A COLLEAGUE once explained to me her generation’s love for the phone game Animal Crossing. She said that ownership of a home and garden were such distant prospects that the game offered a little taste of having a space and the power to decide what to do with it.
That is of course terribly sad and utterly horrific and I wouldn’t blame anyone for being pessimistic about the trajectory of our societies and economies right now.
I do however think that impulse also feeds into the seeming boom in miniature art.
When people are packed in to shared, rented accomodation, or childhood bedrooms they couldn’t afford to leave, perhaps something like a book nook offers a private space to organise as they would…a space to dream.
I loved miniature things as a child and remember being fascinated by a baby sitter who spent an evening wrapping miniscule presents for her dolls house. I also remember going to museums and desperately wanting some of the tiny, precious objects I saw there.
I have made some in the years since. Somewhere in my wordpress history is a write up about about making a Vindolanda fort hair pin for my sister-in-law and a Viking whetstone pendent inspired by one at the Yorkshire Museum in York.
Last year however, I decided to take it to a whole new level by making a complete miniature apothecary inspired by the Apothecary Museum in Krakow.
Krakow is an amazing city absolutely packed with fantastic museums, many of which sit silent, modestly hiding behind tiny, dull signs. I walked past it three times before I decided to see if a particular door would open when I pushed it!
I’m so glad I did! The Krakow Apothecary Museum is one of the most fascinating museums I have ever been to. OK, I became interested in herbs as a teenager so perhaps my tastes are …particular, but it was packed full of information about the cures and remedies used through the centuries from unicorn horns and mummy parts to gold-coated pills that enabled the rich to take their medicine without having a nasty taste in their mouths. In the cellars there was medieval equipment and the links to alchemy or witch craft could not be more clear. On the upper levels, science started getting a look in as the museum tracked the progress of the profession towards the regulated, modern world of the pharmacy.
The delight of a miniature project is that things can start slowly. Some items can be made in a few hours while others take a few days but either way, each piece feels like progress towards a bigger whole.
I can no longer remember where I started but I guess there was a table made out of oak, some leather bound books and (an easy win) some paper scrolls.
The apothecary project begins
Then there were colanders and ladles made from copper, hand dipped bees wax candles, a knife made from an old steel file.
Scrolls and ink and feather quills
When autumn came I found some tiny fungi to add to the set up and this spring I temporarily added tiny weeds of the perfect size.
Looking like a dutch still life painting
Spectacles with biotite mica lenses, tiny fossils, glassware from ebay (because I had considered blowing my own but it seemed an easy win) all added to the composition. I have weighing scales, a rack of hanging plants, a stuffed puffer fish (really chamoix leather), a cauldron, a wood basket made of pine needles, anything and everything to add to the clutter and mess.
I just added a unicorn horn made out of a bone bought from a pet shop. It was an easy win after making two tiny copper bound books over the course of four days.
After a while, the table wasn’t big enough for the display so I added the shelves behind. Apothecaries really did paint skulls on their cabinets, though the bone eyeball handles were my own invention.
Some items were very much within my comfort zone, using techniques I was already familiar with, but I had never done much woodwork before and I also enjoyed working with pewter to make plates, spoons and a goblet.
My aim was to make everything out of the correct materials but there have been a couple of exceptions.
Tiny bats were made from merino wool and sycamore seeds, a owl was felted, while snakes preserved in jars were made out of Fimo. A puffer fish was made out of chamoix leather and stuffed with wool. He’s very cute.
I keep thinking I may have reached the end of this project, but then I have a conversation with someone and another idea pops into my head. For now, I know I still need to make a still and after that I will consider making a building for it and that, I know, will prompt any number of new additions including fire irons and medieval rondel glass windows. I have never done stained glass before but there is a first time for everything!
Erica Madelin 