1/4 Scale Teapot Walls: Jane, what about painting the walls instead of using wallpaper in your 1/4" teapot? If you want some design, maybe if you cut a narrow strip for a border, you could more easily glue that around the "room". I made a 1/4" scene in a paper mache teapot. Didn't like the way some of it looked when just painted or collaged, so I covered the outside with stucco, making it as smooth as possible when applying it. Then I sanded it down after it dried completely. Wanting it to look like a "china teapot," I wanted flowers on it, and instead of trying to paint it myself, I bought some of the rub-on floral pages and I was very pleased with the outcome. I used gloss varnish on it after all the flowers were in place. For the inside, I painted the walls with a stucco look, or light textured look by tearing up pieces of Kleenex in little pieces, painting a spot on the wall, picking up the Kleenex piece with my brush and laying it over the wet paint. You have to work with it a little, but after a few times, you will get the knack of it. It hid all the blemishes the paper mache had and I was pleased with the look when done.

Marjorie in CA

1/4 Scale Teapot Walls: If you HAVE to wallpaper, I suggest building a 3 sided box that will fit inside and square things up. Ceramic is NOT good to wallpaper. Measure depth and width inside pot. Cut one long piece of cardboard or fiberboard, score at measured depths, wallpaper it. Then bend it and place inside

LadyBug, Sue Thwaite

1/4 Scale Teapot Walls: The only way I know to paper a curved surface would be to cut small slices in the paper, fit it, and then cut out the overlap so it will lay flat. You might just want to paint the inside and then use an eraser to print a design.

Jacqui in Hilo, HI

1/4 Scale Teapot Walls: I like Loretta's idea for a wallpaper border at chair rail height for the curved walls of your teapot. You could paint the wall first, leave the top part above the border a plain color, then maybe use several colors to "rag" or sponge on the bottom. Choose one of the colors from the border, and then go several shades lighter so it won't be too bright.

Marilyn - Wisconsin

1/4 Scale Teapot Walls: Suggest pre-painting and then apply whimsical decals? Model railroad stores and a few mini shops have a solvent that makes decals more flexible than usual so they may conform to the interesting back shape. If you build false walls, don't lose the in-between space entirely. Paint and "plant" a backdrop on the pot wall and include a window or two in your false wall. Plan ahead so windows align with point of greatest "exterior" depth.

Mel in Vegas

1/4 Scale Teapot Walls: Why not just use strips or squares of patterned tissue paper or paper napkins and decoupage them on the teapot walls. The paper is thin and more forgiving than the thicker true wallpaper and would allow you to follow the curves better.It won't be an even, neat lining up like true wallpaper and you will still have wrinkles, but they will be less obvious and it will add some color and a semblance of wallpaper.

Parisa

1/4 Scale Teapot Walls: I have to get in on the conversation about papering the inside of a teapot. I have actually done it. In fact, I taught a workshop where we did just that. Now I'm not saying this is the "right" way, but here is what I did. In my case, Mrs. Potts had previously been a bank and her "inside" had various cavities from the form that needed to be hidden. I made a template out of poster board (shirt board). I cut slits down from the top and up from the bottom and pushed that into the hole. Then I marked the overlaps, pulled it out of the teapot and cut out the V's so there were not extra bulges. I refit to make sure I liked the new "interior" wall. The I pulled it out, and applied paper to this. (I actually used a flowery pattern and it didn't look bad.) I then trimmed out some, not all of the paper that went over those V's that I cut out. I left a little to hide the seams. I shoved it back in the pot and pasted down the thin little edges.

Shannon Moore

1/4 Scale Teapot Walls: To paper or not to paper: I've been working on a gourd teapot and the round shape has been a challenge. I used wallpaper from a printable site and printed it on cardstock. I dabbed some Goop here and there on the walls, rolled the cardstock into a tube, unrolled it once it was inside and then positioned it. I'm not sure if I like it or not. It looks kind of lopsided to me, but I'm "stuck" with it. Hopefully some furnishings will help.

