Last but not least, a big hello to another group of our lovely newbie exhibitors who had their first stands at the March Miniatura. We are hoping that we haven’t missed anybody out from these last three blogs, but if you haven’t had a mention, please get in touch and we will rectify that!

So, let’s start with CGS Ceramics, whose pots and vases in the photo above were made by Celina. She said that she felt a little daunted when the doors to Miniatura first opened, but in no time, that apprehension changed to delight as visitors streamed in and discovered her work.

Celina commented on the day: “It was really daunting when the doors first opened, but there’s been a big smile on my face the whole time. I’m blown away by some of the comments. I am thrilled – absolutely thrilled!”

Celina of Leicestershire has been doing ceramics for a couple of years, and as she always likes to shrink things down, from knitting to origami, before long she took up the challenge of making her pots and vases in smaller and smaller scales. About a year ago she was gifted a mini potter’s wheel and has not looked back since!

“I love the challenge of working in clay,” said Celina. “There was a lot of experimenting – some successful and some failures – loads of frustrations, but then you finally figure out how to do it and shrink it down. I really enjoy seeing how hard work pays off. I really fell in love with making miniatures. I make the pots using the same system as large pottery – fired to a high temperature, glazed inside and out, so you can put water in it and real flowers if you wanted to.”

As you’ll read on her Miniatura page, Celina is very proud to have exhibited her mini pots at Spode Museum and Clay College Stoke in 2024 as part of a month-long celebration of ceramics in Stoke-on-Trent.

Beautiful Resin Art

The Mint and Feather Shop make resin art furniture that really does stop you in your tracks! Lana and Vlad make their furniture and gifts using resin art, creating tables in beautiful colours with a marble and glass top effect, some with layers of real flowers and leaves set into the shiny clear resin. They also make full sized art pieces along with sofas and other hand made dolls house décor.

They had been making life-sized pieces of resin art décor for seven or eight years when they realised that as they had always had a soft spot for dolls house miniatures, there was no reason they couldn’t make similar items in miniature.  So now they handcraft these lovely sofas and spectacular tables in 1:12, 1:16 and 1:24 scales.

The main material that they use is epoxy resin and once they have an idea for the design, they make a mould for it and pour the resin in with multiple layers. Lana explained: “The smaller the creation, the bigger attention to detail. I think the most special creations have been those where I can capture a memory for one of my customers with maybe an image of their beloved furry family member, or something like the flowers from their wedding day.” The Miniatura Spring Show was the first time they had exhibited their miniature creations and were delighted with the response from visitors and the helpfulness of other traders.

Ben takes a break from IT

Also new to Miniatura was Ben C Miniatures. This was Ben Clark of Hunmanby, Yorkshire, who is specialising in handcrafted wooden furniture and wood turned vessels and vases mainly in 1:48 scale but also some in 1:24. Ben started making miniatures about 15 years ago, born from a desire to make something tangible. In his former career in NHS administration, a lot of his time was spent sitting in front of a computer, so he really wanted to turn his hand to making something physical and tactile.

The desire was to make furniture so he started experimenting in 1:12 scale, which over the years has got smaller and smaller. “It’s not 3D printed or laser cut – it’s all handcrafted,” said Ben. “I bought myself the necessary tools, such as a table saw and lathe and have built up a small collection and variety of tools to work with. One twelfth scale never really gelled with me and it always felt too big. It’s in these last few years that I’ve scaled down to 48th and 24th and it’s grown from there. I’m finding that these are such fantastic and challenging scales to work in, and I’m thoroughly enjoying making furniture at these smaller scales.”

Ben is now gradually adding more pieces to his collection of work and the level of detail and accuracy that goes into his furniture at these smaller scales is very time consuming. Amongst his range are wardrobes, chests of drawers, bedside cabinets, settles, pews, beds and turned vessels and vases. He added, “I’m not working to any particular style or period at the moment but making pieces that I enjoy making and that will enable my skills to develop further.” Commenting on how his first Miniatura Show went, Ben said, “I have had lots of lovely comments – I am thrilled to bits with how it’s gone.”

Meet The Teenies

We were delighted to meet the cutest little range of needlefelt creatures on Creature Crafts stand, called The Teenies. Natalie McNeill of Buckinghamshire has always been into crafting and as a youngster also loved to collect miniature glass and China ornaments. After re-discovering some of these items they inspired her to make some cute and woolly needlefelt animals and creatures using authentically sustainable wool.

She started by making a little mouse on a China teacup. That idea has grown with Natalie sourcing the China but making all the other accessories herself from paper, wool and other materials. Over the last six years, Natalie has done lots of craft fairs and also runs workshops. The Spring Miniatura was her first Miniatura Show, which she loved. “I got a really good reaction from visitors and sales,” said Natalie who is aiming to keep on developing pieces that are really unique as well as being fun and joyful.

Helping the crafters

There was lots going on at CoolKatzcraft Ltd stand with a demonstration in action and a whole range of their products on offer. Based in Peterborough they make a wide range of crafting items from storage, paper crafting, albums, memory books and journals to MDF laser cut kits, miniatures, cutting dies and stamps designed to work with 1:12 and 1:24 scale projects including kits, tools, materials and accessories – and more!

