Thanks, guys. Those glass flowers are amazing! I wish the pictures could be enlarged to see the detail. I have this vague memory that I might have seen the real ones many, many years ago when I visited Boston. They truly are exquisite works of craftmanship, and glass is such a classy material compared with Sculpey clay. It has a translucency that's hard to get with polymer clay. If I make the Sculpey clay really thin, though, the light passes through and makes the petals glow in the sunshine. I'm always striving to get this effect, but it's hard to do. When clay is pressed this thin, it tends to slump either in the forming or in the baking stage. It is definitely a labor of love, but then so is gardening for hummingbirds and feeding them. It is such a thrill to make a feeder and watch them head right for it, take a sip, and zip off, disappearing to parts unknown. Some of my flowers are quite a bit larger than life, and I sometimes chuckle to myself and wonder what those little hummingbirds are thinking when they see a Salvia coccinea that is 3x bigger than it ought to be. "Ay caramba! That's the biggest salvia I ever saw!" I've had my share of failures, but have gotten better and better at making them hummer friendly. Although I try to make them works of art, they remain, first and foremost, functioning hummingbird feeders. Here's a couple more: A NOTE TO CS7580 (Otherwise known as Connie, I think)--If you're seeing this, I just wanted you to know that I tried to send you an email by going through your member page, but I think it didn't go through. I know you were interested in trying to make your own Sculpey clay feeders, and I remembered some instructional things I hadn't mentioned in my original post that might help you with your efforts. If you're interested, maybe you can send me an email by using my member page. Hopefully, it will work for you. Once I have your email, I can get those extra instructions to you. They are very important, and I think you'll have trouble being successful without them.

The legal side depends entirely on the written agreement between architect (or any other design professional) and her/his client. The standard AIA agreement, for example, stipulates that drawings and specifications produced by the architect are "instruments of service" and the copyright is retained by the architect. This is based on the agreement for architectural services which, in the case of AIA agreements, stipulates that the architect provides a "professional service", and not a "product", similar to that of other professionals, ie, accountant, attorney, surgeon, etc. If you went to the architect and said you would like a home "similar" to the one you reference, chances are the architect may agree to work with you to design a similar home. Do you know the degree to which your family, lifestyle, property and budget may be similar or different than that of the family for whom the original home was designed? If your situation is substantially different than that of the owner of the original house, would you expect the original house to be a good fit for you? Architects do not provide "plans for construction"--that would be a retail product, like a can of baked beans or a microwave oven. Architects provide a professional service, for a fee, to create an imaginative and responsive home design based on your individual needs, site and budget. Your best bet is to have an initial conversation with the architect and see where it leads. Hope this is helpful. Good luck on your project.

Boxers, thank you so much! You and two friends helped me today and now I have calmed down. One friend is visiting his daughter in Alaska so could not come by but he sent me a link on cleaning residue off hardwood floors and thought maybe it was residue from the product. Thanks goodness I think my friend was right since it looks like it is coming up. First I used the Bona Hardwood Floor cleaning to scrub over and over again with microfiber pads and the areas I was buffing dry seemed to look better. Then I thought I would go to Wal-Mart to buy the Windex with no Ammonia that was mentioned in the article to see if it worked better and it did. I will never use the Bona Wood Refresher product again! But I do like their Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner product that leaves no residue. I have now spent the last few hours scrubbing the floor with so many microfiber pads and Windex with no Ammonia and whatever it was is coming off. I even washed a load of them and dried them as well as cut up a microfiber ivory blanket to get more pieces to dry with after I scrub with the Windex. I thought I had stripped my floors since they looked so bad. I have to go back and do the floors one more time on my hands and knees after this email but I am posting a reply as I eat dinner. My other friend came by who was local to help me for a little bit and then left but he was right I have to do a small spot and keep rubbing with the Windex and then dry the area with the dry microfiber mop. It is taking so long but I am determined to have my floors look good again so I can focus on my work tomorrow. If I can't get it all off (the floor looks 70% better after hours of cleaning now and my back is hurting), I will call the Bona company tomorrow. I do appreciate your email so much further calming me down. Tonight I am going to get a good night's sleep so I can work tomorrow with hopefully a floor that is pretty again with definitely no more dust on it and not having these blotches all over it looking so ruined.

Hi, Lars...yes, I reckon they're all loose recipes at best, the only constant seeming to be the vinegar, salt and onions. My first attempt was also with cucumbers, and it inspired me to try the daikons and carrots. That lot is now 2 weeks old, and so tasty! The chillies and spices do seem to get hotter with time. I like your idea of just pickled chillies. I'll make a few jars of those myself this week, as the vege market is overflowing with them, all shapes, colours and sizes. And Beezee, if you're around, I did make some dill pickle potato soup, and it was wonderful! I made a few chapattis as croutons, and a handful of Swiss cheese on them. Will become a regular for me now. I only wish I had an oven here...only seen a couple in the past 6 years, and it's so limiting having just 2 stove-top burners...I wish you all would stop posting pics of wonderful breads. Drives me crazy! Edited to add, as you seem to be a fellow-aficionado of chillies, thought you might like this quaint, short article on the local ones... Here is a link that might be useful: Drying Chillies This post was edited by shaxhome on Tue, Oct 14, 14 at 4:14