Cutting Plexiglass: The folks at Home Depot were out of the little tool when I asked, but said to score the sheet lightly with a utility knife with a sharp blade, using a straight edge to keep the cutting line straight. Put it on a straight edged surface, like a table or workbench, hold down the uncut side and hit the piece you want to break off with your hand. Should snap cleanly. Mine did.

Patricia LeBeau in Florida

Cutting Plexiglass: To cut plexiglass the best thing to use is a table saw. To do this you need to put a cutting and drilling liquid on the blade. This is a product sold at tool suppliers and possibly hardware outlets and it helps reduce friction. It seems to be an oily substance but I am not sure exactly what it is. One that I have used is called "Cool Tool". A note re safety though, always remove the electric plug from the outlet before doing anything with the blade! After that, use a tissue or cloth to wipe the substance on each side of the blade. It is a good idea to wear a total face mask as well as the "sawdust" from plastic is hot. It won't hurt your hands or arms but you will feel it. I always use a full mask when I use a table saw as one can never be sure where the sawdust will fly. It is not worth it to get a piece of wood in one's eye.

June Simpson

Cutting the opening in tin cans:

1. Draw the circle a litlle smaller than you want.

2. Poke a hole in the middle and start cutting the hole smaller than you want.

3. Then cut slits to the size of whole you want, kind of like when you trim the interfacing on the curve

while sewing.

4. Lay the plastic you will be using as your window on the inside of the tin.

5. Then fold the tin over the plastic. This will hold your plastic in place.

6. You could trim the inside sharp edges with some trim of your liking to prevent cutting yourself while decorating or rearranging.

LISA LYNN

Cutting Tin: WEAR LEATHER GLOVES. If you cut the opening with tin cutting shears leaving an extra 1/2 inch to be turned under CAREFULLY using pliers or other tools, you can obtain a neat smooth edge to finish your opening (harder to do with circular or other curved openings.)

Bonnie in Tucson

Wallpaper: I have used prepasted as instructed (wet paper). Very successful for about 4 years and still looking good. I have used wallpaper that needs to be pasted also. I put the paste on the walls directly. Be sure you have the paper cut and ready to apply. I had better control of the paste this way and it didn't get all over the finished ceiling and floor. I applied this with my fingers and in the tight corners I used a scrap of thin wood to smear it around. Just put a thin even coat---no lumps. Plus the paper was easier to handle when it was not full of paste. I used the wallpaper paste sold by mini shops.

Elise

Wallpaper: I always paste the wall not the paper. The paper remains relatively dry, and thus doesn't stretch. Use a plastic card like a credit card and use it to smooth the paper when it on the wall and remove air-bubbles. I often put a separate sheet of paper between the wallpaper and the 'credit card' to protect the surface of the wallpaper.

Tracey

CUTTING DOORWAYS IN ASSEMBLED ROOMS:

We tend to think of saws as tools that must first penetrate the wood at one end of a line and then cut along that line.Unfortunately, once a room is assembled, there may not be room for some tools to fit and even when they do, we may start, only to have saw handles hit floors, walls, or other ceilings before the cut is finished. It is time to think outside the box. . .

X-acto and Zona offer "razor saws" in several sizes. (I far prefer Zona.) For those not familiar, a razor saw has teeth along one very straight edge of a rectangular blade. The opposite edge of the rectangle has a metal stiffener which culminates in either a fixed handle or a tang that can be fitted into a removable handle. It looks much like an old fashioned straight razor - hence the name. As you move the teeth along a line to be cut, the handle/stiffener is well above the cutting surface. This clearance is variable depending upon the particular razor saw. Some have a minimal (1/4") clearance. Others in my collection offer up to a 2" clearance.

Cutting out to enlarge an interior doorway, mark a line. Cut off or leave off the handle of your razor saw, grip it along the stiffener and guide it back and forth along the entire length of your line. This is easiest if you temporarily tack or brace a piece of scrap wood on the line to guide your saw against. Take your time (it will go slow) and let the saw do the cutting. You will end with a clean, straight cut right down to the floor line. If the saw stiffener starts bumping into the guide wood before you are all the way through, remove the guide wood. Once started, the groove will be your guide.

