Doll Chit Chat June Newsletter

It's Show Time!

 Hello everyone and welcome to Junes newsletter. A warm welcome to all our new members this month.

Discover Dolls International Doll Show:
The Discover Dolls International Doll Expo at Peterborough is almost here and this is our 5 point guide to surviving the day.
*Wear comfortable shoes,you'll be on your feet alot.
*If it's a hot day drink plenty of fluids as you walk around.
*Secure your purse and valuables so you don't lose your money.You wont be able to buy if it's lost!
*Take regular breaks on a hot day especially if you're not used to crowds.
*Take your time,don't buy till you've had a good look round,enjoy the day,find your friends for a chat and don't rush.There's plenty for everyone.
We'll be bringing you more on this show on the forum in our special show section.
Don't forget to take your camera!

Artists Showcase:
Blandford is the exciting new silicone by Lullabydolls Janet, pics exclusive to Doll Chit Chat.You can see Janets pics on the forum and here in Janets Gallery. http://chitchatuk.30.forumer.com/index.php?showforum=26

Also in our Artists Showcase we have an amazing work of art "Freya" elf baby by Collingwood Art Dolls plus you can see work in progress Sabrian and Brian by Philsooakbabies.
Vanilla and Cinnamon are two mini girls by Elisa Gallea for the DollTime Show in St,Petersburg in Russia.
Also in Artists Showcase we have Maddy by Monika who will be coming to the Discover Dolls Show along with Monikas newest resin.

The Waiting Room & New Arrivals:
Mommys waiting this month are Lan who is in The Waiting Room for the first time.
Pams Little Blessing is in labor waiting for "Baby Mine" by Tina Kewy,we hope for a safe arrival from Greece for this one.
Other mommys-to-be include Casjek waiting for her first cuddle with Emily, KarenC is waiting for Laura Chantal by Steengaard-Dukker. Medici is waiting for another dream baby and Brendas-Babies is excited to be getting Kayla by Wendy Dickinson.
Congratulations to Tixiepixi for her little sleeping lovely all the way from America. Re-united with her 1992 sisters is Liliane for mommy Wendy-Sue. A cheeky girl arrived for Dollymad and Mitsuki Moon had a gathering with her BJDs to welcome newest BJD Ciel.
To all the mommys and moms-to-be this month congratulations and lots of baby dust.
We look forward to seeing all your new dolls in June especially your show buys.

Dolls,Dolls,Dolls!
Take alook in Dolls,Dolls,Dolls this month and check out our many doll sections,find one you love or share in the excitement as members show off their dearest loves.Or take alook at our BJD and Himmie sections and discover something new. Whether you're resin crazy or in silicone heaven or even a fan of dolls houses and miniatures,we have something for everyone.

Artist Bears & Stuffies:
If you love bears check out the newest giants on DCC 6ft Charlie Bears,we're Charlie mad this month.
Check out our other artist offerings with unique one of a kind artists bears and stuffies.
Perhaps you'll start a new collection!

Crafty Crafters:
If you're crafty we'd love to see it, whether it's cross-stitch,sculpture or knitting. Our DCC members love seeing the wonderful work our artists and crafters create.

Events For This Month:

PUDDLE 2009 (Pullip and Dal Doll Lovers Event)
June 6, 2009
Arlington Heights, IL
E-mail: truefan@live.com
www.puddlestyle.com

DISCOVER DOLLS INTERNATIONAL DOLL SHOW
Sunday June 7th
Discover Dolls International Doll Show
10.30 to 4 pm
Holiday Inn, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire.
Tel: 01733 202193

YORK DOLLS HOUSE & MINIATURES FAIR
Sunday 7th June 2009.
York racecourse,York.
Open 10am-4pm.
Organiser: Warners Group

DOLLTIME SHOW
International Exhibition of Dolls and Bears.
11th -14th June 2009
Open 11am-8pm.
St,Petersburg.
Russia.
Organiser: http://www.dolltime.ru/

BROWSERS COLLECTORS FAYRE
Sunday 14th June 2009
The Public Hall, Station Rd, Budleigh Salterton, Devon. EX9 6RJ
Open 10am-4pm
Last Admission 3.30pm.
Organisers: http://www.browsersfayres.co.uk/

SCOTTISH MINIATURA
Sunday 14th June 2009.
Murray Field Stadium,Edinburgh.
Open 11am-4.30pm.
Organiser: http://www.miniatura.co.uk/

GoGaDoll 2009
Golden Gate BJD Expo
June 19-21, 2009
Holiday Inn Golden Gateway
San Francisco, CA
Information is available at:
www.gogadoll.com

DOLLYS DAYDREAMS DOLL FAIR
Sunday 21st June 2009.
Ely Community College.
Downham Road, Ely, Cambridgeshire.CB6 2SH.
Open 10.30am-4pm
Organiser: Dollys Daydreams

BROWSERS COLLECTORS FAYRE
Sunday 21st June 2009.
The Pavilion.
The Esplanade, Weymouth. Dorset DT4 8ED.
Open 10.30am-4pm.
Organiser: http://www.browsersfayres.co.uk/

THE CORNWALL SUMMER BEAR FAIR
21st June
Community Centre,
Lostwtihiel.

http://emmarybears.com/id20.html

DOLLYS DAYDREAMS DOLL FAIR
Sunday 28th June 2009.
Springfields Exhibition Centre.
Camelgate, Spalding, Lincolnshire. PE12 6ET.
Open 10am-4pm
Organiser: Dollys Daydreams.

