Delaware Art Museum ~ Materpieces in Miniature 2008 – 2009

The Delaware Art Museum has a unique show at the end of each year called MASTERPIECES IN MINIATURE. This exhibition is made possible, in part, by grants from the Delaware Division of the Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. Miniaturists select a work of art from the museum’s galleries. They then create a miniature in a room box of that artwork. Above: miniature doll and room box created by Deborah Mackie based on the painting The Peacock Robe by George Watson Barratt.

Attack Upon The Chew House
Miniature by Dana Pyle
Original Painting by Howard Pyle

The Spring Witch
Miniature by Stewart Jackson
Original Painting by George Wilson



The Buccaneer was a Picturesque Fellow

Miniature by Dana Pyle
Original Painting by Howard Pyle

Photos courtesy of: Mary Ciccolella and Jack English,
http://flickr.com/photos/maryciccolella

Washitsu Dollhouse by Takashi Hirao

This 1:12 scale Washitsu dollhouse was crafted by artist Takashi Hirao. A washitsu is a traditional Japanese-style room.

You can let the artist know how much you loved the dollhouse, via YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/zippypop08

If you can read Japanese, you will love the artist's blog:
http://nukakimu.blog100.fc2.com/category33-2.html

Lorrie's Little People

Just to let you know, there are dolls for sale at Lorrie's Little People.
Visit their website at http://www.home.earthlink.net/~miniature1 or http://community.webshots.com/user/lorrieslittlepeople.

Here are some photos from their collection. Enjoy...

Virginia Princess Anne Colonial Dollhouse

With details and proportions faithful to gambrel roofed houses called 'Princess Anne' colonials, this 18th century style miniature home is scaled inch to the foot. Most houses of this size were built 'one room deep' at that time, but this home features the modern addition of a bright and airy kitchen. Features include: exterior dentil molding at the roof-line front and rear, removable chimneys for easy packing and transport, and individually laid mahogany board floors in the living room and upper landing. My favorite feature is the grand paneled fireplace mantle in the slate blue formal living room, beautifully accented by tiny hand painted Delft tiles.

The dining room walls feature a Zuber-esque mural of trees in a verdant landscape; the vestibule floor is decorated in a black and white parquet, reminiscent of the itinerantly painted floors of the period. The upstairs 'bonus room' or nursery sports hand-painted cabbage rose 'wallpaper'. The house is made of dense hardboard which was painted with many layers of color to achieve the realistic exterior salmon-brick finish and roofed in hand-painted artists board 'shingles'. Six dormers top the house, and the rear wall and roof are hung on finish nails as pegs. This is a one of a kind treasure, which has been carefully cherished by three generations. This really is every period miniaturist's dream home.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Dear Friends,
From the Mini Food Blog family, wishing you very happy Valentine's Day!
Lots of Love,
Sumaiya.

P.S.: To celebrate this sweet day, candy from Miniatures by Rachel. Enjoy!

Duke Street Collectables

Duke Street Collectables kits made by Gail and Bill Duke. The kits include wood cutouts, prints to be pasted onto the wooden structure, and resin pieces that add raised 3D details to the buildings. The finished shops are 5”-6” tall. Shown above, the Bakery Kit.

the Carousel Shop

the Toy Shop

Noah's Ark Toys

the Craft Shop

the Antique Shop

Assembling Rooms

I feel many sellers make a mistake when they keep showcasing their works only as individual items. I think they would be able to make a more dramatic and appealing presentation if they grouped their handwork so that it can be viewed as a whole.
Dollhouse rooms have much more charm and can prove more persuasive to the buyer, than single items of furniture. And grouping them, really doesn't take much effort.
For instance at GreenLeafDollhouse they make very simple model rooms with their pieces of miniature furniture. The effect is both delightful and charming!

Tiny Trains

Created by Cindi's Minis, these mini train tracks and terrain dioramas are approximately 4 inches wide. The train is possibly the "World's Smallest Working Model Train," and is powered by a drive-belt and motor inside the track. The train is permanently attached to the track and will even run upside down!

Sweet flowers!

Checking out etsy is so rewarding! Hours and hours of wonderful eye-candy! Etsy is so good for online-window shopping and should be prescribed as therapy by psychiatrists. But sometimes when you see stuff at shops like Tinyminds, you'd want to do more than just window-shop.
Do check out Tinymind's latest offerings on etsy for the miniature lover!

Of Horses & Flowers

I was over at Golden Unicorn Minis, and was so delighted to see so many pretty pictures of her flowers, bonsai trees and miniature gardens.

Her links are:
Website

Floral props for Model Horses

Etsy: Golden Unicorn Minis

Ebay: Miniatures for dollhouse and Model Horse Collectors
Her blog is a lively account of the wonderful things she makes. She also seems to share my passion for horses.

"The Model Horse Collectors take their horses to 'live' shows which are based on real-life equestrian shows/events.And some collectors show their horses with "set-ups", i.e., miniature jumps, dressage arenas, ground obstacles, etc. And she supplies them with the flowers...hmmm...a minature florist.

Do read her story about horses & flowers.