Honey I Shrunk The House
Honey I Shrunk the House was established in 2022 by Ellie Phillips, a miniature interior designer with a passion for crafting visually captivating spaces. I work in wood, polymer clay, textiles and resin to bring my favourite full size interiors down to miniature scale, usually 1/12. I specialise in contemporary and modern interiors, with a dash of 90s nostalgia and the occasional spooky scene! I also love to create large scale commission projects, such as bespoke whole house or room box projects.
When did you start making? I started making for my own dollshouses when I was a child, then fell out of making minis until I was reunited with my original childhood dollshouses about five years ago. They’d travelled through a new generation of family children, and had been well played with, so I got back into making minis predominantly to repair and revamp my Victorian townhouse and Georgian cake shop.
What inspired / inspires you? I have always loved interior design, my ‘day job’ as a gallery owner and artist agent has allowed me to curate some amazing collections for clients’ beautiful homes and be involved in some really inspiring creative projects. My miniatures are about exploring that passion, I’m inspired by beautiful spaces and creative design, I just adapt it to a more economic scale! I’m also a sucker for a bit of nostalgia, 80’s and 90’s pop culture really brings me joy, as does anything Halloween related so you’ll find some of those references in the mix at Honey I Shrunk The House too.
What was your first make? As a child I worked through pretty much every project in Vivienne Boulton’s beautiful book The Dollshouse Decorator, starting with loaves of bread! When I rediscovered minis during lockdown my first make was a tiny polymer clay troll, made to lift the mood when my husband and I were isolating.
If you sell at shows what do you like about that? I love meeting people at shows, hearing about their projects, what they’re collecting. We have lovely repeat customers and I really enjoy seeing photos of how our pieces have been placed into their miniature spaces.
Where do you do your work? I have a dedicated studio space to work in, which is lucky because my work bench and storage are pure chaos!
How long does it take you to make something? It really depends, anything from a few minutes for something simple like a mini book to multiple days for more complex pieces with lots of elements like the Halloween dressers. I find the first time I attempt a make it always takes longer as I figure out my process and make mistakes and change direction, then it gets quicker as I repeat it.
What special skills / tools / materials do you use? I love to work in polymer clay, modelling by hand is one of my favourite things to do and I have a huge stash full of various modelling tools, random bits and bobs to apply textures and all sorts of secret tricks that I’ve built up over the years and would be lost without. Other than that I’m a bit of a craft magpie, I’ll have a go at making almost anything, and can usually make it work. I’ve always sewn, my husband is a keen miniaturist for table top gaming and I have picked up some brilliant painting techniques from him, renovating our ‘big’ house has taught me lots of DIY skills in wood and other materials that have helped me work on a mini scale. I think that’s one of my best resources, an abundant and varied craft and DIY cupboard combined with a stubbornness to master my makes!
Any funny stories? My two cats, Edith and Margo, are avid miniature fans, in that they like to try and eat miniatures when they are left unguarded. An early prototype of a troll unfortunately fell victim to feline attack, and many of my wooden pieces end up needing tooth marks filled in.
What research do you need to do? Research is one of my favourite parts of making, I have huge saved folders of interiors images for inspiration, and endless videos tutorials of techniques and wishlists of new materials I want to try out.
What other craftspeople do you admire? I love Shrunk magazine for new ideas and modern approaches to making things, the tutorials and columns from other makers like Abi Trotmann and Esha Bijutkar are brilliant. I’ve also been lucky enough to attend some workshops with the amazing Michael Robbins of Michael R Miniatures which have really helped hone my polymer clay skills. I’m also totally in awe of Crawl Space miniatures spooky and grimy creations, VH Miniatures incredible resin pieces and Hannah Lemon’s ridiculously beautiful plants.
