Christmas Wish Should Be Piece of Cake

As Christmas presents for her children, Mrs. Jack Shultz of Whittier is searching for cast-iron lamb molds for cakes. Years ago she made such cakes for the children, who now want to continue the tradition with their children. Can you stop Shultz’s bleating without fleecing her too much, or will her offspring say “baa baa humbug” because they feel like they are the black sheep of the family?

Morris Kay of San Marino is looking for a product that seals a driveway covered with slurry. Eight months after the work was done, the stuff still attaches itself to shoes and is very difficult to remove. Can you help in a hurry to get rid of the slurry, or will the situation drive Kay up the wall before he can come clean again?

Paul Campioni of Palm Springs is looking for rechargeable hearing-aid batteries ; the mail-order shop he used to get them from is now out of business. Can you give Campioni’s plea a sound hearing, or will he have to give somebody an earful before he can take charge of his life once more?

Mrs. Albert Smith of Redlands is in the market for a chrome Blouse Tree , on which you can hang several blouses and which is quite a closet-space saver. Can you help (ad)dress this question, or will Smith have to keep her shirt on before she again can come out of the closet?

Allan Voigt of Palm Desert needs someone to re-tin a brass chafing dish whose tin lining was dissolved by acidic food (pineapple juice). Can you solve this particular dilemma so that Voigt can stop chafing, or will he have a just base for pining away?

Reader-to-Reader-Help Line: A. Warshaw at (619) 327-5284 would love to find some Esquire Instant Coloring (a shoe dye), which seems to have disappeared from market shelves. Please put some color back into Warshaw’s shoes; she’s dyeing to hear from you. . . . Alta at (818) 247-5101 needs an old-type Styling Stick hair dryer formerly made by Schick ; it has a circular head with six rows of bristles, with metal spaces between the bristles. Please make sure that Alta stops bristling and, above all, is not tempted to take somebody’s head off. . . . Jane at (213) 277-0060 needs the lid to a white porcelain oven-to-table three-quart round provincial casserole made by Apilco and imported from France. Let’s hope you can put a lid on Jane’s despair before she feels like making the round of travel agents for the next Concorde. . . . Hugo at (213) 927-0646 is interested in Vol. 8 of the 15th Edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica’s Micropedia ; the publisher is either unable or unwilling to supply the one volume. If you could come through for Hugo, that would really speak volumes for your generosity.

Note: The Reader-to-Reader Help Line is only for one-time items or for products no longer available in stores. And you must give us written permission to publish your telephone number, so that others may contact you directly.

For Fay of Pasadena, who was looking locally for crystals that might dehumidify a walk-in closet (she was getting them from a mail-order source), we have some help. (This may also be of interest to Lu Jean Johnson of Laguna Niguel, who was after the same item.) Bob Parces of Rancho Palos Verdes says Dri Rite is the best product, but he didn’t give any local sources. And Hans Stern of West Los Angeles says that the drying agent is known as Silica Gel. He also didn’t provide any local sources, but he suggested contacting a Fuller Brush dealer or a chemical supply house.

For Betty Bonge of Laguna Beach, who needed someone to repair a Pulsar L.E.D. watch, the hour has struck. Douglas F. Kassler of Kassler’s Clock & Watch Service, 1114 N. Highway 101, Leucadia, (619) 436-0139, says he repairs all kinds of timepieces.