Jude in ND

Musical Teapot: I did the decoupage finish on my teapot and under the lid there was room for a musical button. I put it in with a blob of Stickum wax. Take off the lid and push the button. It plays the length of the chip. They are getting better with those songs. Find the buttons at craft stores. If I were a miniature shop, I would stock songs like Tea for Two, It's a Small World and A Few of My Favorite Things.

Laurie

Rolling Base for Dollhouses: If you really want to put it on wheels, you can build a crawl space type addition with a fairly thick base, then buy large round casters (wheels) at the hardware store or lumberyard, home depot, etc, the kind with four holes to put screws in (usually come with a set of 4. otherwise, buy a cabinet with wheels, or add wheels to an existing cabinet. The other option is to make a firm base at the bottom of the house; like a plywood base with room for landscaping, then before attaching base to house, attach a turntable with screws or bolts, depending on the turntable.

Second Hand Rhoda

Greenleaf/Tyco/Falls Wood: Address to get replacement parts or instructions. Here is the info:

TYCO Wood Products Inc
58 North Main Street
Honeoye Falls,
NY 14472
716) 624-9330

They were Greenleaf, became Tyco and are now Falls Wood Products.

Phyllis Williams

Mitering: I always cut it out in cardboard first so I don't waste the wood and use that as a template for the wood in the mitre box.

Karen from Dubai

The Glencroft. We love that kit. It is a pain to assemble but we think it is worth the effort. We completed our first one shortly after our grandson was born. He is now over 20 years old! It became our family project. We added a "basement" under it several years later and it became Santa's house. The basement became his workshop, elf's quarters, and the entrance to his gold mine. While many shops display those big, expensive houses in their front windows, we proudly show our Glencroft. BTW: We tried many techniques to make realistic looking snow on the roof. We wanted a heavy snow since it would be the North Pole. Finally, we hit upon styrofoam cut to fit the roof with a slight overhang. The complex angles of the roof presented some problems but we finally did it. We used 1" thick sheets. We sculpted the finished roof to round it off and each year we remove just a tiny bit of the surface to keep it white. We like the sparkle that is natural with the styrofoam. We also made icicles from clear sealer on waxed paper and glued them on. It has been great fun and we are very pleased with the result. From Mrs. Santa baking up a storm in the kitchen, to the elf making use of the bathtub, Mr. and Mrs. Santa's bathroom upstairs, we believe the Glencroft would suit Santa just fine. Now I want to complete a Glencroft just to provide the backdrop for a wonderful exercise in landscaping. That house just pleads for a bountiful garden.

Sandra Olsen

Castle stairs and stairails: I think that the "rope" idea is good. If you used wood, you would have to score it to facilitate the curve, then soak it in water, bend the curve and clamp it and let it dry.

With the "rope," you could glue jump rings (they come in silver and gold tones - I think that I would paint them black) to the wall, run the "rope" through it with a knot tied at the top and bottom. You could even add another one on the outside edge of the stairs by using T pins. I would cut a small piece of plastic tubing (IV or oxygen tubing - I can get you plenty of this if you want to try this) to cover the head of the T, cut the pin down to the height that you need and paint the whole thing black. Then you glue them to the outside of the stairway and run the "rope" through as with the other side, with a knot tied at each end of the "rope."

For the stairs, if you wanted to use foam, couldn't you use a sheet of foam the thickness that you want your steps to be wide, cut a square the size of the height of a room (you could make it a rectangle if need be), then cut out the stairs?

When you cut it apart, you should then have 2 sets of stairs. You could then paint them gray and "carve" stones in the side that will be facing the room. You could even cut out indentions in the steps for a "worn" look. Glue it to the wall of the tower and attach the handrails.

