DollhouseBrazil

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This website is an exact replica of the original version in Portuguese.

The 'other languages' entries may actually refer mostly to English, as in Brazil we speak Portuguese... :)

Updated on July/18/2010

In many societies, nowadays and througout history, people have always liked to make mini copies of themselves. They could do that by dressing their own children or even dolls as mini versions of themselves .

Eventually they'd feel that those small human replica - the dolls - would also 'need' a home, personal belongings, furniture and even food.

And then, this whole 'make believe' world is built in miniature. And it is so perfect, sofisticated and detailed that they no longer are children's toys. They become precious items for grown ups to collect.

There are miniatures in various reduction scales. The most common nowadays and internationally accepted as a standard for dollhouses is 1:12; where any measure from the real world is reduced to 1/12th of it to keep it in scale and make a perfect miniature. That means that if in the real world a given object measures 1 foot - like a book, for example, - in the miniature world it will measure only 1 inch!

There are other craft 'fields' that choose to work in different scales, like those who reproduce miniatures of cars, planes, ships, trains, buildings, etc. In dollhouses, there are scales even smaller than 1:12, being the most common ones 1:24 (half scale) 1:48 (quarter scale) and as small as 1:120 and 1:144 - known as minimicros. There seems to be no end to it, as people are creating dollhouse miniatures in 1:576 and even 1:1728! You'd need magnifing lenses to see those... Larger scales are also used, specially 1:6, aka playscale. It's the scale that fits Barbie and other similar dolls.

The scale that will be referred to here most of the time is the most common one, the 1:12.

This typical victorian style dollhouse,
in 1:12 is:

31 in (79 cm) wide
27 in (68 cm) tall
13 in (33 cm) deep

there are 6 rooms in it:
kitchen,
living / dining room,
bathroom,
master bedroom,
laundry / sewing room,
office / game room.

Almost a mansion...

15 scales ©
Picture and chaises
by Virginia Paton (Aussie Vee)
Courtesy: Virginia Paton
http://www.asheilasshed.com.au/

Courtesy:
MiniaturesAbout.com

This small house is in 1:144. The match next to is helps to give us a sense of its true dimension.

What miniaturists all around the world really enjoy is to make miniatures as similar as possible to the original object. The more perfect, the better. This is so true that when one takes a picture of a miniature, it's advisable to place it near a common object to serve as reference of size. It can be a match, a paper clip, a coin, or - even better - a ruller. Without that, it'd be really hard to distinguish a miniature from a 'normal' size object or room.

The picnic set below is in 1:12. The cake is 3/4" (2 cm) in diameter. The cutting mat under the picnic towel gives an idea of its real size. Each square drawn on the mat in light color measures 2 x 2 inches (5 x 5 cm).

The scope of this website is to introduce the world of miniatures to Brazilians.

And the Brazilian miniaturists to the world...

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