Dirt for Landscaping or Plants:   You can also find a dirt colored foam on the landscape websites - it looks great - you can use either the small or large foam for dirt purposes.  I've lived in some pretty buggy climates so I don't use food products for anything.  Once the vermin start chewing they don't stop.  (That's just my opinion)

Jean

Mini Dirt: If you can find a model railroad shop near you or on the internet you can buy brown scatter material (fine) quite inexpensively - it's dry, clean and odor free - and as it's basically just coloured sawdust it should not attract any "thing" to your minis. (Yeah - you could   tint your own sawdust - but life's too short) Ditto for green scatter material for grass.

My method is to paint the area brown (or green) first - just slosh on a bit of acrylic - does not have to be an artwork masterpiece - but it will make slightly bald spots a bit less noticeable.

Then take a little white glue in a paper cup (or whatever) and add just enough water to make an easily brushable consistency.   Brush the glue mixture onto the painted area - go for even coverage if you can.

Then shake a generous quantity of dirt all over the glue - all you should see is dirt - no paint or glue should show through.

Use your fingertips to very lightly press the dirt down - this will make it stick a little better.

Allow to dry for a short time - 20 mins will do. Then upend your project and knock off all the extra dirt. This can be used again and again as you actually use very little.

It may take several hours for the glue to dry completely so avoid disturbing the dirt for a while - sticking your finger in and stirring it about will give your dirt a bald spot guaranteed :-)   Spend the next week vacuuming up stray bits of fake dirt.

Lesley, Johannesburg, South Africa

Dirt: For really real looking dirt, sift potting soil to get very fine particles. Mix with   glue and fill container.

Martha Simpson

More dirt on dirt: I've added finely ground up cork to coffee grounds for a bit of variation in color then glue it to the inside of corrugated cardboard. I peeled off one side of a box and used the hills and valleys as my plant rows, spayed on adhesive and sprinkled the mixture on. This was two years ago and so far no adverse effects or coffee aroma.

Lee from Melville, NY

Dirt suggestions: Another suggestion for "dirt" in your garden is tea bags, used or unused, that means two different colors. I use tea for all my flower-pots and even out in the garden that I made. For grass I never use the "grass" that you buy in shops for train-landscaping, it’s too green and doesn’t look realistic. I use dried dill that you get in shops where they sell spices. I put white glue on the spot and "powder" the tea or the dill on top.

Eva Malmsten, Sweden

Dirt: If you want to use either used tea or coffee grinds for earth/soil, be sure to put them in a Pyrex or other dish and bake them at about 350 degrees F. for half-hour---dries them really nice and cuts down chances of any fungi or other critters.  The really interesting thing for you tea drinkers to note, especially if you buy the varieties of teas or the health food store teas, is that these tea remnants give you a really great color combination instead of all the dark, dark brown if you use real potting soil. And so your groundcover can have gradations as it does in nature and/or seasonally.

Sara in Paris

Dirt.   Model railroad technique for gravel or loose dirt. You can use sifted and sorted sand, crushed rock, or whatever in the colors you like. Wash thoroughly to get rid of dust and float away any organics. Dry on a non rusting cookie sheet. Resift to graded sizes and make a blend that you like

Simply put your dirt where you want it. On the ground, in a flower pot, or whatever. If stuff is to be growing from it, plant it now.

Mix 1 part White Elmer's Glue with 3 parts water for a very thin mixture. Even thinner is desirable for deep or very fine grained "dirt".  Add a couple drops of liquid detergent to break the surface tension of your mix.

With an eye dropper, apply your water/glue mix to the dirt. Capillary action will suck it in. Apply fairly liberally then let dry.

The above will probably not work with dried coffee grounds as they would simply float around on the surface of the bonding mix. Still, it is a very, very good system tried and proven many, many times.    

Mel K.

Dirt: For ground we use sawdust. If you know anyone who is sawing a dark wood (Black walnut) have them save you the sawdust. Take the sawdust and strain it through a flour sifter, this will bring out the fine dust. That is what you use for ground. You can   use fine sand mixed with the dust. We use Sobo Glue.   we water it down a little and it works fine. Have been doing it for years. Brush the glue with an old brush, put down the sawdust   and sand mixture and let it set. Tap the mixture down with your hand. When it is dry, spray it with a sealer (Michaels has it) this will set it for life. Hope we were of some help.

