Hobbies and Crafts

My hobby is making 1:12 dolls houses (from kits mainly) - the one I am currently working on is the All Saints Church by Barbara's Mouldings.

I also have a terrace of shops/houses.

Anyone else into this hobby.?

Am I the only one with this hobby? Surely not

B

Just keep the thread on here and see if anyone picks up. I am sure I saw something about dolls houses before on here. It sounds fascinating though. Tell us more about it. Do you also make the furniture?

Barbara
i don't normally come on this board

but im very interested in your dolls house hobby
is it very expensive and were do you get the kits from

i do like craft and building things
at the moment im in to making small pet bed
from old chairs

I (well hubby and I) tend to make them up from kits (ebay etc). There are lots of dolls house and miniatures fairs held at weekends at various parts of the UK throughout the year and there are 3 magazines available monthly (Dolls House World, The Dolls House Magazine and Dolls House and Miniature Scene).
My particular favourite part of the hobby is making the dolls themselves and the food etc from Fimo (clay which you can cure in an ordinary household oven).
I have a church, pub, various shops and two terraced houses all in various stages - some made and others work in progress.
The hobby can be expensive if you buy the dearest furniture etc (I am no good at making the furniture) but I prefer the thriftier approach - I buy cheaper ones and "do them up" by adding to them etc
There are also Dolls House clubs up and down the country
Ebay is a good source of completed houses, kits, furniture, dolls etc and lots of the shops sell online too

thank you barbara for the info i may look in to it

Hello Barbara

I have made a Victorian Town House with furniture, but not in kit form. I used a pattern from a woodwork book......The problem with making the furniture is that one can buy it for next to nothing these days.....Sue Rider shops sell furniture of all eras.

I don't do much woodworking these days as my dogs won't allow me to......I take that back.....I have made full scale agility jumps......I have seen a whole agility course made to 1:12 scale and would give my eye teeth for the pattern.

I expect anyone reading this will be surprised that I do woodwork :-D but it is true.....I have my own very large shed filled with lathes, bandsaws et al......My biggest problem in life is that I am a Jill of all trades and not enough time in life to do it all :-D

Well done Barbara! ;-)

No, Barbara, you're not the only one with this lovely craft. I don't do it myself (yet) but I am interested in taking it up. Do you use plywood/wallboard etc? And I'm sure there are patterns on the net (hi Susan!).

Most of the kits are MDF. I must admit to not having done much of late.

I now have a newer hobby. I have started needle sculpture. This is cloth doll making but the faces are "sculpted" by stitching and the ways in which the stuffing is coaxed etc

For anyone interested in dollshouses etc, one starting point might be the Dolls House Emporium (Ripley, Derbyshire) and online - just google Dolls House Emporium. There is also an online forum.

I have just returned to Genes after a bit of a lay off.
My life revolves around making dolls house miniatures, you can see a lot of what I make at www.miniaturepaintings.co.uk
Dave :-)

Wow Dave, just taken a look at the website and blog. Really good.

Thanks Barbara, am finally thinking about starting on a room box, perhaps an antique shop, I never seem to have the time but must make the effort during the winter months.

no Barbara you are not the only one ,but I seem only to do it in winter . summer i try to collect material and wood ect up to use in the winter months . also brought a couple of dolls houses to do up this winter.