Junes Blog:

 
 Miniatures: A small world, isn't it?
27 October 2008
STEVEN RUSSELL
The happiest folk tend to be those who seamlessly combine work with their passion. People like the Willmotts, in fact, who make miniatures. Steven Russell enjoys some small-talk about a true cottage industry

WHAT do you give the doll who has everything? Perhaps a miniature TV - not a toy replica but a mini working model that shows real pictures.

Charlotte and Martin Willmott aren't long back in Ipswich after a big dolls' house show at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, where the appearance of such a set created quite a stir.

It was the first time Martin had seen one. “Beautiful picture!” he enthuses. “The screen was about this big,” he says, holding thumb and forefinger about an inch apart.

Gosh. Dolls' houses have certainly moved on from my childhood, when the rather utilitarian wooden furniture had all the style and grace of a Cold War Soviet apartment. “People don't realise. You can actually get your dolls' house with running water, though you get the same problems as you do with normal running water - you get taps that leak, and floods.”

Enthusiasts can even get tiny but readable books, thanks to the miracles of laser printing where the ink doesn't smudge.

“It's an incredible world, when you consider that what you're doing is creating 'life', but small,” says Martin.

Speaking of TVs, the Willmotts have never had one. It's a conscious decision. “When we go away - to stay with my mother, or to a hotel - we think 'We know quite well why we don't have a telly!'” explains Charlotte. “You waste so much time.”

Instead of watching X Factor or Big Brother, they make things - mostly miniature food in 1/12th scale, though there's also some smaller, in 1/24th. They beaver away contentedly at their home near Ipswich Hospital, usually working side by side and listening to lots of audio books and the radio.

The web site for the NEC show rather colourfully describes their business - Mouse House Miniatures - as “Wet & cased fish specialist. Fruit & muddy veg.” For 50p you can buy something like a little sugar-mouse, toffee-apple or gingerbread man created with polymer clay - a man-made, plastic, modelling compound.

A tiny but detailed Atlantic salmon mounted in a case, the handiwork of Martin, sells for £45. The most expensive item, at £89, is a farmhouse-style table (bought in by the Willmotts, who aged to give it a different look) laden with food they've made: cut bread, eggs, apples, a marrow, and even a pumpkin. There's even a minute wasp enjoying the sweetness of the strawberry jam and a mouse making merry while the cat's away.

Patently, there are no fortunes to be made in miniatures. The cost of attending a fair such as those in Birmingham and Kensington, London, for example, is about £600-£900. That's a lot of toffee-apples.

Each miniature, such as tiny grapes little bigger than pinheads, has to be rolled individually and painted.

Miniature oranges are rolled on sandpaper to get the right effect.

Martin says a lettuce probably takes about 30 times longer than an orange, with each leaf being individually crafted and having a number of firings in the oven at 130C.

Then there's Ananas comosus.

“There are 35 bits in the top of that pineapple - each one cut, animated [bent over; it's done in thick paper] and painted.”

Compared to a smooth orange, a pineapple is a rococo bauble under a stucco crown. Making it, you have to ensure the lines are in the right position. If your hand and eye aren't co-ordinated on a particular day, forget it. “If you don't get the movement, or start hesitating, you know it's going to be one of those days. Leave it and try later in the week!”

Certainly it is all time-consuming. “Sometimes you think 'The minimum wage would be nice!'” quips Charlotte.

The couple's interest in miniatures began more than 30 years ago, when they lived in Kent. They noticed a newspaper article on someone who made 1/12-scale chairs. “There was a picture and it was just perfect,” she recalls. “We both felt we really wanted to know more. I was at the time making lots of soft toys and Martin” - then teaching art and light crafts to teenagers - “was interested in military modelling.”

They began collecting pieces they liked. However, it wasn't until they moved to Ipswich in 1986 that they really started making things themselves.

In 1991 the Willmotts launched Mouse House Miniatures. Martin worked on it full-time; Charlotte was with Guardian (later AXA), but left five years ago to join her husband in the business.

Their first fair was in 1991, at Copdock, near Ipswich. “I remember it well,” says Martin. “We didn't have a car, so we arrived by taxi. We didn't have lights for the stand, would you believe? Rule one: people must see the stand. Brings it to life. Makes it sparkle.”

It was, his wife agrees, “A very steep learning curve!”

