Miniature Villa on Television!

Laurie and Gayle Davey's Villa in 1:12 Scale

Well, exciting news for Laurie and Gayle Davey, the couple I introduced you to in my last Guest Interview. They have been approached by a reporter from Fair Go, a consumer rights television programme, for the loan of their magnificent 1:12 scale villa.
   Fair Go is filming a piece about going flatting and thought a novel way of adding visual interest to the programme was to use a dolls house. The reporter was put in contact with the Daveys who told her I had been at their place taking photos of the villa the week before. So she rang me & I emailed several photos to her.
  And her comment - "WOW! It's exquisite - this is just what we're after."
  So keep an eye on Fair Go over the next few weeks to see this villa featuring in the programme.

Gayle and Laurie Davey: Miniaturists

Gayle and Laurie Davey in their miniatures display room

Twenty eight years ago, Gayle and Laurie Davey were introduced to the world of miniatures. A neighbour showed Gayle her dolls house and invited Gayle to go to a miniatures club meeting. That was enough to get her hooked! At first Laurie wondered what he could do; after all, he had been involved in various sports clubs rather than making models. He soon found there was plenty, and he hasn't stopped making tiny things since! 
  I visited the Daveys at their home where they have a treasure trove of minis - a room set out displaying the various dolls houses, room boxes and miniature furniture and accessories they have made and collected.
Wendy: Do you remember the first miniature you made?
Gayle: Yes, it was an upholstered red velvet chair. My first dolls house was a Greenleaf kitset one.
W:  What is your favourite scale to work in?
G: We prefer 1:12 scale as you can get lots of detail into projects that size.
W: And your next project?
Laurie:  It's an Art Deco house - we have the building set up ready to be decorated.

A gentlemen's club in 1:12 scale

W:  Where do you get your ideas for making miniature furniture?
G:  We enjoy looking round second hand and antique shops, seeing a piece of furniture we like, then going home and working out how to make it. We also copy pieces from photographs of the real things. (Gayle showed me a working mangle she had made, a copy of a real one she'd seen at the Rangiriri Hotel.)

L: Most of the furniture kitsets we've made have been in rimu, a native timber.

Gayle's Haunted House

W: What do you really enjoy about the hobby?
L:   I like making the buildings (we've got our workshop out in the garage), cutting out all the kitsets and teaching others how to make minis.
G: I like designing the kitsets and, for a change, doing fantasy projects like the Haunted House and Fairytale Castle.

W: I know you are involved with several miniatures clubs. You're president of the Hibiscus Club now.
L:  Yes, and we were founding members of the Papakura Club and now go to three others; the Auckland, Waitakere and Hibiscus Miniatures Clubs. That keeps us busy! We've both been president of the Auckland Club; me for 6 years and Gayle for 4 years.

As you can see, the Daveys have a wealth of knowledge about our hobby and are always happy to share their miniatures and ideas with others.
Thanks, Gayle and Laurie, for your time spent talking to me and showing me all your wonderful minis.

How to ... Tips for Miniature Embroidery

Sue Bakker's Bargello Embroidery in Progress

Throughout her career in needlework, both 'real size' and miniature, Sue Bakker has been committed to raising the standard of embroidery. So she was happy to share with us her tips and hints for our miniature stitching.

1. Frame up your work before you start embroidering. For smaller pieces use a hoop. A wooden frame with the canvas or cotton fixed along the edges with drawing pins is good for larger items. For silk gauze use a cardboard frame. Using a frame keeps your hands off the work so it is cleaner and it also helps to keep the material from pulling out of shape.
2. Start the embroidery in the middle of the pattern. By beginning there and working outwards, the material will not distort as it could if you began stitching on one edge.
3. For the design details, use half cross stitch. To save trailing threads across the back of the work between the designs, work every alternate stitch outwards, then fill in the gaps as you work back to where you began.
4. For the backgrounds, use basketweave stitch. This fills in the spaces nicely and keeps the material lying flat. By stitching carefully, the back of your mini embroidery can be as neat as the front.

The back of Sue Bakker's embroidery is as neat as the front

      5. Before you get to the edges of a carpet, work the last row of the outside border, then fold the material over to the underside along this last row of stitching. Do overcast stitch to wrap the edge, then go back to complete the border in basketweave stitch and half cross stitch, working through both layers of the fabric. 
      6. For a fringe, use Surrey stitch as it is neat and not bulky.

