The Art of Darkness

Offbeat Miniatures

January 4th, 2008 by Cobwebs

Miniature ChairI picked up a wooden dollhouse kit on clearance a while back, with the intention of “haunting” it. (I’ll probably get to that around the time Shadowboy is in college.) Haunted houses seem to be popular amongst miniaturists, so if you want to do one of your own there’s plenty of inspiration to draw from.

You can spookify commercially-available furniture and accessories, either through distress or embellishment. If you want the items to look old and abandoned you can break bits off, splatter them with paint, and use a craft knife to warp their boards. Alternately, use paint and polymer clay to turn them into something monstrous.

Christine A. Verstraete is a talented miniaturist who’s taken the latter approach, creating items like the chair seen here. She’s even sculpted a collection of creepy plants for her spooky conservatory.

CDHM showcases “artisanal” miniatures, and there’s loads of inspiration here: Miniature ouija boards, witches’ cupboards, skull planters, goth dollies….

For inspiration of a slightly different sort, The Block is a set of miniature row houses in a bad neighborhood. The interiors include a crack house, adult bookstore, and brothel.

And finally, my favorite dollhouse of all: Madiganhouse’s Haunted Mansion. Secret passages! Lurking ghouls! Gargoyles! Wrought iron! Heck, I want to live here. They’ve also done a witch house and a smaller haunted house, but neither are quite as ambitious as the mansion.

So even if your landlord won’t let you paint the place black and put up wall sconces, you can always turn your creative energy toward a miniature goth mansion.

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