This weekend the Miniature Enthusiasts of Tasmania held their biennial show. I missed the last one even though I had written about it beforehand I somehow manage to turn up a week too late which I was quite annoyed at myself over. This year the show was at the Derwent Entertainment Centre which we usually call The DEC.
Naomi came with me and we spent about an hour and a half at the show looking at the exhibits and stalls. I took photos and we had a cup of tea before going. The money from the show always goes to a children’s charity. This year Tascare’s Freedom Wheels for Children.
Now this show is really for miniaturists. The type of dolls houses that Naomi and I collect are toys and that is a different type of thing but there is some cross over as many people like to restore their vintage dolls houses and make things for them. Miniaturists like to build from scratch. Our dollshouses are mostly in 1:16 or 1:24 scale. 1:16 or “three-quarter scale” is not as common now. Most of the miniatures at the show were 1;12, 1;24 or 1;48 scale models. We mostly buy vintage toy plastic or wooden furniture in the right scale for our houses although we do intend to have a go at making some things. We tend to like things that we can play with. The really tiny miniatures are not good for that. I can hardly pick them up for fear of breaking them or losing bits. I admire how people can work with such tiny things. The very smallest scale is 1:144 which is known as micro or micro mini. These tiny things are the perfect size for a dollshouse inside a 1:12 dolls house. I do like looking at miniatures but if I ever buy any I think I will put them in a display case as ornaments and enjoy them that way.
The club members have been busily building their display items for the past two years. The theme this year was “Story Time” and many had chosen to build their miniatures inside a book shaped case.
I was a bit concerned about lighting in the room. After running my battery down at the doll show in August I had taken the precaution of bringing two fully charged spares. However, I decided to try to take the photos without flash at first and that turned out quite well, especially as dollshouse lighting is so much better now. Many of the displays were lit and there were kits on sale which don’t require wiring. I would definitely like to include lights in our older houses to make it easier to see the interiors and because it looks so good.
I was a little disappointed that there were no really large houses or displays as I’d seen in previous years. Everything seems to be getting tinier. I guess people don’t have as much room in their homes now. One year there was a whole village. Those are my favourite displays as there is so much to see in them.
I did like “American Town Square” though.
I liked these small displays inside tins although I would consider this more an ornament than a toy and I especially like the canal boat because I love Narrowboats.
Here are three attractive houses all in different styles.
I also liked this homely Christmas scene, the Conservatory full of flowers and Trash and Treasure antique store.
I took several other photos so if you would like to see more photos from the show you can check out my Flickr album here.
Further information
Miniature Enthusiasts of Tasmania Facebook page.
http://www.smallhousemodels.com/scales-guide/
Dolls, Dolls, Dolls 
Wow..quite an eye-full! Love this but too many ideas! The glassed in nursery is so fun as I might be able to pull something like that off if I get some mini succulants from the next swap meet.Plus there is a Holiday shoppe I’d love to see the displays at! we gave my MIL ‘s train set to Hubby’s sister so looking for a mini train set. Barbie size would suit me as I have a cheap one that barely circles a garage sale Lennix tree that no longer lights up so have to put the light up ornament necklaces on it I get at Fed-ex. Used to get fairy lights there but they stopped selling them.Now I am goping they will have the Wine bottle cover/sweater as they should fit my “16 Gene and Brenda Star dolls, as well as Dr. Littlechap.
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Sounds like you will have a wow of a Christmas display.
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*hoping
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I think my favorite is the Christmas scene! Love the little edibles on the table and tiny Christmas cards. And the little red bows on the tablecloth added the perfect touch! I also love the idea that it was made inside a gift box which would made it very easy to transport:) I’m sure the designer had a lot of fun creating it:)
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You can’t see so well in the photo but the man even has a handful of tiny cake or maybe chocolates. I did a closer view which is in my flickr album.
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wow! I do hope to see if my Harry potter mini nano’s will fit in my Marx house as I have a Griffander house but nothing for the others, suspect they might be too small. Have a storefront window wth sherriff on it for the mini G.i. joe but scale gets tricky. Does anyone know if there is such a thing as a ruler for different scale sizes?
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Lauren I read an article about scale just yesterday I’ll see if I can find it for you.
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Did find something still pretty confusing. Now I’m just mixing and matching, similar sizes. Seeing what doesn’t look too weird in a certain size house. Also the issue of re-painting or keeping truly authentic, when I get something loosing it’s paint. It’s well enough managed if I have a duplicate I can experiment on. I have some super hero’s coming that are in sad shape.
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You can usually pick by eye what looks right so if you have loads of things in different sizes sooner or later you will match stuff up. It is probablly harder when you only collect one scale and want to be sure before you buy. It doesn’t help that different companies vary. Naomi’s bendy Batman figures are bigger than the Star Trek ones even though they are all meant to be eight inch.
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I’ve seen that too! I put the larger ones in bach like we do in pics taken at weddings/reunions so you don’t get covered up if you’re shorter.Also seeing not all Tonner dolls have same size head. Gene and Brenda Star have larger ones and look funny next to Tyler and my first AA, Esme. I can even put them near the Littlechap family. Gene looks perfect next to a Groucho Marks who I’m still looking for glasses the right size. (I tried swapping w/ a Santa they were too big.
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I’ve seen that too! Sometimes I can layer them like people arranging by height in a family pic..I even put them in shot classes or votive candle glasses to elevate them if they are in back or used spice risers..but Thinking these displays are so much more creative.The Peter Pan one is so much like the playsets I find at the Disney store, come in boxed sets. Thankfully they are matched up and several can be combined for better play.
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(Sorry about the repeats/need more sleep) final count down for daughters wedding..6 days..so Halloween/Christmas stuff ..is creeping up on me..don’t even ask about the doll room..Elvis has (nearly) left the building!
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I love it. What a doll fantasy place to visit.
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I only wish they held it more often.
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I hate waiting for stuff like that. But days whir by also.
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