Lighting Roomboxes: How about the single corded light bulbs that one finds in small, hollow, Xmas trees or figures? The bulb is the size used in nightlights, also. They sometimes have holding prongs attached to the fixture and might fit perfectly into a hole in the back part of the box. Haven't done it, but someone might want to try.(Be sure to vent the room, these lights are HOT. Ed)

Betti from LA

Finishing edges of dollhouse floors and ceilings: I used those strips of wood (Basswood, I think) about 2-3ft long that are sold at dollhouse stores, Michael's, AC Moore etc. The solution was critical for my house because I used the round wire method of electrifying it and a bunch of wires were running down the open back of the house. These strips come in all different shapes, thickness and widths (most less than one inch). I used a two sided strip that met at a 90 degree angle. I glued it to the floors/ceilings so that the angle where the two sides meet left a channel for the wires. I'll send you some pictures via an attachment to an email which are pretty poor but good enough to illustrate the point. I painted mine white to match the woodwork etc. but you can stain them also if your house has dark woodwork.

Harriett - Framingham, MA

Outdoor lights: to make the cover for your outside posted light you could use the old single ear phone that we bought in the 70's skin color with a small wire and a little thingy that you would put in one ear. If you find one you can unscrew the earplug and it looks like a little transparent vase. Anyway, it is big enough to fit a light in there and it can be cut smaller. It has a hole at both end and is about 3/4 of an inch long by 5/8 wide. I rescued one from my son's electronic junk...good luck finding one they might still sell them at Radio Shack.

Gisèle Nadeau, BC. Canada

Ray Storey Lighting
http://www.raystoreylighting.com

As well as his lights, he has some fascinating lab things with unmentionable objects in chemistry beakers.

Andrea

Insulating Spliced Wires: I took a class about a year ago, at Lantern House Miniatures, here in the greater Seattle area. I am so embarrassed because I can't remember the instructor's name. The class was basically soldering, with applications for stained glass and wiring, and I learned so much! The instructor insulated splices with something called "liquid electrical tape", and I ran right out to look for it and got laughed at by macho electricians and really confused people in the electrical department at Home Depot. Then I actually stopped to think, and it occurred to me that I needed latex -- essentially rubber. The false eyelash glue from the drugstore worked just fine -- just be sure you get the right one, because there are two, and you want the kind that lists "latex" as the first ingredient. You can also get latex from a theatrical supply store, where they use it for attaching fake facial hair, as well as a few other things!

Vicki

Covering Wire Splice: There are 2 products that Micro Mark sells that you could use. Neither of them are white, but I don't see any reason that they couldn't be painted. The first one is Liquid Electrical Tape, item # 82216. It only comes in black. The other one is Plastic Dip, item #82214. Micro Marks is red, but if I'm not mistaken, this can be purchased at hardware or home improvement stores and I believe that it comes in different colors. This does insulate and it is flexible.

Rusty in Ky

Covering Wire Splice for 2 Story Chandelier: If my understanding is correct, what about this solution: use the shrink tube or silicon caulking as suggested, THEN cover the entire exposed wire of the hanging light with a series of long, skinny, gold tube-type beads. This would not only hide the wire completely, along with the spliced area, but also give more weight to the wire/lamp so it hangs straighter. I've found with mini hanging lamps, the weight of the lamp itself often isn't heavy enough to make the wire hang nice and straight anyway.

Maggie

Covering Spliced Wire for 2 Story Chandelier: Yes, there is a gold chain for the chandelier but no gathered material. My suggestion about the material was meant for you to make a sleeve/cover of white material to fit over the chain. Take a piece of white material twice the length of the wire that you wish to cover and a little wider than the wire plus 1/4" seam allowance. With the right side of the material up facing you, run a thin line of Tacky glue along one edge. Fold right sides together so that they will be glued together along edge. Turn case right side out. Slip over chain and scrunch material down, you will then have a white scrunchy material covering your chandelier's chain.

