Decals: As the decals are intended to be fired in a kiln you need to add some heat. When I use decals on decorated eggs I do this. Soak the decal in warm water instead of cold to slide off the backing. Warm the surface that are going to put the decal on with the aid of a hairdryer or sitting it on a radiator. Wring out a cloth in hot water and, when you have the decal smoothed in place, press the cloth over the decal and hold in place for several minutes. It doesn't make the edge invisible but seems to make it less obvious if you persevere.

Chris

Decals: You don't need an expensive decal finishing "system" to get the edges of decals to disappear or to have decals conform to irregular surfaces. All you need is a bottle of Hobsco's Solvaset. It's available at railroad and model shops.

Sally Cook-Thomas

Antique Houses: Please, if you want to restore a dollhouse yourself, PLEASE wear a respirator. If this is a turn-of-the-century dh, you may want to give this some thought...1. It may have LEAD PAINT. You would not know this for sure, unless you have a paint chip analyzed. 2. It could have some sort of historical significance. In either case, I would wear a respirator when handling. I have several items I suspect have had lead paint. If this were my house, I would (respirator on) use a soft animal hair paint brush to 'clean house', over a disposable drop cloth. Then seal the heck out of the dh. I would NOT allow a child to play with it because of unknown paint products. Just a display. I don't mean to scare anyone out of purchasing an antique anything. The paint could very well be Milk paint. So please, be very careful.

Rita

Fretwork: You might try Georgia Laser. Don't hesitate contacting Cathy for some custom work. Great people to work with. http://www.georgialaser.com

Jon Lash

Mod Podge. when applying fabric to a box try using Modge Podge. It does a good job, adheres well and doesn't warp what you are working with. I have used fabric on two projects, applying both with this adhesive.

Katherine

Making 0. 75 -1 mm dowels: Cut off one of the tapered ends of the round tooth pick and place it in the chuck of a drill and then sand down to the thickness you require.

DrBob. . . Delray Beach, FL.

Storing Paints: For the person storing paint in a box, I have found that if I tighten the lids before putting them in the box then store them upside down, I can always see the colors, and pick out the one that I am looking for quickly.

Darlene

Display of Houses: I have our doll-house, a big Architect's Choice model, sitting on a coffee table bought for it. The table is set perpendicular to the living room wall, not too far from our front door. It helps define a foyer area where there is none in our real house. The front of the dollhouse faces the "foyer" side of the living room, while the open back faces the main space in the living room. The actual room isn't terribly large. I have a love seat in it because a full size couch looks too big for it, if that gives you an idea of the size. But the dollhouse and table work out well as a divider - decorative, interesting, but still very open while defining the space. There is one slight drawback. When the kids, particularly girls, in our neighborhood come selling for school or scouts we usually end up with visitors for awhile. One night my husband answered the door just as we were about to sit down for supper. The two girls from up the street were there for the night if we'd let them stay! As our supper got colder and colder I finally suggested to them that they could come, with parental permission, to visit another time but if they didn't get going they weren't going to sell any more stuff before it got dark. The microwave did a reasonable job of reheating dinner and we have a couple of new friends who do stop by on occasion. It's our only house so I haven't needed to figure out anything else yet. However, I'm planning to buy two of Tom's wall hung houses to put on the wall over my staircase so that when you come down the stairs you'll be looking right at them. When we were trying to decide zoning for our Architect's Choice a friend suggested that we put it on pulleys and store it in the cathedral ceiling of our family room when we needed to move it out of the way. Our family room would be big enough to accommodate it easily but we have so much else going on in there that sometimes needs all the space so we decided against that option.

Lissa from Rutland, MA

Enclosing Dollhouses: When Pam Throop (incredible dollhouses!!) wanted to enclose a large dollhouse, she talked to the folks at Tap Plastic, which is the local plastic store. I'm not sure how big the franchise is, but there will be other plastic places. Anyway, they cut the pieces to size, polished the edges and added screw blocks. These were clear plastic blocks in the proper places, drilled and tapped. The mating pieces were drilled and screws were inserted through the holes and screwed into the screw blocks. It was sturdy, had a top, gave a clear view of the dollhouse, and could be disassembled and stored when necessary. The blocks, because they were clear like the rest of the structure, were barely noticeable.

