Tag Archives: dollhouse miniatures

Swan Song from Paris: La Fenêtre

  At 8:00 a.m., November 3, 2007, red-eyed and flight-addled, Noel and I were huddling with our roller bags around cafe cremes across rue Cler from our favorite Greek-French café from the previous trip—Ulysse en Gaulle—which had yet to open. … Continue reading

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Is it time to find new homes for your miniatures?

  Before I file my final entry on our miniatures, I wanted to open up a discussion about what to do with your miniatures when you can no longer keep them. Over the years, many of you, or your relatives, … Continue reading

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An Ode to the Odd: The Castine Gallery

On almost any day in June of 1994, at about 8:00 a.m., if you were to head to downtown Castine from the Maine Maritime Academy–home to the IGMA’s annual Guild School mini camp—you might cut across Deadman’s Alley, turn down … Continue reading

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Wrap Party: Curtain Call for the Davis Theater

Most of the year 2000, while the world recovered from Y2K madness, we spent in the studio wrapping up the lagging miniature theater project. It became a matter of, finally, shelving everything else to finish in time for the client’s … Continue reading

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The Homecoming or, All the World’s a Stage…

 It’s late. Two dog-tired travelers are trailing roller bags. It takes a beat or two to register–their motel parking space is empty. The car is gone. That was us on October 30, 1995, just off the plane from Italy. The title quote–Sean O’Casey’s … Continue reading

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Madama Butterfly and the Toy Theaters of Siena: The Davis Theater, Pt. 2

The illustration is of unknown origin. I have borrowed it from The Museum of Everyday Things website, an adventure not unrelated to toy theaters, and worth exploring.                       museumofeverydaylife.org             The … Continue reading

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Once Upon a Theater: The Davis Theater, Part 1

The roots of our miniature theater project are so old and intertwined it’s hard to know where to begin, so I’ll start with Once Upon a Time. Once upon a time—some 200 years ago, before the distractions of TV and … Continue reading

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Cooking Up the Breeze: Interior, Pt. 1

In 1996, two years after we began work on miniaturizing The Breeze fried clam stand in Castine, Maine, a friend wrote in a Christmas card that it had sold. When Noel and I began the design, the then current owner invited us … Continue reading

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The Breeze, Pt. II: The Question of Awnings

In Sunday’s funnies, a man encircled by boisterous children confesses to his wife, “I thought I knew all the answers, but they keep thinking up new questions,” which reminded me of one of our workshop students. “Why doesn’t my work … Continue reading

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The Breeze and I—Putting a Roof on It

I was born under a lucky star. Not only did I grow up in a picturesque New England town, but for part of many summers my family explored coastal towns from Mass. to Maine by boat. I have in memory … Continue reading

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