Animal skins/Small Tools: Cabela's World Foremost Outfitter of fishing gear, camping gear, hunting gear, and outdoor gear:

http://www.cabelas.com/

Kathy in TX

Carnival miniatures: You can find some carnival items at the Country Store Miniatures site --

http://CountryStoreMiniatures.com/ has those old fashion free-standing cotton candy and popcorn machines.

Anne Gerdes

Victorian ladies' hats: Here is a link to a page that has a mini Millinery Kit:
http://www.excel.net/~jweisz/MAsupply/kitsbook/kitindex.html Here is the description: "Inside this booklet are antique line drawings, which we have dissected and produced in miniature. The kit includes velvet ribbon, silk ribbon, feathers, rose making tools and hat creation stand. Excellent Beginner kit.

Rachel

Libraries: As to the question about the 3 bears' kitchen - use the children's section of the library! Some of the books have been delightfully illustrated and are full of ideas. If I could do settings of all that I've seen that appeal to me I'd be doing minis all the time. The ideas sometimes stay in my head for my someday project, but then I can't always remember which author/illustrator it
was! Also, if you have a project you'd be willing to share for a while, check with the library, or maybe they have one they would like help with. (e.g. a storybook dollhouse, or project with kids for summer reading program. Many are looking for displays and the publicity might help you meet another miniaturist and the library get more visitors.

Dick Tabor

Victorian Kitchens: Why not 'visit' the Biltmore house? I'll grant you this is NOT your typical middle class home, but it was built in 1895, and certainly gives you some wonderful ideas. The site is www.biltmore.com Click on photography, and then on the kitchen. You can get a panoramic view of the room, and then go on to inspect the bedrooms and such. Lots and lots of marvelous
stuff!

Dani

Greenleaf phone number: 800 847 2545, in NY the phone number is 800 654 3804.

kgh

Bombay Furniture: According to my box from their mini highboy. there are two addresses: The Bombay Company, Inc. Ft. Worth, Texas 76107 La Compagnie Bombay Mississauga(Ontario)L5T 2N3

nursemini

"Take a seat" chairs can be found at:

http://www.willitts.com/TakeASeat/

Make sure to use the "additional sites" drop down menu and check out the mannequins as well!

Alice Zinn, Florida

Take A Seat Furniture:

http://www.fritzgifts.com/main.tpl?cart=3064918178850560

http://www.ashleysac.com/shoe/take_a_seat_.html

LordBouldee

Take-a-Seat Chairs: Add one more rave for Take-a-Seat chairs. I just bought a brown wicker chair and footstool from Deanna at Mini-Tiques (1-262-242-8053) for only $15. I could not resist, and plan on getting several more.

Marilyn - Wisconsin

Vintage dollhouse furniture:  You might try:

Diane's Dollhouse Collectibles at http://renwal.safeshopper.com

Anne

50's Kitchen : meat grinder, my mom had one of those old type meat grinders. They work better than anything on the market today. If anyone wants one for their kitchen (mini of course), I make and sell them. Give me an email if you are interested. minilorrie@yahoo.ca

Lorrie

Although I know that Paperclay makes excellent trees, here is another way to go. At a landscape nursery, I found a wide paper tape, crinkled sort of like crepe paper which is for wrapping real trees, looks just like bark! It is called "tree wrap".

Alice Zinn

Cryspia, or any other dried plant, can be sprayed with a paint specially made for dried plants. Check at the same craft store that carries the cryspia. (Michael's or another large craft store usually carries the paint, which you can find with the dried plants.)

Which, by the way, are getting harder to come by! It seems that stores are leaning quite heavily toward 'silk' or plastic plants now. In fact, remembering all the dried plants I have made into arrangements over the years, and the way they start to shed after a while, it would seem best to spray them in the first place. Might preserve them better then just leaving them with no protection.

Kaye Meldrum

Ivy: I have done a lot of ivy plants for friends and my own boxes and I have a couple of easy tips that I will share with you, if you don't mind.

You spoke of making the vines from thread and soaking them in glue etc. An easier way, that is more realistic is this: I take floral tape in dark green or in twig green (whichever color is best for the project) and cut off about five or six inches. Cut down the center of it to within about 1/2-3/4" of the end so that it is split in half but still joined at the end. Cut down the center of the two halves again to within an inch or so of the end of the first cut. Now you have four strips still joined at the end. Cut the center of these four strips down (they will be very very thin now)about an inch, on the first, a little more on the second, a little less on the third and whatever on the fourth. Use your judgment. After you make the first one you will understand. By making the ends different lengths, you will make each vine different from the others.

