Book Bashing: To make your book into a box, take the cover off the book and make a cardboard box to fit the book. I have found second hand some Reader's digest books that are hollow for keeping things in secretly, they have regular book jackets on them. I currently have 2 of those not used yet as I have one book/box commercially made about the same, I got it at a Rite Aide Drug Store that I am preparing as a vignette for one of my children.

Rhoda from Whidbey Island WA

Kit Reviews: Concerning the various advice given concerning various kit companies. You cannot make a good judgment between the two basic types of kits unless you understand the principles of each kind. The kits that I lump into the "sweat equity" kits include the die-cut kits such as Greenleaf, Duracraft, Corona, etc. These kits are a lot less expensive but require a lot of work to make them as beautiful as you desire. What you saved in cost you will put into the "sweat equity" it takes to build them but they also generally include the ability to make the details such as windows. These kits can be made into houses as beautiful (or better) than the picture on the box. It will take longer to make the shell and you will probably pick up a few splinters. I have built houses from all of them and will continue to do so when I find a house I like. I will recognize that I shall have to work a bit harder to make it into a "silk purse." Who ever said it was easy?

The "Good" kits such as Real Good Toys have, in the past, been made with 3/8" plywood and make assembly and fitting of features such as windows easier. They are generally much more expensive, but are more quickly turned into a desirable house. I have built one of their MDF material kits and the jury is still out on that since it didn't seem to save any money. The greatest advantage I see, other than the lessened building difficulty, is the fact that the thicker walls accept the many pins involved in electrical wiring. They are all good. You just must realize the cost/effort ratio when you buy the kit. My suggestion is to select the house you will fall in love with and get that kit. My major dollhouse, that is kept here at home, is the Beaumont by Greenleaf. My lighthouse is by Real Good Toys. Go for it with the house you love,

Dave Brazelton

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 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

Log Cabins: To weather my log cabin, I began by using a variety of wire brushes on the siding to give it a weathered appearance as if the wood were really old and splitting from drying out. I then used a solution of india ink and water to give it a light wash. It came out a beautiful weathered grey. After it dried, I mixed up another batch that was just a tad bit darker and had a bit of brown paint mixed in and went over certain areas such as below window sills, up near the roofline and randomly along the bottom of the cabin. This was to indicate areas that were a little more protected and weren't quite so sun bleached.

Finally, I mixed up a light wash of a bit of brown and black acrylic paint in water and used a dry brush technique to go over the logs a bit.

After the final drying, I used 220 grit sandpaper on the walls to knock back the color a bit more and smooth everything out. I then used silver craft paint and, using a tiny, tiny little brush, put just a few streaks on two sides of the house. I'm not sure if this is even noticable or not but that is how I did it.

I gathered up tons of scrap wood from my kit to test the different wash mixes before I actually applied them to the cabin.

I am *very* pleased with the final effect. I am still debating whether I should use a toothbrush and spatter a bit of india ink wash near the bottom of the cabin to show that nice dirty look that has resulted from years and years of rain spattering mud up onto the bottom of the cabin! My lazy little fisherman has taken really lousy care of the cabin. I'm extremely frustrated with him!

Reva Losiewicz

Hiding Piano Hinges: If you bi-fold your side wall with piano hinges, the end hinge will be at the back of the house and may not need to be hidden if you leave the back featureless to be up against a wall. The middle hinge should have its pin plate toward the interior of the house and, again, need not be hidden if you align that fold with an interior wall so that, when closed, that edge of the hinge simply reaches into a milled slot in that wall.

Now I tell you how to build a clock in response to being asked what time it is. - - - - - - - If you mount piano hinges to the butt edges of all panels rather than flush on the flat faces of the walls - - - they will help limit warping. The screws, however, are likely to not hold well screwed endwise into plywood. I would strongly urge you to fully frame the plywood panels with a quality hardwood capping all edges. Use dowels and a top line wood glue such as Gorilla Glue and clamping techniques to prefabricate the hingeable plywood panels.

Install magnets into the shell of the dollhouse to align with iron slugs inset into the wall panels. This will help hold your walls closed and give some added stability against warping even though slight. If the panels are large, you may even inset angle steel the full length of top and bottom edges rather than just slugs. Wherever hinge pin ends are exposed and need to be hidden, make the architectural corner trim removable with inset magnets and slugs to hold it in place OVER the hinges. Lift off the corner trim before opening the hinged panels.

Finally, once your row house is to a point where it VERY seldom needs to be opened, I would suggest screwing the panels closed in several places to (again) provide maximum support against warpage. Hide the screw heads with gingerbread rosettes painted a uniquely different color and leave a note in the house's history log as to how it can be opened up by family archeologists of the future.

Mel K.

