To ebonise furniture one stains/paints it black (so it looks like ebony). I know that if you put an old 78rpm , all broken up, into what we call meths (Tom will know what it is), it forms a black jollop that one can paint on furniture and once dry it gives a solid almost lacquer finish.

Actually real ebony wood is not solid black, only little bits of it are, which is why ebony furniture is so expensive as it's made from tons of fussy cut wood.

Helen from York, England

Crown Molding: The best way to fit the molding is to use a mini miter box and saw. Miter the molding ceiling side down. What this means is to turn the molding upside down when you miter it. I suggest that you practice on some scrap wood first.

Carol

Decorating Furniture: Another way of decorating furniture to give it an intricately carved look is to glue on pieces of the metallic doilies available in party goods stores. The plain paper ones do not hold up as well when wet by paint and glues. Some of you may also find fancy cut out metallic paper strips and shapes made for scrapbooking and other crafts in some of the mini stores and craft shops. I seem to remember seeing some at Earth and Tree.

Alice Zinn

Sealer: I don't recommend using Watco as a sealer under paint because I don't know how long it takes for all the oil to evaporate. This is not a use recommended by the manufacturer. There could be an adhesion problem. It is a polyurethane filled mineral oil that is great in full scale but requires sanding between coats which is often difficult in miniature.

BTW be very careful with rags from Watco because they can self ignite and cause fires. Always put rags in a jar or can filled with water or directly into the wood stove. DON'T EVER PUT ANYTHING DAMPENED WITH WATCO INTO THE TRASH.

I use Watco almost exclusively in full scale for everything from kitchen cabinets to miniature room boxes. I like it because it is easy, there are no drips and it is a great look with unstained cherry or oak.

Pete

Finishing Furniture: The furniture from that House of Miniatures swapmeet deal is turning out so beautiful. I am very careful now to stain before I put together. I've been using Minwax Wood Finish in Early American. This penetrates, stains and seals. I also bought the Minwax stain marker in the same shade. I used this marker originally when I was trying to figure what shade I was going to use. I used the pen until it was empty, and now I find that it is great, because of the felt tip, for dipping in the stain. Much neater than using a rag for staining.. I've learned to glue carefully when I put pieces together in case I have to touch up the stain later. So far, I like the look of just using this without putting anything over this finish. The finish feels velvety, and the pieces look like fine furniture.

Dolores

Cherry Wood: I have planed to 1/16th. You have to watch the grain that is the key. Place the wood so that is cutting with the grain. I use cherry wood a lot.

I have found a way to make the wood dark red without stain. I use 1/4th lye (buy it in any grocery store) to 3/4th water, brush this on your wood. With a damp cloth wipe it off. The more coats you use the darker it gets. Use rubber gloves, keep out of reach of children.

Dan & Jane Greendale WI

Removing the shine: To take the shine off inexpensive furniture, I have done some of mine with a couple of very thin coats of watered down pva. That took the shine off then I painted over the top of that and then sealed the item.

Sharon

Staining End Grains: I will give you our tip on end grains, this is part of our talk at our theme luncheon at National NAME in Louisville in July.

Sand the ends with fine grit sandpaper--220 or 280 grit. This way, less stain will soak in the wood. Another thing that you can do is apply a wash coat of the stain first, this will give less penetration of the stain. This can be a thinned down version of the finish or a wood conditioner.

We use only Minwax products. Gel stains are SUPPOSED to work, we do not use those. This will work to reduce blotching also. Remember the trick is sanding!

Carroll H. Elmer

Weathered Wood: Hardware stores carry a product called "Weather It". This is a designed to age new wood on exterior construction-decks, fences, etc. It gives a silver/gray hue of very old wood but does not eliminate all of the natural color of the wood you apply it to. I love this product. I have used it to weather shingles, age a log cabin and dozens of other projects through the years. I have just used the last of the gallon I bought over 10 years ago. Rather cost effective I would say.

Becky Holliday

Nail Heads: I have used gold/brass colored paint before to simulate nail heads. Just get a bead on the tip of your brush and barely touch it to the spot, so that it leaves a raised bead rather than a flat brushstroke. Practice on some paper first. For non-brass you can use any color paint, brown, grey, black. For recessed nail heads, you can use a sharp-pointed tool to make a tiny indent, and then again use paint for a nail head (the tension of the paint droplet will cover over the hole and look like a barely-raised nail head). You can also simply use a fine marker to dot on nail heads (that's how I do floorboards, before staining). I just used this technique to attach the fancy doorknobs I got to dress up my super-cheap kit. The wood of the door is simply to thin to use real nails, but the doorknob plates have nail holes, which looked odd left unfilled once I glued the plates in place (I colored the area behind the keyholes with a marker first so they look like holes). So I used a brass color paint as described above, and it looks just like there are nails there.

Graceanne