Packing: When I moved two years ago, I carefully stuffed the rooms full of plastic grocery sacks and then plastic-wrapped the whole houses to hold the doors shut. Everything arrived safely, so plastic sacks ought to do the trick. For mailing, Alice's suggestion to tape card over the bookcase would also help, although I still prefer sacks to peanuts because they're easier to unpack.

Loretta.Sniarowski

Displaying houses - I woke up this morning with an idea in my head about how to display my house, and wanted to see if anyone else had tried this. I thought of buying a mirror to hang on the wall behind the house so that I could see into it without having to turn it around (something inevitably falls). Or perhaps I would have the inside facing out and be able to see the front in the mirror.

Pat M. in Aurora, ON

Thinning Leather: To thin down your leather samples you need a skiving knife. I don't know whether Tandy Leather Co. is still in business, but that is where I got mine many years ago. Any craft shop that sells leather craft supplies should have it.

Sylvia in MA

Thinning Leather: You can turn it upside down and file it down using a good quality emery board... but be careful, it files away quickly and you don't want the leather to get too thin.  (This was one of the hints in our "Dolls & Miniatures magazine, and not my original idea.  But it works!

Viola Williams

Thinning Leather: Two ideas for thinning leather;

#1: turn the leather so the finished side is down and tack or nail it to a board. Use sand paper on the unfinished side to remove some of the leather.

#2: This method will make the leather more supple (softer and pliable) Rub the leather either side; with candle wax and then beat it with a hammer as you would veal to tenderize it.

Dr. Bob

Frosted Mylar: check the art or drafting or blueprint stores. It's used by us graphic artists and by architects etc. for making first drawings of blueprints, ink drawings, etc. I used to achieve a passable scratchboard affect by drawing in ink on the mylar, and scratching off areas for shading.

Dave Pierce

Shows: Attending a miniatures show is really pretty simple: wear comfortable shoes, and just bring lots of money!! No, seriously, remember the shoes part, but leave your bulky purse at home, maybe bring a cloth tote bag for all your little bags, they can be hard to keep track of. You also might want to make a little list (hah!) of what you're specifically looking for. There'll be lots of dealers with things you never knew existed, and it will be easy to forget what you really had in mind when you walked in the door.

That said, also be prepared to buy whatever really "calls your name". Lots of things at a show like this are one of a kind, we creative types often hate to repeat things, or else it was so *&*%^&$ to make the first time, we swear we'll never do it again!

And if you're very organized, pick up one of those little Grandma's Brag Book photo albums, and put your wallpaper swatches, fabric and paint samples, along with room diagrams and/or measurements for each room or roombox you're doing or planning. It's easy to carry and I can't tell you how many customers have looked at me with that lost, dazed expression, saying "I see that house everyday, but I have no idea what paper is in the hallway!"

I'm not sure why we call them miniatures *shows*, they're really sales, and different from the house parties you've read descriptions of here. There'll be table after table of everything imaginable (and some beyond imagining) and lots of fellow miniaturists shopping till they drop. Sometimes shows have displays in a special area, but at most shows all the "displays" are wares brought in by fools like me who travel to sell our things.

Bonni in Jersey City, NJ

Folding Rooms: My son used to have Hot wheels cars and as birthday or Christmas gifts he would get a play station of sorts to use for the cars. He had several. They folded up into a small box when not in use. Build your room boxes with the walls hinged so they fold when not being displayed and played with. Dedicate one over head compartment as a display area and make the box so it fits in the compartment opening. When you are in one place for a while unfold the box and place it in the cabinet for display. You can make and collect minis to fit the room box as time allows.

Bill Hudson

Keeping track of digest info: As a relative newbie, I'm still printing out the digests. For anyone else who does this, you might consider using Post-it mini-flags to mark things you want to check out later. They are reuseable coloured tabs that come in a pack of six colours. So you can mark off things: for example, red - want to reply to; green - site to check out; yellow - tip I want to track; etc.

Maureen Heuchert

Scrimshaw Carving: There are two products that are great when carved in miniature. One is a plastic called "ivorine" and the other is the Columbian vegetable ivory known as "tagua nut." Ivorine you can get through some art supply houses and tagua nut can often be obtained from places that specialize in wood and inlay materials. I bought a few pieces from "Woodcrafters" catalogue a few years ago and have never tried them, but I have seen extraordinarily beautiful bowls made from it sold at C&J Galleries.

The thing I like about Tagua nut is that it polishes like ivory when you turn it on a lathe, and it has a really beautiful "miniature" grain as well. The disadvantage is that it has a hole down the center so it needs to be sliced into sections that avoid the hole before being turned on a lathe. Someone I talked to also mentioned that it was best to soak the nut before using it, but I cannot confirm this

Lynn O'Shaughnessy, Princeton, NJ

Carving/Turning: I read Lynns' note about Ivory (Tagua) Nut - she is right, it is a nice substitute for real ivory. You can't make really big items out of it, but for miniaturists that shouldn't be a problem. In fact, on the scimshaw globe on my miniatures album, I turned tagua nut on my lathe to make the decorative finials. I have seen tiny goblets and such made from it and it does scrimshaw well. You can also do scrimshaw on other items such as turquoise and other soft stones, antler and bone, but ivory is still the easiest to work.

