1940's school: I started school in a poor mixed race neighborhood in Canada in the 40s, so it may not have been very different from your model. There were blackboards along the front of the classrooms, and they were black slate, each about 4' high and 8' wide. I don't remember coloured chalks being used; only white. The blackboard erasers were flat brushes of 1/4" felt strips - red, white and blue strips about 3"x6" with a wooden back. They were cleaned by "good" students who were allowed to take them outside and thwack them against other brushes or on the brick walls. We kids sat at individual desks -the old fashioned all-in-ones with metal frames, wooden seats and a "box" desk with a lift up lid. There was a groove about 1/2" deep all along the width of the desk, just above the hinged lid. This was for pens and pencils. There was a circular hole about 2 1/2" in the top right corner for your inkwell. The desk lids were deeply carved with assorted initials and mottoes. We sat in straight rows facing the teacher - none of these democratic circles! We used straight pens or fountain pens with the little levers and rubber bladders; very messy! And blotters - envelope sized pieces of thick white felted paper. We had math sets in metal boxes -with protractors and set squares, very like those still used today, and pencil crayons in packets of 8 colours or crayons for colouring.

Some of us carried satchels to put our books in; most of us carried them loose. Girls always wore skirts and blouses or pinafores, NEVER trousers, even in the dead of winter. There were cloakrooms near the entrance for coats and galoshes. We carried lunches in brown paper bags, or went home for lunch. (12 - 1:30)

The teacher had a large oak desk at the front of the classroom, and a matching oak chair. No cushions! There were pull down maps like window blinds - with extensive red areas representing "the empire", and a twirling metal world globe on a stand. We all had our own exercise books, small "readers" and "Think and Do" books featuring Spot and Puff and Dick and Jane. Although the classes were mixed sex and one grade to each room, sexual segregation was the rule. Girls and boys had separate entrances to the school. We had to line up in front of our specific door before school began, and spelling "bees" and math quizzes were always divided boy vs. girl.

I don't think fluorescent lights were available back then. I seem to recall long flexes with bare bulbs, some with the upside- down cone shades that were green on the outside and white on the inside.

Donna from Devon

1940's school: I went to school in the south in the mid to late 1950's and 1960's. I went to 3 different elementary schools. We lived way out in the sticks in AL for a couple of years where there were only 2 elementary schools, one for white and the other for AA students. The AA students had the newer building, but I never went inside, so I couldn't tell you about that, but I can tell you about the inside of our much, much older school.

We had the green chalk boards on 2 walls, the one behind the teacher's desk, and along the inner wall that was adjacent to the hallway and there was narrow bead board wainscoting painted white and the walls were very pale green. There were two doors into the hallway, one at each end of the room. They were 1/2 glass doors with transom's. There was a cloak room across the width of the room at the back of the classroom with a door at each corner (a total of 4 doorways into each classroom, 2 into the hallway and 2 for the cloakroom). The ceilings were very high, the windows were tall and narrow with a row of them along the outside wall about every 2 feet. Under the windows were bookshelves with encyclopedia's and other reference books. These shelving units were of dark wood.

The desks were the row type that bolt to the floor where the fold up seat for the desk in front is attached to the front of the desk behind, the was a hole in the desk top for an inkwell and a groove across the top edge for a pencil. The support structure for the desks were ornate iron.

Rusty in Ky

DIY needlepoint design: I am sure there are professional needlepoint design packages available for your computer, but if you only operate in a small way like me, there is an alternative. For this you need to have Microsoft Excel on your system - other spreadsheet packages may offer the same facility, I don't know.

FOR THE GRAPH PAPER
Open Microsoft Excel. To the left of the A and above the 1 there is a box. Click on the box. The whole spreadsheet will go black. eek! But don't worry - all this means is 'globalisation' i.e. anything you do to one cell will happen to all cells. Move the cursor to the ABC etc. line, and move it along until suddenly on the vertical line between A and B it will turn into a cross. Click on the left hand side of the mouse and drag the cross to the left - you will see every cell become narrower. Now do the same thing between the 1 and the 2, and every horizontal cell will become narrower. Play around until you have the size graph paper you like. Click on FILE in the upper left hand corner, go to PAGE SET UP, go to SHEET - under PRINT will be listed GRIDLINES - click on that box. That will give you hard lines on your printed out sheet.

Now for the fun part, the coloring in.

HOW TO COLOR IN
So you have your empty graph paper. Move towards the center ie go down and to the right, as your design will take up space. Say you want to design a bunny cross stitch or needlepoint design. You will want brown for the bunny. To the right of the screen is a tilted paint pot. Click on the square you want to use so it is highlighted. Go to the little arrow beside the paint pot and click on that - a whole spectrum of colors is revealed. Move the cursor around until the name of the color you want is revealed. Click on the color using left hand side of mouse.

