How to Stock Your Dolls House Pantry

A Well-stocked Edwardian Pantry in 1:12 Scale

Part of the enormous pleasure I get from the dolls house hobby is making all the little bits and pieces to fill the cupboards, drawers and shelves. So stocking a dolls house pantry is right up my alley!
  Because this is the pantry in my Edwardian dolls house, I wanted to make sure that the tins and drinks were accurate for the era. I was lucky enough to find a book with pictures of real Edwardian products and that's when the photocopier was put to good use. I shrank down the photos of the labels and used them. 

Use Real Labels in Miniature

 You could do the same for a modern dolls house, or even a Victorian one if you can find a suitable reference book. It all adds to the authentic details.
  I bought a couple of glass bottles to stick drink labels on. I made square boxes out of card to make the biscuit tins and the tea tin. The ginger beer bottles I made out of Fimo. For the tinned goods, dowelling cut to size, with the labels stuck on and the tops and bottoms painted with chrome nail polish made realistic looking cans.
  I hope you'll use some of these ideas to stock your own mini pantry. Have fun!

Glass Jars Filled with Fimo Fruit and Vegetables

These little glass containers are filled with a variety of fruit and vege I made from Fimo. To get the labels looking as if the cook wrote them, I used a tiny handwriting font on the computer.

Dolls for an Edwardian Dolls House

Kewpie Dolls, Porcelain Dolls and Paper Dolls as Toys for an Edwardian Dolls House

If, like me, you are the proud owner of an Edwardian dolls house, you'll be keen to stock the nursery with toys suitable for that era. I talked about teddy bears in another post and now here are some ideas for toy dolls.
   In the early years of the 20th century, porcelain headed dolls were replacing wax and wooden ones. They were dressed in miniature versions of children's clothes. Boy dolls were often dressed in sailor suits; girl dolls wore the full outfit from the pantaloons and petticoats to the pretty dresses and white pinafores. Many of the best dolls came from Germany and looked particularly lifelike. My one in the photo was made by Barbara Blowes from Christchurch. 
   A totally different looking doll, not in the least bit realistic, was invented in 1909. The kewpie doll was drawn by Rose O'Neill to illustrate stories in the Ladies Home Journal magazine. With its large eyes, cute hairdo and rounded belly, it couldn't be more different from the traditional dolls.

Scale down paper dolls to 1:12 size

   Paper dolls were popular too. Some were advertisements for products where children could collect a set of dolls and their clothes, as long as their parents kept buying!
   I bought a book called 'Antique Paper Dolls of the Edwardian Era'. It has reproductions in full colour of original paper dolls from France in 1908. I photocopied some of the pages down to 1:12 scale, cut out the teeny tiny dresses and paper dolls and made a little box to put them in. Fiddly, but fun!

Design and Build Your Own Doll's Houses

A book for the more experienced miniaturist

Design and Build Your Own Dolls' Houses by Beryl Armstrong is an inspiring book for miniaturists who are not satisfied with kitset dolls houses and want to build their own. Beryl is a very experienced miniaturist who has published several books on the subject.
   The dolls house pictured on the cover of this book is an appealing style reminiscent of American houses. But you don't need to be confined to that - full instructions are given for the concepts used in designing a dolls house to your own unique plan.

Chapters in 'Design and Build Your Own Doll's House'

As you can see from the chapter headings, this book is comprehensive. Each step in the building process is illustrated with very clear photographs and full instructions. Even if you are not designing your own dolls house, the ideas in this book are very useful for finishing, lighting and decorating kitset houses as well.
  All in all, this book is a great addition to your library of dolls house and miniatures books. I have found it to be very useful.

Miniature Teddy Bears for the Dolls House

A selection of miniature teddies

If you are a purist miniaturist who loves authenticity, and if you have a Victorian dolls house, then sorry, you shouldn't have teddy bears in it! You see, they weren't invented until 1902, just after Queen Victoria died. That was when a cartoon showing Teddy Roosevelt with a real bear was published. The Steiff Company started producing teddy bears as toys in 1904.
  The photo shows some examples of the teddies I have in my Edwardian dolls house.
  I made the pull-along bear from a kitset I got in a swap with other miniaturists. The wheels on the little platform are half of the domes used in sewing. The bear itself is made of micro-suede which was easy to work with as it didn't fray.
  The little soft bear has movable arms and legs. I bought that at a dolls house fair.
  The teddy bear plate is a miniature work of art made by an English miniaturist who specialises in ceramics.
  Because the Edwardians were very fond of nautically-themed clothes when dressing their children, I pounced on this tiny resin bear dressed in a sailor suit, with a little yacht. Just the thing for the Edwardian nursery.
  If you really love teddy bears and really want to have them in your dolls house, I'd say, forget the 1902 date and put them wherever you like! Have fun!

Photos From the Miniatures Open Day

A traditional N.Z. villa in 1:24 scale by Laurie and Gayle Davey

Yesterday we had a very successful Open Day at our Hibiscus Miniatures Club. We were amazed at how many people turned up to see our displays and our club members working on their projects. Everyone seemed very interested in our tiny things, asking lots of questions and spending a long time looking at the exhibits. It was great!
 I thought I'd post some photos to show you what you missed if you didn't make it to Orewa.

The Gingerbread House by Flo Schubert was very popular with the children.

Smithy by Laurie Davey. The blacksmith pulls a lever to pump the bellows, the fire lights up and smoke puffs out the chimney

A tiny three-storey house, complete with furniture, made from a Pringles potato chips tin by Joan Murray.

Bruce Davey combined his interests in hot rod cars and miniatures to make this display.

A scale model of a sawmill at Henderson by Des Bellette

What every gardener needs - a potting shed like this miniature by Chris Davey

A spooky Hallowe'en house by Gayle Davey

Steve Naish worked on his model of the 'Titanic'.

A very small log cabin in 1:144 scale by Wendy Craig

These photos show only a small sampling of the miniatures we had on display. Pamela showed her N scale scene in a bookcase that I have written about on this blog. I took along my N scale village and the retro caravan too. Nancy had a very detailed Kiwiana souvenir shop there as one of her exhibits but unfortunately it didn't photograph well - too many reflections bouncing off the perspex frontage. Louise kept working away at her French-styled doll shop and Heather was making some modern miniatures.
  All in all it was a busy, interesting happy day - all our visitors left with smiles on their faces!

Miniatures Open Day

If you are out and about on Auckland's North Shore this Sunday, call in to our club Open Day. There will be some interesting miniatures to look at.
Hope to see you there!

The Village Centre

In the centre of my mini village I put a row of shops and a corner pub.They are kit sets by Kestrel Designs I made up. I think, when painted up, they look very realistic. Positioning the tiny people was fun, making them appear as if they were chatting or admiring goods in the shop windows or sitting on a bench outside the pub or waiting to cross the road.

The N Scale Village Shops

The Newer Part of the N Scale Village

Beside the pub is the old Norman church. I made the gravestones by painting the offcuts of plastic from the kits. Can you see the gravediggers with their shovel and pick?!
   Behind the shops is the bus stop and the newer part of the village. These kit set houses are a mix of brick Kestrel Design bungalows and American kits for weatherboard houses.
   One of the things I really like about this layout is that every time I look at it, I see something different. It has been a project that has given me an immense amount of satisfaction!