You might have spotted some miniature scenes on my socials recently, and the photo of me chatting to Raven Queen on my sofa was an unexpected hit at the last Wivenhoe Art Trail, so I thought it was probably time I talked about it a bit more + how I got here!
I’ve always loved miniature worlds ~ my favourite toys as a child were Puppy in my Pocket, Polly Pocket, Oh Penny (the tree house!) and my Barbies + their horses. I also loved my dolls house, though I couldn’t keep even that tidy!
I never really grew out of that love ~ via a brief period where all my toys were in the loft, I soon found myself aged 18+ at the very start of my model horse collection. Once I’d found that hobby + the community that came with it there was no going back. Twenty years later there are well over 200 small horses in my collection, plus the crowning glory, Stardust, the almost full size replica carousel horse I accidentally won a sealed bid for back in 2018.
Miniature horses and the “body box”
Along my model horse hobby journey, I dabbled in painting + sculpting, went to lots of live shows, made some lifelong friends, learned an absolute tonne about horse colours, breeds and genetics, and acquired the ‘body box ‘under the bed that sounds so ominous to anyone not in the hobby. I even tried making miniature tack!
But the thing I quickly found I loved most was photographing my herd for postal shows. (Now I’m really showing my age ~ it’s all online these days but in the early 2000s we used to send actual printed photos to be judged).
While the bulk of my collection was horses, ponies + the occasional companion animal, the two riders + vet/farrier dolls I’d acquired were my first proper experience of jointed, poseable dolls. By far my favourite Barbie had been a gymnast Stacy who came with a pink unitard, a set of parallel bars, joints at elbows + knees and hands that could actually hold reins properly. She did most of the riding in my childhood games because she could actually sit on a horse properly!
Anyway, the Breyer dolls, while a smaller 1:9 instead of 1:6 scale, to fit Traditional Breyer horses, had similar joints + so posing them for photo stories was a revelation.
Later, after I’d left uni, moved home for a bit and was trying to figure out my place in the world, I spent many happy hours making + photographing a miniature stables and tack room, and writing stories about its owners + occupants. For a number of years I exchanged letters and photos with a dear friend with a similar setup, both writing from the POV of our dolls/riders who owned + ran each stable.
It will come as zero surprise to know that we are both late diagnosed ND women, but at the time I just knew that taking photos + creating stories was where I felt happiest. These tiny equestrian worlds meant I could indulge my dreams which were not possible back in the real world.
A decade or so passed, during which I moved out, lived with one of my best friends for a year, bought + renovated a house + then lost my Dad all in quick succession. The year after losing Dad, inspired by his approach to life, I quit my job to run my businesses full time, and also opened a studio (fortunately, or I’d have had nowhere except my living room to put my accidental carousel horse!!).
Between grief + getting clients, I didn’t do much miniature shooting, except for buying a Made to Move, fully articulated Barbie in 2017 and also buying her a tiny Fin Fun mermaid tail which matched my own first tail. I took her to Brightlingsea for a test shoot…
… and then had no more time to shoot dolls until 2020 arrived and stole normal life away in the blink of an eye.
A brand shoot for two Barbies later and the bug was back, and I’d also discovered the Ever After High dolls. Not only were they from one of my favourite animated series but they were all properly, fully articulated!
Rediscovering fashion dolls
Then in 2024, after several years in a row of stress, not a lot of down time, bereavement + angst, I decided I was going to curate a small collection of dolls and start creating + photographing as I’ve been longing to do for twenty plus years now.
So I kept an eye out at car boot sales and charity shops, and I looked on Vinted, and occasionally I even went into the massive toy store near my Mum’s house and soothed my soul with endless inspiration.
So many dolls are now articulated, lots of them have amazing hair + outfits + accessories, and there is a whole world out there around the hobby.
I’ve collected a good number, most of which are fully jointed, in a range of heights, skin tones + body types, which was a good surprise. (I may or may not have cried actual happy tears on finding a mermaid wearing glasses, and on the discovery of Monster High’s Catty Noir, who is the first doll I have ever seen with an actual belly + a relatable body type.)
Obviously my photography, lighting, styling + editing skills have improved over the fallow no-miniatures period, and now I can create the scenes in my head with ease, which is a joy.
As an art form I’m not sure where I’m going with it ~ at the moment I am enjoying rescuing, restoring + researching dolls, making wish lists, dipping my toes into doll-sized sewing, and generally retreating into my miniature world when the real world gets too much. It’s also hugely satisfying to pick up a discarded doll from a charity shop and make her beautiful again, though at time of writing this I’ve not attempted re-rooting hair yet.
I’ve created a folder with headshots + details of all the dolls I own (of course I have – I’m a photographer!), and at some point I’d like to give them all new names, characters + backstories, and continue my experiments with stop motion.
I’m not a completist collector, instead collecting only those which appeal to me or feel like they might have some stories to tell. I’ll try + do a series of posts introducing my collection when their stories start to become clear.
Also heading off to the London Fashion Doll Fair for the first time in July, and have booked the photography workshop on the day too, so very excited for that.
I’d love to know if you also have dolls ~ are they from childhood, or a current collection, or are they your child’s? Do you display them or are they for play?