Your cell will go brown if you have chosen brown. The color stripe under the paint pot will also have turned to brown which means all you have to do now is highlight a cell, then click on the paint pot itself and the cell will go brown. When you need to change colors simply go back to the spectrum.

WHAT IF YOU MAKE A MISTAKE??
One of the most boring things about doing all this manually on graph paper is if you make a mistake because it makes a mess making it right. Here it is simple. If you make a mistake, go back to the paint pot spectrum - at the top is an elongated box 'No Fill'. So click on the square you wish to 'rub out', go to the spectrum, and click on 'No Fill'. Your wrong color will disappear.

WARNING
I assume you will want to print out and use the colored graph you have made. Make the colors more extreme in your computer coloring in - if you make them charming and subtle your printer, who is an uncultured yob, will not perceive the subtle gradations and nuances of hue, and make all the blue family say, two blues, when you have used 5 blues. This is not what you want.

Helen from York, England

tiles: For the person looking for tiles, try http://www.minimanor.com/ and click on Old World Tile. They look great!

Marilyn in Illinois

Kids Project: I taught a class called Teeny Tiny Garden to kids in grades 3-5. Each year I do this I learn a little...this year I cut way back on the complexity of the project because a lot of it has to be done by me before the class! The classes are only 45 minutes long and there is not much time for glue and paint to dry. This project started out with a white fence on a painted-green wooden base. Then the students were given shredded foam grass, foliage, punched flowers, a birdbath and a bird to arrange any way they wanted. I gave a short lesson about scale (with flowers in vases in full size, 1", 1/2" and 1/4" scales for visual comparison) and demonstrated a couple techniques such as cupping the flowers with a blunt toothpick on a piece of craft foam. Each student came up with unique ideas, some I would never have thought of! There were even moments when you could have heard a pin drop, they were working so hard. I actually had time to take some photos this year and DH stopped by so I am even in some of them.. http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumList?u=1664953 look in the Kids College 2002 album on my Epson site. This was one of the most rewarding things I have done with minis!

Chris in Minnesota

Ballet Scene: A very effective and simple scene is to use a picture frame with some shadow box depth. ( Use any frame and put a box behind it.) Put an interior door at the back and wallpaper the walls. Put a mini framed photo of your ballerina on the wall and hang ballet shoes over the doorknob and on a clothes hook on the door, hang a tutu. If there are any pets, they could fit in the room with the tutu too.

Laurie Sisson

Hob-e-tack: I found a product called Hob-e-tack at my local hobby store that carries train supplies. It's specifically designed for landscaping, stays wet but is really sticky-- you can place things and then re-arrange them a bit but they'll stay where you put them.

Susan L., Atlanta

Time for minis: Keep a travel size kit with basics (scissors, glue, exacto knife, etc) in the car. Eat lunch at drive thrus and mini while in line and after obtaining lunch. Inhale lunch to have more time to mini. Or skip eating a lunch and eat a bag of chips or crackers when I get back to my desk. Carry kit in any place where you may have to wait, like doctors, dentist, etc. Don't tell my boss, but reading SSD at work helps save time too! No, I'm not allowed to mini at my desk.

Debby in KY

Unused tools: Yes, I have many tools that I love, but just don't dig out unless I'm doing a big project. I too am guilty of using my exacto instead of my wonderful chopper. Masking tape is easier to get to than my gluing jig. Toothpicks make fine paint brushes that don't have to be cleaned. My jeans and t-shirts make wonderful rags for wiping hands while I'm still wearing them! LOL and...yuck...most mothers know that a good spit wash works well in a pinch!!! VBG

Debby in KY

Museum putty: I found a few online sites for the museum putty:

http://www.safetystore.com/Quakehold.asp ($10.95)
http://www.organize-everything.com/museumwax.html ($11.99)
http://www.whitehouse-books.com/products.html ($10) This site also has a pretty detailed description of the stuff.

Celeste in Boston

Museum Putty and Gel: I have both and the brochure lists two web sites: http://www.museum3pack.com http://www.quakehold.com I haven't checked them out, but this is the company that makes them.

Ruth, Grass Valley, CA

Clear Museum Gel: This is the first time that I am posting but glad that I can answer this question. I have a jar of that gel. It is a clear and invisible temporary adhesive for securing your most prized possessions and is removable without a mess. It is a liquid that transforms into a solid film over time to create a secure bond and is completely removable and reusable. It takes about 30-60 min. for a complete adherence and, during that time reshapes itself to the bottom of the object you are securing.