Your groove cut MAY go beyond where it has to be if you are going to recover the wall(s) anyhow. After all cuts are done and the unwanted wood removed, simply glue a thin piece of basswood (1/32" sanded down to fit) into the extended cuts and sandpaper flush.

I have cut the handle tangs off of the blade stiffeners on a couple of saws to work in confined areas. I have also used Dremel abrasive discs to cut down a couple of old saws to smaller (shorter) sizes. A step beyond razor saws are "Japanese" saws. Check these out at a high end woodworker's specialty store or in the hardware stores of Asian ethnic communities. These saws usually have no stiffeners but the teeth are arranged to cut in the "pull" rather than "push" direction. A specialty blade within this category has a gentle curve, so starting a cut involves only a few teeth. As the cut progressively goes deeper and the groove becomes established, more and more of the saw teeth are used.

One more tidbit. When I can get it into place, I far prefer routing rather than sawing. Using straightedge guides I get neater, more precise cuts with a router. Doing a doorway I can not get down to the floor but usually can do the horizontal cut of a doorway plus beginning the vertical cuts which then may be finished with a Japanese saw.

Mel Koplin, Las Vegas, NV

Falling furniture: I've got a number of suggestions for keeping my cabinets up. Apparently, my biggest problem was that I used 'real' wallpaper, with a tiny print, rather than dh paper. The real paper has a rather slick
finish to make it easier to clean - and the devil's own to glue! I ended up doing two things. One was to remove some of the paper, so I was gluing wood to wood with Quick Grab. The other was to put tiny brads - two per cabinet - into the wall, and matching holes in the back of the cabinet. I slanted the pins slightly, so the cabinets slid down onto them. (Think picture hanger, but not quite so sharp an angle.) Between the two procedures, those cabinets aren't going anywhere! If you want to be able to move your shelves, using sequin pins would be your best bet. When you want to move the shelf, the pins shouldn't leave a very big hole in the paper - or just put a picture there!

Dani

Cabinets Falling Off Walls: Aleene's Stick-it-Over-and-Over Glue has a strong bond once set but is not permanent and might work to solve your cabinet problems.  Velcro might work too, but might look too bulky depending on the view of the wall where the cabinets are located.

Michelle Fox

When I do rock work, I glue them on with tacky, then cover the glue with a mix of beige and black sand to imitate mortar. And, did you know you can *BUY* sand? Train stores sell a variety of colors, very fine grain.

Lee

Adding Dormers to Existing Dollhouse: You can use a hand-held "keyhole" saw, found at a hardware store, etc. I used one to add dormers to the "Katherine", by The House that Jack Built. You can saw at any angle you want. Just go slowly, don't try to "muscle" it through the wood. If the cut looks bad from the interior, use a moto-tool & a No. 115 bit (or smaller) to dress it up and shape it. This can be done after the dormer is glued on to blend in the joint. A Dremel moto-tool is a MUST-HAVE tool for the mini house builder, in my opinion. You may have to fill in some areas with ZAR latex wood patch (recommended).

Joel

Shingle tips: I wanted to share a shingle tip that was told to me by Roger of My Doll's House in Torrance, CA. He uses hot glue for putting on shingles, that way if one becomes broken you only need warm it up to remove and replace it (also no warping and curling like you get with some glues).

He also either cuts a 1/16 x 1/16 length of wood (or cuts shingles into slivers) and places them at the very edge of the roof, then placing the first layer of shingles on top of it. That way they all look even.

Ami

Cutting Holes in a Shell: I can't think of any good, neat way to cut a rectangular hole in the 3/8" plywood exterior roof of a house for a dormer.

If you are brave, you can use a laminate trimmer with a straight bit. This is one way the pros cut out dry wall in full scale. A little scary, however.

