Staining Shingles: Just a thought about shingles, instead of buying light colored shingles and then staining here is a method for making your own and achieving a very nice finish. First find a timber with plenty of colour preferably hardwood a dark red Maranti or something similar will do. Cut it into strips about an 1/8 of an inch thick by about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch wide, the width can vary they don't need to be of uniform width. Take a good third of the strips and scorch with a blow torch on one side of the strip working down with scorch gap scorch gap to the bottom. Now mark all the strips on the side of the strip that is going to be glued to the roof. A line with a dark marker pen from top to bottom. Sand the unmarked face and the scorched face plus the two edges of the strip. If you have a disk sander this is perfect. Most of the scorching will now have sanded away leaving intermittent dark patches down the length of the strip. Cut your strips into the length you require for you shingles. lightly sand the cut edges and fix to your house. Apply one coat of matt varnish to seal the shingles. When dry with a blue green and yellow water colour paint put the color on the roof to make it look like algae or moss as much or as little as like. To save time dry with a hot air gun or hairdryer. Now finish it off with a dark furniture staining wax not beeswax or pine wax it needs to be good quality dark wax. This method really does give an effective finish. Try it on a bit of scrap wood first it helps in learning how to blend the paint Most of the houses at http://www.dolls-house.net have unpainted or stained shingles but one or two have it and will give you an idea whether or not you would want to try this method.

John

Tile Floor: making tile: My club once made tile by using a grout compound.We measured what size our floor needed to be and then cut out this pattern on a piece of cardboard. Posterboard would be fine.

Then we spread the compound out all over this board, trying to make it an even thickness about 1/16th" to 1/8". Then let set for awhile, time will vary due to humidity, but you want it to set up but not get completely hard.

Now draw your grout lines in the compound.An old pen or toothpick can be used as a tool here. Use a ruler to guide you so they are even. Remove any extra that the tool pulls up. Now let dry completely.

To color we used artist pastels. Experiment with different colors.You can give streaks and lines with the points of the pastels or just color all one color by rubbing with the side of the pastel. Now you can shake off any extra chalk. Try not to rub unless that is the effect you want.

Now spray with a fixative. A gloss is usually your preferring surface since this is tile. Let dry, you may want to recoat 1-2 more times drying between each coat.Once it is completely dry at least 12 if not 24 hours, fill in the grout lines with spackle or other grout like substance. Let dry and then lay in place.

This is a wonderful method IMHO that gives you a world of possibilities. You can go simple or complicated and not the headache of individual tiles. It also helps when trying to match a certain color wallpaper for instance.

Preble in GA

Aging solution: I mix up a solution of half water, half rubbing alcohol, black India ink and burnt sienna acrylic paint. You don't need much India ink or paint. I am no expert on this, don't have a formula, I'm afraid. I just play with amount until I get the depth and shade I'm happy with. (*note - it tends to dry a tad darker). After the first coat is on, I add a bit of a pine tree green colour to the mixture and paint that on mostly around the base of building, concentrated at corners where the wood would soak up moisture in real life and also farther up on wall that would "get more shade" than sunlight.

I think I'm going to play with that vinegar and rusty nail idea along with the other stuff.......

Debi in Quesnel

Book Ends: Check out places like Office Max, garage sales, etc. for plain bookends that can have a little display mounted on them. Some bookends are shaped like an upside-down T so that one protrusion slips under the books, and the other sticks out to the side of the books. That second protrusion can have a display glued to it. Or... if the bookend is shaped like an L with only one protrusion to slip under the books, you could build a little box with a floor, two sides and a back, to glue to the upward (outside) portion of the L and set your display inside that

Viola Williams

BOOK-ENDS: To make a simple and easy one I took an L shaped metal book- end and glued a black novel, 8 x 5 1/2 x 1/2 inch on the up right section (metal INSIDE the book) Then took another black novel Approximately the same size and cut it down in height to 5 1/2 inch. This I glued ON TOP of the bottom of the book-end, butting the cut edge up against the other book. On the up-right book I put some glue on the inside pages to keep it shut. On this I plan on putting a memory trunk, a mannequin dressed in the early 1900's, a mirror above the open trunk maybe an old picture.

