About me and miniatures
My name is Anna-Carin Betzén, and I live in Sweden. In my spare time I enjoy building miniatures, as you can see on this site. All items are in 1:48 (also known as 1/4") scale unless otherwise stated.
Childhood: dollhouses, model houses and Lego
Like many other Swedish girls, I had a Lundby dollhouse and lots of furniture for it. I didn't craft anything for the house, other than an embroidered doily, that turned out clumsy compared to the bought furnishings. But I had lots of fun arranging the furniture, and spent lots of time setting the dining table over and over again, as cups and glasses wouldn't stay put - I wish I had known about holding wax then!
Sometimes when I visited my grandparents, grandpa took out some little model houses for me to look at. The scale was 1:70, or about 1/6" scale, to match some toy cars he'd bought.
He'd built the houses from scratch in the late 1950s, to help him and grandma decide which catalog house they would build IRL. In his line of work he used a pantographic engraving machine, which basically enabled him to cut and engrave parts for the houses with a quality similar to that of today's laser cut kits - though it took a lot more work! I was always intrigued by how small and neat they were. Today I own three of his houses.
I had a lot of Lego and loved building houses and towns with it, furnishing the houses with Lego as best I could. Later, I've realized that Lego minifigures are about the same height as 1:48 scale people, only differently proportioned, like this photo shows.
Renewed interest in miniatures
In 1994, I got an issue of the American magazine Miniature Collector for Christmas. I was completely fascinated by it, read it over and over again, and got a subscription. In 1996 I joined the online group Tiny Talk (which no longer exists), and met a local mini friend through it.
Discovering 1:48 scale and Nutshell News
At Tiny Talk I heard of the Nutshell News magazine (now Dollhouse Miniatures), and when I got hold of a recent issue, it had building instructions for the cutest little furniture I'd ever seen - Arts and Crafts furniture in 1:48 scale! It was designed by Madelyn Cook. I had no idea that it was possible to make such tiny little furniture and still get that level of realism, but I knew at once that this was something I wanted to do! I especially liked the fact that this furniture barely required any tools beyond a hobby knife. Of course I got a subscription for Nutshell News straight away.
The first issue of my Nutshell News subscription held instructions for a 1:48 scale Arts and Crafts sideboard. I built one using balsa from a local model building shop, but found it was too easily marred by finger nails and tools. Next I tried veneer, and scale lumber from the model railroad shop, which turned out much better. During this time (early 1997), I also reduced a couple of 1" scale designs, including the arbor shown on this site.
My local mini friend had long been a subscriber of Nutshell News , and kindly lent me all her back issues. In order to build more of the Arts and Crafts furniture, I took the plunge and ordered plastic model parts and basswood strips from Grandt Line and Northeastern Scale Models in the USA, and eventually a chopper so cutting would be easier.
Little Enough News
Through Tiny Talk I also heard of a newsletter on 1:48 scale, Little Enough News, published since December 1996. I wanted to subscribe, and was surprised to get a personal reply from editor Pam Scott, saying how happy she was to get a Swedish subscriber, as she herself was of Swedish ancestry! We soon became close friends, and I've repeatedly contributed how-tos to "LEN" over the years, until she ceased to publish it in 2004. I've also done some genealogical research for her. My Little Enough News page shows many of my projects in LEN, as well as link and information for ordering back issues.
Being a 1:48 scale miniaturist among 1:12 scalers
The dollhouse hobby is catching on in Sweden and there have been yearly mini shows in Stockholm since the mid-1990s. Once I exhibited my English Cottage there. At the shows, I've always kept an eye open for 1:12 scale mini items that can be used in 1:48 scale, and made my antiques shop to show off some of my finds.
"Miniatyrvärlden", the Swedish miniatures magazine
In 2000, my minis were featured in a couple of articles in "Miniatyrvärlden" (The Miniature World). Since then, single photos of my minis have been included in the magazine on a few occasions. My Miniatyrvärlden page lists my DIY projects that have been printed in the magazine. I've focused on fairly easy 1:48 scale projects, preferably ones that can be used in 1:12 scale as well.
Meeting other miniaturists
In 2004 I gave a talk on 1:48 scale at the annual meeting of the Swedish Miniaturists' Society (Miniatyrsällskapet). And for some years I participated in a local mini group's meetings. We met to work on our minis and show off our recent creations and purchases. One of the other members has been inspired to do some 1:48 minis on and off, and I love to see her latest creations.
Online DIYs and a new site
After LEN stopped being published in 2004, I kept creating a few how-to projects each year, putting some of them on my website and submitting others to the Swedish mini magazine. In 2005 I put 1:144 scale how-tos on my website for the first time, and for the next few years I celebrated the yearly convention of the Microminis Yahoo group by adding more projects.
My first website was launched in October 2001, but in 2009 it reached its space limit, so I could no longer add to it. I decided to reimplement my own site, and launched this site in August 2010. Then life happened, and I've barely updated it since...