Ten must-read modern miniature blogs (plus a bonus one)

(In alphabetical order, for fairness)

1. 1:12 modern miniature houses

Marion Russek’s blog only started at the beginning of this year, but doesn’t look it. Her photographs are clear and she provides readers a mix of posts explaining how her design and build process works, showing us her show haul, or how to design 1:12 items for 3D printing. Marion owns the shop Modern Dollhouse on Shapeways).

2. Call of the Small

Call of the Small specialises in taking miniatures out to the rest of the world, in ways most people wouldn’t think of. Her work has been featured in magazines and books, most recently on the cover of the book Horrorstör. She also has access to international gift fairs, where she scopes out the latest items that could be used in miniature for the rest of us to drool over.

3. Kitty and Kat Miniatures

 Another blog that started this year, Kat started in the hobby with a Melissa and Doug dollhouse she picked up on special. Her challenge is to turn what was designed as a dolls house for children into one for an adult taste, while at the same time making it toddler safe for her daughter. She shares her trials and tribulations at getting to grips with all the things she needs to learn to make the house match her vision.

4. Mini Modern

Modern MC is one of the original bloggers of modern miniatures, and although posts are a lot more sporadic than they used to be, they are still full of unusual pieces and interesting ideas.

5. Miniatures by Annina

Annina has been busy with a miniature person over the past couple of years, so hasn’t blogged much. But I’ve included her blog on the list because it has a good-sized archive of posts to rummage through while you wait for her return. Annina’s scenes are incredibly detailed and her photography makes them look incredibly lifelike. It’s no surprise that her work has featured in a number of publications including The New York Times and The Independent.

6. MitchyMooMiniatures

UK based, Pepper started blogging in 2011 when she found a dearth of items for her modern-day miniature pub. Since then she’s been generous is sharing how she makes her items, with tutorials ranging from bending metal to making sofas out of kneeling pads, and how to solder. Once she got a laser cutting machine, there was no stopping her. Pepper is wonderfully obsessive and super generous.

7. Modern Mini Houses

This blog is like the archives of the modern mini hobby. Mini Dork keeps track of where to buy modern miniature houses and modern miniatures, plus various competitions and challenges. She also has a knack of knowing when modern miniatures feature in 'the real world' and when new products are released.

One of the earliest of the modern miniature tribe to use Shapeways to print and sell miniatures in 3D, she was recently the person behind this year's Shapeways 3D printed Miniature Houses Contest.

8. My Mini Mod Pod

Mad for Mod’s obsession is mid-century modern (or ‘atomic’), and her blog is mix of tutorials, show reports and behind-the-scenes glimpses of what she’s working on. Often that’s a little something to add to her Etsy store.

9. otterine's miniatures

Brae has an amazing eye for detail which, coupled with her ability to build almost anything, makes this blog a standout. She is well-known to followers of the Greenleaf Spring Fling and HBS Creatin’ Contest as her builds win or place most years. Her strengths include realistic landscaping and creating aged patinas on her pieces.

10. Paper Doll Miniatures

Subtitled ‘A modern dollhouse design blog’ Kristine’s blog is like an interiors magazine for the miniature world.  Her fresh, contemporary style informs everything she does, from working on her (very large) dollshouse, which she shares the building of, room by room, on her blog, to her stand-alone scenes. Oh: and she’s an artist as well…

11. Snowfern Clover

Cindy is based in Singapore, from where she entertains us with her adventures at ‘being crappy at following the instructions’ while also being awesome at making miniature food and drinks in scales ranging from 1/3 scale to 1/24 scale. Did I mention she’s funny, too? (And has an Etsy store, of course!)

(Hello lovelies: I didn't want to lift images from your blogs to go with this post without your permission: can you comment if it's OK to use an image, and, if you have a preference, a link to it?)