The embroidery in the frame is done on 60 count gauze!

  Many thanks to Sue for showing us these tips. We're all inspired to get stitching now!

Sue Bakker, Miniaturist: Embroidery

Sue Bakker 

We were very fortunate at our miniatures club yesterday to have as our guest, Sue Bakker from Scotland. Sue's speciality is miniature embroidery and her work is of such a high standard that pieces are displayed in museums and galleries in the United Kingdom and United States.
  She is a member of GMNA (the Guild of Miniature Needle Arts) and a founder member of the Miniature Needlework Society International.
  Sue kindly agreed to answer my questions.
Wendy: Did you do 'full size' needlework before you started stitching in miniature?
Sue:  Yes, I did my training at the London City and Guilds specialising in creative embroidery.
W: How did you get involved with miniatures?
S:  My sister-in-law had a big dolls house and one day I offered to stitch a carpet for it. That was in the 1980s and I could find only one book, a Dover Publication, that had embroidery charts for a carpet. So I decided I would design my own pattern and since then I always have. That carpet for my sister-in-law started me doing embroidery in the dolls house 1:12 scale.
W: And how did your career in miniature embroidery grow from there?
S: I was invited to exhibit at the 1989 Kensington Dolls House Show and did so every second year until 2001. As well as carpets I had stitched I produced small items such as cushions, fire screens, and footstools for sale. I developed a range of embroidery kit sets and charts, with new patterns available for each fair. I also attended some of the dolls houses and miniature shows in the United States.

Examples of Sue Bakker's embroidery in 1:12 scale

(It was interesting to see Sue's blue and white oriental carpet (above) as that is the one I did in green for my Edwardian dolls house and another member of our club has stitched it in brown tones.)

S: As I became more well-known I began to get commissions from clients in the United Kingdom and America. I also collaborated with (miniature) furniture designers to incorporate embroidery into some of their pieces.
  For about 12 years I wrote for and designed charts for the International Dolls House News magazine.
W: Do you have a dolls house?
S:  No, but I do have a glass fronted display cabinet that I have made miniature room settings in. My favourite is the Georgian room - I love that era's embroidery and china so I have been able to display many miniature pieces in it.

Sue's favourite miniature room, as shown in the International Dolls House News magazine.

W: Many thanks, Sue, for an interesting chat, and for donating patterns to our club. 

We were all in awe of Sue's embroidery, some of it done on 60 count silk gauze (that's 60 stitches to the inch!) We were also so impressed that the back of Sue's needlework is as beautiful as the front!
In my next blog post, (How to ...Tips for Miniature Embroidery) I'll share the hints and techniques Sue gave us to improve our miniature stitching projects.

Ann Vanture, Miniaturist, of Paper Minis

Samples of Paper Miniatures in Vintage Style Made by Ann

I was thrilled when Ann Vanture agreed to answer my questions about making miniatures from paper. Here are some insights into the inspiration behind her Paper Minis business.


W. What got you started in the miniatures hobby?

A.  My younger sister, Cordelia, is actually the force that got me started on Paper Minis. She has spent years populating a wonderful Victorian house our Father built for her as well as many room boxes. One day she showed me her latest dollhouse accessories purchase. I was impressed, but felt that the little kitchen groceries could be improved. Having worked as a graphic artist for many years, and with Cordelia's encouragement, I quickly became obsessed with creating the perfect 1:12 scale miniature. A task that took many years longer than I thought it would. The resulting Paper Minis' process is my special "secret recipe" -- 10 years to figure out how to bring out color, texture, crisp lines and readable typesetting at a scale 1/12th our human size! If you have been following Paper Minis over the years on-line (from the end of 2002), you know it has been an interesting journey.

W.  What is the most unusual or special miniature you own?

The Bavarian Miniatures From Ann's Childhood

A.  The most special miniature I own is my girlhood collection of furniture and accessories. The kitchen and bedroom sets came from the Bavarian Forest which we bought when I was about 7 in Germany while my father was stationed in France. The tin can curly-q furniture and the cast iron stove and accessories I bought with my own money while visiting the Ozark Mountains with my Grandparents who lived in Missouri, probably when I was  between 11 and 14 years of age. We would go camping each year on the White River in the Ozarks. My years in Europe and those camping trips were the highlights of my childhood. These items have been in storage during my adult years, and my grown daughter Cristen and I hope to make a house for the furniture in the near future.

