Let's Talk About Scale

I learned to do miniatures when I took a theatre set design course and had to do models to show my set designs. At that time I used illustration board and paper as you can see from the model for Ibsen's Ghosts, done in the summer of 1968. My design teacher suggested that we should use 1:24 scale (or 1/2"=1'), so that is what I started with. Because we were concerned with how the stage design would look, I used Italian Christmas tree lights to suggest lighting.

Once I began finding adds for furnishings and figures, I found that a more popular scale was 1:12 scale (or 1"=1'). That is what I have worked the most in, but I also worked in other scales.

 

As you can see by the picture, the figure is 6 inches in height, so he would be 6 foot tall in 1:12 scale. In 1:24 scale the figure would be approximately 3 inches tall. 

Below you can see many scales combined. The large action figure is 1:16 scale, approximately 12 inches tall. Beside him to the right is a 1:12 figure. The angel at left is almost 1:24 scale size. The house made by Nell Corkin is 1/144 scale and the figure at the foot is HO scale.

One of my early rooms is April 1912, created in 1:12 scale with a figure by Boyd's Masterpiece Museum Miniatures which I painted. She holds a newspaper with the headline of the sinking of the Titanic. I sculpted the cat. The room is based on a Liberty of London design from the same period. The rug was made from nowale corduroy with a computer printed transfer. The working electrified lamp is by the Kumerows. The mood lighting was important to as I worked with the design.

The room is 18"wide x 11-1/4 high.

Below, this Children's Nursery (1993) shows 1:24 scale. The Santa figure is a Hallmark ornament and the child writing on the blackboard was crated by my ex-wife Ferbie. I designed the room for a workshop for a National Association of Miniature Enthusiasts (NAME) Regional Small-Scale Houseparty which had a theme of Childhood Memories. I taught a workshop for 300 attendees with the help of the committee. The room itself was made of cardstock.