Now starting at the tip of the first strip, twist the tape till it is very firm and reaches the end of the cut. Leave that one and start twisting the second the same way, then the next------you get the picture. When they are all twisted (always twist the whole vine in the same direction, this is very important) start twisting each one below the "v" formed by the pairs of twists. Twist down to the end of the cut on each one, then twist down to the base from there. Voila!! An ivy vine that can be shaped in any direction. If you want extra branches, all you have to do is twist in more twisted ones wherever you want them. The tape will stick to itself and you can make it as full as you want.

I make the variegated ivy with my punched green paper. I paint the paper first with watered down acrylic in the color I want. Sometimes I sponge-mottle the paper and when I cut them out they are sort of shaded already. To paint the white, I use either off white or white acrylic and paint the edges only. To do it the easy way (and very quickly,) I dip my finger in the paint and sort of run my finger (with paint) around the edges of the leaves.The edges come out sort of unevenly white and look quite natural that way.I have sold several of my ivy plants and people seem to really like them.

Do you have an ivy punch?? Where do you get the leaves from if you don't? I have two sizes of the punches from Ruth Hanks. I used to order the leaves precut from her until I started selling the plants and then invested in the punches. I can give you the link to her web site if you want it.

Norieta in Hawaii

Rocks, landscaping and bases - I was asked about how I construct the bases that my houses sit on. As a sub-base, I use 2" Rigid Foam Insulation Board which comes in 4' x 8' sheets. You can get it at Home Depot, Lowes, Home Base or any of the home improvement places. It costs about $20 a sheet and you'll have enough for a few houses. I generally shape each layer with a sharp knife and glue them down with Liquid Nails Construction Adhesive. I also use bamboo skewers to hold everything together until it dries. This lets me continue working without waiting for the glue to dry. After the basic shapes are glued up, I then make any changes necessary.

Now using Celluclay or ClayMache II, I put on a thin coat covering everything. This stuff dries hard as a rock, making a very stable foundation for the landscaping. Next, using Creative Paper Clay, I do the detailing on the rocks and ground. Landscaping consists of AMSI landscaping materials; ground foam for grass and small bushes. Plant and flower selection is up to you. I personally use various paper punches for vines and flowers along with restructured silk plants.

Celluclay and ClayMache II can be found at Michael's and I imagine other craft stores. AMSI's # is 1-800-227-2760, Creative PaperClay's web site is; http://www.paperclay.com

Good Beginning Book: Someone was requesting nominations of good books for people just starting out. My candidate would be an early entry into the field, Helen Ruthberg's 1977 The Book of Miniatures - Furniture and Accessories. It's out of print, but - just for an example - I checked with Powells.com and they have three used copies, starting at seven dollars. This is a 240-page trade paperback, absolutely packed with tips, improvisations, and patterns, with photos and drawings on almost every page. Some of the examples may look a little clunky and naive, especially if you've been browsing all the incredible work on people's web pages, but you can alter what you don't like. She writes:"What I'm trying to do is acquaint you with a bit of this and that from as many aspects of dollhouse furnishing and accessories as this book will allow me to cover" It's book that can really spark the imagination. You might be able to inspect a copy at your local library; might also find it in a local used-bookstore.

Mary

Tudor decoration: I have a hardcover book, Tudor, 1500-1603, one of The Connoisseur Period Guides, which I bought at a used bookstore. It contains 180 pages of text, over 200 half-tone illustrations, about 50 line drawings and 4 pages in full color. The initial volume in the series, it was published by Reynal Company, Inc., New York, and edited by Ralph Edwards and L. G. G. Ramsey. It is incredibly detailed, covering architecture, interior decoration, furniture, painting and sculpture, as well as handicrafts, costume, music and printing. Strangely enough, I cannot find a copyright date, but it must go back a ways because the original printed price on the book jacket was $8.95, and it was listed as published in New York, 17, N. Y. Probably no longer in print, but perhaps you could check one of the sites for out of print books.

Wanna

Books: I just got Victorian Dollhouses by Nick Forder on the recommendation of a Smallstuff member - it is fantastic. The book has over a hundred pages of full color photographs of finished rooms and all the different kinds of furniture appropriate to different Victorian periods, with very helpful descriptions of how the pieces would be used and why Victorian householders favored various items. I found the book through Bibliofind.com, my favorite used bookstore site. I've received books through Bibliofind from England and Australia as well as U.S., so think the booksellers who list are generally happy to ship out of the country.

Kay Dreher

Seashell-inspired fantasy pieces were popular in the 1880s, called "Grotto Style" There's a wonderful book called "Fantasy Furniture" by Bruce M. Newman (Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., ISBN 84-78-1119-0) that includes pictures of all kinds of fabulous furniture, including Grotto; Black Forest--with woodland scenes featuring branches and bears; Horn Antler--crafted of real animal by-products; and Belle Époque--fantastic samples of Art Nouveau furnishings.

Lee