Miniatura

I have been making miniatures since early childhood. I remember being at the seaside on holiday, the other kids were making sandcastles, digging holes and paddling. Not me, I was digging up lumps of muddy clay and sculpting tiny dinosaurs. I was so sad when they disintegrated years later as they had never been fired. I love making spooky and historical miniatures with a few abandoned, quirky or modern pieces thrown in for good measure.

I have been selling online for many years but am now venturing into doing fairs. Getting to meet my customers and other mini makers has been great. I do not currently have a studio so I tend to work in the living room, kitchen, garage and the garden in the summer. This means my house is rather chaotic but I am making a living doing what I love.

Some of my items are very quick to make such as a basic Tudor pie which can be completed in under an hour. Other things may take a week or more as they have lots of separate parts that all need sculpting, baking, staining, painting, varnishing and lots of drying time between each stage. Then they need assembling.

I work mostly with polymer clay but also wood, air dry clay, thin metal, fabrics, card, to name a few. I have more tools than I care to mention but always need just one more as I learn a new skill. The latest is a miniature pottery wheel and I am so looking forward to creating tiny Tudor greenware.

I research a lot before I start making anything and I always prefer to work from life when possible. This can be a problem with the Tudor foods as I really need to make the real life version then copy it into miniature scale. Luckily some of the historical societies have good photos as a boars head won’t fit in my oven and I’m not sure where to buy a peacock to make into a pie.