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Your Dollhouse Miniatures Craftsman

self portait of the dollhouse miniatures craftsman

Hi, I'm Al Latwaitis, Your Dollhouse Miniatures Craftsman. I'm the ol' man responsible for The Art of Dollhouse Miniatures website.

The designing and building of Doll House Miniatures is a natural extension of what I have been doing for over 50 years now...I just love to design and build models and wood crafts.

My Crafts Went Miniature...1" Scale Miniature.

While experimenting with ideas for my crafts embellishments, I made the little flower shown on the home page. I showed it to my family saying "Hey, look at this neat little flower pot I made. It would really be cool for a dollhouse.". They in turn said "Oh, oh. Dad's losing it and is starting to play with dolls". Ha!... Ha ha!

Miniature Wheelbarrow 01 Then I showed them the little wheelbarrow planter I made and they suddenly realized I was not loosing it and how neat these little "things" where. And you know what? I was hooked. A miniature, a doll house miniature specifically, became my new passion.

Miniature Crafts...Make My Own.

Then it dawned on me that there were probably many a folk out there that would like to get into the hobby of miniature doll houses, making doll houses, and all those little things that make a dollhouse a miniature home. I know I was now one of those people.

So I began researching and although there are some kits available I still had to spend more money then I was able to afford at the time. Ah hah...because of my background in fine scale modeling and craft style woodworking...I could make my own, affordably. I decided to design my own doll house furniture and build my own miniatures.

That's why I began this site. I'm just having way too much fun not to share it as the Dollhouse Miniatures Craftsman. Come. Join me in my adventurous discovery of making miniatures. I will share with you what I have learned, what I am learning and how I make my miniatures. Not just dollhouse furniture, but all of the mini things that will decorate your dolls house.

Just a side note: I also realize that you may not want to start from scratch. So I have included some help working with miniature furniture kits too. I also have tips and techniques on how I reworked some of the inexpensive, unfinished pre-assembled doll house miniature furniture.

A little more background.

My wife Arlene and I have been married for 45 years, originally from Long Island, New York, and now living here in eastern Nebraska for almost 30 years. Arlene and I have been self employed for most of our fantastic life together. We owned one of the largest trophy manufacturing companies on Long Island, Trophy Hut. After relocating to Nebraska we started a commercial printing company, MicroSmart Printing & Graphics, which we sold in 2004, spending the next couple of years overseeing the construction, business development and management of a new 7200 sq. ft. social hall and restaurant/lounge facility for a local non-profit group. When that project was completed we decided to try to retire and have been working hard at it since.

Now at 65 and retired I have more of my time to dedicate to tinkering. When I "discovered" the hobby of Dollhouse Miniatures, I couldn't wait to put my extensive modeling and woodworking skills to the test. Though I may qualify as "expert" in some areas I don't consider myself an expert. This is because no matter how good I think I am, there's many more out there way better then I. Also everything is changing at breakneck speed so as soon as I figure out how to do something, a better way pops up.

Oh, and Arlene thinks Dollhouse Miniatures Craftsman is a little corny.;( What do you think?

So, What can You Expect?

The learning process is never ending. So here's the deal. When I suggest a way to do something it's the way I did it. I'm not going to suggest its the best and/or only way to achieve the desired results. It took years and many mistakes for me to develop my skills... as it does for anyone who has become good at what they do.

I'm pretty proud of the skills I've developed and I'd like to share them with you. If you're a beginner then maybe I can help you avoid making some of the mistakes all of us have already made. I hope that you would use what I share here with you as a stepping stone to accelerate your learning process and advance your skills.

As We Journey into Making Miniatures...

The Art of Dollhouse Miniatures is always moving forward. I am adding new information on a regular basis.

Click on the safe and secure XML RSS and you will receive a notice when there has been another exciting update.

Don't get discouraged if its not "perfect". That's just part of that learning process. We have all gone through it. Try again.. and again. If someone tells you to build it from the top down and it didn't quite work out for you, then try building it from the bottom up. That's why I say in my examples, "this is the way I did it", not "You must do it this way!".

And...You Will Have Fun Learning The Art of Dollhouse Miniatures!

I sincerely appreciate that you stopped in and took some of your time to give me a chance to share with you. If you have any thoughts or comments...good or bad...please, share them with me.


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