Pirates: have you used a search engine like Google or Dogpile to look for information on "pirates" or "pirate movies"? When this thread was last active, I checked them out and found a lot of fun stuff but didn't mark it since who knows about the accuracy. Like modern tacky women, those wenches probably dressed in extreme versions of what proper ladies wore -- just that bit more decollete, gaudier, clashing colors, a little too much jewelry from their beaux' booty, a little too much ankle for propriety, etc. Like the difference between Belle Watling and Melanie Wilkes in Gone with the Wind, but a century or two earlier...And apparently, according to the sites I browsed, wenches who joined the crews and went pirating themselves like Anne Bonny and Mary Read sailed in drag, dressed as boys, but gussied up in feminine finery ashore, much like Maureen O'Hara as "Mistress Spitfire" in Against All Flags. The tavern wenches in all the pirate movies (Errol Flynn/Burt Lancaster fan, so I've seen most) wear outfits similar to the cantina chicas in westerns -- full ruffly skirts, off-the-shoulder peasant blouses, big hoop earrings, often a tightly laced basque over the blouse or a colorful bandana in the hair, usually barefoot but with an ankle bracelet (always the sign of a naughty lady?).

Loretta.Sniarowski

SW Adobe: I've got some burning questions- someone gave me a very simply built dollhouse that was hand made. The door and window openings are not cut straight, nor are they sizes I could ever buy frames or doors for. I've been wanting to do a Spanish style Adobe/California hacienda and thought this would be a good way of working around the problem of the door and window openings. Any suggestions on what I should use for the adobe? I was thinking wall joint compound-but I'm afraid it might make the whole structure too heavy and I don't think it was built well enough to stand the weight (it's just nailed together with finishing nails). Someone suggested paper clay. It's very expensive and I'd have to use a lot-the house is two story and has six rooms-so this isn't an option. Also, what should I use for the windows? I'd like something rustic-like using twigs to look like log frames, but I'm not sure how I would affix window panes etc-plus, I don't think this is very historically accurate. Another funny thing-the interior door ways are only three inches high! Yet, some of the windows are three inches wide by four and half inches tall! One room (that I hope to make the kitchen) has five windows and a door (three inches tall) in the middle of the interior wall-leaving me no wall space for a stove, etc.! I know my trusty Dremel will work just fine converting those doors to the right height-but how do I take away windows? Somehow, I just can't give up this poor little house, but do you think it's more trouble than it's worth? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I've been saving the house for about three years in the garage-and my husband always eyes it whenever we talk about reducing our load.

Monika

SW Adobe: You're very, very close! In the Southwest (and Sonora) wood is scarce and cactus ribs were often used instead. Pale gray twigs could be used for window frames and tacked together for shutters. Window glass was expensive and a Spanish or Territorial style home would probably not have had anything in the windows. I expect fellow Arizonan Bonnie Gibson will be able to give you lots of tips for your house.

Molly/StormBorn

SW Adobe: it is true that your trusty Dremel will help you make the doors the size you need them to be. You can also take pieces of wood the right size to glue into some of the extra windows in the kitchen before you stucco the exterior. The joint compound works very well as stucco, too. If you want a little rougher finish, add some sand to the joint compound or glue some on after you have stuccoed. A little care should give you a wonderful dollhouse in the style you are looking for.

Dottie in Tucson

SW Adobe: Do you want this house to look realistic, or is a southwest fantasy look ok? That's inexpensive, easy, and not as heavy as spackle. Cut your doors to the right size, fill the extra windows with wood blanks "mortared" into place with wood filler (tape inside to hold till dry, then fill from inside), smooth out, and dry. Cover the roof and anything else you don't want in adobe finish with masking tape. Sand and wipe down the walls, then apply spray faux granite finish paint in a tan or beige tone. Instead of using the recommended clear gloss acrylic top coat to fix the spray paint, use a clear matte acrylic. It looks like stucco or adobe. I use this a lot to rehab cheap kits. It's very attractive, although the walls won't have the depth of real adobe. Several brands of this paint are available; WalMart has a cheapie that works well and offers large color choice. One can will cover the exterior of a four to six-room house.

Loretta.Sniarowski

SW Adobe: I don't know just what type Spanish House you are trying to do. If it is something like the southwest adobe type house it easy to build one. Use 1 inch Styrofoam sheets and cut out the walls. Decide where you want your windows etc and then glue it. I used real sautilo tile that is available in scale for 1 inch. Paint the interior white and the outside a sandy color. This may give you some ideas.

