Abbie’s Tiny Feasts
Abbie Reynolds, 28, from Surrey, thought she’d try creating something small to save money on materials…
Arranging the tiny cake on the tiny table in my doll’s house, I was lost in the land of make-believe.
As a child, I loved my doll’s house and all the furniture, food and little details that helped make that world a tiny version of my own. I didn’t even have any dolls, I was just happy to have a doll’s house filled with everything my own house had – beds, wardrobes, a sofa.
My favourite room was the kitchen, where I had tiny cakes, tiny loaves of bread and tiny chinaware.
But my doll’s house was sold when I grew up and I never imagined I’d end up back in that world as an adult.
Two years ago, I was working in a zero-hours waitressing job and struggling to make the rent. I decided to type into a search engine How to make money online. Surfing the results, I discovered Etsy, a popular online marketplace for handmade items. I’d always been creative
and loved art when I was younger, but it had been a long time since I’d done something artistic.
Browsing all the amazing shops on Etsy, sculpting stood out. I’d enjoyed painting at school but had never even tried sculpting, yet something about the idea sung to me.
But it seemed sensible to start by trying something small scale so I wouldn’t have to spend too much money on materials in case I was hopeless. That’s when I thought of miniatures.
I bought some polymer clay and some paint and started off making tiny sweets. They were pretty basic but I loved the process and wanted to make more complicated pieces. I kept experimenting, figuring out what I could do and how I could do it. For example, a dash of bicarbonate of soda can help give a slice of bread the appearance of a real slice of bread, with tiny holes in it. Same with tomatoes – they needed that attention to detail which I loved.
I created fruit platters no bigger than a thumbnail, cheese and tomato
“You need a steady hand, patience and humour”
sandwiches the size of a penny and chocolate sponge cake with icing and decorative roses, served with a cake slicing knife no bigger than a needle.
Cake quickly became my favourite creation but I loved fruit platters too because they were so colour ful. They’re incredibly intricate and it’s more of a challenge – but I like a challenge.
I launched my shop on Etsy, Little Sculpting, and soon the orders were pouring in. But my customers weren’t kids – they were adult doll’s house enthusiasts who scoured the world looking for the most intricate pieces to add to their collections.
Sometimes I’d receive messages from collectors asking for a custom-made idea. Collectors are often looking for something specific especially for their own doll’s house. I think they like the idea that they can fill their doll’s house with items no other collector will have.
I’ve had lovely feedback from my customers. They tell me they’re in awe of my attention to detail and it’s great to know my hard work is recognised by people in the know. It takes up to three hours to make a piece and because everything is so fiddly, it can often go wrong so I’m used to starting again.
But that’s all part of the process and it’s no huge calamity – it’s so small, it’s not like starting again on a regular-sized sculpture.
You need a steady hand, patience, concentration and a sense of humour to do this!
Everything I make is at a scale of 1:12 to one inch. I can get lost for hours per fecting a 1cm Battenburg to go on a tray alongside some tiny macaroons. I think it’s the novelty of recognising the things we see in everyday life shrunk down to the size of a thimble that appeals to people.
I work full-time in digital marketing now, but sculpting miniatures will always be my hobby. It’s rewarding to do something so creative in my spare time. It’s even rather meditative as you can’t multitask or get distracted or it’ll all go wrong. I find myself looking at real-life food in a new light now. I can’t walk past a cake without wondering how I could recreate it at a fraction of the size. WWW.ETSY.COM/SHOP/LITTLESCULPTING