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Miniatures for Dolls and Collectibles

blue tea setPolymer clays were first developed to address wartime shortages of materiels used in doll making. Kathe Kruse designed dolls ran a very well known manufacturing company in Germany, and was in possesion of a sample of self hardening plastic modeling material (no mixed chemical catalyst needed).

She did not find it suitable for her purposes, but turned it over to her daughter, whose nickname was "Fifi". The enterprising young woman worked with it and made miniatures and artistic items. In the 1960's they sold the rights to Eberhardt-Faber who marketed it as "FiMo" which stood for a shortened version of "Fifi Mosaic".

Bakelite, an earlier form of plastic used in jewelry, buttons and many industrial and consumer items, had been in use for half a century, but it was a phenol based product. Much care had to be taken with it, as it was quite flammable during the production process. The polymer clays we know today are chemically different, no longer made with a phenol base, and are much safer for home use.

Miniaturists have known about polymer clays for a long time, and this medium is more popular than ever with those who collect dolls, doll houses, and their miniature furnishings.

Here are a few tea sets and items that are made in the 1' = 2" scale,
also known as "11 1/2 inch fashion doll scale".

red tea set

Polymer lends itself well to miniature furnishing details and accessories, and can easily mimic gilt, wood, stone, and so many other things, including food! 

Here are three different teapots, one with raised decorations, and two with slices of millefiore canes to imitate painted china. (Thank you to Carol Simmons for the slices of Celtic Knot canes.)

Here's a picture of a miniature bedroom set thats in the works. Click here for more about the bedroom set.


Classes are currently being offered in miniature making. Click here to find out more.

It can sometimes be difficult to decide just how big or small something should be to fit in a particular scale...and I would rather do art than math...so I've created a handy reference chart so I only need figure it out once!

Now you can use it too. Just look up the full scale size of something using the red numbers on the left of the chart, and look to find what it would be in four different popular doll and miniature scales by reading to the right .

1'-1" means that one foot in real life would be 1 inch in this scale.
This is also known as "doll house scale" or 1/12 scale.

Miniature Scale Conversion Chart

In determining into which scale a particular doll fits, one must obviously begin with whether the doll represents an adult, adolescent, child, or baby.

The average sizes for a human female are (very roughly) between 5 and 6 ' tall, for an adult--between 4 and 5 ' tall for an adolescent-- between 3 and 4 ' tall for a child-- and 2 1/2 ' or less for babies.

Using the Scale Conversion Chart, you can take the size of your doll and determine its scale.

So, if you have an adult doll between 10 and 12 inches tall, the doll is in 1 foot=2 inch scale, also written as (1'-2" scale).

An adult female doll measuring between 15 and 18 inches would be in 1'-3" scale, and an adult doll between 20 and 24 inches would be in 1'-4" scale.

"Doll House Scale" refers to 1'-1" scale, and things in this scale (and smaller!) are considered by collectors to be true "miniatures". In this 1'-1" scale, an adult doll would be between 5 and 6 inches tall.  

Once you have figured the scale of your doll, you can use the chart to figure measurements for furniture and accessories.

Using an 11 1/2 inch popular Fashion Doll in our example, we can see that a dinner plate that measures 10" across in full size would be 1 2/3" across in 1'-2" scale.

For easier manufacture, you can round up or down a little, and make the plate around 2 inches wide.

The same plate for a 15" child doll (1'-3" scale) would be 2 1/2 inches across.  

Full-Size   1'-1"   1'-2"   1'-3"   1'-4"
1 inch   1/12"   1/6"   1/4"   1/3"
2 inch   1/6"   1/3"   1/2"   2/3"
3 inch   1/4"   1/2"   3/4"   1"
4 inch   1/3"   2/3"   1"   1 1/3"
5 inch   5/12"   5/6"   1 1/4"   1 2/3"
6 inch   1/2"   1"   1 1/2"   2"
7 inch   7/12"   1 1/6"   1 3/4"   2 1/3"
8 inch   2/3"   1 1/3"   2"   2 2/3"
9 inch   3/4"   1 1/2"   2 1/4"   3"
10 inch   5/6"   1 2/3"   2 1/2"   3 1/3"
11 inch   11/12"   1 5/6"   2 3/4"   3 2/3"
12 inch   1"   2"   3"   4"
18 inch   1 1/2"   3"   4 1/2"   6"
2 foot   2"   4"   6"   8"
3 foot   3"   6"   9"   12"
4 foot   4"   8"   12"   16"
5 foot   5"   10"   15"   20"
6 foot   6"   12"   18"   24"

send email to: Sarajane@polyclay.com

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