Here is a little information about us at Miniature Time Traveller. I am Jill Fraser, a miniaturist based in Martinborough, New Zealand. I have been creating miniatures for over 25 years now and love it!
Where it all began!
It's an interesting story how I got started with miniatures, and how beneficial it was. I had a stroke when I was 51 years old. To get my eyes, hands, mouth and feet working in time again I did repetitive exercises. I sat at the kitchen table making miniature food. I rolled thousands of little green peas! All excellent therapy, and the mental and physical exercise was so beneficial. It's hard to even notice now the effects of the stroke, except I still tire a bit if trying to do too much. About the same time, my niece dropped off a half-finished dolls house one day and I was hooked!
Takeoff!
After 20 years of involvement with miniatures, I woke one morning and thought "Right, there are no miniature magazines published in the Southern Hemisphere now. I'm going to start one!" At dinner that night, I shared the idea with my husband (Roger) and mother (Dulcie). After an initial reaction of "That's a lot of work!" they became very supportive. As a result, 'Miniature Time Traveller' Magazine was born. Roger now does all the admin and technical work on the magazine for me.
We previously owned several vineyards in Martinborough, New Zealand, so it was a big (small?) change for him to working on our magazine. He now enjoys writing editorial material for it, while looking after our subscribers, our database, the digital edition and all administration.
Evolution
While we sold our vineyards a few years ago, we still live in Martinborough. It is a lovely small rural wine village in a remote part of the South Wairarapa region of New Zealand. That has been no barrier to launching our publication and technology has really helped gain access to readers all over the world. As a result, we have subscribers in the USA, Finland, the UK, France, Australia and, of course, New Zealand. All very exciting! As well as the magazine, we host our web site 'Miniature Time Traveller' from home. It is always interesting to see where our website visitors come from. Last year over 30% of visitors to our website were from the USA, but Canadian and Swedish miniaturists were also frequent viewers.
My work is wide-ranging, and includes making and decorating houses, making models, furniture, and all the accompanying detail. But one thing I gain a lot of pleasure from is dressing and setting scenes with my mini people. I knitted this young lady's outfit and made her umbrella. That is is turned inside out is a refection of the fact that we live in one of New Zealand's windiest regions!
About us, on the family side. I live with husband Roger, my lovely Mum Dulcie who is 94 years of age and a keen miniaturist herself. Then there's the cat called Ginger and 4 Alpaca in the back paddock. Recently our lovely Airedale, Toffee, passed away, and our wee family feels a bit incomplete at present. Ginger loves to help with my miniature work, and always checks the 'livability' of my rooms 🙂