If I had to do this, I would use a little circular saw you can mount on the same mandrel that is used with the cutoff wheels on a Dremel. I would use a flexible shaft on the Dremel and a slow speed and carefully follow the line. Cut no more then 1/16" deep per pass. This should work if you can find a 3/4" to 1" saw blade, the finer the better. (Let me know if you can't.) I believe a company called Gyro makes them. And, if you try this, be sure to feed against the rotation of the saw and be very careful and feed very slowly. The blade can kick back and do damage to the house and your fingers. You can hold any angle you need.

You probably don't even need the flex shaft but that allows more clearance and better control.

Pete Boorum

Hot Glue for Dollhouse Shingles: If you do decide to use hot glue always use the hot melt, never low melt. And even then be very careful. A friend of mine consistently made crafts using low melt hot glue and when we did shows her glue melted and her products fell apart. You may not foresee a time when you will live in a place this hot or your house ends up in a hot attic, but you never know.

Laura in Tucson

Removing Hot Glue: Have you tried a heat gun? I have had some success with that method. Just be careful about getting to close so you don't scorch the wood. As you heat the joints, gently pry the wood apart. Once you have it removed reheat the glue and scrap it off with putty knife or wide screwdriver.

Removing the "Tung oil" sealer: I would suggest trying lacquer thinner. Use it in a well-ventilated area though. If the sunburst is glued veneer, it may also loosen the glue. Try it on one small spot first.

Lloyd

Gluing Siding - I didn't want to use "Quick-Grab" (which is what just about all the books & experts recommended) as I'm not a quick study and need to be able to fuss around to get things right. I ended up cutting each piece, then holding it temporarily on the side with masking tape. I used good ole Elmer's, spread verrrrrry thinly, and re-taped very firmly. I then hit the exterior with a fine water mist, which kept it from warping as the glue took hold. Laid the house on it's side, covered with waxed paper, and got some good use out of my old encyclopaedias to weigh the siding down for 24 hours. Worked like a charm!!

Sharon in Watsonville

Sanding - I was painting some baseboard (skirting) for one of my room boxes. After giving it the first coat of paint, the grain was raised - as usual - so the surface was really rough. I have always sanded after the first coat and then rubbed the painted wood surface with very fine steel wool. The surface is then smooth and I do a second coat. I remembered that I'd heard quite a long time ago that you can tear a piece off a brown paper bag, crumple it up and rub the rough wood surface to smoothness. Well, I tried it - IT WORKED!! It is a heck of a lot easier, too. I should have tried this when I first heard about it.

Paula in NJ

Hanging Pictures: I want to warn people about using minihold wax for holding pictures on walls. The wax will stain the wallpaper after a period of time. Our museum received 57 roomboxes in a collection where the miniaturist put windows and doorframes in, even baseboards in with the wax. All furniture was waxed in as well as just about everything else. She never glued anything in place. The wax has "bled" into the wallpaper and stained it terribly.

I, myself, glue the stuff to the walls -- after all, when I decide where I want it, I figure it isn't coming down anyway. I tried using the moveable (earthquake) glue and it tore the wallpaper when I decided to remove the picture -- so I went ahead and glued it down. My dollhouse rotates on a turntable so things have to be firmly attached or they fall all over the place. Just my own preference. I did use the moveable glue on the furniture pieces because it really can't ruin the floors -- it will sometimes stick to the floor, but you can peel it right off. I HATE the waxy residue the minihold wax leaves on everything.

Fay in St. Louis

Hanging Pictures: I use good quality double sided carpet tape to attach mini photos, wreaths to the walls in my dollhouse. So far so good. Don't know how easily it would come off of old wallpaper as my Oakmont is still only a few year new/old.

Wilma Kinder

Hanging Pictures: I always use the stuff called "Dap Fun-Tak" to stick my pictures on the wall. It's a reusable blue gummy stuff. I've been using it for years and so far it hasn't marked the wallpaper. It is easy to remove if you decide to move your pictures. I put a small ball of the "Fun-Tak" on the 4 corners of the picture and it holds fine.

I don't like the wax stuff as it is terrible to remove and it doesn't hold if the temperature is warm.

I also use the "Fun-Tak" to hold all my mini accessories in place in my rooms. It hasn't marked the surfaces.

Paula Foerder