Jeanne, San Anselmo, CA

Plexiglas covers: the dimensions of the cover you need are large enough that you may need to consider a curved top so it does not sink inward. If you have a "Tap Plastics" near you; you might talk to them. At any rate, it is not going to be cheap. Have you considered a couple of towels?

Barb Jones

Beginning the Mini-Making Hobby: Here's my suggestion for "how to get started." My first venture into miniatures was doing a furniture kit. (It turned out pretty badly, by the way.) I learned a lot in the process, and I think it's a good way to get your feet wet without getting in over your head right away. My next attempt was to create a simple roombox of an old-fashioned schoolroom. If you'd like to see it, I have a picture of it at: http://www.zing.com/album/?id=4292728383 I didn't try to electrify this roombox. Again, that would have been too daunting as a beginner. Everyone who saw encouraged me to make more things, and I felt encouraged to challenge myself with ever more complex projects. By the way, I would never encourage someone to start out his or her mini-making with a dollhouse. That's just too overwhelming! One of the miniaturists in our club whose work I truly admire has an unfinished dollhouse shell sitting in her family room (no, actually, it's become almost an entire workroom - it's an addictive hobby, you see), and she keeps cranking out beautiful roomboxes instead. In some ways, roomboxes are more versatile - you can make them small to fit on the wall like a picture or as a lamp base (as my daughter and I did with the APAR Brokerage box). They also fit into bookcases or atop dressers without taking up too much space. I hope you find the hobby as much fun (and challenge) as I have. Good luck!

George Held

Beginning the Mini-Making Hobby: George - your Italianate house is beautiful and it's obvious that the way you worked yourself into miniatures certainly worked for you. But... :), I'd certainly hate to see a beginner decide that was the best way to get started, get a furniture kit, get horribly frustrated trying to put it together and never try anything else. That's how it would have been for me if I had done that - I wanted to build a dollhouse so my husband bought me the Glencroft (no he wasn't being mean - that's the one I wanted!), I finally worked up my nerve to build it, absolutely loved every minute of it and if I do say so myself, ended up with a lovely house (which I later sold so it must have been okay). Since then I've done all sorts of other stuff in miniatures including making furniture from kits which remains probably my least favorite thing to do. And I still love building dollhouses. So while I certainly understand your approach and admire your results, it is definitely a "different strokes for different folks" hobby. So if you've never done miniatures before and want to build a piece of furniture, do it! And if you've never done miniatures before and want to build a house, do it! Whatever "grabs" you about miniatures is probably the best place to start.

Mary Lynne in Huntington, WV

Beginning the Mini-Making Hobby: A great thing about minis is, you can invest as much time, effort and money as you like - though you may as well know now, once you start it will eventually consume your entire life and the lives of those around you (my mom's friends find it very strange that she saves such odd bits of trash for me - and even stranger that I get so excited about these "presents").

You can buy inexpensive house kits (however you may want to see previous posts regarding house-stomping episodes brought on by some of these kits!). There are also very inexpensive room boxes. You can also look on eBay or such sites for inexpensive stuff. Or, just look around you! Empty coffee cans, flower pots, old boxes, cigar boxes, a section of bookshelf, watering cans, logs, old books, gift bags, eggshells - anything can be a basis for mini displays. Then there's what to put in them. A display can be as simple as a chair with a woman's hat and gloves on it, displayed under a dome or in tiny shadow box; or you can go nuts and fill a general store or Victorian mansion with every item you ever dreamed of!In this list, and the archived digests, you can learn how to turn just about anything into a mini, so if you're creative (and persistent) you can make just about everything yourself. Or you may decide that you'd rather just collect pieces made by others; or you can spend the dough on a few fine and meaningful pieces, and make the rest. I think it is a great hobby because it includes so many other hobbies as well, and you can find your niche or try them all: needlework, carpentry, sculpting, painting, weaving, electrical work, wood finishing, decorating, designing, just to name a few. And whatever you're into, be it Victorian, sci-fi, ancient Rome, fairies, Chinese history, costuming, New England fishing villages, beautiful gardens, preserving your own memories - whatever - you can make it happen in minis! And it's way less expensive than constantly redecorating your house!

