MISC. MINI MATERIALS AND PROJECT PLANS:

GOOD NATURAL MATERIALS:

Dried bonsai tree leaves. I trimmed my bonsai trees, and put all the trimmings in between two sheets of toilet tissue, which I then pressed between heavy books. These took just two or three days to dry completely. I'm not sure if they are going to stay green (they could be painted, for example, to make sure they stay green). These can be glued leaf by leaf, on fake tree branches, to create an almost real miniature tree.. Less effort and probably better result than by actually making leaves of something else! (Chinese Elm, btw..)

Alternatively, let bonsai tree leaves dry naturally, and you'll get good material for an autumny mini scene..

Flat stones in various sizes. We found these in our back garden! (Looking for more..) These are very good for a miniature garden path, for example.. I've also collected other small stones from the garden, for mini gardening purposes. The following ones are from Bray Seafront:

All kinds of colours...

Tempted to make mini cavemen and tools...

Beautiful stripes!

White stones and fossils...

Pebbles for my mini chapel...

MAKING A MINI RUG:

My loom - cardboard, pin needles and a ruler.. LOL

Weaving a little rug (my first)

Well, it's straighter than what I expected!

A bit better picture..

CROWN CORK / BOTTLE CAP FOR MINI BOTTLES:

This cheap metal ring is from an Easter egg - I've already removed the "gem stone" for other mini use..

Look, a mini bottle cap! (I used a scalpel and scissors to get rid of the other ring parts)

Fits my little bottle perfectly (scroll down to see where I got the glass bottle)

I still haven't removed the needle from the 'bottle', and funnily enough there was a tiny hole in the bottle cap (can be covered with a sticker or something), so I could still try the cap on! LOL