Who lives in a house like this ?

When not floating around in hot air balloons (see yesterdays post), one half of the couple I met on Saturday at the church show, builds dolls houses. Not just the common or garden sort either as the photo above shows. No, she spends part of the year giving and attending workshops at miniatura fairs in the USA. Because of this, her models are smaller scale than the normal 1:12 of the standard dolls house world. There's no less detail in them though.

The round house that took my eye was the result of one such workshop. The model was built over a period of several days and then had to be flown back complete with its protective glass dome. Getting that through customs and baggage control was more than a little nerve-wracking she told me !

The model itself is based on a kit and the most challenging part was the staircase handrail. The steps are laser cut and simply layered around a centre pole. The rail though comes as a single length of wood and has to be bent carefully to form the spiral, fitted to the supports and then adjusted so these are vertical.

Each room has a different theme and is furnished accordingly. The furniture is largely scratch built from wood.

The model sits on a turntable which is rotated for viewing or photography. The base is around 20cm across so wouldn't take up much space in a display yet is full of character. To my eyes, while it isn't the most realistic of model buildings, the novelty more than makes up for this.

Mind you, I love the idea of visiting other countries to run workshops. If there is anyone in the USA who wants to invite me over all expenses paid to give a talk or two on the UK model railway or boat scene, please get in touch. Or perhaps you run a cruise line and need some unusual entertainment for the passengers !