Marilyn, MI

LONG CHANDELIER CHAINS: I'm not so sure that even the best soldering tech with the very finest shrink tubing can completely hide a splice along a swag chain in 1" scale. Certainly not in 1/2" scale. If you can't disguise it along a continuous chain, why not insert a finding to break up the long, continuous chain? I would consider a small "split egg" finding about half way along the chain. Split the finding and hide your splice within. Some times when a fixture hangs on a VERY long chain, the chain may come up to a branch point then continue up to the ceiling with three or four spread out chains rather than a single chain. This helped minimize swing when ventilation generated a great deal of draft in the space. An electrical splice could be hidden in the branch point finding.

Mel K. in Las Vegas

Outdoor Lights: Dollshouse World , Issue 66 of March 1998 has directions for a street lamp with a "lantern" top. They use an empty cotton reel, disposable ballpoint pen, rubber tap washer, and grain of wheat light bulb. cocktail stick, cardboard, thin Perspex, adhesive tape, black paint, glue. The (Gutermans) reel forms the base, with the emptied ballpoint pen forming the pole. It has diagrams for cutting the Perspex and the roof. Looks like the real thing.

Betsie

Electrics: I wanted to tell you all that I have recently received 5 star service from the copper connection, a shop that specialize in electrics etc. for dollhouses. their address is also on the web site: http://www.copperconnection.co.uk I found them to be a wonderfully friendly & helpful business and cheaper than elsewhere I've found!! (they cater for 1:24 also. check it out).

Christine from Chorley

Insulating Spliced Wires: I'd suggest using heat shrink tubing. It does come in white (though not very supplier carries that color), but you could probably paint the clear stuff, after it's shrunk, with acrylic paint. Because you have twice as much wire at the splice, you're going to have a bump no matter what you do. Depending on how you buy your tubing, you could also encase the whole length of the cord to minimize the difference in size--be sure to insulate the splice first.

Trish in Sunnyvale, CA

Ceilings: I have found an easy way to do ceilings. I buy the large sheets of water color paper. At Hobby Lobby they are next to the bins of large colored heavy poster board. There are different thicknesses and textures, and they can be painted. I measure, cut to size, and then apply regular wallpaper paste to the paper, and then apply to the ceiling. I then use a rubber roller to make sure I have all the air bubbles out and to make sure the paste will adhere. Since my house has ceiling fixtures in each room, and I wanted to dress the ceilings up a bit, I bought some ceiling paper from my a dollhouse shop(the kind that has different designs throughout), cut the designs out I wanted around my lights, placed them where the ceilings fixtures would be, and used wallpaper paste again to put these on with. You do want to be careful about using a roller on these since it might mess up some of the design. I then inserted the lights. I have found it is MUCH easier to install these fixtures by running the electrical tape on the floor above, drill a hole where the fixture is to be attached, run the wires up through the hole, and connect to the tape. The only problem with doing it this way is if you are going to have a "wood" floor instead of carpeting, and you glue the floor down. If you have to get to the tape run or if you have a short somewhere, this can be very difficult. If you have carpet, you can just lift the carpet up. Hope this helps.

Shara in Colorado Springs

Displaying Minis: I live in a mobile home and am constantly pressed for display room. Short of hanging them from the ceiling (have considered that too) I suggest:
1. Display Lamp base, could have one or more in every room.
2. Vignette picture frame. Photo on one side, small cube vignette on the other.
3. Shadow box, shallow, set into a wall.
4. Mix boxes with books on book shelf.
5. Book ends.
6. End cupboard in kitchen. Glass display doors to replace ordinary ones.
7. Small display in bathroom
8. Tissue box display box - pattern in one of the mini magazines.
9. A few shallow display boxes in bedroom and guest bedroom on walls and for decoration.
10. Table plant arrangement with mini garden scene incorporated.
11. Top view (roofless) house beneath glass topped coffee table.
12. Weather proof and seal some houses - light them and put them outside around a gnarled old tree with bridges and some very rustic surroundings. (Garden Railroaders do this, just forget the railroad itself) A Garden Gnome sort of thing.
13. Down a wide hall, just above shoulder height for slim wall mounted boxes, lighted of course.
14. Custom shaped hollow things with scenes in them wrapped around corners or on the open stair between spindles. (I'm reaching here)
15. Atop the piano, 'Grandma's porch' would be great among family photos.
16. A real nice thing, is to make a box with a person's theme, then give it to them on an occasion - birthday, Christmas, holiday, recovery from illness etc. A three dimensional greeting card of sorts. "Giving them seems to be the best solution. Then you can begin another and still have room. Be sure to photograph them before they go"

