Some of the many frustrations I know doll collectors face when working with 1:6 scale is the 'challenge' of finding an item for their diorama that makes everything perfect. When I refer to the perfect factor, many times those items do not exist or come about unless we see thru a different eye, of a miniaturist, and many times, a fabricator of parts-- because sometimes those items do not exist as doll items or accessories, but something else. An example of this is my Crescent Victorian cookstove that is precise 1:6 scale. Was it made for dolls? No, it was a salesman sample. The way I found my stove was two of the featured collectors here also had these stoves in their dioramas used very differently, but both dioramas were dramatic in the effect with this scale miniature salesman sample.
As I stated in a previous blog post, I had created a new link box at the top with 1:6 scale Victorian dollhouse /diorama links. When I began my collecting for this quest- I thought, hey why don't I google search images of Barbie Victorian dollhouses? well, I did and came up with only a few examples. The fact is, many collectors of dolls collect in the here and now- and very few find this historical area in this scale fascinating- I would say it is far more appealing to the 1:12 miniature dollhouse enthusiasts- well, because so much is easy to acquire to complete your scene.My self, there are only so many stark and modern rooms I wish to create for dolls, and I do not create what to me looks uncomfortable- the harsh elegant contemporary look doesn't look very appealing to me except from an artistic example.
Note: I will not be posting photos of the collector's pictures, simply because I am uncomfortable copying others' photos but will give you links- I encourage you to look at these marvelous photos, and some of which, are great resources for 'finds'!
The first link at the top is a friend on Facebook, Anne Cunningham who is in the Facebook group
Fashion Doll Dioramas , posted some amazing pictures of her dolls in Victorian styled clothing and rooms. Anne buys the clothing and Victorian furniture from several sources, one of them is The Victorian woodshop which creates wood doll furniture in Victorian style, quite lovely. I will not be posting the collector's photos here but giving you their links- one of the things that is so intriguing of each of the collections is the collector's 'storyline' which for me, makes it even more 'real' as I do this myself....click on Anne's Victorian dollhouse to go to her main photobucket pictures. Anne has written many storylines for the dolls, and made and bought some of the furnishings.
Before I go further, I would say most of the images I came up with in a google search were posted on Flicker- and Flicker is one of the best image spots. Though I now use both Flicker and Photobucket, I do so for different reasons- Flicker because of its group and sharing capabilities, photobucket because I store the images there too. I find Flicker more friendlier, and more handy when doing a search.
Hence, here is how I came to my other links. Julie's doll room inventory- antique mall is where I found the closeup pics of the stove- a salesman sample as well as a wringer washer, both finds on Ebay. I already had a link to Julies doll room in the regular link box- but thought her antique mall shop was fantastic- because she took stand alone photos of her items, most of which would work wonderful in a Victorian scene/dollhouse- her use of them in an antique shop was not only appealing, but very informative. It all comes about how we as collectors 'see' an item- and use it. I name her as a resource here because she did two albums on her antique shop, which can help when shopping for those items. I found the same similar items on Ebay.
The next collector- well, WOW is all I can say. Amy Jones' Little Leon is truly amazing and eye candy for the collector who not only loves 1:6 scale, but Horses, western towns and Johnny West figures. Remember them? I do- the kid next door had a TON of them and GI Joe. My Barbies were so envious. Amy customizes, builds, and creates many of the buildings, sets and clothing for her Western town. No surprise, as her website is AJClothiers which is handmade clothing for 1:6 scale action figures.
Amy explained about Little Leon, which was built to be used outdoors. In the high winds of Kansas, where she lives, the town is quite literally on two heavy duty platforms screwed down on heavy rubber mats, which are screwed securely on the sawhorse trestles, which are then braced onto her deck- because of the heavy winds. Amy's pictures are so picturesque and real, taken outdoors, that you sometimes think you have stepped back into time. The most wonderful thing about the time is the humor applied to some of the pictures, which I find myself doing with my own pictures. The realism and work involved as Joe Roofs the post office or Interior of the General store breathe an uncanny life into a tiny town with some punch. Or Laura trying out the new Cream seperator which I have looked high and low for- lol....The album I have given the link to is only Little Leon, but Amy has tons of albums that are just eye candy when you are feeling in the mood to get away to the wild west with a 1:6 scale feel. Her town is a wonderful inspiration and I encourage you to visit her Photostream .