Dan    &  Jane   &nbs

Dirt: [Use Dirt! No bugs, no smell, no oven drying ] As someone who used to make   a living with "dirt"  (we called it soil) that it not a good idea.   There are lots of bacteria and fungi in soil as well as nutrients that these use for growth. I can't say for certain, but my feeling is that coffee grounds are less likely to support the growth of fungi and bacteria as long as the coffee grounds are dried well.

Carol, S P Miniatures

Battery operated water pump For miniature waterfall:
Try www.micromark.com or more specifically
http://www.dxmarket.com/micromark/products/82089.html

George Hoffman

Ivy Vines - and other great stuff: For Ivy Vines and all kinds of brass foliage try Scale Link based in the UK. They don't carry 1/24th specifically, but lots of 1/12th and also  1/32.    http://www.scalelink.co.uk/acatalog/Scalelink_Etched_Brass_Frets_2.html

Lesley, South Africa

Poppies: I love poppies, and did a bunch for my last garden. Not too difficult, and this is the right time of year to get the foliage.

Loretta.Sniarowski

"12th scale snow" I've been landscaping today and was just thinking ow snowy my base looks before I add the dirt and grass. Following Dr. Bob's lead, I chuck 4 or 5 white facial tissues into my blender, add a goodly amount of water, puree, and dump xture into an old knee high stocking, and squeeze t almost dry. I apply a thick, even layer of Aleene's to my wooden base and sculpt the grading with the wet, mushed tissues. After I have the shape I want, I am solidifying it with "dirt brown" paint, which is then covered with dead coffee grounds and fake grass mix. For snow, I bet it would work quite nicely to just soak the stuff with watery Elmer's and let it set up. As I recall, Dr. Bob puts the watery glue into the blender with the tissues when the Mrs. isn't looking. Unfortunately, I AM the Mrs., so can't get away with these shenanigans. ;o)

Chrissy the Hyphenated

Ivy and Moss: I saw the digest that you asked about "finding" ivy or moss for your dh wall. I have been making a lot of quarter round boxes lately with "rock" walls covering both sides and a cascading waterfall down the center. I have used the tips from SS and used water putty for the "rocks" and clear caulking for the falls. Envirotex makes the water in the pool below the falls and Fimo makes the fish and turtles and frogs. I use Fimo, paper, and preserved real plants and flowers for landscaping along with torn pieces of the model train landscaping material called "chunky turf" It comes in several shades of green and I make hedges and bushes andmeandering plants with different colors of it for color interest. My favorite is the one called "burnt grass". It is a grayish yellow green that makes wonderful moss on the walls. After I roll the balls of water putty and glue them to the walls and up the center (for the falls) and make the low wall for the pool across the front, I let it all dry then spray paint it with Flexstone granite (black) paint. At this point the entire inside of the box is solid gray "stone. After adding the falls and pool and plants and flowers and critters, the walls are still stark and bare looking. To break this up, I pinch off tiny pieces of the chunky turf (dyed green foam chunks) and I dip them in thick tacky and place them in long trails along the cracks and chinks of the walls. I add a small fern plant here and there, one scene has stone pockets dripping with Fimo orchids and ferns that were dripping with water (dribble the Envirotex on them just as it thickens). I draped preserved strands of dyed green chenille plant from the top of one box (over the "moss") and added bunches of tiny preserved babies breath flowers. It turned out wonderfully. Everyone that sees the boxes comments on the realistic looking moss. I have had nothing but compliments on it. As for the ivy, if you plan to make a lot of it, maybe you could order the ivy punch from Ruth Hanke at Hanky Panky crafts. I have mine from her, and though it is a bit pricey, it has paid for itself many times over. I have made a lot of ivy for swaps and for friends and for sale and have used it extensively in my room boxes and pool scenes. If you can't afford the punch, Ruth will send you pre-punched ivy leaves in a baggy for a very affordable price. I have dealt with her for a long time and have never been disappointed. She has numerous leaves and flower punches and will accommodate whatever she can for you. To find her, just go to http://HankyPankycrafts.com.If you don't want to make it yourself, feel free to e mail me and maybe we can work something out.

