Monday, September 24, 2012

October is Doll House and Miniature Month. Let's celebrate!



If you like miniatures you'll certainly want to come by and see the miniature display set up by The Mini Reflections Miniature Club of Mooresville, NC. This past Saturday two members set up a wonderful and varied display of miniatures.

The Mini Reflections Miniature Club is an organization of people in the area of Mooresville, Statesville, Salisbury, Troutman, and Lincolnton who are interested in building and collecting miniatures and learning about miniatures. Mini Reflections is one of the newer clubs chartered by the National Association of Miniature Enthusiasts (NAME) as Club 789. 


A miniature is a small-scale reproduction, or a small variation. Unfortunately miniatures aren't governed by any size rule, unless it is a scale size rule. As a hobby, miniatures can be almost anything you want, from reality to fantasy, past, present, future, historically accurate, expensive or hand-made. Creating miniatures is a hobby that everyone can participate in.

Lynn and Debbie working on the Log Cabin they raffled
off to raise funds for The Victory Junction Gang.


Who has the most famous Doll House in the world? 


In the early 1920s, an extraordinary doll's house was created for Queen Mary, the wife of King George V. Queen Mary's Dolls' House is one of the most famous.

The idea for building it originally came from the Queen's cousin, Princess Marie Louise, who discussed her idea with one of the top architects of the time, Sir Edwin Lutyens at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition of 1921. Sir Edwin agreed to construct the dolls' house and began preparations.

Princess Marie Louise had many connections in the arts and arranged for the top artists and craftsmen of the time to contribute their special abilities to the house. As a result, the dolls' house has an amazing collection of miniature items that actually work. It even has running water through its tiny pipes. It was created as a gift to Queen Mary from the people, and to serve as a historical document on how a royal family might have lived during that period in England.


The dolls' house was put on display to raise funds for the Queen's charities. It was originally exhibited at the British Empire Exhibition, 1924–1925, and is now on display in Windsor Castle, at Windsor, Berkshire, England, as a tourist attraction, especially to people with an interest in miniature houses and furniture.

It was made to a scale of 1:12 (one inch to one foot), is over three feet tall, and contains models of products of well-known companies of the time.






 The displays from the Mini Reflections Miniatures Club will be on exhibit through the end of October.  Please come by and see them. You'll be amazed at the detail. You'll also sure to enjoy the lovely doll house donated to the museum from the Krapf family. 

(Information and pictures above on Queen Mary's Doll House copied from Wikipedia. For more information visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Mary's_Dolls'_House.)