Helen from San Diego

Downloadable Dollhouse Plans: The MaryKay is ready! The latest design from DollHouseDesigns. COM has been released (and the web pages updated). This open-back doll house features a 2 story bay window, 2 wide porches, double pitch hip roof, dormer and a step-down 2nd bedroom. The 9 ft. ceilings in the living room and formal dining room allow plenty of room for chandeliers, ceiling borders and window treatments.

The PlanSet is 28 pages (PDF) of cut patterns, assembly andconstruction details - all CAD drafted and color enhanced. http://DollHouseDesigns. com

Jon Lash

Moss: To adhere your moss, just apply a little tacky glue with a small paintbrush where you want it to stick. When dry, spray a little cheap hair spray on it.

Sloan

Landscaping a Front-Opening House: Another option is to do what I saw in an article in DHM where a front opening dollhouse was graced with some landscaping in the front by cutting a piece of wood to fit in front of the house. The landscaping was done on the separate piece of wood and it could be removed when you needed to open the house. When it was placed in front of the house it all looked as if it was one piece.

Nertha

Strip Shingles: I prefer to staple my roll on shingles at intervals of 6 inches or so. You just have to be sure that the roof is thick enough or the staples are not long so they won't go through. I use a commercial type stapler because of the strength and the variety of sizes of staples. You also have to make sure you staple above a slit, so the next row will cover the staple under the overlap.

Deanna

Stucco: I used Magic Stucco from S/W Crafts, Inc., on the exterior of the first dollhouse I built. All you have to do is mix water or paint with the stucco powder until the mixture resembles cake frosting (or thinner, depending on how you want it to look). You would want slightly thicker stucco mix for stucco with peaks and valleys and slightly thinner if you want a fairly smooth stucco finished with swirls. I mixed the stucco powder with blue latex paint, then applied it to the dollhouse with a round, flat makeup sponge. Worked great!

Mary in MS

Glassblocks: You could do 2 things (1)-make a mold(the rubber kind works great) and pour them with a clear resin such as Envirotech lite or go to the stained glass supply and they will have architectural glass. Its on s solid sheet of glass and should be available in 2 pattern sizes. The thickness is about right also. You can have them cut it or you can cut it yourself, its very easy. We are general contractors by trade and this is the two closest forms of glassblock look-alikes I've been able to find.

Joni

Nailing MDF:I have made several room boxes etc.. from MDF and have never had a problem with it splitting.   The method I use is to drill then nail using thin panel pins (3/4mm diameter, 2cm long roughly)  I drill and nail at approximately 2 inch intervals, knock the end of the nail in and fill over the top to make a flat surface if required.  I also tend to glue with wood glue (PVA) as well in order to add extra stability and fill any little gaps.

Natalie

I work with a lot of MDF,   get free pieces from local cabinet shop. I drill holes with a small bit, then one the diameter of the center of the screws.   I also use a counter sink to make a funnel shape for the screw head. I use what we have here that is called drywall screws,   they have a wider spaced thread.   I did split some of my starting projects at first until I figured out to make the holes for the screws just a little smaller than the screw.   I have made lots of cabinets and drawers for my workshop. An MDF box, with a cabinet handle and 4 casters does just fine under my workbenches.

Rhoda in Sunny Whidbey Island

Archival   cardboard: This is the first time I've posted, but I actually have something to add.   I am a fine artist and there are all kinds of great thin cardboard-type products that are acid free, archival quality, and pretty durable.   The first would be matt board, which you can get in pretty big sizes at artist supply stores and places like Michaels, as well as framing stores.   It comes in a variety of colors, so you could pick one that complemented your decorating scheme, and save yourself the trouble of painting.     Another idea would be illustration board, which has a really nice tooth (texture), can be painted or glued on without warping, really nice stuff.  Both are strong enough to glue trim to and are easily cut with a mat cutter (also available in artist supply stores).

