Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2023 i Dolls House & Miniature Scene

If you’re a fan of the eerie, make sure you take a peek at the ghostly characters created by Maya Schippl, plus Maive Ferrando’s skull and roses cake – it’s a slice of pint-sized perfection! For those who aren’t the biggest lovers of Halloween, fear not – there are plenty of mini makes for you to try! From peanut brittle to a Marie Antionette inspired table, we have the mini make for you. We are constantly making sure we’re bringing you what you want to see and make – so do email if there’s something you haven’t seen for a while or would like to see! New contributor Kim Finch continues the tour around her spectacular dolls house, with this issue showing how she has created and filled a pantry…

You just need to look at Agnes’s work to see that creativity is in her blood. I asked her about her creative journey to miniatures: “I’ve been creative since I was a small child in nursery, and began drawing as soon as I could hold a pencil!” As an adult, Agnes moved on to creating three dimensional objects from clay in the early 1990s, and introduced polymer clay into her repertoire in 2016. Having worked as a professional photographer, she studied history and anthropology and her last job before leaving Hungary for London was a cataloguer/researcher in an auction house in Budapest. Although the pair loved their life in London, they adore nature and the great outdoors, and recently moved north to Murton, a quiet little village just six miles…

YOU WILL NEED Materials required • Four Loew-Cornell Woodsies 1-1/4in (32mm) wood disks or cut from 1/16in (1.6mm) thick sheetwood • 1/32in (0.8mm) and 1/16in (1.6mm) thick sheetwood • Tapered miniature legs, e. g. Houseworks #12010 • 3/16in (5mm) diameter dowel • 1-1/4in (32mm) diameter cardboard core* • Shiny gold Bristol board or card • Stiff card • Thin glove leather • Four black seed beads • One 1/16in (2mm) brass bead • One 5/32in (4mm) blue crystal bead • Gold gel pen • Thin gold cord, approximately 1/16in (2mm) wide • 1/16in (1.6mm) wide metallic gold outline strips • Gold foil tiny filigree, leaves and flower stickers or gold foil paper doily pieces • Gold-coloured tiny charms (resin craft or nail art supplies) • Blue and beige acrylic paint…

Have you always been interested in miniatures? Did you collect first before building? The fascination in miniatures has always been there, I didn’t collect anything but was always trying to build things - usually in Lego and when older and I could get my hands on some tools, in wood. Where did your joy of building begin? I actually started building scale models away from dolls houses. A friend of mine flew radio controlled planes and taught me how to build one. He instilled patience and accuracy in my building which has helped me many times through many builds. From there, I moved onto scale model narrow boats as my Dad was building full sized ones, I helped out occasionally and decided to build a model of the one we…

YOU WILL NEED Materials required • Black and white fabric • Thick cardboard • Padded insert from small jewellery or gift box • Dark brown or black polymer clay • Black acrylic paint • Matte varnish • Craft glue • Super glue Tools required • Scissors • Ruler • Small paintbrush 1 Carefully cut out a piece of thick cardboard measuring the same size as a small square padded insert from a jewellery or gift box. 2 Paint the card using black acrylic paint. You might find you need a couple of coats to ensure good, even coverage. Allow to dry thoroughly. 3 Take the padded insert from the jewellery or gift box and use craft glue to stick to the square of cardboard. 4 Cut a piece of monochrome fabric…

Marina Vitulli-Stanzione, of @marinas_mini_life, is an American miniaturist who focuses on 1/12th scale makes and her beautiful modern style is one to behold – with over 70,000 followers on Instagram you need to see it to believe it! Her wonderful attention to detail sees her mini home full of life, personality and love. You will want this house is full size for sure! For all of you lovely people who are signed up to our emails, you’re in for THE BEST treat! In our October email, Marina is providing you with her expert top tips on how to build a scene and put a room together with your own signature style! You’ll see even more from inside her stunning house too. Not signed up yet? Make sure you do so…