Ruth Morey, Corpus Christi

Stucco: I have been reading about stucco and the use of spackle compound. Thought; I recall our house (real size) had stucco on the top 1/2. It was white and had a "grit" to it. Therefore; What about painting the sides of the dh with glue and sprinkle on fine sand. After it all dries, remove any loose sand, then paint white. Seems to me the effect should be the same as if you used spackle. Appears too easy, what am I missing here? If you insist on the full texture of stucco, how about very fine paper pulp then place the sand on. Much less weight.

DrBob...Delray Beach, FL.

Nautical: I've also done a nautical project. Nautical items are really easy to collect, just check the jewelry section at your craft store for sunfish, starfish, etc., pictures can be scrounged from catalogs, and the $ Tree is an excellent source for lighthouses, etc. 

Paula Isaacs

Kid's Projects/clubs: Here goes my 2 cents: I taught a grade 2 class for 3 months this term and I taught them how to create some furniture for their roomboxes. This was the culmination of a unit on mapping. We built their bedrooms (real or dream) in shoeboxes. I showed them how to make pillows, and beds out of boxes and material, dressers and desks, and other furniture made with boxes covered with non-drying modeling clay. This was a long lasting project...about 2 weeks, taking about 1/2 a day each day. They had to paint the boxes with 3 coats to get proper coverage and they were very patient. They knew that it would take time to see their results. Once they got the hang of the techniques for making the furniture and accessories and the techniques for making balls, balls, snakes, pancakes, and tubes with the modeling clay, they got very, very creative for 7 and 8 years olds. They made lots of accessories all on their own, like scooters, Nintendo, computers, chairs, phones, etc.

I was thrilled with the results and so were they. I took pics of each of them with their rooms, and then took the index picture card and cut them up and gave them each their real sized picture and their miniature picture along with a miniature diploma.

I wouldn't hesitate to do this again with this age group or older.

Roz Weitzman

Pet shop: I once created a pet store in miniature and here are some of the ideas I came up with that I didn't buy ready made. Magazine and other advertising gives great mini sized labels for bottles, cans, etc., for feed, flea spray or whatever. I make the cans and bottles out of various materials, but Sculpy III is wonderful. After baking the cans and bottles, glue the labels on and they look very convincing. Then I made leashes, chain leads and collars from very fine necklace chains and leather, rawhide treats (from translucent Sculpy III) look so real whether rolls or bone shapes. Boxes can be built and labels attached for bird seed, etc.

I cut pieces of acetate and glued together an aquarium with silicon glue (bathtub type in clear) then filled most of the way with clear resin two part material for "water". Before it was fully set, I added tiny baked Sculpy III aquatic plants and colorful fish. I kept pushing them down with a wire or toothpick until the material was set enough that they wouldn't float up all the way. This was a terrific aquarium. Unfortunately over the years the resin has yellowed some.

Lastly I made small critters like mice or Guinea pigs with Sculpy III and placed them on tiny "shavings" with little feed bowls and bottles in cages I made from scratch. The cages were squared sticks of the right scale of bass wood from the hobby store cut to length and glued to make a rectangle frame with a hinged hatch type top opening with handle. Then the entire cage covered with a very fine window screen (nylon, not metal). Very, very cute. This was all for 1:10 to 1:12 scale.

Pamela in GA

Lauren's Dream Room: I'm going to build a room, about 32"x15" with a 32"x10" patio out the back. This is my dream room in the present, so furniture, style, art from all time periods are available according to my taste. it's to be a two story high room although I don't think I will make the actual ceiling. in the right rear corner, I'm going to build a platform for my Queen Anne Baby Grand Piano in Rosewood (which is my first item I'm going to purchase). I may also get a harp. the platform will be wood, and the main floor (also used for dancing) will be dark green marble, which my dad has plenty left over from a past client! I'm going to have scattered furniture in I think it's a Victorian style, with dark wood and a cream colored silk/satin brocade. I want a triple set of arched French doors along the center of the back wall to go onto the patio, and a curved staircase in the rear left corner which leads up to a mezzanine and a small library overlooking the patio. I'm not really sure how to describe the rest just yet, but there are a few details...such as my polar bear rug in front of the fireplace (in the library) which I have beautiful cream-colored rabbit fur for. Does anyone know how I could make the head? I think I want my sculptures on the patio, and some garden benches along the edges.

