Beginnings

Finally finally finally I have one!! Not a huge wait I suppose, I'm only 26, but in the grand scheme of my life it feels like a woohoo moment! All through my kidhood I yearned for a real dolls house. I come from a 2nd marriage family, so my sisters were nearly all grown by the time I was born. I have the strange juxtaposition of having 6 sisters yet feeling like an only child. I looked with longing towards my teenage sisters and ate up books like Louisa M Alcott's Little Women where the sisters had such a close bond. 

So when one of my sisters returned home and brought some toys from her childhood with her I was extatic. Here was a connection with a part of my sister I had never known before. One who played and pretended and lived in a fantasy world just like I did. I cherished the Sindy Dolls and an incomplete, but still joyful Sindy House and there the seed of miniatures being wonderful things was planted. The house had seen it's best so didn't last very long, but I've kept the dolls and a horse that came with them. Later I gifted myself another house when I got a 'my first computer' for christmas one year and it was faulty, returning it with my parents to Toys R Us I opted for the ever more pleasing option of a 'dolls house', well, a Sylvanian family house. I suspect in some part  that this may have upset my parents, but they respected my decision and all that year I spent my pocket money on a peice of furniture or a little animal. Silently (or maybe loudly, if I'm to be less noble) despairing at not being able to furnish my mansion. That Christmas we went to another sisters for Christmas and my neices (only 4 and 5 years younger than me) got the motherload of presents. But waiting for me under the tree when we got back home were more boxes. I can't remember a single other thing I got that year, but in those boxes was proper dolls house furniture. All wood and old looking and red and copper pots and pans, more than could fill my house. I spent many years rearranging the furniture, marvelling at it's tiny perfectness. Tucking my little squirrel family into bed, checking out the contents of their fridge and laying the table for dinner.

Eventually it grew that it would be embarrassing to have teenage friends round and see my house sitting there, so it made it to the spare room and then the loft. When I was 18 and we moved North I sold it and the furniture on ebay and I felt a little tug on my heart as I wrapped it all up for some mystery person to enjoy.

Truthfully I never grew out of being a child. The mysteries of make believe still grab me in a way that a penchant for shoes or fashion never could. When I was seeking an outlet for my pent up creativities I started sculpting small animals and that led me into the miniature world. I've gotten deeper and discovered things I never knew existed. I've found my childhood dreams can be realised in a sophisticated, adult way. A sometimes, all consuming, bank balance hurting, but very cool, way. Some people may still see it as playing, and that's ok. I think we're secretly all trying to find that childhood happiness again, and I've found mine.

So my journey into Adult collectable Dolls houses and miniatures has truly begun. I hope you can enjoy sharing it with me.

It might not look like much now, but it already means so much!