Any miniaturists here?

[Rachel Rugelach]

I wasn't sure where to post this, until someone from these forums suggested that I try the Arts forum. I guess that creating miniatures is a kind of art, and I'd love to connect with any other miniaturists here -- people into building dollhouses, furnishing them, putting together model kits, etc.

I've recently put together a model kit for a miniature, antique parlor pump organ (see picture below). I used FolkArt Antiquing Medium Nutmeg paint on it, and the candlestick holders are each made from a couple of silver beads that I glued together. The candles are toothpicks that I broke off and painted white.

I've sent off for a couple of miniature, silver dragon steins that I think will go nicely on the two remaining empty shelves. I was originally going for a gothic look, to use this in a gothic haunted mansion I've been working on which is just slightly under 1:12 scale. But the organ is too tall at 1:12 scale, so instead I've moved it into the parlor of a more conventional dollhouse I created (see picture below).

Does anyone else here do stuff like this? Want to compare tools, adhesives, paints, etc?

 

[Debater Slayer]

Being a miniaturist sure is no small feat.

 

[Harel13]

Your work looks amazing.

I used to be into miniatures, years ago. I even had an email subscription to some business that made miniatures and often sent out free printable designs. I don't think I ever actually made any of those. It sort of went with my interest in making fimo clay models and I made a few fimo mini room-vignettes.

 

[Rachel Rugelach]

Your work looks amazing.

I used to be into miniatures, years ago. I even had an email subscription to some business that made miniatures and often sent out free printable designs. I don't think I ever actually made any of those. It sort of went with my interest in making fimo clay models and I made a few fimo mini room-vignettes.

Thanks! That's the clay you bake in your oven, right? I've tried the polymer clay but I wasn't satisfied with the result, as I don't think I'm very good at sculpting. I'm much better with model kits. When I was a kid, I had a whole bunch of famous monsters from old movies that I made from kits and painted.

 

[JustGeorge]

This is something I always wanted to get into, and I just don't. Cost was the initial problem, and then came the kids...

I tried building a dollhouse once. Got reasonably far, and then my middle son came, in all his glory... I never got to finish it, as he tore bit by bit off of it.

Maybe I'll try again when the kids have grown?

 

[Rachel Rugelach]

This is something I always wanted to get into, and I just don't. Cost was the initial problem, and then came the kids...

I tried building a dollhouse once. Got reasonably far, and then my middle son came, in all his glory... I never got to finish it, as he tore bit by bit off of it.

Maybe I'll try again when the kids have grown?

Yes, kids can't resist playing with dollhouses. I guess they don't realize that these are grown-ups' toys!

The room in my picture in the OP is part of a dollhouse that I got real cheap from a junk shop. It wasn't anything fancy -- basically just a square shape with a triangular top for a roof. The window that you see in the picture is something I put in myself (plus I added windows to the other rooms). The "wallpaper" border that you see up near the ceiling is actually washi tape. The "Persian carpet" on the floor is a mouse pad. Occasionally I'll splurge on the price for something special, like the antique sofa in the room. But mostly I try to see what I can do with the cheapest materials that I can find.

I grew up on The Borrowers children's novels -- those books about a family of tiny people who "borrow" everyday household items from humans and adapt them for their own home. I guess that's what inspired me!

 

[ChristineM]

I wasn't sure where to post this, until someone from these forums suggested that I try the Arts forum. I guess that creating miniatures is a kind of art, and I'd love to connect with any other miniaturists here -- people into building dollhouses, furnishing them, putting together model kits, etc.

I've recently put together a model kit for a miniature, antique parlor pump organ (see picture below). I used FolkArt Antiquing Medium Nutmeg paint on it, and the candlestick holders are each made from a couple of silver beads that I glued together. The candles are toothpicks that I broke off and painted white.

I've sent off for a couple of miniature, silver dragon steins that I think will go nicely on the two remaining empty shelves. I was originally going for a gothic look, to use this in a gothic haunted mansion I've been working on which is just slightly under 1:12 scale. But the organ is too tall at 1:12 scale, so instead I've moved it into the parlor of a more conventional dollhouse I created (see picture below).

Does anyone else here do stuff like this? Want to compare tools, adhesives, paints, etc?