I'm building all this with what I would really have if money were no issue (which is why this will take years and years to complete) everything must be the best (I have pretty expensive taste) some things, like the furniture might be cheaper to make myself but I don't' know how or where to get materials. when I come to specific challenges, I can ask more specific questions, but for now I'd like any advice that you can think of (this is also my first project!) oh, yeah and I'm going to have electricity and I don't know anything at all about that. the other thing is if I could get links, names, or something for artisans who do top quality miniatures, that would be very helpful as well. well, this is really long and I'm having trouble getting my thoughts organized, so thanks again for all your help!

Lauren

" what a great idea, to make up a story about the folks who live in the mini house..." Doesn't everyone????"

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who does this! And it's not that I spend time making these people up, either - they just pop into my head with a whole life attached, and expect me to build their house for them. So right now I'm cranking away on the toy shop, a converted @%&#! - oops, I mean Dura-Craft - Ashley kit. In spite of it not yet being built, the toymaker has worked here for years, since he first bought the tiny cottage as a young man back in 184?. In fact, he lived in the workshop upstairs until he married and eventually moved to a small house down the street. He and his wife never had children of their own, but every doll that he carves and she clothes, and each little teddy bear she makes, and every toy boat or train he makes is a work of love.

While he runs the shop by day, she works upstairs sewing and knitting and tending to the wounds of well-loved dolls. They always have lunch together, and afternoon tea. He keeps a jar of rock candy on the counter for visiting children - and if they occasionally drop by just for the treat, what's the harm? Sometimes they even see wondrous things - puppets that move without strings, dolls that dance on their own, tiny lead horses that come to life on the shelves, pictures in books that move.

It's rumored among the children that the toymaker is a magician, and that elves work in the shop at night making magical toys, and that the toymaker's wife is one of the fairy folk. None of them has ever dared ask him, of course, but he knows and smiles with a twinkle in his eye. At the day's end his wife leaves to make dinner at home while he works on the toys for a while. When dark falls he puts aside his tools, locks up the shop, and heads for home. He always pauses on the porch, and smiles as he hears the commotion of little voices and sounds of work beginning upstairs. Then he walks down the street to his home, where he greets his beautiful fairy wife with a kiss.

Graceanne

Motorcycles and Cinderella: our local cycle dealer carries Harleys in 1/12 scale. Maybe you can find one at your local dealer. They also carry models you can build yourself. I had to make a scene for Hobby Dealer mag's cover. I made a garage with one of my husband's Yamaha models. You can do so much with this theme. There are a lot of accessories painted by Island Craft and other supplies by Multi Minis, Hudson River and Farrow that would also complete your scene. This kind of project also fits in with what Reva Kim were mentioning. Some boys react with horror and the thought of a dollhouse (not my grandsons of course). Had one in the shop yesterday who made a big deal about it along with grandpa. However, I mentioned log cabins and garages and the boys eyes lit up just as grandpa shoved him out of the door. Oh well!

Deanna

Motorcycles and Cinderella: You can get very nice Harleys at stores such as K-Mart, Wal-Mart or Target in the area of the hot wheels and matchbox cars and they don't cost as much as the Hallmark or the dealer ones and they look very nice and realistic (some even have tiny batteries and they "vroom" if you press the handlebars).. They have several different scales to choose from. For your Cinderella - they have them in the toy sections with the other Disney characters, or you can try a Hallmark store to see if they still have the Cinderella ornament. The Beauty doll from the Beauty and the Beast movie would also be interchangeable.

Kathy

Motorcycles: Anyone looking for a small Harley Should visit a Harley dealership. They have all kinds of them pretty close to the size you need, they have several models to choose from and are under $10.00, very good detail from full baggers to low riders and several colors too. I just finishes a roombox for my sons birthday and it turned out very well, Don't have a web site but could scan a picture to you if you if you want to see the scale.

Sandra

"Jail" names: If the exterior of the jail is finished with stone (or not) "Rock House Jail" (take off of Jail House Rock)…………………………………………………….CRWhidbee
Little Lockup, Petite Pokey, Small Slammer, The Bee Hind Bars and Happy Hoosegow came to mind! Perhaps something in line with the name of the town………….Alice Zinn
Since jails are run by the county, they aren't actually *named* anything (other than, say, Yavapai County Jail)……………………………………..………………….Molly/StormBorn
Sing Sing……………………………………………………………………………….Michelle
"(your last name)'s Penalty Box", "The Final Time Out", "Time Out for the Big Boys", "There Ain't No E-mail Jail". …………………………………….Shirley in Bakersfield, Calif.
The Slammer Resort, A. Gaoler and Company, 20 Year Holiday Inc, Shackles and Chains Corp………………………………………………………………………June Simpson
Brig-a-doom (City, County, Regional) Jail. ………………………………………...Mel in Ma.
The Graybar Hotel……………………………………………………………………..Vicki
The Lock Up, Jailhouse Rock (with a bow to Elvis), The Slammer, The Stockade, Town Brig …………………………………………………………………………………..Marilyn, MI
"Hoosegow" ………………………………………………………………………Paulette in IN
"The Greybar Hotel", "Hoosecow", "Pokey", "Big House" , "The Joint", and "the pen". (Hmm, far too many old gangster movies?) Then there is the variation of jail spelled "Gaol". ………………………………………………………………………...Kim from Canada,
There is a jail in England called Strangeways (I kid you not) ----Hardcase Hilton or what about so and so State Penitentiary, didn't they used to be called state pens? ……..Julia

