Inspiration from others

Over the past two years through this pandemic, I've been fortunate to get inspiration from many groups and people.  When I first started making miniatures, it was a hobby that I did by myself with no like-minded people to share it with.  After over 15 years of making miniatures I had decided to sell my miniatures, including completed products and unopened kits.

While working on another blog post recently I found the many pictures I had taken the day I decided to sell my miniatures.  The picture above is one of those pictures.  Fortunately for me, my then boyfriend and now husband talked me into reconsidering my decision and I'm so glad I did.

Just a few months later while driving down a street in Bedford, Nova Scotia I saw a sign on the street saying "Manorhouse Miniature Show" and after a quick turnaround, okay it was almost a U-turn in the middle of Bedford Highway, but I discovered "My People" when I arrived!  I got to see the miniatures of a group of talented miniaturist in Nova Scotia who met at Camp Mini Ha Ha in Digby each year.  I didn't get to go that first year, but the next year I was there, completing my first project with the group, my bakery shown here. 

The side corner of the bakery has the corner stone from Camp Mini Ha Ha

The group of miniaturist at Camp Mini Ha Ha have travelled from as far away as England and Hawaii.  They're a very talented group of people.

The following year I started my blog and got to interact with a whole new group of miniaturist, many of them from Europe, who followed my blog.  Two years later I got to travel to Barcelona and visit many miniature stores and attend a miniature show in Barcelona and met some of the people I had interacted with through my blog.

Thanks to Liz at Grandpa's Dollhouse I got to meet Lisa, who now lives in my hometown and we get to meet regularly, both in person and virtually, when the pandemic has locked things down.  It's been great to share the hobby with her.

One of the many talented miniaturist I've also got to meet through my blog and Camp Mini Ha Ha is Cathy.  We've been friends now for several years, spending many hours FaceTiming and four years ago we got to attend the three shows in Chicago that are held there in April.  Although I understand that only one of those shows is still being offered, if you ever get the chance to attend the Tom Bishop Show, it will be worth it.  It's filled with workshops and dealers selling their minis.  The next show is this weekend.

Two years ago, Lisa found another wonderful group of people, this time online again.  Due to the pandemic, NAME, the National Association of Miniature Enthusiasts, had to take their meetings and house parties online.  We can now meet several times per week online and share our projects and help each other through their Create Miniatures site.  They also hold online workshops and house parties. For me this group has kept me the most motivated and I've completed so many miniatures over the past two years.  It's like having your own local miniature club. Please take the time to check out their web sites.  Here are two of the NAME workshops I've completed through this group.

I've been actively posting to social media as well, including my own Instagram page and the many miniature Facebook groups out there including NAME's Facebook group , the Canadian Miniature Scrap Box and more.  Recently I shared a picture of my Architect's Loft on a public miniature Facebook group and it's been shared many times since and the comments and likes I have received have been overwhelming. As it reaches over 1000 likes over those groups now, I've extremely grateful. Thank you to all of you who have expressed an interest in what I do.  Here's a sneak peak of more to come on the Architect's Loft in future posts.

Today I got to meet another miniaturist in my own city as well, I gifted Sandra with some of my leftovers from the garden shed to work on her greenhouse project.  Hopefully Lisa and I can add Sandra to our in person get togethers in the near future.  Hint, hint Sandra!!

Sandra also gifted me with a couple of her minis, two pizzas to go and some Hershey Kisses!

For those who are also interested in making and collecting miniatures, please take the time to check out the many links I've provided above.  The encouragement you'll receive will be worth it.  From beginners to more experienced miniaturists there's a lot to be shared with all these groups.

One of the people who was the biggest inspiration for me, long before I wanted to sell my miniatures was Peter Dawson, who has since past away unfortunately, but before he left our province, he invited me to his house to give me a lot of his old miniature magazines and I got to see some of the phenomenal work that this man created over the course of his career.  You can see his legacy of miniature models in this Flickr album.  He showed me that miniatures could be an art form, no just a hobby.

I've been very fortunate that I didn't sell my collection those many years ago and have continued to get to share this hobby with a wonderful group of people and organizations.

I digressed a little for this post, but I felt the shout out to all these groups and people was important!

Until the next time.....

Wanda