Graceanne

Beginning the Mini-Making Hobby: I would suggest joining a mini club. Seeing real people you know doing great things in mini is a great inspiration. Small club projects are a great way to get your feet wet doing different things. Recently, my club has done FIMO foods, worked in Model Magic to make baked goods, and done a cross-stitch, which was brand new for many members. Even if you don't like working in a particular medium, it gives you an appreciation for how much work goes into it!

Lynette in WNC

How long it takes to build a project: The Bridal Salon took 60 hours. The Tudor Cottage took 120 hours to appear as it does. Both projects are viewable on the Projects page of www.miniatures.com I've since put another 20 hours into the Cottage and will take, perhaps, another 20 to be satisfied. The Lakeside Fishing Lodge on the cover of the Spring/Summer HBS catalog took 84 hours. The Beach Cottage that appears on page 16 of that same catalog took 60 hours the first time I built it. I just did a variation in 55 hours. The difference being the first time, I weathered it and did the beach landscaping. This time I only had to do the house looking brand new. I'll use the same beach again for photography. I hope others answer this question. I'd like to know if I'm fast or slow...

Sally Cook-Thomas

Crystal paint: Is there a paint already mixed with something like this inside that when you look at your painted project looks like it has that glitter on it?

I think what you want is a paint made by Duncan #SG 880 Crystal sparklers which comes in a 2fl oz bottle available at Michael's Crafts. I've used this paint which is water soluble, on several different surfaces including fabric and it has given me just the right amount of sparkle.

Marilyn, MI

Birch Dowels:I was buying tiny "birch dowels" and they got more and more expensive. I finally looked at them and said they really look like wooden swab sticks, but I'm not sure they even make them anymore with Q-tips, etc. I stopped by my friendly local pharmacy and asked the clerk if he had wooden swab sticks and he came out with a package of two or three dozen for 99 cents. I told him I really didn't want the cotton ends just the wooden sticks and he said then what you really want are applicator sticks and he pulled out a box for $2. 99. 72 dozen in each box. Guess what they were the tiny dowels I had been buying for 50 cents a dozen. The name seems to be a difference between $36. 00 or 2. 99. I have ordered them many times since.

Joanne T.

Online Dollhouse building: For those of you who want to build your dollhouse on the computer, have fun with a game called "The Sims". In it you can build and furnish a house, pick the occupants and their personalities and run their lives. This sounds easier than it is! They need to use the bathroom, go to work, water their plants etc. to be happy! I was really enjoying it until the stress level got to be too high when neglected the baby and the house burned down! But it is fun, and a great responsibility teaching tool for kids! Just like having a "living" dollhouse!

Alice Zinn

Mod Podge. The classic use is to dab on to give art prints the look of brush strokes or to texture rug pictures to look woven. I also use it to thin acrylic paints to make them sheerer and more like a glaze, which in addition to faking pottery can simulate lacquer when rehabbing dollar store furniture.

Loretta Sniarowski

Modge Podge: So far I have used Modge Podge twice. I used it to seal my printed paper decals used to cover the Buck Rogers toy chest in my Boys Bedroom and as a sealer for the outside of the room box itself. I glued on cardboard artwork panels cut from 1960s style model boxes and added a few printies on them to change some logos. Prior to sealing both of these, I treated the printed surfaces with spray fixative and UV spray, then applied a thin layer of Modge Podge. In both cases it sealed it all in and made a more permanent bond for the printables I had attached. And in the case of the model box art-it gave a light texture of brush marks which I liked. Here is a link to the pics (toy chest is towards the bottom): http://www.wishbooktoys. com/boys/

John Medeiros