Dolls House World Magazine

Reading through many of the wonderful stories we have for you this issue. it is so uplifting to recognise how miniatures has become much more than a hobby to so many.
Marina Neff wold have laughed if you’d suggested she would eventually have a full-time business making custom doll’s houses (she even makes a regular room box for a pop star). She remembers: “I was a medical technologist, working with lab equipment and test results, not tiny sofas and doll’s house kitchen sinks. But then the world slowed down during the pandemic, and that unexpected pause led me straight into a new obsession – miniatures.”
She found a dusty old doll’s house online that she wanted to fix up for her daughter She said: “What I didn’t expect was how much I’d fall in love with the process. Something about working in miniature sparked something deep in me. This passion found me when I least expected it, and it’s grown into something more meaningful than I ever imagined. Miniatures have brought me creativity, community, and a career.”
Debbie Ingram was diagnosed with a condition that causes seizures and tremors just before lockdown. She was left to cope alone all day and, having fallen in love with two tiny mice, decided that making a tree house would take her mind off it all. She worked every day for six weeks and you can see the result inside.
Jodi Kasprzyk developed “a fairly life-changing case of anxiety” during the pandemic. “I lost my desire to create anything, so I just sat among my hoarded craft supplies and watched more videos. For every person who has uploaded miniature tutorials on the internet, you are all MVPs!”
The result of all that screen time — “fast forward about 5,000 hours” — is Jodi’s beautiful Bun in the Oven Bakery. Jodi said: “It isn’t perfect, but it’s special. Making these tiny things and watching the vision slowly start to become reality calms me.”