Rigel Wood, Cincinnati, Oh

Archival thin board: Go to any frame shop or Michaels type craft store and ask for one of the following.

Bainbridge Alpha-mat

Crescent 100% Rag-mat

and some carry Truevue matboard. There are more but these are the ones that are used the most by framers. They are all acid free. You really need to ask specifically by the names I gave you. Unfortunately around here where they cater to the tourist trade, the frame shops are bad about telling you regular matboard is acid free. NO it's not. It's buffered. I've taken many a picture apart and seen the damage done by regular matboard and cardboard to artwork. It's not a pretty sight when someone has paid big bucks for a print and then had a framer either because they don't know any better which can be the case, or because they are just trying to get your money and get you out the door, use regular matboard against the print. You open it and not only has it yellowed the print paper, caused acid burns (brown spots are a telltale sign) but may even have started to break it down and make it brittle.

So now I do most my framing in miniature. I really do cut the mats (acid free) on a mat cutter, then I carefully peel the front couple of layers off. That way I have a real bevel even painting it if I want a colored bevel. I go through the exact same process in mini that I would in full size. I even paper the back and wire it. Keeps me in practice so if I move away from this area I'll still be able to get back into it.

That's why periodically I get on my soapbox about archival materials. I know what can happen. We put way too much time and work into our miniatures to have them not last for a long time.

Another thing is that matboard is very sturdy. You won't need to glue it in. If you cut it right, measure carefully here, it should slide in tight and if you want to change paper, slide it out again and change it.

Another hint with using matboard and foamcore, buy lot's of blades, biggest container of them you can afford. If it starts to drag or rag the material you're working with change it right away. Don't try to conserve where blades are concerned. Will save you lots of trouble.

Kathy in E. TN

Making your own turntable:   just thought I would give my own input on how to make your own turntable.   I saw it on a DIY programmed once, hope I remember it all for you.  As I remember what they did was to cut identically sized circles from wood, they then routered a circular channel in them both the same distance from the edge of each circle of wood.   They drilled holes through the dead centre of each circle and put a bolt + nut through for an axle.

Then they filled the channels with marbles (all the same size - this is important) put the two bits together and the marbles move and allow it to turn.   As I remember they about 1/2 to 2/3 filled the channel with marbles and the channel in the bottom circle of wood was deeper than the top circle.   I'd imagine you'd also have to leave a slight gap between the two wood pieces (i.e. total channel depths are about 1/2mm less than diameter of marble) for it to turn smoothly. 

Natalie

I Love Lucy room: Why not troll garage sales/flea markets for a "dead" small portable tv, gut it, build the roombox to fit behind the screen opening, and then decorate it entirely in black, white, and shades of gray? Spray the exterior bright red like Lucy's hair or a fifties hot pink, decoupage a couple of the I Love Lucy logos in black and white on the sides, and you'd have a real eye-catcher, with the monotone color scheme completely self-explanatory.

Loretta.Sniarowski

Holding Room Boxes together while the glue sets: A pair of picture frame clamps, which will give you a nice square box with little fuss, should work beautifully. These can be found in almost any shop that sells picture framing supplies, or you can check with a woodworking store.Their advantages are that they take very little time to set up, provide an accurately square glue-up and can be readily used on a wide variety of room box sizes. Happy Building!

Brian

For anyone who has ever been interested in castles, there are wonderful paper models of just about every major castle in Germany, England, Spain and France. These models could be used as patterns for larger ones, if you have the space and the time to do them! Here are a couple of sites to look at: http://www.ExpressPages.com/p/papermodels/This is a U.S. distributor of many types of paper models. http://www.instantdurable.com/VE/indexVE.htmThis is a French paper model company...wonderful models! http://www.moduni.de/ The largest catalog of them all, THE German catalog. I have more bookmarked, so if you have a further interest, you can contact me.

Kaye in L.A.

Lazysusan Dollhouse Turntables: Lazysusan turntables can be found at http://MiniaturesandMore.com/    web site. Tony has them in 2 sizes. 16x16 and16x24. They're sturdy enough for many different size houses. Great for viewing 360"

Janet in N.J.