Category: Miniatures

Now that we are back down at Level 1, all New Zealand miniaturists are shaking off the shackles. Certainly here at Miniature Time Traveller magazine that’s the case!! We have published two issues in quick succession (April 2020 and June 2020). The June issue has some great projects to work on alone or at your… Continue reading Miniatures during Lock Down

Hit with a sudden idea I put together a little project kids could do at home. I sent it off with photos and instructions to the local paper. They loved it and commissioned ten more! Suddenly I was in work! I started with a simple chair made from a cotton reel, a bottle cap and… Continue reading Using Lockdown Creatively

While putting the April magazine to bed I have been working on the projects that appear in it. Some fun was had in making chairs out of practically nothing so I am giving you a little preview. Instructions in the Issue out next week. Don’t forget to check the latest issue of Miniature Time Traveller… Continue reading Please take a seat

Already the temperatures are rising and a trip to coast with the grandchildren inspired some knitted togs, published in our magazine for miniaturists (December 19 Issue), which is just being posted out to our print subscribers. See the knitting pattern for these knitted snazzy summer togs in Miniature Time Traveller magazine Print readers can access… Continue reading Gearing up for a hot summer

At the moment the house, the birthplace of NZ writer Katherine Mansfield has an exhibition designed around the doll house, her dollhouse, that she wrote about. The Lower Hutt Miniature Makers were instrumental in refurbishing this house a few years ago. This year they have supported the Trust in providing some of the members miniature… Continue reading A visit to Katherine Mansfield House, November 2019

Update: 22/7/19: No correct answer yet, so a fresh clue: It’s somewhere in the USA. Let me know where you think this photograph was taken, and win a free copy of my magazine for miniaturists; ‘Miniature Time Traveller’. Feel free to share news of the competition with your friends. Think globally! The winner will be… Continue reading Time for some small fun!!

As readers of my magazine fror miniaturists will know, so many things inspire us. In my case it was toothpicks and worrying about a 24th scale project to do. A few minutes contemplation and this little table was born. The project was published in the American Miniaturists last issue. This is the start of a… Continue reading Inspiration in 24th scale

The Steampunk Design movement has always intrigued me as as a miniaturist I am free to explore whatever idea wings it’s way into my head without changing my own wardrobe, or redecorating the house. Ha! As if hubby would allow that! So with my new transfer experiences I have produced material that suited my new… Continue reading A little bit of Steampunk

It seems like an age since I last posted. I traveled to France and worked hard on the Lower Hutt Miniature Makers Club’s role in the NZAME convention. I like to do the workshops I publish in my magazine for miniaturists (Miniature Time Traveller magazine) and keep them all as original as possible. Who knows… Continue reading A steep learning curve

I have completed the production of my first ever house kit. It is a real cutie and contains some interesting building methods, a cute little staircase that you will only see through the back windows and up the stairs from the back door.  The front hinges out and the inside of the porch is then… Continue reading Art Deco – a new challenge

I have been beavering away on a 24th scale Modern house design suitable for a club workshop.  Nearly there but almost got scuppered by the cost of hinges. So have redesigned the front openings to pivot instead. Now just got to test it out.  I did make a dinky week stairwell which fits in a… Continue reading New 24th scale project coming up

Minnie, my little Shi Itsu has gone ‘elsewhere’.  After years of dogging my footsteps between my office, studio, house and workshop, patiently waiting while I did all my stuff, she finally got to her last page.  She suffered from Cushings Disease, was nearly blind and very deaf, over the last three years but that didn’t… Continue reading Little Minnie has passed away

It is easy to stay buried in the studio making little things but it does the soul good to be out and about going to Miniature Fairs.  The latest, in Sydney, gave me lots of new inspiration and good material for the June Issue of the magazine. I have featured Ray Powell and James Dowdall… Continue reading Big Picture Stuff

I set myself a busy miniature schedule this year. Finish my wrecked and refurbished villa, complete two room boxes for the LHMM convention in October, and furnish and fill  two 12th scale  shops for the same convention. Along with maintaining my ‘real’ job and publishing the magazine.  One of the joys of doing the magazine… Continue reading Holidays? Who has those?

That was a hard weekends work. Who said this miniature stuff was a HOBBY! After tasking a saw to my villa (sawed it in half) I am working on turning it into a Victorian Terrace House, viewed from the side.  So I save my bay window that I was so proud of.  I have added… Continue reading Villa morphs into a Terrace House

I met Bruce Mudrovich last month in Auckland. He has had a break from ceramics but is now back hard at work. He is running an ad in the Feb Issue of the magazine for his cute little shelf pukeko. He also makes some other very topical pieces. For miniaturists making modern kitchens, Bruce has… Continue reading Going Potty?

I woke up yesterday morning and thought  ‘I am going to do something about my humongous villa that is taking up space in my workshop.’ I made it as a faithful copy of our old villa. This means it is sprawly,  (a new word!) and can only be properly viewed from the front and the… Continue reading Thinking is a dangerous pastime

One of the grand children’s Xmas treats is a walk through my studio in the dark.