Miniatura

I started getting into miniatures whilst accidently stumbling on some images on Pintrest, I couldn’t believe the images I was seeing were actually real. As a child I was fascinated by anything “Small World”, from watching the Borrowers, model villages and railways through to seeking fairies in the bottom of the garden. My first completed box was an abandoned dining room “Jilted” which is based on Miss Haversham’s abandoned wedding breakfast.

 

Along with my love of miniatures I also love wandering around historic houses, they represent so much history and grandeur, so I was inspired to create a replica room box of a historic room. As I was looking through images of the room I was going to create I was instantly struck by the Turquoise Drawing at Castle Howard, the bright wallpaper is instantly recognisable. On my first visit to see the room, I went armed with a laser measure to size up the room. My scaled model is 70cm wide, 40 cm high and 45 cm deep.

 

The wallpaper and fabric came from Susan Bembridge, I upholstered the chairs myself but I asked John Hodgson Miniatures to cover the settees for me as I was worried about messing that up. The mouldings and Fireplace are from Sue Cook Miniatures and the mirror is from Lucy Askew. The floor is mahogany strips that I sanded and varnished over the course of two weeks. On my second visit to Castle Howard one of the room guides kindly put me in contact with the curator who sent me images of the original painting. Each painting is printed, covered in a clear film, coated in a layer of wood glue and finally varnished to create the aged effect. 

 

Most of the furniture in the room was purchased or bespoke made for me by Master Miniatures, the chairs are from Alison Davies and the games table was a brilliant eBay find. I made the books from Polymer Clay, the ornaments and Candelabras are also from Alison Davies, all painted by myself. The whole box took neatly 200hrs to complete.