By making them shallow, you get REAL good at fake windows, doors and illusion of more beyond the archway.... magazine picture of distant things or another room are a great help with this. Battery operated lights and micro switches are invaluable for these uses. Radio Shack The switch I prefer is one that requires the observer to hold the button down for light, letting go, shuts it off. Batteries last a very long time.

Judie - Daytona Beach, FL

Hang your lights....At Hobby Lobby I found mini clips in the Christmas Lemax aisle...They are like the kind of clips you use on your house except in mini....I bought them before I even bought the lights...

Pam

CPU Fans: [However, I did see the rack of CPU ceiling fans. They had 2-inch,1-1/2-inch, and 1-inch sizes. I bought one of the 2-inch size for $14.97. It says it is 12V. Now I have to figure out how to wire it into my contemporary Florida-style dollhouse without setting fire to it.....]

Keep in mind that most (probably all) of these fans run only on DC (direct current). Cir-Kit (and other dollhouse electrical suppliers) provide transformers that are AC (alternating current). You will need to provide a separate transformer, or use a diode bridge to convert the AC to DC.

Tom Kari

Cir-Kit wiring: I have rented the Cir-Kit tape wiring video from my local mini store for free. It is ten times easier to understand than the printed instructions. You can also rent it from NAME if you are a member, or if you are in a NAME mini club.

Lynette in WNC

Flashlight Lighting: One of my first dollhouses was the Marxie Mansion Dream House (by Marx) - around 1962ish. It was fan-tab-u-lous! It had a ringing doorbell, Florida room, kidney shaped pool with diving board, and "a light that really lights" ... I memorized the commercial for life! Anyway, it had two lamps, one was a floor lamp, the other a table lamp that had batteries in them. To me, they made my house so enchanting, especially in the Florida room with its frosted louver windows.

If I remember correctly, the bases of the lamps reminded me of penlights. The batteries slipped inside. There were no cords anywhere in that tin house. When I first built my Coventry Cottage, I knew nothing of wiring, and had covered the interior walls with plaster, so I could not tape wire. (Now that I know how to hardwire, I will eventually do that). But, I went to Joann Fabrics and found some little penlight (flashlights) in a couple of sizes. I disguised these lights inside of floor plants, behind furniture, inside of Michael's hutches. They made great indirect lighting. Purists are probably choking on their coffee as they read this, but I wanted light, and that's all I knew to do. I got pretty creative with these until I learned more about wiring.

Now, my suggestion with the Dollar Tree string lights (I've got some of them too; used in room boxes); maybe you can make a lowered ceiling. Use a piece of frosted gallery glass, and place your lights above that. Look at some recessed or lowered ceilings in real life, and get some ideas. You could make track lights around the ceiling, and use some molding to 'hide' the wires. Make a "ceiling gutter" with some model magic and hide your wires in there. Of course, this all depends on the style and mood of your room(s) too. But I don't see why this cannot be done if you're intent on trying them. Keep in mind, your batteries won't burn very long - but I don't keep my dh's lit for long anyway.

Stacey T

Pumpkin Lamps: For those who are looking for lit pumpkins - we have some for sale on our web site. http://www.grandadsplayroom.com

Wiring & Lighting Instructions:We have written our own wiring diagram leaflet,written in non-technical language! AND we make and sell lighting for the Georgian/Medieval/Tudor periods to Victorian. http://www.grandadsplayroom.com or e-mail for advice on grandad@grandadsplayroom.com

Nanny Joyce

Transformer: Cir-kit has a very good web site which has a lot of useful information.The information on transformers is on this page: http://cir-kitconcepts.com/eshop/index.cgiID=BZXLLT&task=show&cat=Transformers

This information is also in Dee's catalog. Keep in mind that the numbers given are for bulbs,not lights,so if a lamp has 3 bulbs count that as 3.

Carol