants.

Rwitterman

Live miniature plants: I wanted to let the person looking for miniature live plants to know they do exist....at least here in Paris....there are tiny 1/12 scale oranges, lemons, green shrubs, and creamy white "oranges"....I have no idea what they are called, but they do exist...are sold in tiny pots (2 inches across)...the shrubbery leaves are smaller than half a grain of rice....they are rather inexpensive ($5 or less)....of course these are not real oranges (I tried to peel one -- it was hollow inside), but they have the dimpled skin and the little dimple thing on the "ends" just like real citrus....they remain quite small and tidy... Will ask the florist next time what these mini shrubs are called....

Whui in Paris

Air plants: For the person wanting to use live plants in her dollhouse setting, try using air plants. There are at least two different looking airplants that I know of and they would be pretty much in scale. You could take them out for a day or so when you decided to mist them.- No moisture in your mini house.

Peggy

Plants (Victorian) A favourite plant of the Victorians was the Aspidistra.

Ann

Victorian House Plants: I'm not an expert on the subject, but have done a lot of reading about that era. One of the most popular plants was aspidestra (Music Hall Song: "She's got the biggest ass....pidestra in the world!) Also, "parlor palms" and Boston Ferns. African violets were very new, and expensive, and orchid breeding was all the rage.

Sharon in Watsonville, CA

Making weeds: Thought I would share a discovery with you. If any of you have Clematis vines you should check them out now. Before the seeds mature they form a rather unusual spiked form. I cut these off and spray painted them a dark green then, I used a tan colored paint and just brushed the tips of the spikes with it. I did this 3 or 4 months ago and used them as mini plants. The tips of them will curl just a little but, it just makes them look more real. You could even use several of them to cover a tree branch and make a very real looking tree.

Now for the matured seeds. If you look at them and pull them apart they look like tiny feathers. Glue the single seed to the end of a very fine piece of wire (painted tan) or stiffened tan thread. I have a palm plant so I pulled off a dead leaf and tore it in half length wise then cut it to length and glued the end of it around the wire with the pointed end up for the leaves. When finished spray with a clear matte sealer. It will look just like the cattail type weeds that grow everywhere.

Talks to Birds

Roses instructions: O.K. everybody, had enough time to practice the irises? Now, let's try roses - - these are really easy. If you look at live roses or photos in catalogs/magazines, you'll see that there are probably hundreds of varieties - the trick is identifying which variety you made when you finish one! LOL Just kidding!

Anyways, You can use a variety of punches for roses - I usually use a simple 1/4" round punch. I have also used an oval punch, a teardrop, and a short, fat heart punch. The different punches give slightly different effects - all very effective, though. Start with whatever punches you have available. Same goes with paper choices - tissue, typing, tracing, crepe - all are useful. One thing I forgot in the iris instructions, When your flowers are dry, I highly recommend sealing them with a good acrylic sealer - I stick the stems in a Styrofoam plate and spray light coats - I usually do 2 very light coats. I store my flowers stuck in a block of foam in a container with a lid - this keeps dust, cat hair, chewing dog teeth, etc. away from my hard work! When you are gluing, always use the tiniest bit of tacky glue and then just the barest hint of super glue (super glue not required, it just gives you a little faster "grab") - you don't want to glue yourself to the flower or have glue oozing out the top of the flower.

Take a petal and apply glue to the bottom half (oval can be used either way, point of teardrop is bottom, same with heart; of course, any half of the circle can be the bottom - unless you are using crepe paper, then just make sure the grain is vertical). Wrap petal around wire stem with upper half of petal past the tip of the end of the wire and roll tightly between your fingers - this should cover the wire.

Take another petal, dip bottom half in glue and wrap around first petal, just SLIGHTLY looser. Add more petals, applying glue to the bottom 1/3 of the petal. 3-5 petals usually will give you a nice bud.

For really full roses, it may take 20 or more petals. For these, I usually only apply glue to the bottom edge of the last several petals. Also, you want to "work around" the rose - applying petals overlapping on one edge and going around the center. As you add more petals, try to keep the bottom edges even and allow the top edges to flair out from the center.

Once the flower is dry, if you want it open a little more, you can take a small, wet paintbrush and dampening the petals, kind of "tease" the upper edges away from the center. This is easier if you start with the outer petals and work toward the center. You can use the paintbrush to gently curl down the edges, too.

If you want to make the "open" type roses, prepare your stem by gluing a tiny 1/16" circle to the tip of the stem. When this is dry, apply glue to the top of the circle and dip into flocking, finely shredded foam, sand, whatever looks like the center of the roses you are trying to make (you can even use fine thread to make short little tassel-like centers). Then you can glue the petals under the edge of the circle - these roses usually don't have quite as many petals as the fancy roses - they look more like double poppies or something similar.

Accurate rose leaves requires tiny teardrop punches with one leaf glued to the end of the stem and 4-6 leaves glued in opposite pairings down the stem. Good imitations can be made with tiny oak leaf punches.

Sonia

Blossoms: My word, so many of you have written, I'm feeling like a "bloomin' idjut"! Your questions are so varied I decided to write a small article on the use and manufacture of blossoms.

