When I was little, I used to collect miniatures. There was a small group of my girlfriends, and we would all save up our allowance to purchase what would be a fleeting moment of cherished envy from the other girls. One of us even had the requisite dollhouse within to place the objects while the rest of us had a sectioned box that hung on the wall, our mini-dioramas confined to 1x2 in spaces.
As I grew, the obsession with tiny things remained, perhaps in spite of it or, more likely, because of it. I dreamed of becoming an architect, only because I wanted to play with the tiny people that walked along the sidewalk next to the building being designed.
A couple of years ago, I discovered the work of Akiko Ida and Pierre Javelle. Their miniature world Minimiam is one filled with life-sized pastries and miniature-scaled people and the intriguing, oft amusing, collision between the two worlds.
Then, surfing on Flickr, I came upon the world of Tilt-Shift photography. Wow! Real life turned miniature; what at fascinating concept. I played around with some photos I already had but I obviously need a lot of practice to emulate the effect... (it looks a bit better if you click on it and look at a larger view)
More recently this preoccupation has expressed itself in my creation of micro-succulent societies and terrariums, little worlds of landscape and towering vegetation.
So, with the advent of my latest Moss rings, the discussion of tiny people keeps resurfacing. I love the reaction I get when I wear a ring around town. Most people has something to say and everyone wants to touch it. A lot of comments revolve around putting tiny objects upon it, like a chair, lawn mower, or sunbather. I am fascinated by this desire to create a world that would make sense of the existence of this tiny land upon my finger.
Finally, after months of searching the N-scale world of model trains, I decided upon a few sets of characters. They arrived yesterday and I had such fun setting them up and photographing them. I foresee a whole series of adventures for these tiny guys.
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