View attachment 73087

View attachment 73088

Very nice skilled work. What a wonderful hobby.

 

[Sand Dancer]

That takes a lot of attention to detail.

 

[Rachel Rugelach]

I've added a few more pictures of my restoration work on that old doll's house I found in the junk shop. Enjoy!

 

[JustGeorge]

Love the menorah.

 

[Rachel Rugelach]

I've just returned from a trip to England and one of the places I made a point of visiting was Bourton-on-the-Water, home to a miniaturist's paradise!

"Bourton-on-the-Water model village is a scale model village in the grounds of the Old New Inn in Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, England. One of the first model villages in the country, it was started in 1936 and completed in 1940. The model represents the core of Bourton-on-the-Water as it appeared in 1936 in 1:9 scale.

"Bourton-on-the-Water was a fledgling tourist destination in the early 20th century and the landlord of the New Inn, Mr C A Morris, decided to build the model village to attract motorists to his public house.

"Morris and his wife carefully measured each building in the village and commissioned eight local craftsmen to construct scale replicas of around 100 structures. The craftsmen were construction workers rather than model makers so the methods used were scaled down versions of those used to construct real buildings. The walls are made from ashlars of local limestone, carefully cut to minimise joints and engraved to depict smaller courses of stone. The roofs are covered with slates of Cotswold stone from the Huntsman's Quarry located 3 miles (4.8 km) from the village. The drystone walls are real and have cock and hen or flatstone copings to correspond with the real walls in the village. Two of the buildings have full interiors, visible through perspex panels in their walls: the Church of England parish church of St Lawrence and the village's Baptist chapel. The church has intricate tracery windows and the windows on the models are glazed with real glass. The model village includes examples of 17th- to 19th-century Cotswold architecture. Miniature shrubs, including some bonsai trees planted in the 1930s, and pruned real trees represent the trees and bushes of the full-size village and alpine plants the flowers.

"The model village opened to the public on 13 May 1937, as part of the celebrations for the coronation of George VI. The model village was the first tourist attraction in Bourton-on-the-Water; the village has since become one of the main tourist destinations in the Cotswolds. Construction of the models continued until 1940. No significant changes to the architecture have been made since, so the model village preserves Bourton-on-the-Water as it was in 1936, except that shop logos and window displays are updated to reflect changing occupants."

Quoted from Bourton-on-the-Water model village - Wikipedia

 

[JDMS]

Your work is gorgeous.

 

[JustGeorge]

I love that!

My son loves it, too. Ironically, the son that is the reason I can't have a dollhouse!

He's been working on me for the last two weeks to buy a kit and try again...

 

[The Hammer]

This is something I always wanted to get into, and I just don't.

Me too, I really like the idea of building dioramas.

 

[JustGeorge]

Me too, I really like the idea of building dioramas.

What's stopping you?

 

[The Hammer]

What's stopping you?

Time and money. Lol.

My little zoo doesn't take care of itself.

 

[JustGeorge]

Time and money. Lol.

My little zoo doesn't take care of itself.

No, they don't, do they.

It wouldn't help with the time any, but do you think you could build anything out of natural materials that you find?

 

[The Hammer]

No, they don't, do they.

It wouldn't help with the time any, but do you think you could build anything out of natural materials that you find?

Never though about it, but possibly. I do other things with the stuff I gather. Food for instance.

 

[Rachel Rugelach]

No, they don't, do they.

It wouldn't help with the time any, but do you think you could build anything out of natural materials that you find?

I love seeing natural materials used in the making of small, magical houses.

Here's a great tutorial on how to make a fairy house (shown in picture above) out of natural materials. You'll also need a hot glue gun:

 

[Callisto]

I was into miniatures many years (decades) ago, fueled by having had a well-stocked dollhouse of my own growing up and then later getting into D&D (we constantly tried to one-up each other in how well we could embellish or build miniatures, made for some visually bad-arse campaigns). Post-college, I had a flatmate that enjoyed miniatures too and we worked on her dollhouse. Since then, as recently as a couple of months ago, I've repeatedly thought to get back into miniatures, either 1:12 or 1:6 (currently leaning more toward the latter). I have a ton of craft supplies but it's been a combination of obligations getting in the way and having to downsize in order to free up a spare room that would make a nice craft room. I've only made a little headway. :/