My blossoms are made of Styrofoam. It is broken into chunks and ground with a food processor. The machine will not be serviceable for any other task after this process. Shop for one at a Garage Sale. Be sure your foam is true Styrofoam not compressed foam pellets. Do not have lotion on your hands. Be sure there is no grease residue in the food processor. Styrofoam is very absorbent. Chemicals, grease or oil will radically change the ability to absorb paint.

I then dye with custom mixed latex paint. Dilute the paint 50/50 with water. There is no neat way to accomplish this task. Be prepared to get rather dirty. However, latex paint washes off of your hands with ease. I prefer latex because it has no shine, can be mixed to match the exact color of a petal and does not alter the composition of the foam. The wet foam is spread on large sheets of cardboard to dry. It must be turned once a day for up to a week. The cardboard serves as a blotter, absorbing moisture and assisting the drying process. When dry the colored foam it is ground again. This same technique may be used to make several shades of green for the foliage on trees or hedges.

TIP: use a small quantity of the paint you have applied to the walls or trim of your miniature room to make matching blossoms.

TIP: remember to change the hue of your color while in the liquid state by adding white. It always improves realism to have at least three shades of the same color.

The blossoms I packaged are a course texture. Because the color is absorbed throughout the material, you may roll it to produce a finer grain. Place the package of blossoms into a zip-lock sandwich bag. Remove all air. Roll with a rolling pin until the desired texture is created. You may combine colors such as dark blue and light blue without creating a "muddy" mixture.

I prefer a mixture of 50/50 white glue and water applied with a spray bottle to attach the blossoms irregardless of the manufacturer. When satisfied with the coverage, add an additional 1 or 2 coats as a sealer. Spray adhesives have a tendency to alter the color of landscaping materials. They also create a tacky surface that grabs and holds dirt and lint. For blossoms of Styrofoam, they will melt the foam. By applying a seal coat, your landscaping may be cleaned with canned air or a sable brush sprayed with Endust.

Yes, I have combined my blossoms with such products as Woodland Scenic blossoms with very interesting results.

TIP: recondition the old or faded shrub or plant with a new coat of blossoms. If the greenery is too badly faded, dye with floral spray paint of your chosen color. This is a translucent color that is even applied to fresh flowers. When satisfied with the base, add new blossoms.

TIP: fine grade blossoms, such as those by Woodland Scenic make realistic stamens in such flowers as a Calla Lily. Simply dip the white bristle from a hairbrush into glue, blot the excess and then dip into your blossoms. I personally prefer flocking for stamens.

Becky Holliday

Scenic Water: First, I'm aware that the company did not print directions, although there have been magazine articles about it and their successes. As a former teacher, I know the importance of this and have printed up project sheets to get people started. I'm working on more detailed instructions and trying to get some accuracy on melting. Also the company is repacking and labeling and since I will see the owner next week I will pass on your concerns. This product is relatively in its infancy and that is why I posted the contest in order to get new ideas on its use.

However, don't throw out the baby with the bath water (pun intended). Get the water in a pan NEAR boiling. Place the jar open surrounded by the hot water. As the Scenic Water melts, pour off the amount you need. You don't need to melt all of it unless you are pouring a bath or lake.

Since I'm in the shop when I do my projects, I use a microwave with the jar open. The 100 ml takes about 15 seconds on high to melt enough Scenic Water for most projects. If you need more melted, pour off the melted SW into a container and melt more. You have time before it sets up. The microwave is not recommended bec you can heat it too high and ruin the chemistry, but I experimented and found it easy. Also, you must adhere to the short times, but it works and take your particular wattage in mind when setting times. When you have less to melt, shorten the time.

The Scenic Milk bec of its size takes only 7 seconds at first. Shorten this as you use it.

Your jar has the correct amount but the jars are too big. I also noticed this. BTW I've saved the jars to mix colors and make bubbles. The yellowish color only appears at significant depths. I used it in water falls, shallow ponds, and dish tubs and the water was very clear.

For baths it is recommended you use the suds created with the Scenic milk or
laundry soap mixed with the SW. Or use the bubbles you can make by shaking or blowing into a separate amount of SW.

I have no fear that once you try the stuff and are successful you will realize that you're going to have fun with it. In fact it is addicting. http://www.scenicwater.com

Deanna

Vines: one way I've made vines is to use flexible covered wire (recycled computer wire). Paint green if it isn't already. Loop the wire over itself tightly, alternating from left to right every quarter to half inch. Then cut individual leaves from a scale-size botanical print (the cheapest cotton wired ribbons are great -- lots of sizing, won't ravel, tan or lighter green on the underside just like real leaves). Tacky-glue the leaves to the loops. Keep a few bare loops if you want a blooming vine. For blossoms, pick through craft shop or dollar store silk flowers for the smallest ones, usually bits of a full hydrangea, Queen Anne's lace, etc. Snip off individual blossoms to glue on the remaining loops. The advantage of this method is that you can use graduated sizes of leaf, drape the vines, and tweak the "stem" loops so leaves droop or stand up very naturally. Another possibility would be to glue globs of purple, pale green, or rosy no-hole beads together into bunches for a grape vine. Fiddly but not difficult, a good TV-watching or music-listening mini project.

Loretta Sniarowski