Sharpening Xacto knives: For years, I sharpened Xacto blades using the striker strip on a matchbook. The grit was just right to achieve a good edge with a bit of work. After I quit smoking, matchbooks were not as common around my house; but I found a neat sharpener at Micromark  http://www.micromark.com. It is item 81619 and does the job really well for the normal dulling that occurs with use. It will triple the life of your blades.

Dave

Rolling Xacto knife: For those of us who have a problem with their exacto knives rolling off the table - I bought one at Michaels that has a "soft foam like" covering that is soft on the grip AND has ridges so it doesn't roll!!! They are a few dollars more, but worth every penny!

Patty Johnson

Glue for plastic sheets: There is a product called GLOOP available for gluing patterned plastic sheets. It is available at your local shop if they order from Model Builders Supply. I have it in stock if you can't get it locally. http://www.jbsdollhousesminiatures.com

Jackie

Chicken Shop: Great chicken stuff here http://wingsnthings.tripod.com/chicken.htm.

Marilyn, MI

Metal Miniatures: The metal miniatures you are thinking of is: Martha's Miniatures, 6440 McCullom Lake Rd., Wonder Lake, IL. 60097. e-mail them at Oscaler@aol.com for price of catalog.

Meldrum

Metal Miniatures: For Metal Miniatures - try Sharon Granicy (Hooked on Miniatures), 1519 E. Avenue K. Lancaster, CA 93535 661-942-0820 - (h) e-mail -hkdonmini@hotmail.com

Jean Lierman

Metal Miniatures: Someone on this list asked about resource for metal miniatures and since I thought others would be interested I decided to post it to the whole list. It is: Metal Miniatures, 1000 Central Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois 60091, Phone--1-847-251-2455, I'm not sure if she sells retail, but she does give a nice discount to dealers. I'm sure your local Miniature store could contact them , if they don't carry them. There is a great variety of all sorts of things including some 1/2' and 1/4".

Jane Coffey

Stairs: Dorie Krusz: Building Miniature Houses and Furniture in this book is a very good description of how to make a staircase (and lots of other goodies)

Birthe in Denmark

Janet Uyetake: Tiny Towne Hawaii 871 Kulani St. Honolulu, Hi 96825 Janet.Uyetake@gte.net She was in Chicago and ha some gorgeous stuff!

Peter Bugg

Cabbage: Molly asked for a bushel basket of cabbages...try Precious Little Things--Faith Rogers, PO Box 1006 Chester, VT 05143 802-875-4127 or 800-732-7894.

Alice Zinn

Roll Away Bed: great instructions for the roll a way bed. http://www.kellysdollhouse.cjb.net

Kim

Strobe light: Radio Shack (on their web site) sell a small strobe light kit.

Tom and Kari

Croquet sets: Gulliver's Emporium makes a wonderful croquet set. I love mine. http://www.ewol.com/~per/gulliver/

Anne Gerdes

Museum mini offerings: Please forgive me. I made a mistake re museum mini offerings. It is not Boston Fine Arts but rather Winterthur that has nice minis. They have added a Chippendale secretary and a pipe organ to their minis. They are online at http://www.winterthurgifts.com.

Linda in Leroy, OH

Buying BOOKS online: another way to search is to use an engine like Addall, which is MUCH better than some, and will give you some idea of how many copies of the book you want are online and the wide range of prices. It includes ABE and Half.com and Powell's, among others. Rare Used and Out of Print Book Search http://www.addall.com/Used/

Rose

Dolls: My two new dollhouse dolls arrived today, and I just had to write and say how wonderful they are! The dolls were poured, painted, and wigged by Phyllis Hill at http://www.home.earthlink.net/~minimade/page2.html and dressed in the most incredibly lovely outfits by SS's own Hazel Dowd at http://www.hazel-dowds-littlepeople.co.uk/ I really don't think I have ever seen two dolls as lovely as these -- if you would like to see them, go to http://www.geocities.com/madereo/

Madere, Silver Spring

Room By Room Boxes: For those of you searching for the Room By Room dollhouse rooms mentioned recently, you can see them on both Amazon.com (Toys R Us) and etoys.com. You can purchase from both places but you will find quite a few are "out of stock".

These really are adorable! Wish I could think of a good reason to buy them other than a bad case of "gottahaveitis".

Reva in Loveland, Ohio

Eggery supplies: I am, literally almost, in tears, after viewing the site I just visited.

I went to google and typed in eggery supplies which took me to  http://www.eggscope.com  There, I found a mind boggling variety of findings and beads at what seemed to  be very reasonable prices. There was so much wonderful stuff that I went into catatonic overload mode. After I recover, l will go back, credit card in hand. WOW!

Linda in Leroy, OH

Speed control for the Dremel: A couple of years ago there was discussion on one of the lists regarding Dremel   discontinuing their variable speed control.  I was looking at a Woodcraft Supply catalog tonight and saw a router variable speed control that works on any motor that has brushes. That includes the Mototool, the Cameron drill press, the Unimat 3 and most other small equipment.  Check out http://woodcraft.com   and look for part number 142770.

Pete Boorum

Brass yardstick:      First may I suggest that you use stainless steel instead of brass. A  good metal shop will cut you one to size and burnish the edges for you for about the same price as just buying a good metal yardstick (See Dick Blick stock numbers below).   It will hold it's edge better than brass and not be so likely to get the kinds of oxidants on it that cause black or green marks on your work. If you still prefer brass, the following will work even better on Brass than stainless.

Whichever metal you choose, I would start an inch from one end and mark the first mark as "zero". From there I would increase every one inch to about 35 or so. Over that first inch, I would divide the space into twelfths, sixteenths or whatever. All you need to mark in fractions of an inch is the first segment. When measuring, put the nearest full inch mark at one end and then determine the fractional portions at the other end. This is how you use a standard architect's or engineer's scale.

To do your marking, paint the surface with a good enamel primer and let it cure real good. Next, scratch your marks through the paint and into the metal. Apply a strong acid solution (electronics or jewelry making shop) to deeply etch the metal. Neutralize the acid then strip the paint off. Spray paint the metal a nice black and let it dry then polish away the surface paint that is not IN the etched depths.

Now: Dick Blick along with most drafting and art supply shops sells quality metal rulers up to 36", 48" or even longer.   Dick Blick is on the web at  www.dickblick.com   The Alvin non-skid stainless steel ruler   (36") is catalog number A55632-1036 a $8.49 each. Their 36" aluminum ruler is A55430-1036 @$2.99 each. A Fairgate center finding ruler (zero in the middle and goes up on each side) 36" long is also aluminum at $10.49 (A55405-1036).

For a classy piece of shop art, you may also consider a quality varnished wood yard stick and add a brass edge. I had one for a long time that got "lost" to uninvited visitors but it had a reproduction advertisement for a very ancient hardware store where the original manufacturer's name had been sanded away. Great conversation piece.

Petitfacades