Corrugated roofing: Take some corrugated cardboard from a box and remove one side of the cardboard paper. Sandpaper the remaining bits of paper off and you are looking at brown corrugated "metal" roofing. Paint it rust Or it can stand in for bamboo.

DrBob...Delray Beach, FL.

Plaster moldings: This would be very authentic for Victorian architecture. Many of the "wood" cornices and such were "wood grained" plaster. For miniatures, Hydrocal is finer and retains more detail than ordinary plaster of Paris. In the USA it is usually available through model railroad suppliers. Look into purchasing in quantity - it is much more affordable than the small bags which are simply repackaged and marked up ridiculously.

For molds, RTV works well if poured carefully over patterns well coated with mold release. Everybody has their own favorites so check your local art supply and (again) look at commercial quantities as a possible way of saving over the long run though most RTV does have a relatively short shelf life even unmixed.

For my plaster moldings, I "paint" the first layer into the molds to assure no surface bubbles, pour about half way and then add a strip of precut gauze for added strength before pouring the remainder. Slightly overfill the molds and then sandpaper away the excess after all is very-very thoroughly cured. Do not use wood or metal stiffeners as the widely different coefficients of climatic expansion and recession will cause cracking and separation with time.

Installing plaster cornices (for example) I usually glue to the wood shell or right over wallpaper with Elmer's white glue. Cope and overlap/underlap at corners rather than mitering. Paint AFTER all is in place but allow at least a month of cure time after casting prior to any glue or paint.

Mel K. Las Vegas

Plaster moldings: I think Fimo or air-dry clay would be better for the method I use: Roll out your clay into a long flat strip; in scale. On a piece of scrap wood, draw your design for the molding (remember your design will be reproduced backwards). Paint the surface of the wood with Elmers glue and place string, or thread on the penciled design. What we are making is a stamp. When the glue dries the thread or string will be raised and firmly held in place. Now press the design into the Fimo or air dry clay. If the strip of molding is too long for the oven you use. (in the case of Fimo), use a sharp razor and cut it into sections. These can be glued together later.That is how I make molding with a repeat design.

Dr. Bob, Delray Beach, FL

Laugh & Learn: I found this amusing website recently and, although it's written tongue-in-cheek(at least I assume so), there are some fabulous tips on aging miniatures that I've never seen before.   Be sure to read through it all, not only for the humor, but for the terrific tips: http://www.tackyliving.com/crafts/carGarden1.html   Miniature Car Garden She also has a link on her home page for a website that offers candy favorites from the 50's and 60's (Chuckles, Smith Brothers licorice cough   drops, button candy, Necco's, Pop Rocks, etc.).

Pam

Catalog site: http://www.mackenzie-childs.com   which if you're not familiar with the company, is rather like Mary Engelbreit on steroids -- and incredibly pricey, too.   Very whimsical, multi-patterned painted finishes, chunky shapes.  It all looks like it should be miniature anyway! Folks like me who enjoy customizing cheap wood furniture and Michaels hutches will particularly like the faux paint ideas for the armoires and tables.

Loretta.Sniarowski

Reference resource for DIY Victorian bathroom fixtures: http://www.victoriancrapper.com/index.htmlYes, the URL is a bit, er, risqué, but it is a rather serious page on Victorian toilet bowls, with lots of pictures, and some history.   I found it while looking for ref materials for my own DIY project's bathroom.

Maura Bass

Turn of the Century Immigration Costuming: Lorrie asked about costuming immigrant dolls and what an inspector of immigrants might look like. Years ago I made dolls to portray a scene from Ellis Island. It would have been around the turn of the century, and the immigrants were all fairly poor. The women all had long skirts, with shawls and scarves around their heads. The men wore suits or jackets of some kind. The children would be wearing something similar to what other children were wearing at that time - a little boy I did had on knickers with a shirt, jacket and hat. The little girls had dresses with pinafores over the top - everyone wore high top boots. There are a lot of pictures out there of groups of immigrants passing through Ellis Island. Go to www.Google.com and enter Immigrants Ellis Island and see what you find.

About the inspector: I'd put him in a tweed suit, or he might very well have been a Dr. because they were all subjected to some kinds of physical exams. In that case, he could be wearing pants with a shirt and vest, with armbands. He might be wearing glasses and would have a clipboard in his hand. In my family, we have the original certificate from Immigrations on Ellis Island listing my great grandfather and his family who had just come over from Czechoslovakia. My grandmother is listed as an infant. (I was told she was born on the ship on the way over) So you should definitely do a mother with a baby in her arms. Have fun.

Paulette in IN

Immigration Inspector: I believe they wore navy or black uniforms.   I think a search on the Ellis Island web page, would show some pictures.

Annie

Ellis Island Inspectors:  here's a web page on Ellis Island inspections (I'm guessing the rest of the site might be interesting, too):   http://www.ellisisland.com/inspection.htmlIt describes the inspectors as "wearing starched collars and heavy serge jackets"

Lee

Projects: While I had some time on my hands(no digests to read),I created a new page on my website. This page has several projects with How-tos. I have a tree, carpetbags, fishing creel and a wreath so far. If you're interested in taking a peek the addy is: http://minipearls.homestead.com/Weewilliewinkies.html  Click on PROJECTS. This is the first time I've done this sort of thing. I would appreciate feedback  regarding the directions. I hope that they a clear enough to be understood.

