Think In Scale...
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By Robin Britton of Coombe Crafts
As a professional artisan, I have to be able to think in scale – it is probably the most crucial aspect of my work. It is absolutely useless to make a really interesting or attractive doll that is taller than the doorway of the dolls house it's supposed to inhabit, and equally hopeless to make a doll that is going to be lost in the corner of the chair because it is too small and out of scale. Thankfully it does become second nature after a bit.
'the house that Dad built...'
In U.K. most collectors are looking for 1/12th scale which has been the most popular for many years, but an increasing number are now choosing 1/24th scale – our U.S. cousins call that half scale (half of 1/12th see!) Just to confuse us all, many really old houses, especially home made ones are 1/16th scale and if you are over 50 your dolls house, as a child was probably this size.
We could talk about the house that Dad built, which was his own scale and he made the furniture to fit, and Mum and Granny made the dolls – but that is one confusion too far, so let’s leave that, and there is also the intriguing 1/48th and 144th scales, but I’ll leave those to someone else.
'Does that help?...'
Simply put, 1/12th scale means 1inch represents 1foot, 1/24th scale means 1/2inch is 1foot and in 1/16th scale, which is trickier, about 3/4inch means 1 foot. Does that help?
'think in scale and have fun...'
As a maker I find that it is too difficult to switch between scales when I am working - my brain gets a touch confused, so I like to work in one scale at a time. Of course, just to add to the confusion and fun, a one-cup teapot in 1/12th scale becomes a family sized 1/24th teapot, a 1/24th storage chest might look very good as a work box on the 1/12th sideboard and a 1/12th ornament looks great as a garden statue in the tiny garden. So try and think in scale and have fun.
'So scale does matter...'
The other thing about thinking in scale, is that proportion is also pretty critical. A 5 ½” doll with a waist that in the real world would measure 40ins doesn’t look good, neither do size 20 shoes, especially on a woman. The average table top is probably less than 2ins deep, which is worth bearing in mind when making or buying one as there are a few about that would work out at three times that, if it was the real-size world. So scale does matter.
