Inspiration: Celeste’s House
(1Dollhouse Scale, 1:12)
I created this room box for my first-ever mini show 5/2024 in Lodi, CA (Miniatures In The Wine Country). I built it to demonstrate ways attendees could use my products but to also tell a story. I always thought the best miniature displays told a story.
The shell is built out of a heavy press-board base (to provide weight so it couldn’t be knocked about as easily) and corrugated cardboard walls/ceiling. I added pre-made windows and door and some of the basic furnishing (side table, amoire, chairs, fireplace) are commercially purchased items. The carpet is a vintage handmade carpet needle-punched in silk(!). “Celeste” is an inexpensive scale doll that I added because she just had to be there to tell the story of what happened and it was before I bought Patricia Rose’s doll press molds.
This scene is lit with one of my 6-LEDs black light strips. There was natural light as well as the light from the torches and brightened the scene up more than black light only in the dark.
Other items in the house are my creations. Please note that not everything in these photos are currently available in my store. I will be adding items as I get them made…so stay tuned!
A Seance Gone Bad
Poor Celeste, playing with an Ouiji Board and things got a little out of hand!
This scene shows my animated Ouiji Table with a few of the included props on the table and the attached pillar candles lit. The ghost’s tattered robes are infused with glow-in-the-dark paint and will glow for a little bit in the dark but look best under black light.
Count Dracula looks on…
Dracula’s Watching
Over the fireplace is a portrait of Count Dracula (the real one)…but his eyes…they seem to follow you as you move about the room!
Dracula’s eyes are also fluorescent so they light up under black light! And they do, indeed, follow you.
Another fun item (that is easy to make) is the little candle on the mantle. It’s just a piece of a lollipop stick, a jewelry finding base and a tiny piece of wire. The tip of the wire is dabbed with a bit of orange fluorescent paint so it glows just a bit on its own under fluorescent light–no batteries needed!
An Occult Corner
This corner features my Gothic Table with a Lit Crystal Ball as well as the Haunted Portrait and Evil Eye Coat hanger.
A simple technique you might like to try:
The picture frame has a wash of glow-in-the-dark paint as the first coat (the frame is plaster so the under-color is white) and a light dry-brush of old gold on top. The frame itself glows in an unexpected but very cool way under black light! Also, I put tiny amounts of yellow fluorescent paint in the cat’s eyes so they light up under black light as well!
Little touches of glow-in-the-dark and fluorescent paint can draw the attention of the mini viewer when the only lighting is black light but even with some natural light it can provide an unexpected glow or intensity.
If you have black lights available, or even a black light/UV flashlight or fingernail polish nail light(!) you can enjoy playing with these paints. Both glow-in-the-dark and fluorescent paint can be easily found at most craft stores.
