Selkie

Yup! You got that right!!! What with all my lung issues, I'll be having nothing remotely smoke related around me!! But say, might an evenings worth of "coloring" still give the hangover headache though? Perhaps a teensy sugar cube for the palate? Sorry, I"m a bit punchy today.

I like your thinking. Great rationale for all our stashes!! But on a somber note, it's definitely true. Availability and future building plans are serious considerations if you are planning on staying in the miniature art/craft world. I have some of our original pieces from the early 1980's that are long gone from the marketplace as are the shops we purchased them at. As we watch brick and mortar shops closing right and left and click on now defunct websites and blogs we used to enjoy, it should demonstrate to us that we really do need to plan for times when certain things are not available anymore. Sad to think about but it is a circle of comings and goings, ups and downs, fads and current popularity that happen with all things in the art and crafts world as well as in life. No thing, no matter how precious, and not one of us will be here forever.

Since I'm not up on "rolling" and I can't tell from the picture on Amazon, are these a similar dimension to a sushi mat or significantly thinner? What type of markers are you using for the watercolor, pastels, and such? btw, raw sienna is pretty darn great too!!

I have boxes and tubs and baskets and drawers, all full to overflowing, not to mention neatly stacked kits tucked under all my work surfaces that I'm absolutely sure I'll "need" someday ....

Thanks for the link to these tools. I kind of got lost on the website looking at all the cool medical and craft supplies. This from the person who can't be trusted with sharp objects, you know, the one who put a blade completely through her finger last night while preparing dinner. And yes, in one side and out the other, whacking the bone on the way through. sigh ... Just wondering if you have noticed any particular difference for the medical model #3 - 10a blade vs. the craft model #3 - 10a blade? Is one actually sharper or are they just marketing titles?

MikeUK gave us the link to the plastic sheets of leaded diamond window he is using on his Tudor Art Gallery. Mike's post Minaco is an online shop. He applied paint in grooved lines to create the faux lead. Minaco - UK

It can go on either glass or plexi. I just used an acrylic sheet and cut it to size. The sheets come in different thicknesses. You want it sturdy enough to not bow once installed but having it on the thinner side (rather than glass thickness) helps with making your window trims easier.

Hope you heal quickly Sable. Surgery is no fun.

I've used Gallery Glass to create stain glass effects. They make a Liquid Leading to use with it. I've never mastered that part. I've used premade strips called Redi lead put out by the same company - Plaid. You can find it in craft stores or online. I lay the image underneath and set the lead lines first. Let that dry and then float on the color. There is learning curve to it so make a few practice sheets first.

Whoa ... fascinating!! Uh-oh more reasons to stay awake @ night thinking up new schemes and making new plans using all these cool products. Thanks for the link.

My RL dream home would be difficult to build and way too expensive but, hey, we're talking about dreams here, right? I'd want a house up on a mountain in a forest. (Think Swiss Alps and Bavaria rolled into one). It would be stone and heavy timber with several towers and diamond shaped leaded windows.. Sort of a faux Tudor with stone castle overtones. Don't forget to throw in lots of cottage style gardens and veggie ones too. 100s of acres of land with windy vine covered paths. Oh, and a huge barn!! Not too unrealistic, right?

