Thanks, Michelle, For Bringing Up Some Good Points

Michelle, one of my readers, has asked several excellent questions, as well as provided some expertise of her own.  As I'm sure her thoughts will be of interest to other readers, as well, I'm addressing them in a separate post as well as in the "comments" sections of the relevant posts.  If anyone else has any questions or suggestions, please let me know!

1. What kind of stucco are you using between your beams?  Inside, I'm using wallpaper.  I purchase mine from Miniatures.com, although you can also purchase it on Amazon.  The correct name is "simulated off white plaster ceiling paper".  It's actually vinyl, so it's quite easy to work with.  I use Grandmother Stover's Glue to apply it, but any high quality paste should work just as well.  I apply the paper over the entire room, then glue the beams down on top.  I've had great success with this method, principally because it provides very clean lines.  It's exasperating, cutting paper exactly to shape after you've installed your woodwork.  Outside, I'm using Greenleaf stucco powder mixed with craft paint.  I like DecoArt in "antique white", but any decent craft paint will do.  I mix to roughly a 50/50 ratio.
2. Are your houses 1:12 scale, or are your cats just huge?  Henry and London are just huge.  Henry is actually larger than London, the gent relaxing in the pictures!  Both cats weigh several stone each.  
3. Do you have any advice for making golfer's tape curve?  Honestly, it is a bit tricky--but the good news is, the learning curve is steep.  What I found worked the best was a) cutting the tape very thinly, and b) using a much longer strip than I needed.  If I had one side firmly anchored, I found it was easier to move the strip itself about a bit.  For the more acute curves, I nudged the tape into shape bit by bit.  A set of polymer clay styli are absolutely critical for this step.  They're inexpensive, easily found in most craft stores (and certainly online--Amazon carries them), and really help with the tricky bits.  When I purchase golfer's tape, I purchase the thinnest tape I can find, because I only use the edges.  Each length of tape, thus, provides me with two edges.  If you examine a roll carefully, you'll see that the edges are slightly crimped; by cutting off those edges, I create a nice curve.  Also, it's much easier to gauge distance by eyeballing, which not only saves time cut also increases accuracy.

Michelle has also suggested a fabulous hardware vendor, Tony Hooper Miniatures.  Thank you for this suggestion, and I look forward to perusing the site at length!  Indeed, as I have the rest of the afternoon off...

Happy mini-making, everyone!

PS: I've updated the "tutorials" page, reorganizing it so tutorials on different subjects are easier to find and identify.  As always, the list is still growing!  Please let me know if there's anything you wish I'd discuss, or discuss more...