Miniatura

My name is Hannah and I make miniature polymer clay food at home in my shamefully messy ‘studio,’ or more accurately, forcefully appropriated spare bedroom. In truth, any unattended surface in the house is considered fair game.

I’ve been making miniatures in one form or another for 5 years now, progressing from making OOAK dolls, clothes and accessories in 1:16 scale during lockdown, to miniature light up fairy houses/dioramas, and a 1:12 scale witch’s cottage from scratch. For the last couple of years, under the name Where The Small Things Are I have also made miniature props and food for miniature scenes created for the Bugdroid – Google’s Android mascot – for tech events in Barcelona, Sicily and Las Vegas.

My mum recently renovated my childhood dolls house for my daughter and I think it’s been largely down to watching her enjoyment of the process and my having created a few bits of food for the current occupants, Ted and Miss Mouse that has really inspired me to specialise in miniature food.

I love to make my pieces as realistic as possible and to try and bring along a bit of the nostalgia that home cooked food can evoke in us (anyone who suggests there are roast potatoes out there better than my mum’s will have a row on their hands!) I often include crumbs, drips, wonky bits, messy plates and pieces of food with bites/scoops taken out of them as I love the ‘in the moment’ feel that it can lend to them.

I work mainly in polymer clay, but will often discover strange ‘ingredients’, such as realising that sand from my daughter’s sandpit, is the PERFECT colour and texture for the topping of an apple crumble! I also use natural materials, such as real dried leaves from my garden, which can be crushed into tiny pieces to create realistic herbs and seasoning.

Some pieces, such as a bit of toast can be made in under an hour, but others, like fry ups or some cakes can take much longer, due to there being so many components and multiple parts to the process like sculpting, colouring, different bakes and drying time etc.

I tend to work from the most detailed photos I can find, because frankly my husband is frustrated enough by finding tiny roast dinners in our oven all the time, that if I suddenly start making full sized ones, just so I can work from them and tell him he can’t eat any, he’ll probably move out!

I’ve spent a long time convincing myself that it is mad, rash and unrealistic to think I could actually try to make a living creating miniatures, but we all have to start somewhere, so I’m taking the plunge with my first Miniatura show and I couldn’t be more excited!