Dolls House World Magazine Issue 362 Back Issue

Take a look at the fairy-themed room box created by Patricia Schantz and you’ll think, as I did, that it’s a pretty perfect scene.
So it was quite refreshing when she admitted to us: “One of my biggest difficulties working in miniatures is my own expectations. I want everything I make to be perfect and have to accept the reality that not everything I produce will be perfect. Sometimes “good enough” is good enough.”
Even getting to that point took a lot of work. One of her main problems was struggling to fill the shelves, and then finding they looked too sterile. She solved that by concentrating on each shelf individually, creating a disorderly look that adds so much to the appeal.
But if Patricia had trouble filling shelves, spare a thought for Mandie when she was creating her version of Ollivanders wand shop. She made more than 4,000 wand boxes to fill the shelves, with some help from a friend (hats off to that friend!). No wonder the project took over six years to complete.
Elsewhere in this issue dollmaker Minna was stunned when a magpie flew off with a head she had just about finished. But that’s nothing compared to the shock Randall had when fire destroyed the magnificent room box that was only waiting for a few final touches. Did he have it in him to re-do all that work? You can find out inside (spoiler alert: he’s an obsessive miniaturist - of course he did).
As one of the makers featured this issue tells us: “When there is chaos around us in the real world, there is gentleness, goodness, and beauty in the world of miniatures.”