So many of my builds were dismantled for storage it's hard to remember what I was thinking at the time. Many are unfinished, such as a motorcycle shop, and an ultra modern mountain get-away home while many others are still in their boxes. I have notebooks full of plans and dreams for artist studios, storybook tales, city living, rundown farmhouses, businesses, and the ultimate dream of building a castle. My Family Mansion is just that - room for my extended family and business and so on. It is a Garfield, an Orchid, and 2 Primroses all hitched together. I had some dolls representing each family member but was still saving pennies for the rest. The Baba Yaga build is based on the old Russian tales of Baba Yaga and her chicken footed house. I have Erna Meyer 1/24 scale dolls for that one. It has a potion room in a tower and a dungeon as well as landscaping to illustrate other parts of the stories. The Planetarium simply had the astronomer/physicist and the patrons that were attending the show. The Sweetheart was more of a children oriented build so the kiddos changed it out several times - many themes - before we went with the Tudor theme. No people or story at the moment. I also have a stone chapel with an old English vicar out in the countryside at the edge of the woods. The vicar lives in a tiny apartment in the attic. For one of the Greenleaf contests I was making a barn with a single mom starting over with her three kids. She was running small businesses (sewing, gardening, bakery, etc) out of the barn and living upstairs. The story started like this: "Once upon a time Marla C. Henn and her three children, Melody, Melanie, and Merlin purchased a run down barn on 10 acres of land. Marla, affectionately called “Red” by her friends, planned a big renovation." Zip to the end and a tornado struck and wiped it out. Twinkle built a fabulous barn for another of the GL contests that portrays her dream life - becoming a vet. She did a great job. She also created a Halloween house that she brings out for decorations each October. It has small children in costumes at a party. She has several unfinished projects as well. Wisteria and FIreboy have built toy style houses for princesses and auto mechanics. We did also have a camouflaged military compound and a stone double house belonging to an high society lady. They both had extensive story lines but only the military compound still lives. It was hidden in the woods with secret underground facilities. Quite fun. Someday I hope to be back in the building and designing mode again. Just need a couple miracles and I'll be all set.

If hand cutting isn't for you there are some other tools - at a price and with a learning curve. I was going to suggest a jig saw but in thinking about the size of quarter scale windows that might not be practical. I checked out MicroMark for smaller size jig saws and found this. Have not used it myself so I cannot attest to it's function but it matches your ideas better that a full size jig saw would. They have a couple others that are larger handheld option that might suit you - still smaller than a full size one. A Dremel Trio with the attached guide might be another option. I have the Trio and have had good success although not nearly as slick as the Utube video makes it look. Either way you need to drill a starter hole and then use the blade. If you were extremely steady handed, you might be able to use the rotary style Dremel. It's not on my list of talents for sure!! I'm terrible with rotary cutting. There is also a non-electric Nibbler tool that is used for train models but it does not list wood as one of the approved surfaces so it would be an experiment to see if was sturdy enough. The electric Nibbler does say wood is ok but not as thick as it appears you are intending to you. Good luck.

For most stucco, plaster, and mortar style finishes I use one of the simple patching plasters. It's cheap and goes on as thin or thick as the project demands. It also sands easily if you are actually using it to patch something. The Stucco patch that Otterine (Brae) mentioned has a nice texture in it so it is great for textured walls and stucco finishes, etc. One thing to watch out for in many of these spackle, joint compounds, etc. is the many additives in many of the products that, while they add strength for real life purposes, make it extremely difficult to sand smooth enough to look realistic for the miniature scales if you are trying to patch or smooth out the wood grains and so on. I've used the "Creative Paperclay" on the exterior of one building. I primed the wood first, coated the section I was working on with wood glue and then added the clay. Seemed to hold up well. Minis on the Edge (on of the Admins here on Greenleaf) is an expert with the "Creative Paperclay". The strictly air dry clays seem to have a spongier consistency, imo. It made it more difficult for me to use for detailed items and/or small areas. I wasn't a fan of them for myself but I'm no clay expert and I have arthritis which makes working with some products difficult. Some seemed more suitable for children than others as well. Isn't it fabulous that there are so many choices to meet all of our different needs and preferences. We are certainly blessed with choices these days.

With ya on the eye rolls. Gotta love them. I have 2 in that stage right now. Saw this quote online and gave it to the eldest eye-roller. Out of all my body parts I feel like my eyes are in the best shape. I do at least 1,000 eyerolls a day!! As to the HD 1/8" ply, the workers at the store I go to did not know they carried it until I found it after grubbing around in all the smaller bins near the wood area. They can also order it for you if you request it. No shipping charges that way.

One spelling is quinzhee - similar to an igloo style dwelling.

She has several blogs as well as a Utube channel. The miniature blog is here. Here's a link to her video list. The one with the room box pt 2 is the one using the upholstery tape. That part starts about half way through it. Joannesminis - You Tube

Kathie, Thanks for checking in. We were really worried about you. Glad all is ok in your part of town. Hugs