The next collector up is Sydnee Bee Her Flicker photos cover many different types of dioramas and dollhouses too, all with the chic perspective in 1:6 scale. Her main album that caught my eye was her
Artemisia album which was done with a Victorian Steampunk genre. Like most collectors, I think Steampunk is 'cool' but Sydney gave some very astute historical info in her explanations on the pictures that caught my attention. Her Steam car was a fantastic project, made from a Barbie carriage! Sydney has been creating Victorian clothing for this project by copying Godey's patterns, much more ambitious than my resizing Gildebrief patterns! I have loved how the industrialization and Victorian genre go together, and recommend you browse Sydney's albums.
The next collector who has a brief Flicker album called
the Ultimate Barbie dreamhouse-1868 mansion the photos are not many, but I originally found one of her photos in my google search on About. com It is decorated in Victorian 1860's elegance, and though there are not many photos in this album, she gives some very accurate historical info on decorating in the Victorian era with items she made, such as Glass ball dome and the parlor cabinet with the Tiny photos displayed with pictures from her own family, resized in small silver and gold frames.
I will be adding more resource links as I find them, including commercial ones as well. I like to think of helping other collectors who are passionate about the Victorian and other eras, so please feel free to Contact me with any links to 1:6 scale Victorian websites or artists. Please do not send me links of your doll pages or ebay auctions clearing out your doll and prop collection, I will not put these up. I am also looking for links to collectors who have created dollhouses and dioramas in 1:6 scale Victorian era, as I would like to create this resource area.
That said, I will leave you with a picture of Mrs. Albee and Anja, having tea.....
As I stated in a previous blog post, I had created a new link box at the top with 1:6 scale Victorian dollhouse /diorama links. When I began my collecting for this quest- I thought, hey why don't I google search images of Barbie Victorian dollhouses? well, I did and came up with only a few examples. The fact is, many collectors of dolls collect in the here and now- and very few find this historical area in this scale fascinating- I would say it is far more appealing to the 1:12 miniature dollhouse enthusiasts- well, because so much is easy to acquire to complete your scene.My self, there are only so many stark and modern rooms I wish to create for dolls, and I do not create what to me looks uncomfortable- the harsh elegant contemporary look doesn't look very appealing to me except from an artistic example.
Note: I will not be posting photos of the collector's pictures, simply because I am uncomfortable copying others' photos but will give you links- I encourage you to look at these marvelous photos, and some of which, are great resources for 'finds'!
The first link at the top is a friend on Facebook, Anne Cunningham who is in the Facebook group
Fashion Doll Dioramas , posted some amazing pictures of her dolls in Victorian styled clothing and rooms. Anne buys the clothing and Victorian furniture from several sources, one of them is The Victorian woodshop which creates wood doll furniture in Victorian style, quite lovely. I will not be posting the collector's photos here but giving you their links- one of the things that is so intriguing of each of the collections is the collector's 'storyline' which for me, makes it even more 'real' as I do this myself....click on Anne's Victorian dollhouse to go to her main photobucket pictures. Anne has written many storylines for the dolls, and made and bought some of the furnishings.
Before I go further, I would say most of the images I came up with in a google search were posted on Flicker- and Flicker is one of the best image spots. Though I now use both Flicker and Photobucket, I do so for different reasons- Flicker because of its group and sharing capabilities, photobucket because I store the images there too. I find Flicker more friendlier, and more handy when doing a search.
Hence, here is how I came to my other links. Julie's doll room inventory- antique mall is where I found the closeup pics of the stove- a salesman sample as well as a wringer washer, both finds on Ebay. I already had a link to Julies doll room in the regular link box- but thought her antique mall shop was fantastic- because she took stand alone photos of her items, most of which would work wonderful in a Victorian scene/dollhouse- her use of them in an antique shop was not only appealing, but very informative. It all comes about how we as collectors 'see' an item- and use it. I name her as a resource here because she did two albums on her antique shop, which can help when shopping for those items. I found the same similar items on Ebay.
