How to Paint Windows - When I paint windows with non-removable panes, I use waxed paper. Cut it in strips to fit the window. It is thin enough to slide between the pane and the wood and will not let paint soak through. I used this technique on the Timberbrook garage door. Worked great.

Debbie

Re-Painting Shiny Furniture:  it's GESSO that you want to apply to the already painted glossy cabinet. Just lightly sand and put on two coats of white gesso( it's a liquid medium found at art shops or Michaels). You can sand between coats. Your wood will be very smooth. Then paint your preferred color over. I use gesso as a primer for all my raw wood windows, doors, baseboards etc. It's WONDERFUL.

Roberta in Wisconsin

Ultimate Glue: I have been using Ultimate glue recently and find it useful for many purposes. It is sort of a cross between Tacky Glue and Quick Grab although it looks like Tacky. It sets up more quickly than Tacky but is easier to use than Quick Grab. Most miniature dealers carry it. I also found it at Hobby Lobby and Michael's. The latest Quick Grab that I have used is sporting a new cap. It is more like a screw-on toothpaste tube cap instead of the tapered one that was previously used. It is much easier to use and the glue doesn't accumulate on the end of the opening as it did on the older tubes. This was one of my gripes about Quick Grab. There is no substitute in certain applications in my opinion.

Juanita in Missouri

Exterior Glue: Aleene’s Platinum Bond Patio & Garden Outdoor Adhesive is water resistant, expands & contracts with the temperature. Works on terra cotta, cement, rigid PVC, wood, resin & pottery. I like this item. Only down side is the fact that it comes in a tube and I hate tubes. Use good ventilation. I clean my fingers with alcohol swabs.

Becky Holliday

Rubber cement.  I took a framing class once and they said that stuff will rot the paper over time.   If you care about longevity, there are spray on, acid free adhesives for paper.   Look in art supply places, like Pearl or Blick.

Chrissy

Museum catalog photos: Maura asked about a glue to use with pics clipped from catalogs. I do this a lot and have found water-based glues tend to wrinkle the paper.

Try rubber contact cement. The kind that you spread on each surface, wait for it dry, and carefully put together because once it's together, it's together FOREVER.

Linda in Leroy, OH

Sue in CT

Tom & Kari

Shirl in Nova Scotia

Wallpaper: the best type of wallpaper paste to use is "Yes" Glue. It is now called Grandma Stover's and is the only one I sell. It does not warp your walls, especially when you apply it to foam core. I recommend thinning it just a tad so it is the consistency of thick creamy soup. Goes farther that way, also. When you wallpaper, cut a template first that is exactly the size you want. Then cut your wallpaper using your template as a guide. Going around the corners in the back of the room, run a very small margin of wallpaper around from the side wall to the back. Paper both sides and then paper the back. I apply paste to the wall as it seems easier to work with paper that is not 'gooey'. Smooth out the paper with an old credit card, at the same time squishing out the extra glue. Do not cut the window/door openings out of the paper until after you have applied the paper and it is dry. Then with a sharp X-Acto blade in your knife, gently cut out the openings. When you buy wallpaper, the rule of thumb is 3 sheets per room. Also, consider the pattern and match in the corners.

Betty Dann

Wallpapering: One of the best classes I have ever taken was a 'beginners' class with Brooke Tucker. I never have enjoyed a class so much or learned so much. It is from Brooke that I learned about "Yes" glue, which is still called YES glue. And is available at good Art Supply shops. I get mine in Seattle , Washington, at the Seattle Art Supplies Ltd. (BY the way I learned this about possibly 20 years ago now.) If you wish to remove the paper so some reason after it has dried- if you used YES you can dampen it gently and the glue will soften up and the paper can be removed. This glue also allows you to re-position your paper. I believe it is primarily used by and for professional artists to mount paper works. But someone on this digest will know a lot more than me about it. Another of the many things Brooke taught us when decorating is her NOSY NEIGHBOR THEORY. She says we all have at least one who will crawl into your rooms with a Dentist mirror and look at all those 'hidden' bits you thought you didn't have to do because they cannot be seen, and say OH!! you missed a bit here DEAR !! And she was so right. So paint, finish, paper, wrap everything.