Rustic floor ideas: Early cabins often had dirt floors. The dirt would get pounded down pretty hard over time, and the floor could be swept. Slightly more affluent might be rough boards laid atop the dirt or on poles. Knots and gaps might give this floor character. Nicer cabins would have smoother boards well fastened down. You could just say your cabin was built "chinkless"; a technique where each log is gouged out to fit atop the previous one. They are chinked, but it's hidden between the well-fitted logs. If you want the chinking to show, how about some heavy thread or string soaked in glue and shoved between the logs. You could paint or dye the string and let it dry before gluing.

Lee Steiconi

Mortar: You can use stucco patch for mortar - when dry it looks like the chinking in between the logs.


Dollhouse Maker (Norma Cevetello)

Building Greenleaf kits. Well I am jealous, I wish I had gotten the Garfield. Like I have room for it! Don't be scared if you have the will you can do it! I am building the Annabelle and I secretly wish I could "accidentally" ruin it so I can go get the Garfield........I can only imagine 1 dollhouse amongst my cats and daughter and my husband's stuff.... well here is what I can offer you in advice hope it helps, and I would love to see picture's of your house someday!

Sealing the pieces - I know people say it helps prevent warping of the big pieces when you paint them but I don't think it's a tragedy not to seal them. You may want to seal the small trim pieces IF you plan on spray painting them, which makes faster work, especially with all the window trim. The wood will suck up so much paint if you don't seal them you'll need about 5 coats to cover it! BUT if you're going to paint the pieces by hand using a thickly applied coat of paint, I say the heck with sealing.

DO NOT punch out the pieces till you're going to use them! Leave them in the sheets! I learned this the hard way. Sounds obvious I guess but I must think I am "special".

The die cut luan is a pain. Punch out carefully. I had some pieces that just weren't punched all the way through so I am sure you will too. I had my hubby get them out with a Dremel (I am afraid of it) and a hacksaw. But don't despair if you break a piece you can glue it or use spackle or putty to fix it. If you want a super final finish you'll want to use spackle or putty to smooth out the edges of the pieces; this is due to the poor quality of the luan.

Are you electrifying? This will change the whole way you build the house and their instructions will be useless. This will also affect how you wallpaper, which is tricky in itself with these houses - some of it must be added before assembly on certain parts, like bay windows and towers, or eaves, 'cause you'll never get your hands in there after it's glued together! PLAN - go slow!

I also recommend, if you can stand the wait, to put the house shell (walls and floors) together in one "spurt" of work and not to do a little at a time (like on Thanksgiving break!) and then leave it for weeks. You need to get the whole thing together and clamp it (I used old tights tied around the walls) to make sure it all fits and stays and doesn't warp or separate.

Fit all the pieces before gluing! You will have to make adjustments! The parts are supposed to fit but they don't sometimes. I used a wire-snipping pliers to "snip" the wood, usually the tabs had to be trimmed a wee bit. Because of this you want to avoid wallpapering or painting over the tabs, they won't fit. Don't go mental - paint can be sanded off, I'm not suggesting you tape off all the little tabs when you paint!

And remember - boo boos with fitting, gluing or wallpaper or flooring can be hidden with baseboards, crown moldings, wainscoting, etc. If I think of anything else I'll post. Oh watch out for splinters - keep tweezers handy.

Karyn

Hiding Piano Hinges: If you bi-fold your side wall with piano hinges, the end hinge will be at the back of the house and may not need to be hidden if you leave the back featureless to be up against a wall. The middle hinge should have its pin plate toward the interior of the house and, again, need not be hidden if you align that fold with an interior wall so that, when closed, that edge of the hinge simply reaches into a milled slot in that wall.

Now I tell you how to build a clock in response to being asked what time it is. - - - - - - - If you mount piano hinges to the butt edges of all panels rather than flush on the flat faces of the walls - - - they will help limit warping. The screws, however, are likely to not hold well screwed endwise into plywood. I would strongly urge you to fully frame the plywood panels with a quality hardwood capping all edges. Use dowels and a top line wood glue such as Gorilla Glue and clamping techniques to prefabricate the hingeable plywood panels.

Install magnets into the shell of the dollhouse to align with iron slugs inset into the wall panels. This will help hold your walls closed and give some added stability against warping even though slight. If the panels are large, you may even inset angle steel the full length of top and bottom edges rather than just slugs. Wherever hinge pin ends are exposed and need to be hidden, make the architectural corner trim removable with inset magnets and slugs to hold it in place OVER the hinges. Lift off the corner trim before opening the hinged panels.

Finally, once your row house is to a point where it VERY seldom needs to be opened, I would suggest screwing the panels closed in several places to (again) provide maximum support against warpage. Hide the screw heads with gingerbread rosettes painted a uniquely different color and leave a note in the house's history log as to how it can be opened up by family archeologists of the future.

Mel K.