Scenes in Tins

My First Dollshouse

Workshop Vignette

Fairy shop in a Tree Trunk

Micro-mini Scenes in Tins

Grandmother's Vignette

Wine Cellar Vignette

Christmas Roombox

Micro-mini Wine Cellar

Tree House (1/24 scale)

Scene in a Book

Miniature Dolls

Micro-mini Scenes in Tins

We received these little tins at the Cape Town Miniaturia Guild, as a Guild challenge. We each had to do something with the tins, either making a scene in the tin, or using it to make something in miniature. The tins were about 38 mm high and 38 mm wide (1 1/2 inch), with a removable lid. I started out by removing the lid, and cutting an opening into the side of the tin.

I used the biggest tin to make a bedroom for a fairy in a tree trunk. I added a wooden base, and did some landscaping around the "tree trunk". The outside of the tin was covered with paper mache, textured and painted. The roof is a card shape, covered with tiny flat seeds. The "twig bed" was made with a tiny rectangle of foamcore, with a "twig" headboard. The dressing table was made with punched out circles of card (3mm), glued together. I made a toothpick fairy (she is 6 mm tall), using instructions on Frances Armstrong's website.

The next tin was turned into a landscaped scene. The floor was made from crushed egg shell which was aged with Folkart Antiquing Medium, and wiped before it dried. The background was painted with dark peach craft paint, and covered with a layer of crinkled tissue paper while the paint was still wet. Afterwards it was also painted with Antiquing Medium, and wiped off. The tiny little bench was made from a lasercut kit by Anita McNary . I made a bird bath from two tiny bell caps and a piece of woodstrip, filled the bird bath with "water" (clear drying glue) and added a red bird made with 2 no-hole beads and the beak from glue painted yellow. Oh, and a tail made with the tinyest bittyest bit of a fluffy red feather. I know you can't see that, but take my word for it! :-) In the background you can see a big "fern", which was made from the fluffy bits of a green feather. The tree to the left has a twig base, with landscaping foam on top.

I made a Christmas scene in the third tin. The floor is a piece of paper wood. I made the bottom part of the fireplace, as well as the door, from a printie I found on Jean Day's website. I printed 3 of the fireplaces, and then layered them to get a 3-D effect, and added a paper wood mantle shelf. The red candles on the shelf were made from a piece of red embroidery floss, that was stiffened with glue. I shaped a piece of green pipecleaner for the Christmas tree, but it looked too skinny, and the wire was visible. I unraveled a piece of green bunka, and glued that around the tree to give it some body. The gold tinsel is a thread pulled from a piece of golden fabric, and the baubles are 1mm holeless beads, or "unholy beads" as someone called them! The door knob is also a 1mm bead. With lots of help and support from the members of the Microminis group on Yahoo, I managed to make the 2-seater sofa from a few pieces of wood, and "upholstered" it with dark red silk ribbon. I also had great fun wrapping the little gifts with chocolate wrappers (thanks Ma Sharon!), and making gift bags with foil paper.

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