mosaic-look icons: Make color copies of the image you plan to use, then use several coats of ModPodge or transfer medium to create a decal, soak in water, peel off paper backing. Coat your icon base (card or wood, whatever) with tacky glue. Break clean eggshells into flattish sections and smash them into place to cover the base so they break into smaller mosaic pieces. Once that's dry, cover again with tacky glue and smooth the decal into place over the shells, then weight to dry so the mosaic texture comes through the decal. Enhance the mosaic look with a wash of thinned burnt sienna acrylic rubbed down, then seal with a clear coat of acrylic.

Loretta Sniarowski

Cleaning Oils from Brushes: Also in reading all of the ideas about how to clean paint brushes, all I can think of is your poor hands using all of the toxic things that are being suggested. I have a BA in fine art and our professor had us buy a bar of Fels Naptha soap - our grandparents, or in some cases with the ages of some people on this digest our great-grandparents, used this for cleaning everything including skin and hair. I use it to clean oil paints from my brushes. Just wipe the paint off the brush with a paper towel (rags are too hard to store and dispose of safely), dip it in a small cup of turpentine or paint thinner, then run it over the bar of Fels soap. Scrub the brush into the palm of your hand to get all the paint from between the bristles, rinse and reshape before drying. My professor also said that a small amount of spit is the best thing possible to use to reshape your brushes. I am still using some of the same brushes that I used in class 10 years ago and they are still in very good shape.

Mary Lou in Portage, IN

Eggshells: I have done Eggshell Mosaic work plenty of times and I can tell you that the eggshells contain two membranes which must both be removed, otherwise the membrane can dried out and the eggshell will fall away. To make sure the membranes have been removed, place them in a saucepan and cover with water.. Add two or three teaspoons full of meat tenderizer and simmer for two to three hours. Strain the water from the eggs and remove the membranes. The first membrane will be discolored by the meat tenderizer and will come away quite easily. It is the second membrane which is hard to see and even harder to remove. Keep running a fingernail over the inside of the eggshell and if membrane is present it will feel slightly slimy - if no membrane is present it will feel slightly gritty or chalky under the fingernail and has a 'dry' feel to it. Then, cover the eggshells in household bleach and leave to sit for five days. After 5 days you rinse them really well and leave them on paper toweling to dry.

Brown and white eggs will work well with this treatment but quails eggs and other fine, speckled eggs tend to bleach white and lose their lovely markings, although they are beautifully fine.

Glue them to your base piece with water-based white glue such as PVA. Place a gob of glue down and then using a needle push the eggshell piece onto the glue, and roll it flat with a piece of dowel. This will flatten it into the glue but will also crack the shell into several smaller pieces. Use a needle or something sharp to push these pieces slightly further apart. Once you have covered your base item, leave to dry and 'setup' firmly for several days. Then grout with a mixture of polyfiller (wallboard compound??) and a teaspoon or so of coloured acrylic paint to tint the grout. Cover the entire object and once dry sand smooth to reveal the eggshell mosaic underneath with really fine (180 or 150) silicon carbide paper. Allow several years to complete even the smallest pieces LOL! This is my favorite method which I learned from a book by Jennifer Bennel called 'Masterstrokes' which is THE bible on painted finishes. Good Luck with whatever it is you are covering!

Trace

Preparing Eggshells: I am an egg artist and when we want to remove the membrane from an eggshell we soak the shell in pure bleach for about 10 minutes. This does make the shell much more fragile and also should be done in a well ventilated area so the bleach fumes don't bother your lungs.

Terry Ritchie

Sealing tubes: Painting craft glue across the tube end several times so it seals it off, that may work? as one can use membranes of white glue to make 'glass' in metal filigree caps used as lamp shades.

Helen Cottrell

Source of brass or silver jump rings:  make them yourself.  Brass wire's cheap, and so is silver plated brass.  Check your local jewelry supply store; you will need a thin knitting needle or something similar to wind the wire around, then snip it with your wire cutters.

An alternative would be to find a necklace or some chain with fairly round links at Michaels or Ben Franklin or similar stores in their jewelry parts sections, but then you're faced with taking them apart, which is very fiddly.

Karen Isaacson

Dust Test: Dust seems to be in-scale no matter how you apply it. See test results below: I made a test board by attaching a bunch of little wooden corners (wood scraps and broken/not-so-square picture frames) to a tongue depressor. Then I dipped the whole thing in Minwax stain and hung it out to dry over an air vent for a day. When I came home from work, I donned rubber gloves and sprinkled the following into the corners, blowing away some excess and touching it all up with Krylon matte spray.

Actual dust -- easy to find. Looked good, but tended to disappear after spray.

Grey dryer lint -- easy to come by. Was difficult to deposit in small enough particles, but the dust "kittens" that were in-scale looked good even after spraying.

