Is there any interest in a discussion group for miniatures and dollhouses?

Now that I’ve dragged the old dollhouse out of storage and it’s taking up living room space, it’d be nice to find enthusiasts to share the fun.
Dissatisfied with traditional dolls, I bought my first TBLeague 1:12 doll with 22 articulation joints to live there. It’s a strange new world.

Totally agree about it being a strange new world out there. I used to order catalogs from the classifieds in Nutshell News, now everything is on the web of course. But I think 3D printing is where things have changed the most recently. You never used to be able to find decent modern toilets, but I've got some very nice ones that were printed. It's all very cool.

>2 schmootc: Oh, good! A reply. So you are an active miniaturist? Are you interested in chatting about it on LibraryThing and sharing pictures?

Has anyone here used a 3-D printer? I saw a display of amazing objects at the library yesterday. The tiny articulated octopus was especially charming. I think I’m going to take the tutorial and try making some dollhouse items.

As a collector of both dolls and miniature tools I'm always interested to see what's new as well as what's old. Most of the tools I have fall somewhere between 1:12 or smaller and 1:6. Since tools come in multiple sizes the scale isn't hard and fast. Originally I collected tool charms, especially ones dating to the early 20th century. This is a bracelet made up of some:


>1 2wonderY: What a beauty! The limited joints on traditional dolls can be a drag, but I do love the dolls I grew up with the only one of which had joints was Dollikin. She was a big deal in the 50s and remains one of my favorites, though too big to outfit completely without taking over a room in the house.

>5 quondame: That’s a great tool collection. I’m amazed you found them all as charms. I’ve been planning a garage in mini for a while.

Do you do Instagram? I’ve posted some of our play with minis there.

>6 2wonderY: It was a charm bracelet put together by my grandfather from lagniappe miniatures my father received as a boy (1911-1925) and given to my mother, who was not a charm bracelet person, that held my attention as a child. That bracelet with working wrench, saw, scissors and razor, as well as a saxophone, banjo, tennis racket and hammer of amazing detail, was stolen in the mid 1970s. As soon as eBay was a thing I started collecting these and more. The racket, wrench, and saw are pretty much the same as I remember except for not having the gold wash of the ones on my mother's bracelet.

Your mention of a garage reminded me of one of the favorites in my collection:

The tools are a mix of all sorts of materials and sourced over decades, though the big red pipe wrench came with the bench and is from the same artist R.L. Sutton. I have a few more of his tools I found after this photo was taken. Sadly the pliers (not working) in the upper left were lost when the display had to be moved for an emergency cleanup.

I don't do Instagram. I do almost all online at my desk and mostly ignore my cell phone except when I take it out of the house with me. I got it so I won't get stuck without GPS compatible phone with a car breakdown or accident. AAA operators can't find you otherwise I learned after waiting 2 hrs for them to figure out where to find me when I was within sight of the freeway just off a major boulevard.

>7 quondame: I love it! Especially the bench clamp. I’ve got the standard dollhouse tools, but I need to upgrade.

>8 2wonderY: One I didn't win at auction had two bench clamps - one like this and one off the front edge of wood. I see Sutton's pieces come up a couple of times each year.

I have one of the books about Colleen Moore’s Fairy Castle; but daughter sent me this short video which points out several cool details:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/videos/see-chicago-s-million-dollar-fairy-castle

>10 2wonderY: Wow, Chicago is the place for miniatures. Some time I have to go again and enjoy those!