¼ Scale Sculpting: Once I saw a picture of a lady in a magazine, who was making a mini vase out of clay. She had a large bump of clay on the rotation wheel and on top of it she had this little vase 'growing'. Couldn't you do something just like that: take a large bump of fimo and let your little doll grow out of it? It's worth a try, I think.

Marjon de Haas (The Netherlands)

50s Moderne Open House: I finished my quarter scale 50s Moderne House and would like to invite you all too see it.
http://www.wishbooktoys.com/dollhouse/50s/

John Medeiros

Kitchen in a kettle: Helen from San Diego asked how to close the kettle she is going to make a kitchen in.
Well, I've never done something like that before, but I would make a door and add a kind of trellis to the outside. You can have a plant climbing in this trellis and even make some landscape around the kettle. But then you have the trouble of dusting your landscape :o)

Marjon de Haas (The Netherlands)

Kitchen in a kettle: Two ideas come to mind....you could get the clear heat shrink wrap from Michaels, cut a piece moderately larger than the opening, glue generously to the inside of the kettle (so the edges don't show) and then use a hair dryer to lightly shrink the wrap so it is taunt...it is nice and clear when shrunk, just make sure not to overshrink...or, get a very, very thin piece of acrylic and blast it with a heat gun so it is a little pliable and work it inside your opening and then glue....I missed your original post on how you plan to open up your tea kettle, so these ideas may not work...but it's a guess..

WhuiChang

Mini Domes: Thank you to everyone who responded to my mini glass domes query. I was asked to post the private responses. Here is what people suggested privately: JAF, Michaels, http://www.hometown.aol.com/GLASSMURPH/sitemap.html and http://www.minikitz.com. I need to replace one that broke.

Linda Master

Siding: I assume that your using the wide boards and not the individual strips. Start at the bottom. Use Quik Grab glue. Put glue around the board, especially along the edges. Press the board against the house, then pull it a few inches away from the house, and then press the board against the house. Move quickly as it does dry quickly. Don't use too much glue. I put it around the edges and a couple of strips in the center lengthwise. You don't need to cover the whole board with glue. You will notice an overlap at the bottom of each piece. The piece that you put on next will be right above the first piece you did and you should overlap the top piece with the bottom.

Carol

Quarter Scale Sites: I love 1/4" scale and I know of several people thatsell 1/4" scale houses and furniture. Of course, I want all of them!! Hereare a few:
Sally's Originals
http://members.tripod.com/~SallysPage/index.htm
Pamela Scott Miniatures
http://members.aol.com/daisy21/pam/index.html
Robin Betterley's 1/4" scale kits
http://miniatureconcepts.hypermart.net/RobinQuarter.html
Suzanne and Andrew's Miniatures
http://www.andrewsmini.com/
BJ Miniatures
http://www.bjminis.com/
Quarterkits
http://www.shawneelink.net/~umbrger/Quarterkits.html

Nancy in Ohio

Quarter Scale Kits: I carry 1/4" scale furniture kits from Mustard Seed.
http://JBsDollhousesMiniatures.comJB's Doll Houses and Miniatures, Yuma, AZ

Jackie

¼ scale Fimo head: Why don't you try to put a 'skin of Fimo over an already baked small circle or head from, so that it does not lose shape while you are working on it. You can also use a pea sized ball of tin foil as the armature.

Mary Kaliski

1/4" Sculpting: I have been trying my hand at sculpting in 1/4" scale as well. I feel your pain, lol. Actually I found a different sculpting medium for the smaller scales. The commercial name is Kneadatite. It's a blue and yellow ribbon epoxy. You take the two separate halves and mix them together until the mixture turns dark green. The texture is very similar to chewed chewing gum, yuk! The mix has about a three hour working time. It is easily added to and sticks well to itself. I have never had any adverse reaction from the epoxy, although I wash my hands after each use. I like it much better than Sculpey, etc. because I have hot hands. I'll try and post some pics of my leprechauns sometime soon. I've been sculpting a bunch of goblin heads for a doll maker from the movie, Labyrinth. I'll post some pics of them as well.