The next collector- well, WOW is all I can say. Amy Jones' Little Leon is truly amazing and eye candy for the collector who not only loves 1:6 scale, but Horses, western towns and Johnny West figures. Remember them? I do- the kid next door had a TON of them and GI Joe. My Barbies were so envious. Amy customizes, builds, and creates many of the buildings, sets and clothing for her Western town. No surprise, as her website is AJClothiers which is handmade clothing for 1:6 scale action figures.
Amy explained about Little Leon, which was built to be used outdoors. In the high winds of Kansas, where she lives, the town is quite literally on two heavy duty platforms screwed down on heavy rubber mats, which are screwed securely on the sawhorse trestles, which are then braced onto her deck- because of the heavy winds. Amy's pictures are so picturesque and real, taken outdoors, that you sometimes think you have stepped back into time. The most wonderful thing about the time is the humor applied to some of the pictures, which I find myself doing with my own pictures. The realism and work involved as Joe Roofs the post office or Interior of the General store breathe an uncanny life into a tiny town with some punch. Or Laura trying out the new Cream seperator which I have looked high and low for- lol....The album I have given the link to is only Little Leon, but Amy has tons of albums that are just eye candy when you are feeling in the mood to get away to the wild west with a 1:6 scale feel. Her town is a wonderful inspiration and I encourage you to visit her Photostream .
The next collector up is Sydnee Bee Her Flicker photos cover many different types of dioramas and dollhouses too, all with the chic perspective in 1:6 scale. Her main album that caught my eye was her
Artemisia album which was done with a Victorian Steampunk genre. Like most collectors, I think Steampunk is 'cool' but Sydney gave some very astute historical info in her explanations on the pictures that caught my attention. Her Steam car was a fantastic project, made from a Barbie carriage! Sydney has been creating Victorian clothing for this project by copying Godey's patterns, much more ambitious than my resizing Gildebrief patterns! I have loved how the industrialization and Victorian genre go together, and recommend you browse Sydney's albums.
The next collector who has a brief Flicker album called
the Ultimate Barbie dreamhouse-1868 mansion the photos are not many, but I originally found one of her photos in my google search on About. com It is decorated in Victorian 1860's elegance, and though there are not many photos in this album, she gives some very accurate historical info on decorating in the Victorian era with items she made, such as Glass ball dome and the parlor cabinet with the Tiny photos displayed with pictures from her own family, resized in small silver and gold frames.
I will be adding more resource links as I find them, including commercial ones as well. I like to think of helping other collectors who are passionate about the Victorian and other eras, so please feel free to Contact me with any links to 1:6 scale Victorian websites or artists. Please do not send me links of your doll pages or ebay auctions clearing out your doll and prop collection, I will not put these up. I am also looking for links to collectors who have created dollhouses and dioramas in 1:6 scale Victorian era, as I would like to create this resource area.
That said, I will leave you with a picture of Mrs. Albee and Anja, having tea.....
2 comments:
Hello from Spain: in my country there is no one to create furniture or items from the Victorian era in the scale of 1:06 Barbies. Yes there is furniture for sale but for small houses in 1:02 scale. Your thinking is very interesting. Keep in touch
Hi Marta. Yes, that is the case here too. Most of the wonderful items made in this scale are for the 1:12 scale dollhouse miniaturist, and would look lovely in 1:6 scale if there was a market for them- everyone is too into the 'edgy' modern look or the 60's retro- nothing wrong with that but only so much of that I wish to decorate in. I grew up with some of these items in my great grandmother's home- in the 60's when I was small she was still cooking on a cookstove like this in North Carolina. Antique furniture was used and it took me a while into my adult years to realize that not everyone took care of furniture like my family did and passed it down- lol, hence my love of antiques and this period. So if we wish to replicate, my point was many times we have to get creative in this scale and look with an eye for the scale of Barbie. thank you for reading my blog so closely, I am so flattered!
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