Norieta in Hawaii

Leaves: I have made lots of leaves by painting pieces of tracing paper. (Get the good vellum kind.) I usually use some combination of Sap Green, and then a lighter and a darker green, or greens. The trick to making realistic leaves is to do them in several colors, never just one. Make puddles of paint on, say, a piece of waxed paper, or plastic wrap, or whatever you like to use for a palette. Lay the puddles close together, but not so close that they mix. With a large, flat brush,drag through a color, and paint a swath of green on your paper...(Oh, did I tell you that it really helps to tape the paper down to your table by the corners? No? Well, it does...because when you start painting a whole sheet of paper, that paper wants to curl right up.) Continue painting your paper with the different colors of green, laying the colors side by side...mixing some with the others, leaving some pure...you can also mix with a little yellow...white. You want to have a whole sheet of painted paper that has many colors of green. Let dry, and, then if you want to have shiny leaves, paint a layer of ModPodge Matte on the paper. (Matt sounds like it should BE matte, but it's not...it's somewhat shiny...just enough, I've found, for shiny leaves.) Un-tape your paper, flip it over, tape it down again, and repeat the above steps. Now you will have a whole sheet of various greens to use. You can now cut leaves out with scissors, or use a punch. Voila! And, you will have enough paper to make approximately a million leaves, depending on the size, of course.

Kaye in LA

Fading Flowers. This concerned me too as I have taught classes and in spite of one flower maker saying, "Who cares if they fade later?", I don't want mine to fade.
Rice paper is the paper of choice as some have suggested. You can paint it any color, which is great, however, it is not inexpensive.
I decided that cocktail napkins have to be color fast otherwise people would ruin their clothing when spills occur, etc. They come in almost every color and you can get a lot of petals punched out of one napkin. I have not used them long enough to say for sure that they don't fade in years to come and I would not leave them in a sunny place, but I swear by them. (I don't think sun is good for ANY minis) I also feel that they are very much in scale. Napkins are layered, of course, and you have to separate them, but if you place the petals on Fun Foam or a mouse pad, and get quite a few sorted out before you start cupping them with a stylus, the project goes reasonably fast. You will need punches which can be found at scrap book and craft stores, but I prefer the better punches.
By making them according to the above method, you won't need kits. I used a star to make forsythia & round to make roses. For other blossoms, you will need to buy specific punches.

Jeanette in Wisconsin

Paper flowers: Jeanette, that was a very good thought process for looking for paper that doesn't fade for making flowers. Not every flower maker uses the rice paper. Even if they do, the watercolors that they use to paint the paper will fade eventually. The point I was trying to make earlier was if you are buying a kit or just punched petals or leaves ask what kind of paper they are using. Some flower makers will just use construction paper, as I found out, yet they will use a better paper for their flowers that they sell finished. We just need to explore the paper factor ourselves and see what works for us as individuals. I just got some new punches from Hanky Panky and had to try them out. I sprayed workable fixative on some painted rice paper, a thin rice paper. The fixative gave the paper more body and a more natural look than some of the other sprays used. I don't want to collect a lot of punches so I will buy packets of leaves and petals at shows from time to time, but now I will find out the kind of paper they are using in these kits. I enjoy making some flowers but most of mine are collected from the people who really know this art form.

Jan in SoCal

Paper to make flowers: I have just stumbled on Helen David's silk/linen paper and think this would be worth checking out.
http://www.smallerthanabreadbox.com/ts1.htm

Jan in SoCal

Snake Plants: Thanks to everyone who shared with me how to make mother-in-law tongues. Finally got them finished today (I'd have more time if I didn't have to work for a living) and they look great. I used the twist ties from the produce department, painted dark green, then added lighter green mixed with white. Even put some variegated yellow on the edges of some. I bent over some of the ends, twisted them a little. They could not look better. I am so pleased.

Pauline

Trailing Vines: If you are looking for trailing vines for your house, there are two suggestions I would make. One is to use the dried roots of small plants, "volunteer" bushes, etc., as your base and glue lichen to that. This is the method I used on my Baby Boutique. The other method is to have a supply of finely cut lichen or other landscape material on hand. Draw your vines up the side of the building with white glue, and then sprinkle the green stuff on the glue. This can be anywhere from awkward to impossible if you have a large house, but works well on smaller buildings.

Dani