By Tanya Steele
Healesville residents enjoyed the world of all things “mini” recently at a talk at the Healesville Library on Tuesday 11 July hosted by Karen Barnes from the Victorian Association of Miniature Enthusiasts (VAME).
Ms Barnes took her audience through the history of miniatures from origins in early Egypt to modern day hobby doll houses.
“I get so enthused because I start off with the history and how all how miniatures in the world began,” she said.
“In some of the Egyptian sites that they’ve dug up and discovered all these miniatures things that were put into the tombs and the pyramids with the pharaohs.”
The art of making things in mini can also be linked to Mayan and Incan culture.
“They made the clay goddesses, the little miniature forms,” Ms Barnes said.
The talk traced a tiny pathway through human history, with Ms Barnes discussing a variety of cultures and the creations they made for hobbies.
“The matrons in Holland, and other European countries, but mostly Holland made miniatures of the rooms in their homes and it was all done in a cabinet,” Ms Barnes said.
“They [the matrons] had the artisans of the day, woodworkers, metal workers, glass workers, create specific items in their home, in miniature to replicate…and then they would decorate the little boxes in the cabinet,” she said.
Ms Barnes has done extensive research into the history and said that it was only in the 1950s that miniatures became more of a plaything for children.
“Before that, they were still an adult collectable,” she said.
The creators at VAME work to a 1:12 inch scale and Ms Barnes said that all scales, even railway scales are done in the old imperial measurements.
“One foot in the real world equals one inch,” she said.
The hobbyist came to the craft of miniature creation and VAME in 2011 after visiting a craft store in Boronia and she said that the miniature association provides a place for people to try all kinds of crafts and embrace their creative ideas.
“My last idea was to use the cap on a Powerade pop-top bottle, it has quite a nice shape…I created a little succulent garden in one and a fairy garden in another,” she said.
Ms Barnes took the library attendees through the mini ‘rooms’ on display and said she herself has a few favourites.
“The Japanese room made by Hazel Kent is just beautifully done, “ she said.
Ms Barnes also created her own attic room in a group project on a weekend away with VAME, it has a rose theme and a miniature spinning wheel inside.
“I had a different roof cut and put a skylight in mine, with leadlight and a rose theme,” she said.
“The idea was that I would love to have a room where I could chill out on the day bed and read my book.”
The group have also created and exhibited 1:48 scale projects which are a quarter the scale of and already quite tiny 1:12 scale miniature.
Specialised glasses and equipment help with this precise hobby and Ms Barnes said she had her own reading glasses made with a closer focal distance.
“They are much stronger. I can’t use them to read for example,” she said.
Ms Barnes exhibits VAME’s creations regularly and has connections to the Healesville area.
“My parents both lived in Healesville, so I often visited the library,” she said.
“My first display there was 2015.”
VAME’s motto is: “Creating miniature worlds, together with imagination and friendship”.
The library is playing host to the wonderful display of miniatures scenes from the creators at VAME in their glass cabinet display area throughout July.
“Miniatures satisfy my crafter’s soul, we do everything,” Ms Barnes said.