Paddy

Reflector Ovens: the directions for reflector ovens are still in both the Boy and Girl Scout Handbooks. Look in the library or contact a scout.

Peggy in Madison

Solar Ovens: You can find a lot of information about solar ovens on the Internet. For directions on making a simple solar oven out of a pizza box, go to: http://www.solarnow.org/pizzabx.htm

Rusty in KY

Transfer Medium: The Transfer medium you are looking for used to be called Frisket. I have used clear contact paper for the same kind of transfer, however, the most recent uses at my house were painting Mod Podge on the picture or object to be transferred, give 2 or 3 coats, drying between, cut out area you want to use with scissors, then soak in warm water until the paper part looks wet, then gently rub off the paper, leaving the transfer part (colored) let dry, trim as needed, then fix transfer to object. My mother did a lot of decoupage in her later years and this is the method she used. I just look at a picture and draw and paint what I want right on the object. (sure I know each of us has our own talents and one of mine is drawing and painting) You can also use thinned tacky glue if you can't get Mod Podge.

Rhoda from Whidbey Isl. WA. USA

Glue Tip: I use the Aleene's tacky glue and have several bottles that have thickened and just wont come out. It makes them impossible to pour. I use a glue syringe. I run some warm/hot water in the sink and sit the bottle down in it for a while and then you can pour it into the syringe with no problem.

Kim

Weldbond Glue: Weldbond is a white glue that dries clear and is available at home improvement stores such as Home Depot and at hardware stores such as True Value and Ace Hardware. It comes in a white plastic bottle with red writing.

Jennie in San Antonio TX

Weldbond Glue: Weldbond is a general purpose glue that can be thinned to lots of different consistencies to do lots of different things from gluing to glossing. It's very sturdy when dry-I used it on some picture frames that had to hold some weight-and it's holding up just fine. It's very runny (a little more so than Elmer's white glue) and it takes 24 hours to completely set. I have found that Aileen's Quik-n-Tacky works the best-it tacks up quickly, but not so quick that you can't jimmy pieces around, and it's not too runny. I found Weldbond at the art store in the drafting section (!why?)-and Quik-n-Tacky at Joann's-but I've seen it at every craft store.

Monika

Yes Glue: I do mostly quarter scale, and it doesn't take a lot to wallpaper a quarter scale house, so my glue does thicken on me. I find that when it does, after spreading with a credit card, lots of times it is almost dry by the time I start putting it on walls, and it doesn't stick as good. I just add a little water, mix it thoroughly and for me, it does a much better job. I hated to use it before I started thinning it.

Betty in Ky

Yes Glue: YES glue is actually a bookbinders paste. It is used to glue those sheets of sometimes fancy paper on the inside of the covers of hard cover books (among other things). One of its great attributes is that it doesn't cause paper to stretch or curl. Adding water can negate this feature. A really good tool for spreading YES paste is the auto body putty spreaders that are available in auto parts stores. We use them to spread the paste (just enough to make it look shiny or wet) and to smooth the wallpaper onto the wall to eliminate bubbles. YES paste also does not attack the copper wire as some wallpaper pastes will do. What I don't understand, is why Grandma Stover's takes a 4 fl. oz. jar, fills it with YES paste and sells it as 6 oz.

Tom Berkner

Chopper II: I have the Chopper II with the replaceable self-healing pad in the center and noticed this morning I needed to turn the pad one turn so that there was a new surface under the blade - and it would be the last time I could do that. HOWEVER...it dawned on me that if I cut a half inch strip from the pad (I used my scroll saw - you can follow the grid on the pad for this), place the pad back in the Chopper II but move it all the way over to the right (OR the left--whatever) then simply tuck/squeeze that cut strip into place, and, "Voila" --- you now have another new surface to cut on. I would think you could do this several times with that same pad, making sure the pad/cut sections are always flat. This will definitely extend the life of each pad.

Bonnie Soucek/Normal IL