Pearl Jordan

Cute site: I found a very cute site by the author Jan Brett. It is full of too full scale printables ( which you probably can scale down) and a sweet tiny gingerbread house. There are activities for the kids too and lots more. Have a look at the cute masks. I am sure this site will inspire some of you.   http://www.janbrett.com

Marianne

Display box Project: Now, a project for you all. Very simple and inexpensive. There were a bunch of gifts I got from people when I was in Japan that I wanted a special display box for. I had seen one in Michael's that I really loved, but it was expensive, $60, and even with a 40% off coupon, more than I wanted to pay. So my head began to whirl.

There are there Lucite frames, called 'box frames', a sort of shallow box made of clear plastic, with a white cardboard box inside them which is supposed to hold the picture in place. I got one on sale for about $3.00. Remove the cardboard box.

Bought a piece of foam core board, of course, you could use gator board or wood if you are so inclined. I constructed a box that was 4 inches deep, (you can make it any depth you like) and slipped the frame on the front. It came out so good I made a couple of more! Only took me about half and hour to do. In my bathroom, which is wallpapered in a sailboat motif, I had a bunch of nautical theme minis on top of a case that has miniature toys in it. They were always getting dusty. So I made THEM a box too!

Today I was in Wal-Mart, and saw some very inexpensive (less than $5 for a 16 in by 20 in) white plastic frames I'd bought a while ago for 'someday! loll Had another brainstorm! The frames have no 'glass' in them....so I picked up a cheap 16x20" frame ( $5.97) that has thin plastic, the hard kind, not the kind that covered your grandma's furniture.

With this frame, I didn't even need to cut a back for my box, as it came with a thick cardboard backing! I just made the sides, and covered the cardboard with some old wallpaper I had lying around!   Took the 'glass' out of the crappy frame, put it in the plastic frame and slid it on my new display case! So, only using about a half of a sheet of foamcore, this huge display case only cost me about $12!

You can use paint, fabric or paper to cover the outside if you like, or leave it white. One word of caution, when you cut the sides, make sure that you allow for the thickness of the overlapping side when you measure! You want the outside dimension of your box to be just less than the inside dimension of your frame!

And, before you ask, I put this all together with Tacky glue!

Also, any of you considering making the display   box project, I used 3 Xacto blades to cut the foam core for 4 boxes. We often tell you to change your blades often, as only a fresh blade cuts without shredding the edge. But we really never explain just HOW new they need to be!

Alice Zinn- Pt. St. Lucie FL

Clamps: here is the page for those into clamps, like us: http://www.americanwoodworker.com/200204/workshop_tips/  The saw horse and panty hose tips look good too, but I'll let everyone else go and look for themselves.

David

JPG cruncher, web sites: I'm a little late posting because I have been working on my site. I would recommend the Homestead sites. Very easy to do, free, and none of those annoying pop up ads. Also, recently they had a link to http://www.spinwave.com/dem/ which has a free downloadable program to easily "crunch" jpg files. Doing so has really speeded up my site. The pictures download much faster and I think the quality is ok but since my vision is so bad I would appreciate it if some of you would look at it and let me know what you think. Also, please let me know if you want to be added to my LINKS page.

Marie in San Jose, Ca

Dolls: Anyone else who makes or collects miniature dolls might be interested in my newsletter: check out my web site for info: http://www.daintydoll.bigstep.com

Paulette Stinson

Brushes: The brush I use to paint my dolls is 10/0 and I love it. I get them from House of Caron House of Jackie@HouseofCaron.com She sells various sizes and I've been pleased with all that I've purchased from her.

Viola

Spiral staircases.    Since I did not catch the original post, I don't know if the question involved buying one or building one from scratch.   But in case someone was wanting to build one from scratch (the ones available for buying are very expensive), I thought I would mention that in her book, "Making Victorian Dolls' House Furniture", Patricia King gives time-consuming, but VERY easy and inexpensive basic instructions for making a spiral staircase.   I followed her instructions, adding my own embellishments (as she encourages one to do), and I am extremely pleased with the lovely result - so pleased that I am going to make several more, and have already scrounged or bought the necessary components.   So, whoever it was that asked the question, if what you wanted was to make your own, I recommend that you try Ms. King's idea.   The book is new enough that it should be readily available in any mini store or failing that, try  www.Amazon.com, www.Bibliophile.com  or www.Bookfinders.org .

Shirley in Chesapeake, Virginia

Alchemist/magician's lab -  I've finally begun to construct a laboratory for a character I've been imagining for years. She's a magician/sorceress/scientist, sometime in the 1700's in central Europe; she also experiments a bit with alchemy (so I can include lots of funky equipment). I've made loads of books and I'm including a sort of furnace thing as well as a regular fireplace; when I get a new job, I'll buy lots of flasks and chemical apparatus from Carol's site (http://www.spminiatures.com/chemistry.htm I'm building a dungeon-y looking room and I want it to be very cluttered.

Christine in NYC

Battery Lamps: look in the sporting goods section at WalMart or in Home Depot/Lowes for keychains with 1:12 scale Coleman lanterns with replaceable batteries. I've used them as is in camping scenes and also repainted the base and added a printable lampshade from Jim's http://www.printmini.com site to "civilize" them for indoor rooms. Works fine if you don't mind them all having the same style base!

Loretta

Cleaning tips for antiques and stuff: They have lots of information on cleaning things from ink on dolls to silver polishing. I spent a lot of time copying some of the tips in the cleaning section. They also have links on other subjects- worth a look. This site mentioned you could remove smoke smell with clay cat litter.

Just scroll past all the auction stuff to the area labeled; Antiques & Collectibles Arena... Categorized discussions of Antiques & Collectibles. http://community.otwa.com/3/OpenTopic? a=cfrm&s=386293084

Kerrie