Rusty

Covering raw edge of tin containers: Our mini club had for projects this year garden scenes in a watering can. I didn't do one, but I certainly admired those finished products brought to the meeting Thursday night. One of the members who is a fairly new miniaturist had covered the sharp edge of her opening with gold-colored auto body trim. She said it had an adhesive already on it. She heated it up with a hair dryer to activate the adhesive and make it flexible enough to go around some fairly small curves. The dark green watering can already had brass trim on it, and the auto body trim matched perfectly

Sue from Boulder

Children and Dollhouses: Our normal reply; "depends on the child." Then we go on to explain that children should be at least 3 or 4 years old. For the younger ones, buy a very sturdy shell which can survive the child climbing on it. It usually isn't the child that owns the house, but rather his/her friends that create the problems. Lightly sand all the edges, corners and holes, to eliminate any sharp edges. Paint the house in bright colors (hot pink, apple blossom green, etc). Do NOT install any windows, doors, siding, shingles or railings on the stairs - they won't survive. For wallpaper, give the child some typing paper and a box of crayons to create their own. Glue it on with YES paste. Get the 'blocky' furniture. The kind that is carved out of wood and will survive being stepped on. You can glue on fabric or paint it as desired.

When the child starts to lose interest in the house (probably age 7 to 10) talk to him/her about would it be more fun to finish the house. Now is the time to side, shingle, wire and really decorate it like a house. If you started out with a good sturdy shell, you won't need to replace it, but just finish it. How do you know if its sturdy? When in the store, ask the sales clerk to sit on the house. If it survives, then its the kind you want. (Yes, I have sat on most of my houses). Gender: We sell a significant number of model houses (not dollhouses) to boys. The favorites seem to be: The Potter's Place which is usually turned into a hunting/finish camp, the 2 bay Service Station (where dad ends up displaying his model cars), the castles, the lighthouses. Then come the colonial houses. The boys don't seem to care much for Victorian.

Tom Berkner

Buttercup: I find that it is one of the most versatile kits to bash that I've found. The one thing that I do to it is sheet the outside of it with 1/2" foam core to give the walls some extra body and heft, I feel it gives the house a sense of reality and structural correctness. I also sheet the floors with 1/8" thick planks for the same reason.

Rik Pierce

Gourds from start to finish:

- If you are growing your own gourds, be sure to leave them on the vine until about 6 inches of the stem turns brown. If you pick them too soon they may rot. Once you pick them, put them in a dry ventilated place for several months. They will dry at various rates depending on your climate. Where I live in the desert they dry in a month or two- in other places it might take up to a year. They may turn black and moldy looking, but as long as they don't shrivel up they are fine, it is just the outer skin that will be scraped off eventually. (You can even scrape off the skin while the gourd is green, but it may dry so fast that the shell might possibly shrivel.) You can wipe them down with a cloth soaked in bleach water if you want, but it isn't really necessary. When they are totally dry they will be very lightweight and no trace of green will remain- they will look brownish. Often when you shake them you will hear the seeds rattle. At this point, you can use them.

- You will need to scrape off the outer waxy skin. I usually soak a large towel and wrap it around the gourd, and then place them into a plastic bag for an hour or longer. This will soften up the skin so you can scrape it off with a paring knife or something similar. You must remove this skin or paint will not stick to the surface.

- After that is completed you are ready to cut and decorate your gourds.

Bonnie Gibson - Tucson, Arizona

Gourds: You asked about gourds, so here goes! As for the drying, I believe it is a year or so. The mold is washed off after drying is complete. You cut, and voila! Now, having said that, I am going to give you a fantastic website so that you will actually learn the procedures for the above schedule!!

http://www.jkstacydesigns.com/

If you take time to read different links within the page, you will be fascinated!

Mary Barry

Cleaning Gourds: Must dry the gourds in an airy position, and if you see splotches of black mould forming, do not despair, that is what must happen to allow the moisture to come to the outside of the shell. You can clean the outside of the shell by soaking in water and scraping or scrubbing away the mould with a pot mitt or blunt knife. Then wipe over with a weak solution of bleach, which will prevent further mould forming. I found this article in one of our old Australian Miniaturist magazines, which is no longer available.

Pauline Mackenzie (Downunder)