Shaun C

1/144th Scale Kits: We have just introduced a range of 1/144th scale furniture to go with the 1/144th scale houses we have. More items will be added soon including lighting for these kits.
We're at http://www.wood-street-miniatures.co.uk

Maddie

1/144" scale furniture and kits: You were asking about furniture and house kits in 1/144" scale. Sandra Kay has been working very hard on a web site that is a wonderful resource for 1/144" scale showing most of the lines of furniture and houses that are available with examples of finished houses. http://www.sandykaye.ws/

Jean Day

144th Scale Furniture: here is a site that carries smaller scales:
http://www.oakridgehobbies.com/ Just click on Dollhouses when you get there.

Marilyn from Michigan

1/4 inch scale ruler: A few weeks ago there were several postings about scale rulers--I just discovered another source for quarter inch scale rulers. Model Railroad shops have a General brand 12 inch metal ruler with 1/4 inch scale markings, catalog number 1251 at about $6.00. There are no calculations needed, no trying to interpret the markings, just a very simple direct reading in 1/4. The scale is labeled O Gauge: 1/4 : 1 ft.

Dean Jenson

1/2 scale houses: You can find 1/2" scale houses and furniture and kits at SCALE DESIGNS http://www.scaledesigns.com

Fannye in TX

1/4" scale furniture: Mel asked where to find 1/4" scale furniture and I have a list of websites as long as my arm :o}. For now I'll just recommend a few that I've actually ordered from & have been more than pleased with their items: http://members.aol.com/markstromj/index.html I am the happy owner of a set of Jane's 1/4" scale wicker furniture & it is absolutely exquisite. She is a dear to work with and very conscientious and meticulous. Seeing her Hindeloopen painting on quarter scale furniture is what got me started in that direction.....the detail she achieves is extraordinary. I have one of her hutches in my 1/2" scale gourd teapot. Bonnie Soucek has some wonderful items, too (and in all scales). I have a darling 1/4" scale garden table and chair that she decorated.

Jude in ND

1/4" sources: I have more 1/4" sources on my website listed below, so please ,check them out and many have kits. Isabel Allen's webpage http://pages.prodigy.net/isabelal

Isabel-CT

Popcorn Can room: I imagine that many readers will send this same information to the person who wants to know how to prepare the metal "walls" in her popcorn tin. If so, it won't hurt my feelings if you don't print it. Miniaturists have found that they can put scenes in or on just about anything. I see metal boxes and cans used often. Most don't seem to use the actual container for the walls so I'm not telling you how to paint the tin. Instead, I'm suggesting that you just use the popcorn tin to "house" your project instead of trying to paint and decorate the inside of a can. When I do something like that, I make a "box" with walls and a floor out of foam-core or some other thin, lightweight material which, when finished, will slide down into the can! That way I can make flat walls instead of rounded walls. Of course you can use more than 4 walls and if you use enough, it will be rounded. That makes it much easier to paint or wallpaper.

This way, you could even cut out a door or a window on a wall leaving a little bit of room behind it for yet another scene. Some people (who are way more clever than I am, put lights and trees branches, etc. in these little nooks and crannies.)

I put in a "foundation" of little chunks of cardboard, foam or balsa wood to set the box down on, so that the floor is level with the bottom of the section I have cut out to view the scene and when the whole thing is finished I lower it down onto the foundation. Then all I have to do is make sure the cut edges of the tin are trimmed and voila!, I have a room in a can. This is the same thing you would do if you wanted to put a scene into a gift bag or anything else where the actual sides of the "box" would be hard to work with.

Mary Lou in Florida

1/4 inch teapots: a very talented maker of all tea pots especially 1/4 inch is Nona Mitchell, Her email is: tpot@centurytel.net

http://www.mitchellminiatures.com/

Bonnie in Montana

Great Halfscale (1/24th scale) website: I just received my first order from Kathy Thomas' new halfscale (1/24th scale) website and am a happy camper! The order was packaged great, complete and came very quickly!

As a halfscaler, I'm thrilled to have an easily available website devotetd to halfscale (1/24th) products and building components, so I hope anyone out there who's interested in halfscale will think about this site when there's something you need.

I don't know Kathy, but I've heard she plans to continue to add to her inventory as her business grows, so I thought I'd offer a satisfied "customer testimonial" to help her out! http://www.halfscaleminis.com

Debra

Yogurt cups in minis: i started a scene in a cup. I cut an opening in the side put the cover on and build a scene in it. id say it would be about 1/4 or 1/2 size. I have so many of them I have them tucked all over the house. I agree on the things small.

Claire