 

W.  Which part of your Paper Minis business do you enjoy doing the most –  for example: dreaming up an idea, creating a prototype, dealing with customers?

A.  The most enjoyable part of Paper Minis business is the inception (the grand day dream!) of a project and then gathering the design elements. Those design elements might be a derivative element, like using antique photos to cover puzzle blocks, or a design element might be a completely custom artwork. Building that first “draft” is like Christmas morning for me. I don’t get to do that much anymore because of all the administrative tasks required for running a business (3 hours a day in email alone!), so I savor those few moments in a month when I get to be creative.           

A Range of Contemporary Miniatures from Paper Minis

 W.  Do you have a dolls house now? Can you tell us about it?

A.  I do not have a dollhouse, which has surprised many. I get the impression that when people visualize my home in their mind’s eye they see gingerbread inside and out with spiral starlight mints, gum drops and dollhouses on every surface in the house. Over the years I have made many boxes to stage Paper Minis for photos and those are kept in the studio. I am dull as dishwater when it comes to miniatures in my own house. But remember, my daughter and I will eventually have one to display!


Many thanks, Ann, for answering my questions. Let's hope you get your dolls house sooner rather than later!
In my next post, I'll have some information and examples of how Ann goes about making miniature books.

  

More About Helen Palenski and her Miniature Knitting

A mini topsy turvy doll

The other side of the doll

When I was a little girl I had a topsy turvy doll. Do you remember them? It looked like one doll wearing a long skirt but when you turned it upside down, another doll was revealed. Now I have one in miniature, thanks to Helen's creative knitting. It's one of my favourite miniatures!

   In 2007, Helen was awarded IGMA (International Guild of Miniature Artisans) status, a great honour. I asked her about that.

W: How did your IGMA award come about?

H: I had to submit five pieces of miniature knitting to the Guild for judging. I did a fairisle jumper, a kimono jacket, a black long-sleeved jumper in 1970s style, a Noddy figure and a Big Ears. The fairisle sweater is now on display in the Kansas Dollhouse Museum.

W: That has opened up opportunities for you to exhibit at miniatures shows around the world, hasn't it?

H: Yes, I travel a lot and do several overseas shows each year. The next one is the Philadelphia Miniaturia in the United States. I'll also be going to the Tom Bishop show in Chicago, one in St Louis and one in Dallas. New for next year is a miniatures show at Rheda in Germany.

W: Have you had a stand at any English shows?

H: I have done the Kensington Dolls House Festival in the past but won't be next year. The times don't work out unfortunately.

W: How do you know how much stock to take to shows?

H:  Luckily all my pieces are so small that I can take a lot of stock when I travel to shows. But I still often sell out of some things. My friend, Elaine Bailey, comes with me and I can be knitting while she deals with customers. Sometimes I'll have people waiting for me to finish a particular piece, or I'll tell them to come back the next day and it will be ready for them. Then at night, back in the hotel room, I'll keep knitting!
W: What is an unusual piece of knitting you've been asked to do?
H: I had to design and knit for a garden scene, in 1:48 scale, flower, bumblebee and ladybird people!
  Many thanks, Helen, for telling us about your miniature knitting. I've also seen some of Helen's dolls houses and other miniature projects. They are as detailed and beautifully finished as her knitting.

Helen Palenski, Miniaturist: Knitting

Helen's mini Winnie the Pooh knitted set

Helen Palenski

I first met Helen about ten years ago, not long after we both started making miniatures. I was in awe of her beautiful miniature knitting then and am even more so now! Helen knits day and night, but took time away from her needles to answer my questions.

W: Do you have a favourite scale to make minis?

H:  I work in all scales but lately have been making 1:48 scale projects. They are small enough to bring home when I'm travelling and don't take up much room in my house. In November when I'm at a show in America, I'm going to do a 1:48 scale beach house workshop. I usually try to do a class everywhere I go. That way I can learn new techniques and keep up with what's happening in the dolls house world.