Bonnie in Tucson

Turning ivory nut: I've turned it many times, and it carves and turns marvelously, but it smells like burnt toast. But it looks good, although a bit more white than ivory. There is a hole, which if properly planned, can be put to your advantage. (I've never soaked it first)...once I carved a baby dragon "hatching" from the nut, and I glued a cool crystal into the space in the center. It looked like he was wrapped around the crystal, and the outside of the nut, which is rough and brown, made up the bottom of the "egg" in which he lay. I called it "born in fire". The fellow I know who does the narwhal tusks works in beef bone. I've never heard of ivorine, but as an old Alaskan, I have a goodly supply of walrus teeth, which are still legal to jewelers and craftsman, as most can be found on certain beaches in AK if you know where to look.

Dave Pierce

Scrimshaw: Art Werner's miniature ivory scrimshaw has to be seen to be believed! He has whaling tools and other ships items too. You can contact him by mail:

Arthur F Werner,172 Louvaine Drive, Kenmore, NY 14223

Leslie, in Buffalo NY

Scrimshaw: My uncle, an engraver, also does scrimshaw. He gave me some really nice poker chips made out of the faux ivory that were just the right size for small pictures. Maybe you could find some of these in antique or thrift stores . I also did a piece of scrimshaw on a slice of deer antler but it took a LOT of prep work to get is smooth, so overall wasn't really worth the trouble (and it never did get really smooth like ivory does, but it was an interesting effect nonetheless).

Tori

Wedding cake columns: Wedding cake columns are great. You can use them as fancy bases for garden ornaments, e.g. sundials and statuary. You can use them in a sculpture gallery, as bases for busts and torsos. I cut the decorative tops off two and used them on top of plain grooved dowelling to make a porch for my house! They were painted white and you can't see the join! You can use them as bases for tables.

Lynne Connolly

Casting lead: Low temp casting lead is not really lead it is a combination of metal salts and such that melt around 190 degrees. Some are expanding as they cool others do not. I believe the metal offered at micro-mark is expanding kind which is best for detail. have not use it though.

It can be cast in anything that will stand up to 190 degrees. Best molds are from RTV. If you can vibrate the mold as you pour it will give you more detail.

Drawbacks of this kind of metal. They melt under spot lights. When My friend and I first started casting metal for model railroad kits we used Cero Bend. 190 degrees melt. He painted one of the kits after assembling it for photographing. The photo lights that were set up melted a wheel closes to it. All that was left was a shell of paint.

These are the kind of metals that were used in the melting spoons that were sold in trick catalogs in the earlier years. The metals are sort of toxic so not too good of a trick.

There are many uses for the metals including holding parts while making them. The most use comes from indoor fire sprinklers. The little tags that keep the sprinklers off is made from such metal. When it gets hot enough to melt the seal the sprinkler comes on.

Bill Hudson

Warping, etc. What kills the wood is not the heat ... or the moisture ...

As a piano tuner/technician I have worked on pianos from all over the country. Here in Vermont, it is the constant changes in temperature and humidity that wreaks havoc on the pianos causing the soundboards to crack and the pin blocks to fail(that's the part that holds the tuning pins in place). Humidity causes wood to swell...dryness causes it to shrink. Think of a rubber band you keep stretching and then let go - pretty soon it breaks. On the other hand I picked up a grand piano in Denver (made in 1922) that looked as though it was just out of the showroom (Denver has about a 10% humidity rate) - it was even still in tune and had not been tuned for 20 years! If you take a piano or furniture to Denver from the humid East Coast you end up with kindling wood - the other way around you end up with sticking drawers, etc.

My point here is that for stable wood conditions you need a constant temperature and a constant rate of humidity to keep your wood from failing. For the pianos here I have an air-conditioner plus a de-humidifier in the summer and a humidifier to make up for the lack of humidity in the winter – I don't know how your climate is in your section of the country, but let's say that it is very humid (likeFlorida) and you put your dollhouse over a radiator it is going to create warpage, loose joints, etc.

I'm usually thinking $10-25,0000 for a decent piano - you wouldn't risk losing your investment due to improper placing or care of the instrument. Is your dollhouse any less valuable to you? When you are talking dolls houses be realistic about how much you have invested (both time and dollars) and don't throw your investment out the window.

Ana

Rolling Base for Dollhouses: If you really want to put it on wheels, you can build a crawl space type addition with a fairly thick base, then buy large round casters (wheels) at the hardware store or lumberyard, home depot, etc, the kind with four holes to put screws in (usually come with a set of 4. otherwise, buy a cabinet with wheels, or add wheels to an existing cabinet. The other option is to make a firm base at the bottom of the house; like a plywood base with room for landscaping, then before attaching base to house, attach a turntable with screws or bolts, depending on the turntable.

Second Hand Rhoda

Rolling Base for Dollhouses: In answer to the rollable base for a dollhouse question. I went to a school auction and bought something that had been used in a chemistry lab (or something similar). It is on rollers and has shelves under it with a door on one side. My farmhouse fits just nicely on the top with room for my recipe box/greenhouse on one end. When the grand kids come... it can/could be rolled to another room but they're actually very careful and look basically with their eyes.

Pat

Rolling Base for Dollhouses: I made one that you might be interested in. Bought 2 wall hanging cabinets (with doors) and made a work table out of them by connecting with a sheet of plywood. Put castors on the bottom of the cabinets. Thought the 2 cabinets would hold my supplies for my dh...LOL! (Little did I know how *many* supplies I would wind up with!!) Anyway, you could also do the same with one cabinet (from Home Depot or someplace similar), put a piece of plywood or fiberboard on top to be as large as you need (be sure and secure good with screws). They could put extra furniture, or just other toys inside the cabinet door. I love mine...but I outgrew it for supplies immediately after starting to work on the dh. Hope this idea helps you.

Rita Pierce