A mystery tour They say every house tells a story. Built and designed to appear faded and declining, this eerie house is everything the career of its talented creator, Briar Nielsen is not. Fresh from her stint on season two of CBC’s Best in Miniature, Briar’s career continues to go from strength to strength. A complete scratch build, her haunted house stands out for more than just it’s skilful construction amongst a burgeoning portfolio which includes a recent commission for global brand, Samsung. Briar is a fantastic visual storyteller, that sense of mystery captured in even the smallest detail. “I wanted to build a small bungalow, one that looked like it was built during the 50’s/60’s and had never been properly maintained by its owners. I wanted the home to…

YOU WILL NEED Materials required • White and yellow polymer clay • Brown, dark cadmium orange and golden ochre pastels • Sculpey Bake & Bond (or similar) • Kitchen foil • Gloss varnish Tools required • Craft knife • Needle tool or sewing pin • Small paintbrush Mistaken identity! There are several different stories regarding the origins of peanut brittle. Including the suggestion that this tasty sweet treat was first invented entirely by mistake, when a woman in the US accidentally switched cream of tartar for baking soda whilst making taffy! 1 Mix white polymer clay with yellow, adding grated golden ochre and brown pastel to create a shade resembling that of roasted peanuts. 2 Shape tiny 1mm balls of the mixed clay into individual peanuts. Bake and allow to cool…

YOU WILL NEED Materials required • Mini foam pumpkins • Acrylic paint in golden yellow and gold gleams wash (optional) • Orange or natural gypsophilia, small twigs or artificial greenery • Beige 22/26-gauge paper-covered florist wire • Golden yellow scrapbook paper • Tissue paper in gold, orange and rust • Used and dried coffee grounds • Brown wool felt • Brown fine marker pen • Embroidery floss in gold and orange • White glue Tools required • Knife • Needle tool and needle-nose pliers • Wire cutters • ½” (13mm) Wide strip of card • Embossing tool • Paintbrush and scissors • Paper punches - daisy, maple leaf and small oak leaf 1 Prepare the pumpkin Mark a circle around the stem end of the pumpkin and carefully cut this…

YOU WILL NEED Materials required • Buttons, in various sizes • Plain white paper • PVA glue • Acrylic paint • Pearls Tools required • Scissors • Pencil Kati says… “Make a three or four layer stand simply by adding more buttons.” 1 Select your buttons. Kati opted for a base button with a 25mm diameter and a top button with a 20mm diameter. 2 Draw around the outlines of the buttons on a piece of plain paper. Follow the outlines and cut a few millimetres in from the traced lines. 3 To create a smooth base, glue the paper pieces to the inside of the buttons with PVA glue. 4 Use acrylic paint in your preferred colour to paint the buttons. Allow to dry. 5 Choose the pearls between…

Keeping records Dolls house miniatures are really addictive and before most of us know it, we realise we have quite a collection. As you know by now, I’ve been interested in miniatures for most of my life and for several decades I’ve been actively buying and making them. In retrospect, I really wish I had kept better records! So, this month, my top tips are for how to do just that without it becoming too onerous. With digital photography and spreadsheets, it’s very easy to have far better records now than in the past. Records you can search, update, and readily locate. The first tip is to just assume from the start that the hobby will grow for you and that you will want to know about your collection later.…

Moi’s Top Tip “Sand the edges of worktop counter if you wish, and stain with woodstain for an aged appearance.” THE FACTS Buy from: www.etsy.com/uk/shop/TotheWillowGarden Cost: Around £42 plus postage Comes with: All components including doors, door knobs and hinges Additional materials needed: Glue plus stain or paint. Time: A day at most, including painting Experience: Confident beginner I am always on the lookout for a miniature kit that’s a bit different, and I was delighted to come across this superb apothecary’s cabinet. I’ve been collecting old chemist’s items for a while now, always with the intention of building an old-fashioned pharmacy. Whether I will ever get round to it is another matter, but meantime I now have the perfect way to display my collection. Paula McBride runs To the…

NOVEMBER 2023 ISSUE ON SALE DIGITAL EDITION AND SUBSCRIBER COPIES POSTED FRIDAY 20th OCTOBER * PRINT EDITION: THURSDAY 26th OCTOBER DETAILS OF HOW TO SUBSCRIBE CAN BE FOUND ON PAGE 50 For EVEN MORE exclusive content, sign up to our emails - turn to page 7 to find out how!…