Paint wash--got too wet and raised the wood grain. Seal wood first next time.

Pastel chalk -- only had green and purple in the house, but the right color has potential and is easy to apply. Hold small razored-off piece with tweezers, etc.

Fimo dust -- Have lots. Obtained fine particles by sanding over a mesh screen of the type intended to sand Sheetrock. Surprisingly effective. Used gray "granite" Fimo.

Lynn O'Shaughnessy

Inch to Metric Conversion Chart

Garry Cosine

Gold Leafing: I have used it on eggs in the past. The only very valuable tip that I can give you is this. Cut the foil into very small pieces (1" square ) to apply it. The smaller the pieces you use the easier it will be to apply. Buff it (with a very soft rag) after you have it completely coated. Good luck with your boxes.

Dottie Evans

Steel Balls: I finally found them. Reid Tool Supply 1 800 253 0421 http://www.reidtool.com 3/16" balls are $.03, 1" $1.44, 2" $16.45, and they have many, many inbetween sizes. You can get them in stainless steel for about twice the price.

Tom Berkner

Cutting Glass Vials: Freeze dried bacteria used for research come in glass vials and the vials have to be cut open. The way I did it was to first score the vial. That means to make a mark on the glass with something sharp. I used a file. Heat the vial. I did it over a Bunsen burner, but you could do it over a stove or cigarette lighter (use forceps of course). After it's heated, put a drop of water on. This breaks the glass along the scored line. Use eye protection.

Carol

Cutting Ostrich Eggs: I cut my "nautical" ostrich egg using a diamond bit in my dremel tool. The bit looks sort of like a disc mounted perpendicular to the shaft. You can buy them at jewelry supply stores and some hobby shops, and also there are many places online selling them. WEAR A DUST MASK when working on your egg. Unlike many other diamond bit applications, this cutting is best done dry and will create dust that is definitely not good for your lungs. You can cut very intricate designs with these bits, the ostrich egg is very strong and will take lots of cutting without breaking. There are other diamond bits that can be used for carving and shaping your egg as well.

Bonnie Gibson - Tucson, Arizona

Preparing Cast Metal for Painting: When casting (metal or resin,) mold release is quite often used as it allows the parts to be more easily removed from the mold and, more importantly, it increases the life of the mold. Since this is designed to prevent things from sticking, it is very important to remove all traces of it from the piece before painting. Being designed to prevent sticking, it also does not adhere well to the part, so it is easy to remove. Just about any method you think of will work. Soaking in degreasers (vinegar, TSP, Caustic Soda), or washing with detergent or soap, or rinsing with paint thinners (mineral spirits, alcohol, acetone), or tumbling with walnut shells (ground ones, not whole), or just water and a stiff brush (like a toothbrush or vegetable brush). Some of these methods have terrible fumes, so I would avoid them.

Tom

Losing stuff in the carpet: If you ever lose anything small in the carpet - expensive or otherwise, don't despair. Just tie or tape an old panty hose leg to your vacuum - put the "foot" of the vacuum inside the leg and then vacuum until your precious item appears on the panty hose.

Diana in New Zealand

Discouraging Cats: I use a spray-on product called "Bitter Apple" (it's for training dogs, but my vet suggested it for cats, too) to keep my cats away from things they shouldn't have. The label indicates it may stain some surfaces, but I've used it on many items without a problem. I usually just spray one or two items toward the front of each dh room & they steer clear. In fact, I haven't used it for quite a while and my cats still stay away . . . who says cats aren't trainable? By the way, one of my cats is a fruit-aholic and will dine on any fruit, including orange peels!

Jude

Discouraging Cats: There is a product on the market - in the States, anyway - called, quite simply, "No". It is marketed by Hartz, and comes in a spray can. You spray a rag or paper towel and drape it over your sofa, dh, etc., wherever you don't want the animals to 'hang out'. I had one cat the decided he preferred a certain spot on the carpet rather than the litter pan, and I kept a dust cloth, renewed with "No" every evening, for about a week and that put a stop to it.

Dani Rice, in Bradshaw, MD

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 it 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

Zip Lock Bags: Don't use your mouth to suck all the air out of the bags - put a straw in it at one side and zip tight to it, then suck air out through the straw pulling straw out while still sucking and ZIP that last 1/4 inch closed.

Kathleen

Small fans: Where do you find small enough fans to attach to move curtains? Take a look in an old PC - there is a small ventilator for chilling your hard drive and it runs on low power.

Marjon de Haas, Netherlands

Bookends: I made great bookends out of wall plaques. The kind that you find unfinished down the wood aisle at any craft store. You need two. It's easy to miter them together to make the L shape which gives you a nice back wall and a floor. I weighted them underneath with inexpensive bookends from an office supply store so that they really do hold books!

Leslie, in Buffalo