Minis from ancient civilizations

[EmilyCraig]

I’m Just looking for other miniaturists who are interested in creating miniatures from the ancient world- hoping to share projects, ideas, resources etc.  I have a Facebook page called Crafting History in Miniature which shows the work I’m doing now- check it out and let me know what you think!

 

[EmilyCraig]

https://www.facebook.com/Crafting-History-in-Miniature-145349899474628/

link to my Facebook page, Crafting History in Miniature

Edited May 23, 2018 by EmilyCraig

[havanaholly]

I made an atrium for HBS' Creatin' Contest one year, complete with impluvium and a curule chair for the pater familias.  I gave it to our youngest son, who is fascinated enough with Ancient Rome as to teach himself some Latin.  His last roommate's cat destroyed the roombox and most of its contents; I salvaged what I could of the dolls and they now live, in more modern dress, in my FL Cracker house.

[EmilyCraig]

3 minutes ago, havanaholly said:

I made an atrium for HBS' Creatin' Contest one year, complete with impluvium and a curule chair for the pater familias.  I gave it to our youngest son, who is fascinated enough with Ancient Rome as to teach himself some Latin.  His last roommate's cat destroyed the roombox and most of its contents; I salvaged what I could of the dolls and they now live, in more modern dress, in my FL Cracker house.

I wish you could have taken photos! I would’ve loved to see how it turned out- did you build it from scratch or use a kit? In my fantasies I will build an entire villa in 1/12 scale- but it would likely take up our whole garage! I’ve been looking for ideas or suggestions on how to make a curule chair - I’ve been making my Roman furniture mostly from scratch but I have kitbashed a few House of Miniatures kits to ‘romanize’ their design. Did you paint frescoes and lay mosaic?

[havanaholly]

It was a roombox kit featured in that year's HBS Creatin' Contest; no frescos or mosaics, just simple square tiles (paint chip card) on the impluvium and a couple of arched niches with family death masks.  I did make a 1/8" plywood roof with central hole that fit over the tops of four columns in the hall.  I used to have a couple of photos posted in my old "Dolls" album in the gallery here; but several of my albums got purged in one of the upgrades and when I restored the ones I had photo CDs for, those photos weren't on any of them.

My favorite exhibits in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC was in their Egyptian collection; amongst the funerary goods was an entire village complete with little houses and shops that were open to show the little people inside at their work.

[Milah]

I've been doing miniature pottery (both making the pots and painting them) from polymer clay. So far, as far as ancient civilizations go, I've mostly done Precolumbian, Greek and  Chinese/Korean. Do you have any other ideas you think would be particularly cool to see in miniature? It looks like you have some Egyptian mini stuff, don't know much about their pottery styles.

Your frescoes look AWESOME, and I love the little papyrus! I want to make some now and keep them in a little bowl on my desk or something. Maybe I can even make them with real paper and write something in them...

[EmilyCraig]

How long have you been working with polymer clay? I’ve found that there are a few skills I struggle trying to master as far as miniature making, and polymer clay is one of them! I’ve tried my hand at making mini food and small vessels- but they didn’t quite turn out how I wanted! I suppose it will take more practice!

Most of my miniature ideas come from my interest in ancient history and trying with little luck to find miniature items from those periods to buy- so I end up making them myself! I made my little scrolls from printer paper that I aged with coffee. I rolled them around little pieces of dowel and glued little wooden or painted beads to the ends. I used twine to tie them closed.  I like the idea of trying to write on them- but you’d need a super fine pen or brush! I’m putting together a few tutorials to post on Pinterest.

The next project I’d like to try would be a 1:12 scale Viking longhouse-  I’m already kicking around ideas on what I’d like to make!  I’d love to see pics of your pottery and other clay work!

[havanaholly]

If you have a Miter Master you can lop the curved ends off of craft sticks to make planked doors and trestle table tops for your longhouse.