It is only a month to Autumn Miniatura. If you are a new miniaturist, drawn into the hobby by television programmes, Miniatura is the place to be. The television programmes feature amateur miniaturists making twelfth scale miniatures by a variety of means, competitively at speed.
Miniatura, a show started by miniaturists for miniaturists, brings professional miniaturists, often lifetime craftsmen, into contact with serious collectors. The great feature about Miniatura, is that the show has always catered for all areas of the hobby, recognising that all miniaturists have to start somewhere, including child miniaturists; there have always been plenty of pocket money buys at Miniatura.
The venue is in the Midlands, not expensive to get to, or stay at, and the parking at the venue is free.
All the details are online at www.miniatura.co.uk
Will I be there? I have been exhibiting for over thirty years, except for the times when health issues stopped me. You need to be quite strong to build a shop on a table in three hours, get up at the crack of dawn on two days running and pack it all away at the end. I usually put out around 800 dolls individually, this time, if I am there, I am planning to bring back 12th scale glass-eyed dolls. For many years I have been concentrating on smaller scales. 24th scale is still my favourite because you can have many 24th scale houses in your real house with everything working and realistic.
At present I could not do the show, I’m not strong enough. I get up full of enthusiasm at seven but by midday I am washed up like flotsam and ready for a snooze. It looks as if the horrible hole in the scar may be thinking of stopping leaking but I still haven’t been discharged by the hospital yet.
You see a number of people at Miniatura, both visitors and exhibitors, with health issues. I spent many years interviewing exhibitors and know that the health issues are often invisible but still there. I used to begin interviews by saying that I had heard Miniatura called the ‘I had a nasty Mummy Club’. Everyone always laughed and no one ever asked me what I meant.
There is a powerful attraction to the miniature world in those whose real world is imperfect, which is usually everyone. You would think a Queen would have a perfect life; miniaturists know that Queen Mary caused the dolls’ house that is at Windsor Castle to be built between the wars, not just to cheer up the nation but to console herself for a life lived in public, when all she wanted was an ordinary stately home somewhere in the country.
I will be there if I can, this is the place to meet like-minded people and where I meet my friends that I see twice a year. I have never made as many friends outside of miniatures as I have in the hobby. I love all the people, I love all the miniatures, I love the show.
I would love to see you there, if I am up to it. Meanwhile head over to the Miniatura website and find out who will be there. I know it says I will be, I hope it’s right.
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