Jail House Names: I read with great interest some of the suggested names for a jail to a fellow miniaturist enthusiast at 6 AM this morning. It immediately brought to my LITTLE mind....the potential name....."Hokey Pokey"....Afterall, if you show any cellmates in your display....you can have them stick their right foot in, stick their right foot out, etc. Afterall, "That's what it's all about".

Kathy in Dayton, Ohio

Lantern Scene: Sharon asked for suggestions for making a scene in an antique lantern, 12 inches high by 8 square. Depending on your lantern's appearance, you could design a scene such as one I made in a Mexican tin lantern of somewhat smaller dimensions. This was a gift to a dear friend, who displays it near the front door of her Southwest-style home in New Mexico. It shows a statue of Mary outside the arched stained-glass window niche of an adobe church.

I painted the inside top of the lantern pale blue with very light swirls of white to suggest sky and clouds and painted the bottom of the lantern brown. I used graph paper pressed into the lantern and creased to make patterns for the gessoed and painted Styrofoam for the church window wall and the two partial side walls of the niche. My stained glass window was made from one section of a three-sided stained glass panel enclosing a votive candle, but you could also buy or make your own stained glass window, using suggestions from the SS Archives. I can't remember now whether I used black or a golden color of paper behind the window; I just remember having to experiment to make the colors show up better.

Two graduated stacked Styrofoam half-circles, gessoed and painted like the adobe church wall, were used against the wall underneath the window to make the raised platform/flower bed for the statue, one of those small inexpensive magnetized figures designed to go on dashboards. I painted her coppery green, with antiquing washes for an aged look.

Dried flowers and preserved greenery were used in the half-circle flower beds which formed her base. Off to one side was an octotillo (instructions for which are in the SS Archives, I believe) "planted" in a small mound of Styrofoam. A vine made of beige buttonhole twist threads, covered with glue and dragged through a mixture of shades of railroad foam greenery, was on the other side, extending up the wall and arcing over the curve of the window. I painted a thick coat of Tacky glue mixed with beige paint on the base, over the plant mounds and at the edge of the flower beds, sprinkled on sand to cover, shaking off the excess when it was dry.

Wanna in El Paso

Lantern: I had considered making a lantern scene of "The Lamplighter" in the Stevenson's "A Child's Garden of Verses" Take a look at the children's book and see what you think. My own edition (1931) is illustrated in silhouette but some of the latter have color pictures of a boy watching out the window at old Leery with his ladder and light attending the lamp in front of the door. If the boy peeks through the drapes, no additional backdrop depth would be needed. You may need a shorter than normal gas lamp

David & Joyce Betts

Lantern Scene: Here's a project I actually finished! My brass lantern was actually an outdoor porch light at some point. It was 4 sided glass, electrified. I removed the electric, and put a chandelier hanging from the socket. I left the glass on the sides and front (along with the wire that faked leaded glass), but put a mural and wainscoting on Oaktag, then put that against the back wall. The mural is antique, and an Ed Norton chair and side table sitting on a floor cloth with a mariner's compass finish the scene. A tiny toy 'horse' sits on the floor cloth as well, picking up the theme of farm animals from the mural. Sits on my bedside table, and can actually act as a night light since the chandelier has 6 lights. The transformer sits quietly behind the lantern. The DH, by the way, says that the transformers are not quiet, he can hear them 'vibrate'! When the place is very quiet, he makes me go and unplug all 3 in the bedroom. I, on the other hand, don't wear my hearing aid to bed, so not an issue!! Be advised that if your lantern has glass that fits along the sides, putting anything in that adds depth (wainscoting and chair rail, for instance) makes the glass not fit back in. Ask me how I know... I had to cut the chair rail off about 1/8th of an inch at each side so the side wall glass could slip back in.

Beth in Maine