Alibris.com

For the next few days we are all going to be very busy getting ready for the big day. Black Friday......I, for one, am staying home. I am not crazy enough to brave the traffic and the crazy shoppers that are out then. One of the stores here is Tucson is advertising that it will be opening at 4:00AM. Even I don't get up until 4:15AM! That's just nuts!

I am thinking that shopping on line might not be such a bad idea. One of my favorite gifts is the Amazon.com gift cards that my family gives me every year. I can sit right here and shop away.

Someone on the Greenleaf forum asked about favorite miniature books a couple of days ago. I thought I would take this opportunity to direct you to a few of my favorites. There are different places to shop for used books on the net, but I have had really good luck with http://www.alibris.com/?DI=1 Before I wrote this I went to the site to make sure that the books that I am mentioning are available. I don't know how long they will be there. They were all there a few minutes ago.

They keep coming out with new ones, but I don't think that the ones that I am mentioning can be beat for general information and instruction. All were published back in the 70s. They don't have as many fancy colored photos as the newer books. They are just plain good and don't need them.

I have mentioned the three Helen Ruthberg books before. I am going to have to get new copies of a couple of them pretty soon. I have worn them out. You can just put in her name in the search on the site to find any of those.


Next are the books by Virginia Merrill, each with a different co-author. If you put in her name, you will get those.

The first one is "the Complete Book of Making Miniatures". It has lots of patterns for furniture, needlework and accessories.

As you can see, my copy of this one is also well worn. It answers most questions that you might have about making just about anything.

The second one of hers is "Reproducing Period Furniture and Accessories in Miniature". This one is a little more advanced and more detailed.

I don't know which one of these I like more. They are both invaluable as references.






The last one is a book that I got when I first started doing minis. It is still fun to go back and read. It's "Miniatures:How to make them, use them and sell them. It is a bit basic, but it has all kinds of neat projects. There is a chapter on how to build a Colonial Kitchen from scratch that is beautifully simple. It also has furniture patterns and accessories.

I am going back to Turkey Day preparation. Have fun looking on Alibris.com. If you put in dollhouse or maybe miniatures or both in the search line, you might even find something that I overlooked. Good Luck! See you tomorrow.