Business partners Kay and Maggie are the pair behind CoolKatzcraft. They used to be demonstrators for shopping TV and got together creating paper crafting kits, designing a wide range of products that didn’t seem to be available elsewhere. Gradually they have crossed over from paper crafting to the world of miniatures.

“We take great pride in creating original designs for all our products,” said Maggie. “We manufacture all our MDF miniature bits, 3D embellishments and metal cutting dies for miniatures, manufacturing the die through a UK company, with manufacturing in China.

“We have our miniature kits, template furniture in 1:12 and 1:24 scale. We love to make our own things from scratch. Kay is an avid gardener, and we try to make as many different flowers as possible – the leaves and flowers are so different from one another. “We love to share our knowledge and meet our customers, and we regularly run craft workshops which are fully catered. A recent one was a Miniature Market Cart and Flowers Workshop.”

Maggie and Kay also have a range of downloadable projects, plus they sell all the tools and accessories needed for people’s own builds and projects with YouTube tutorials showing how to use them.

Maggie added, “Our ergonomic craft tools provide a professional finish and make crafting easier, metal cutting dies for accurate and precise cutting, craft storage for all your crafty goodies and at the other end of the scale our “Tiny World of CoolKatz” MDF miniature kits and 3D resin accessories range.” You’re invited to join their Facebook group: CoolKatz and become a CoolKat too.

A touch of the spooky and macabre

Around ten years ago, Nietzsche of Loughborough was looking for a new creative hobby so she bought herself a simple 1:24 scale dolls house kit, and very soon became addicted to making miniatures for it. She has always been into crafts and as a child used to take toys to bits – and anything else she could get her hands on.

As a trained jeweller and forensic scientist, she has always had an eye for small detail and is something of a perfectionist scrapping anything she isn’t happy with and starting again.

She has also been in the Police Service and was looking for the right time ‘to jump’. That time came about six months ago, making the decision to leave the police service in 2024 to concentrate on Nietzsche Miniatures, and the Spring Miniatura was her first show. She works in 1:12, 1,24 and 1:48 scales, making furniture, kits and dolls, working in a wide range of materials depending on what she is making, including polymer clay, metal, card, paper, resin, acrylic and fabric. She says she is always trying out new mediums and learning new skills to improve her creations. Her dolls for example are hand made from Polymer clay and then dressed in fabric.

Looking at her work, there is a distinctly spooky, Gothic element to it, which she just can’t resist. “I like the macabre, I can’t help it. There’s that quirky little comedy value to it, which I love. I’m inspired by horror films and everyday things you see when walking down the street.”

As for her first stand at Miniatura, she says: “I’ve had absolutely fabulous feedback, and I’m getting new followers. It’s been a fantastic weekend. People have been so helpful and friendly.”

Art for art’s sake

Florence of Florence Felts Miniatures has been collecting miniatures and visiting dolls house fairs since she was a little girl. She recalls visiting Miniatura when she was only ten but actually having a stall here was something very new and exciting.

She had on display her 1:12 scale artists’ scenes, such as artists work-tables, paintings on easels, paintbrushes in jars, messy artist’s aprons, miniature artist’s sketch books, as well as garden décor, plant and highly detailed dioramas that show off much of her own interests in life as well as her skills in being a miniaturist. Florence’s first dolls house was a fisherman’s cottage, given to her when she was eight, and she has been making and collecting miniatures for her dolls houses ever since.

Until the pandemic she had only made miniatures for herself, but with lockdown she found she had time on her hands to make even more. Then around 2021 she began to sell some of her miniatures on-line, and Florence Felts Miniatures was founded that year.

“Making miniatures brings me such joy,” said Florence who lives in London. “I adore making them. I’ve always been creative. I enjoy using mixed materials and techniques – a lot of clay, woodwork, card, canvas, textiles. I make a lot of things in bulk, such as artwork and hundreds of paintbrushes!”

Florence says that she gets inspiration from all around her. “My inspiration may start with an idea that just evolves, or I create mood boards or browse through old miniature reference books and interior design magazines, or more often than not I’ll just see something in real life and just want to make a miniature of it!”

With a background in silk paintings, she loves to work with textiles plus many of her 1:12 scale miniatures are of art utensils such as jars of paint brushes, artist’s paint palettes, easels, paintings, colourful artists workbenches – all delightfully messy, colourful and realistic!

“I’ve always been creative,” said Florence. “I enjoy using mixed materials and techniques when I am making. I work in a tiny studio desk space at home and love painting and the use of textiles the most. This is often reflected in my work as my miniatures are usually colourful and full of organised chaos.”

Florence has been selling online for a couple of years and Florence Felts Miniatures was officially started in 2021. She couldn’t wait to have her own stand at the Spring Miniatura Show to exhibit her own creations and to meet other miniaturists. And she was very pleased with the feedback that she received from visitors.

Photos by Rob Tysall