1950s Appliances: One idea I read was to make a fridge and chrome table from an Altoids container. Also, I have a friend I actually wrote about a few weeks ago who is custom making all of my 50's furniture for my dollhouse. She is always interested in new projects and does a GREAT job. Her name is Anita Oltman and her email is aoltmans@yahoo.com.

Traci

1950s Appliances: For those of you looking for 1950's kitchen appliances, I can highly recommend having a look at the site for K&J Metal Miniatures. These are wonderful things - crafted beautifully by a really talented artisan named Karen Fuller. The site can be viewed at:

http://www.kandjminmet.com/

Ann Hendricks

Furniture Kits: The House of Miniature Furniture Kits are advertised in the magazines at www.miniatures.com, but I could not find them on the HBS site when I looked for them a while back. I used to get their "kit of the month" a few years ago, and my dollhouse is full of them. They were very easy and a lot of fun to do, and very reasonably priced. I would suggest calling them.  Their ad lists the following information: The House of Miniatures, 2388 Pleastantdale Road, Atlanta, GA, 30340-3126, 800-679-9090.

Michelle Fox

House of Miniatures: Their address is 3890 Oakcliff Industrial Ct., Atlanta, GA 30340, phone #770-849-9907

Jo

House of Miniatures: There are two entirely different companies called House of Miniatures. The one that makes the "kit of the month" furniture kits is a division of Houseworks in Atlanta. Barbara Syrcher has another business also called House of Miniatures. She used to have a shop in New York state but now just does shows. She does carry top quality items.

Beth

Wicker Furniture: http://www.uncleciggie.com/

This gentleman has wicker furniture kits.

Laura Busch in Burnham, PA

Grandfather clock: I have had fun making a grandfather clock. It is black with a japanned finish. Block of wood, 7 inches high and square. Add an extra layer of wood on the bottom one and a half inches. Trim with cornice, mitred accordingly. Trim - cut fancy to form feet around the bottom. Another strip of cornice, mitred, two thirds of the way up. Fancy cornice around the top. False door added on front elevation. Hinges were filigreed tube bead / finding - added last. Spray painted with grey primer, sand, spray, sand, spray. I then spray painted with gloss black. Sand, spray, sand, spray. Took a colour photocopy of the clock I was copying and enlarged it to the size of my block of wood clock. Repeated the image so I had enough for the sides as well. Decoupaged it onto all faces except where the clock face goes. Touched up with gold pen. Added my (real) clock face and hands, some trim, and turned spindles on either side of the face. (Stair spindles cut to size).

Barbara B

Georgia Matuschak 1/4 scale: Lori Ann Potts of Mustard Seed Miniatures in North Vancouver, BC bought out Georgia's excellent line and has been doing some really neat stuff with it. You can contact Lori by email at mustardseed@uniserve.com

Debi in Quesnel

Pianos: I agree with the gentleman who recommended Ralph Partelow's pianos - they are gorgeous and correspondingly expensive. I was lucky enough to participate in 2 of his workshops and came out with a harpsichord, square grand, and a Victorian grand which are the pride of my houses. I was going to take another workshop but, alas, not enough people signed up and the class was canceled and I don't think he is giving them anymore...a big loss - he's a great person as well as teacher.

There is another possibility though for anyone who is on a tighter budget and wants a nice upright or grand and is willing to do the work. Mini-Mindus puts out kits for both which are constructed well and will turn out a nice looking instrument if the finishing work is done. I've done both and they worked out great.

There was a music room kit out some time ago with a grand that worked out OK and both the old Nutshell News (I think), and Scale Cabinetmaker (not in business anymore) had plans for anyone who is more ambitious. Jean Beritella in NY (she's listed in the classifieds in several of the miniature magazines) has back copies of some of these for sale.

