Gardens and Greenhouses – How I Got Back into the World of Miniatures

Here's the first in what may be a series of Throwback Thursday posts for those interested in seeing my other, earlier builds.

I received my first dollhouse for Christmas when I was four years old.  These are not my pictures, but this is the house, both exterior and interior.  It came with molded plastic furniture that was all one color for each room.  Note:  It was half scale.  😉

Unfortunately, I don't have any good pictures of the dollhouse my parents built for me when I was around ten years old.  They made it from left-over materials used to build our 1:1 house, and I thought it was marvelous (even though it had no windows, doors or stairs).  The house was 1:12 scale, but my collection of furniture was—um—eclectic.  I think I had 1:18, 1:12, and a kitchen table that was definitely bigger than 1:12, although not 1:6.  I loved it, and still have some of the pieces from it.

I got back into miniatures a few years ago through fairy gardens.  We were doing a Japanese-themed summer barbecue, and I've always wanted a koi pond, although we simply don't have room for one in real life.  While looking around on the Internet for party ideas, I saw a miniature koi pond, and had the idea of making a Japanese tea garden in a pot.

I made the koi pond from a tutorial by Lesley Shepherd, using Styrofoam for the pond and clear styrene for the water.

It took two weeks of applying clear tar gel to build up the waterfall, bit by bit.

It went into the pot, along with a Bonsai maple (also submerged in its dish), some Bonsai lanterns, various grasses and plants, and a "tea house" made from a wooden birdhouse from Joann.  I wanted a Tori gate but couldn't find one, so I settled for a little Tori-shaped set of wind chimes.  Here is the finished garden with our beloved cat Owen (may he rest in peace), who loved to photobomb my pictures.

If you look closely, you can see a tiny white cat curled up under the bench next to the pond.  😊

I loved sitting on our deck and looking at the garden, and "walking" through it in my mind.

I then made my own tea house for an indoor dish garden.

From there, it was an easy jump to an indoor fairy garden conservatory.  I found a great greenhouse planter on Amazon and made a small scene to fit among the plants.

I used real ceramic tiles for the floor, and the furniture was built from kits from Karen Benson Miniatures.

I had tried to find affordable wicker or wrought iron furniture, but nothing was coming up in my searches.  These were the first pieces I made from kits, and the size (half scale) was dictated by the size of my little greenhouse.  A passion was born.  😊

While looking around for garden/conservatory inspiration, I fell in love with the beautiful greenhouses made by Lady Jane.  (Check them out if you haven't;  they make for some incredible eye candy.)  Unfortunately, they were totally out of my price range, but I found a half-scale greenhouse kit on Etsy and took the plunge.  I opened it, read the instructions, and packed it all up again three times before getting the courage to actually start work on it.  I thought the instructions were crazy when they said to use egg carton for the floor tiles, but, of course, I know now that egg carton is used by a lot of miniaturists to make wonderful, realistic stone.

I bought one set of "Busy Lizzie" plant kits from The Miniature Garden on Etsy, and I bought a set of plastic plants from DeJoux Miniatures.  However, I really wanted to try making my own plants and flowers for the greenhouse.  There are hundreds of tutorials on the Internet, and an excellent article in A.I.M. (Artisans in Miniatures) Magazine Issue 54 had some wonderful suggestions for edge punches I could use to get leaves, flowers and petals small enough to work in half scale.  (If you've never checked out A.I.M., it's worth a look. Their magazines are free online and include a lot of fun and interesting projects, in all scales.)  I cheated a bit and used small shamrocks for my geranium leaves and cut the larger shamrocks from the same punch into quarters to make the hearts for my rose petals.

Climbing rose in progress, next to a toothpick.  The trellis is from Heritage Laserworks.

The right-hand table was an unpainted work table that can be found in various miniature stores online.  The left-hand table is the potting bench kit from SDK Miniatures. 

The lovely little wicker chair was a splurge from Uncle Ciggies.  I made the remaining tables myself.  The pots are mostly from Braxton-Payne, the bird cage was a charm that I painted, and I made the little gardening set from paper, crochet and unpainted metal minis.  I liked it so much that I ended up making several sets for a half-scale swap.  

And there you have my reintroduction to the world of minis.  Next up—my first house, the half-scale craftsman bungalow from Real Good Toys.