Still, things have gone swimmingly and, nowadays, it's hard to see where a hobby ends and a business begins. More than anything, it's a way of life.

Martin, who went to art school and trained as a painter and print-maker, has most enjoyed making his fish - for both the modelling challenge and the intricate painting required. Charlotte would usually nominate her most recent creation - currently a little basket of fruit.

The quest for authenticity is fun, too. Charlotte explains: “Some people will come along and say 'What can I have in my Tudor house?' And you've got to say 'No, you couldn't have potatoes . . .'” (The vegetable wasn't introduced to the UK until Elizabeth I's reign, apparently, and even then would have been available only to the well-off).

Speaking of spuds, muddy potatoes made by the couple take realism to another level. They use real skins, with sterilised earth sprinkled over them to give that just-lifted-from-the-garden look.

Both Charlotte and Martin enjoy sharing their enthusiasm with the public - with events such as Christmas-time demonstrations for youngsters. It's surprising, they say, how many boys of about six and seven take to it - sitting down and making something, returning the following year to buy some bits and pieces, and picking up the hobby.

What do they themselves like about the world of miniatures?

“It's better than insurance,” laughs Charlotte, “though unfortunately you got a lot more money in insurance than you do making miniatures! That's something you do for love more than money.” There is a rewarding social aspect, she points out; they enjoy belonging to Wolsey Miniatures, which meets at Bealings Village Hall, near Woodbridge, and the Sudbury Association of Miniaturists.

“I just like making things. I get very edgy if I'm off on holiday somewhere and I'm not actually doing something with my hands,” says Martin. “And it's having reality small enough to 'play with'. I think that's it.”

The Willmotts don't go on vacation very often. They did snatch a few days in Shrewsbury last year, on the way back from the NEC, but thoughts of work were never far away.

“But then most craftspeople are like that . . . obsessive,” smiles Martin. “Always thinking of new things, or discussing how to make something.”

Of course, there are some folk who think it's a bit of an odd hobby for a grown-up . . .

“There will always be people who don't 'see' it,” concedes Charlotte. “They're not interested and don't even try to look (at the attraction of it). But craftspeople - perhaps someone who knits, for instance - will always be interested in different sorts of crafts.”

Both have dreams. Charlotte wants to create a miniaturist's workroom, for instance. So if she does that in 1/12th scale, the mini pieces would be . . . “In 144th, yes!”

“I've always wanted to do a wizard's room,” says Martin, “with a monster attacking from the fireplace. He's stuttered, you see, and lost control, so he's falling back and a book's falling out of his hand and a claw is heading for him!”

Gosh; where did all that come from!

“I'm a great sci-fi addict, too. With some of these sci-fi games I get carried away looking at the models and I think I must make my own! I'm going to have it with lights - red eyes - and fire effects. I thought I could try a storm scene through the window . . .”

Doubtless they'll also keep trying to overcome their greatest challenge thus far . . .

“I think the thing we've had most difficulty with, and still do, is strings of onions,” admits Charlotte. “Lovely garlic, lovely spring onions, but not strings of onions! It's getting that texture right, with the very faint stripe they've got in them, and the roots and everything. They're tricky!”

A world in miniature.

Collecting miniatures is an international hobby.

The Willmotts' customers have come from countries such as Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

The latest NEC fair drew buyers from nations including Italy, Spain, Germany and France.

It's hard to say how many collectors there are in the UK, but some fairs draw 3,000 people, for instance - and three magazines for dolls' house collectors are published.

Many people like to recreate scenes from their youth, such as their grandma's kitchen.

Many, too, will incorporate some kind of story or twist in a scene.

The Willmotts' greenhouse arrangement, for instance, features a cat snoozing next to a heater.

He's too comfortable to want to dash out and catch the birds pecking by the door.

Although historic room settings appear the most popular genre by far, there are people who prefer modern periods.

They might depict their son's bedroom, for example - complete with computer terminal.

Mouse House Miniatures have been to about 20 fairs this year.

That is likely to halve in 2009: the cost of fuel is hitting both stallholders and potential visitors.

Small talk.

The Willmotts don't actually have a dolls' house.

Instead, they collect and create room sets, shopfronts, scenes and so on.

Martin went to art school and trained as a painter and print-maker.

Charlotte worked for Guardian/AXA for 25 years.

She has a recurring dream: that her husband takes her to a show and then drives off, leaving her there!

A miniature sampler she made has 52 stitches to the inch.

Charlotte admits she once dropped a greenhouse arrangement that Martin had put together , . . the night before it was going on display.

Luckily virtually everything was salvageable, though one window was broken.

They have a grown-up son who doesn't make or collect things himself but appreciates the skills and passions of those who do.

“At one time I was a bit worried about what was going to happen to all these things when we die, but now he says he's quite happy to keep them,” says Charlotte. “We have heard of people who have died and the family just haven't wanted their collection at all, which is very sad”.