Ana Gerard

Lighting kits: Hobby Builders Supply has them in their catalog. www.miniatures.com

Leslie

Norman Jones is from England and makes fabulous Tudor furniture. He does not sell directly to the public but his work is featured at Tom Bishops' International show in March/April. My friend has many of his pieces and could tell you more about him. Susie can be reached at scampco.com

Sue Thwaite

Electrical: Masonite is a brand name for Tempered Hardboard (kind of like a high density fiberboard). It holds up pretty well. It is near impossible to wire (can't get brads or eyelets into it worth a darn - it's too hard). But not if you use eyelets and the Connector Tool available at Earth and Tree from Tom Berkner http://dollhouse-miniatures.com  or contact Tom tom@dollhouse-miniatures.com We even experimented on arborite and it goes on just slick. What a timesaver, and makes the job so easy. No, I don't have anything to do with this company other than I am a very satisfied customer and just love the excellent service.

Jonesy

1/4-inch Nursery Furniture: Sherri of Domestic Dragons in Florida has a crib, chest and other nursery furniture. Her e-mail addy is: sherridragon@earthlink.net. I love her kits, which are easy and exceptionally nice.

Jeanette Zanio

Fixture Parts (Bulbs, Attachment Parts, etc.)/Metal Tubing: All of Cir-Kits lighting stuff is on my website http://www.dollhouse-miniatures.com, along with some of the JAF findings. The only thing I've seen for bending small tubing is a set of springs that you slip the tubing into and they help prevent kinking. Probably the best way to prevent kinking is to buy some of the very low temp. casting metal that Micro Mark sells (it melts in boiling water). You melt the metal and fill your tube with it. Then bend your tube. Since it is now in effect a rod, rather than a hollow tube, it can't kink. When you have the shape you want, drop the piece into boiling water, and the metal filling will flow out, leaving you with a perfectly shaped tube. The metal is reusable for ever.

Tom Berkner

Candles in Pringle Cans: To make Pringle cans safe for candle usage in mini scenes, you insert a mason jar screw lid ring, upside down, in the top of the Pringle can. After you decorate the inside and outside of the can, you can place a votive candle holder in the top. The hobnail design ones work the best because the hobnail catches on the ring and is more stable. They can usually be found at grocery stores in their candle section. Another good source for them is yard sales. The ring actually spaces the candle source a slight gap from the Pringle can, making it heat safe. The lit candle casts a lovely glow on the scene below.

Anita Myers in Arnold, MD

Lighting for Gift Bag Scenes: I use the battery operated lights on all my gift bags. I punch holes in the ceiling and then pull the six strings through the holes. The battery back will sit on top of the ceiling. I then add tissue to the top which will hide the battery back. I have pictures of a couple of finished bags at my craft website http://members.aol.com/muscka/Minis1/index.htm

Marsha, Newark, CA

Wiring Tips: There are wiring tips on my web site http://www.dollhouse-miniatures.com  Look under Tom's Tips.

Tom Berkner

Quarter Scale Lighting: Check out HO scale street lights for your 1/4" outside light. Go to your nearest railway shop and look for old style wall lamps. I used an old BRAWA wall lamp (Model 5356) as an outside light on a 1/4" scale house I recently made. Here's their web site - (go to English version, accessories, lighting and take a look at their antique and also the N scale wall lights - unfortunately it doesn't show the lamp I used but it will give you a feel for the kind of thing I used) http://www.brawa.de/

Sandra in New Zealand

Paper Clay: Creative paperclay has a website. www.paperclay.com They are offering free shipping right now inside the US. I buy mine at Michaels, but I think Ames has it too.

Polymer clay sites: Here is a modest list of links I like...

http://www.stanford.edu/~jenea/artbox/millefiori/howto1.html

http://www0.delphi.com/polymerclay/pcc/openinstruction.html

http://www.jaedworks.com/clayspot/polyclay-faq/molding.html

http://www0.delphi.com/polymerclay/Castle/home.html

http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Bistro/5298/MSATclayTIP.html

http://members.tripod.com/~Folkgal/ir00001a.htm (my favourite) :-) FOOD!

http://www.efn.org/~variscom/page5.html

And here's a chat site just for polymer clay. Go here: http://www.geocities.com/minisuzyq/ then click on the next page "MSAT groups to join". At the very bottom of the page is all the lists you can join. The polymer clay one is called "Clay Art".

Dahn