W: Do you belong to any miniatures clubs?
H: I belong to the Papakura and City Central clubs and also an on-line group.

W: What do you knit mostly in miniature?

H:  Sweaters, teacosies in 1:12, 1:24 and 1:48 scales, and little figures. I do sets of Brambley Hedge characters, Noddy and Big Ears, Rupert Bear, Winnie the Pooh and fairy tales such as the three little pigs and the wolf.

W: Which do you find are the most popular?

H:  Peter Rabbit, I can't make enough of those, Winnie the Pooh sets and, in America, the latest craze is for Sock Monkeys. And the 1:48 scale teacosies are very popular as well.

Here is a photo of Helen's Winnie the Pooh characters. Aren't they wonderful!

In my next post I'll talk to Helen more about her travels with her knitting and her international artisan status.

Barbara Brear, Miniaturist: Book Maker

Barbara Brear

Barbara Brear is a South African book binder who makes exquisite miniature books in 1:12 scale. She is a member of the International Guild of Miniature Artisans (IGMA). Barbara kindly agreed to answer my questions about her work.

W.  What inspired you to take the leap from making ‘real size’ books to 1:12 scale ones?
B.   I was already “into” miniatures when I started doing my full sized book binding courses and my teacher said “You must look on the internet – there is lots of stuff on miniature books” (the internet was quite new then!!).  And I just started experimenting on my own.  The books I made then I thought were fantastic, but if I look at them now – bleurgh!  But gradually, gradually one aspect after another improves and gets finer.
W.  Of your open books, which one/ones are the most popular?
B.   By far the most popular book is Mrs Beeton’s cookbook.  I mean everyone has a kitchen table that needs a cook book open, don’t they?  I used to keep track of total number of orders so I had stats.  Now I don’t anymore but I know that book was WAY ahead.  Then the Nativity’s are the next most popular.
W.  Where do you source the paper, leather and marbled paper? They are so fine!
B.   All from different places.  We have a lovely paper shop called the Deckle Edge where I get my paper and boards.  The leather – I have to buy a whole skin and then it is skived with a sharp blade to get it super thin.  There is a lot of waste but without the thin leather the book is not in scale and the corners are clumsy.  The marbled paper comes from a specialist marbler in England.  Her business is Jemma Marbling and she specialises in fine papers for miniatures.  Expensive, but worth it.  
W.  How long does it take to make a book from start to finish?
B.   It takes just under or over an hour depending on the finish.  I am an obsessive timer.  I know how long it takes me to do EVERYTHING from making a white sauce to washing up to making tea!!  And I keep timing myself with my books and it is nearly always 58 minutes!
W.  How did you get involved in the miniatures world?
B.  Like all miniaturists (and how often do you hear this EXACT phrase?) “I have been fascinated with tiny things FOR AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER!!”  I remember making little tiny books as a child and I can remember a holiday where I spent every free moment with my nose pressed against the window of a dollshouse shop in Heysham, England.  On the last day of my holiday I took all my pocket money and went into the shop.  I DESPERATELY wanted the little writing desk with the drop down shelf and the green felt writing surface but all I could afford was a toaster and three flying ducks!!!  (You will be pleased to know I now own the most EXQUISITE writing desk!!!!)
   And then I found the book on Making Miniatures by Venus and Martin Dodge.  I started on my own and still I thought I was the only adult in the world who wanted to play with dollshouses.  Then someone at school brought along a newspaper article about a Miniatures Club in Cape Town.  AMAZING!  I joined and that was when my second life started.
W.  I imagine you have a dolls house yourself –can you tell us about it?
B.  I went on a Dollshouse Holiday in England and made my house there.  I did not glue it together but flat packed it and couriered it back to South Africa.  It is still a work in progress but you can see it all on my web site along with lots of “How did I do it” tips.

A 1:12 scale open book

The Nativity in miniature

  
Here are photos of the three books of Barbara's I own - the Nativity is on the prie-dieu in my Tudor dolls house chapel, the Victorian Botanical is in the library of my miniature museum and Mrs Beeton's cookbook is in my Edwardian dolls house kitchen,

 Barbara has a website where you can see more of her beautiful work. Many thanks, Barbara!

Mrs Beeton's Cookbook in 1:12 scale