Victoria Fasken
I started painting miniatures over 40 years ago. My mother was a great collector of dollshouses and so I grew up in a house that literally had dollshouses in every room. There was no escaping them! My mother and I started Moorland Miniatures in 1981 and we did shows all over the UK. By the early 1990’s, I had branched out under my own name as I had now moved away to Bath. If my mother and I were doing the same show then we’d make sure that we had adjacent stands.
I mainly paint on Warwick and Phoenix metal miniatures. They give you the fineness along with being quite robust. I always joke that you can drop one of my tea sets and it will just bounce!
The two people that really inspired and encouraged me back in the early days were June Astbury, an artist and miniaturist, and Caroline Nevill, who ran The China Doll shop in Bath and then later her own shop, Caroline Nevill Miniatures. In the days when I was painting the miniatures full-time, Caroline was so supportive of my work.
When I first started out, it was before online selling was established and so, in order to reach your customers, you had to do the shows. Doing 50 shows a year was not uncommon. I now just paint the miniatures part-time and aim to do about 3 or 4 shows a year, depending on my other work commitments.
I have an online shop on Etsy which I try to keep stocked with a small selection of my work and you can also find details of my upcoming shows there. I am also on Instagram where I post about not only my own work, but also my personal collection of miniatures. (@victoriafasken)
Even after all these years, I still love painting miniatures. I’m always inspired by colour and if I see an antique plate or cup then I immediately start to think about replicating it in miniature. I can’t ever imagine not being part of the Miniatures World.
