Unique Miniatures
What started your interest in miniatures?
My passion for miniatures began as a child when I saw a huge doll's house (I was 8.... it seemed huge!) in a window of a shop in The Kirkgate covered victorian street, in York, England. I never forgot that dolls house and wanted one ever since.
My passion for miniatures began as a child when I saw a huge doll's house (I was 8.... it seemed huge!) in a window of a shop in The Kirkgate covered victorian street, in York, England. I never forgot that dolls house and wanted one ever since.
Are miniatures your full time occupation or do you have to fit them around other commitments?
Making miniatures fills my day and my other half has been known to pop his head around the door at 9.00pm and ask if he is going to be fed! The day just flies in..... one minute it is 2.00pm and the next, it's 7.00pm.
Have you had any special training or are you completely self-taught?
Have you had any special training or are you completely self-taught?
I have always had an active imagination and even in my childhood I enjoyed making things. It was in the mid 1990's that I realised I could maybe make things to sell. I have done several night classes where (I realise now) that I was trying to find an outlet for my creative talent and I have learned how to use a potters wheel ( lots of ashtrays) and make mosaics (I have lots of coasters to put the ashtrays on) and tapestry sewing ( I have lots of cushions!). It took a long time before I found the miniaturist waiting to get out!
Can you tell us a little about your workplace? And any favourite tools or gadgets?
Can you tell us a little about your workplace? And any favourite tools or gadgets?
I work in a room in my home and have a nice work table and lots of drawer storage space for my tools and furniture and accessories. My favourite tool is a tiny pastry cutter shaped like a flower. It is fabulous for making the grooves in brains! I have a garage where I can do the messy work.
How do you photograph your miniatures?
I have an early digital camera with which I can only take 8 High Definition pictures at a time before I need to upload to the computer. The flash is too powerful so all my photo's are taken in daylight to avoid using the flash.
Do you have a website, exhibit at Dolls House/Miniature fairs, or sell on eBay?
I have an early digital camera with which I can only take 8 High Definition pictures at a time before I need to upload to the computer. The flash is too powerful so all my photo's are taken in daylight to avoid using the flash.
Do you have a website, exhibit at Dolls House/Miniature fairs, or sell on eBay?
My website is www.uniqueminiatures.co.uk. When I first started the business, I wanted to be different and not specialise in any one thing so, I make lots of different things from Jewellery to books, wizard and witch to apothecary and chemist to wedding and toiletries. I dress furniture and am about to venture into two new areas which I think will be unique to me. I love making things and being able to sell them as well is just fabulous... getting paid to do something one enjoys; there really is very little to beat it. I exhibit at fairs in the north of England like York and Leeds and also in Scotland. I occasionally sell on Ebay.co.uk under the name vhminiatures.
Is there anything you most enjoy making?
I love working with paper and cardboard. I find it very theraputic. The thing I dislike the most is sewing, so I find dress making really frustrating and have thrown a half dressed doll across the table on more than one occasion!Have you made anything that you simply had to keep for yourself?
Yes. My Dolls House. Way back in the early 1980's I was lucky enough to be dating a carpenter who kindly designed and built my dolls house. It is made from 6mm ply with 4mm ply walls. It is basic and crudely built and it was nearly another 10 years before I had electric lights installed by a miniature train enthusiast who made a switch box so that each individual room can be switched on and off. Although the rooms are too tall and the proportions are incorrect, there isn't enough money in all the world to make me part with it. It is my joy and I love it.
Where does your inspiration come from?
Do you have a dolls house or other miniature collections? Or maybe a completely contrasting hobby?
I have a huge dolls house (4 floors including the attic space) and I have several hobbies like sewing tapestries and making mosaics and I am a huge film fan but my biggest hobby now is my miniature business!
Oh dear... where to start! Lorri Ann Potts.... she does stunning old fashioned displays then there is Marcia Backstrom and James Carrington dolls.... fabulous character dolls...... I love the realism about the faces of their dolls. Then there is the incomparable Gale Elena Bantock... simply stunning miniature creations and David Ward who makes little animal characters like Camel Lamps then there is Jackie Dunn who makes colourful character teapots among other things. The list is endless!
Do you have any special future plans and ambitions for your miniature making?
I want to diversify into making wooden items and also victorian style items and also some very specific trunks... I have a lot of ideas, it is just finding the time to implement them all.
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