I ordered mine from QVC and paid $11.25 + tax and shipping. You can call their product finder number and they will help you or email me and I can give you the item no. I will post it if I can do that.

Karen in Wisconsin

Quake Wax: If the clear substitute for Fun Tac referred to recently is Quake Wax (I'm trying to read five months' worth of SSD backwards so I don't know if this has been mentioned yet - and no, not literally backwards, but I might as well be for the time it's taking - never leave your computer for three months unless you absolutely have to), I've used this and *technically* I prefer it to Fun Tac, because of the color and the fact that it does not lose its grip the way Fun Tac can. But it's sticky, and I also tend to get into messes with it (hair, hands, objects not requiring it), so lately I've avoided it. "Small quantities" are supposedly available from the following address:

Conservation Resources Int.
8000H Forbes Place
Springfield, Virginia 22151
800-634-6932

Melissa

Quake Wax: Getting into the proverbial other ball of wax once more (regarding sticking small objects up, or down), I think the clear gel might be Quakehold, which is - I guess from some googling - equivalent to Quakewax but not the same thing. I haven'tused the former. The latter is a museum-use quality "microcrystalline"(?) wax for adhering objects temporarily permanently, or permanently temporarily, or whatever, which does not stain, or set up, or fall off in high temperatures.

Melissa

Mini-Hold I have found the Mini-Hold does stain. Be careful using it on wallpaper where you might want that section exposed later on. I find that it is very difficult to remove and therefore I do not use it when I go to shows. It also gets stiff with time. I carry a similar product but it is a bit softer and easier to put where you want.

One thing I like to do with the wax is make a pea size ball and put it on the end of a toothpick. Then you can stick little hard to hold stuff into it to paint.

Deanna from beautiful downtown Thiensville

Mini Hold: As I fly to all the shows I do, holding my plants and flowers securely in the plastic boxes is a major concern. I have tried all the products discussed but the one nobody has mentioned works the best for me.....plain old Rubber Cement! It is available at hobby and office supply stores for around $1.50. If you want to move something the old cement just rolls off and doesn't stain paper. If it holds my plant pots in their containers after they have been thrown around by the airlines it should hold minis in place in roomboxes etc!

*** Rubber Cement can damage some finishes. Use with caution or test first. ***

Jennie, MrsArt Minis

Mini-Hold: Just wanted to add a word of caution about Mini-Hold. If you live in a climate that gets hot in summer, above 25C (about 80F), the wax will melt and your pictures will go sliding down your walls. Yes, this is the voice of experience talking.

Pat M, London, ON

Architect's Scale: It’s a ruler that has three sides instead of two, and is triangular shaped. That is, it’s not a triangle per se, it’s more like a bar of Toblerone chocolate. Each side has two edges, and there is a different scale on each edge. I hope I’m making myself understood! Anyway, there are scales for 1” = 1’, ½” = 1’ and ¼” = 1’. There are others, too, but they aren’t relevant to us miniaturists. Usually, there is a regular ruler in inches, too.

To use the scale, find the side marked 1” or 1” = 1’. You will see that starting at 0, it is broken up into increments of inches, each of which stands for one foot. On the other side of 0, there is an inch that is divided into 12 smaller increments (instead of the usual 16 of a standard ruler), each of which stands for one inch, and is marked as such. You will also see that the ½” scale starts at the other side of the ruler, and the two sets of numbers crossing each other on the same edge of the ruler can be a bit confusing at first.

Anyway, if you have a 1/12 scale dresser, and you want to see how tall it would be in real life, you can measure it with the scale, and see exactly what it comes out to be. Conversely, if you scan a book that is 14” wide, you can reduce it and print it out, and then check with the scale if it is 14” in scale.

All of this works with ½” and ¼” scales, too.

I don’t think you will easily find a metric 1/12 scale, as they are divided in tenths. However, a miniatures store might have something for you. Architect’s scales can be found at office supply stores, in the drafting department.

Jonathan in Israel

Inch rule with metrics; I have a 6" pocket steel rule that has inches and metrics on the same face only along opposite edges. These can be found in any store that sells drafting supplies.

Drbob...Delray Beach FL

Measuring info as well as place to buy rulers:

http://www.lollypop.nu/otherstuff.htm

http://www.draftingdealsonline.com/index2.htm

http://www.tjtrains.com/page46.htm

http://miniatures.about.com/library/101/blscale.htm

http://www.jubileerose.com/8115.htm

And this site has printable minis in 1:24 and other scales:

http://www.printmini.com/printables/ph.shtml

Nursemini