to scale

I have always been fascinated with plays on scale. Particularly things in miniature. (obvious, given my profession?) The most logical explanation for this would probably be my childhood with Barbie, other "traditional" doll houses and the tiny worlds they occupy. I'm compelled to this day to search eBay for small items I have absolutely no need for but would love to collect for an elaborately decorated doll house. I see a crocheted doily and I want to make it into a rug with a little plastic tri-pod pizza box center for the coffee table. Perhaps for this reason I was enthralled and excited to see these photos via poppytalk recently:

Of course the gigantic lamp in this image, juxtaposed with the mini vignette makes it that much more fun. Larger than life scale can be incredibly fascinating (The artist Ron Mueck comes to mind). We as humans are so conditioned to relate to the world around us according to certain designated sizes, it jiggles our sense of reality to see those normality's pushed to outer limits in either direction, small or large.

I find it so inspiring and fun to look at these teeny glass worlds and would love to see my own variations scattered across my home. (Of course that probably won't happen in the small brooklyn apartment we currently occupy, but a girl can dream…) At Swallow, the store where I work part-time, we sell glass bell jars similar to these and I've admired them but wasn't quite sure what I would choose to fetishize inside one. I'm getting closer to having that figured out now.

These images have also inspired me to think about this sort of display in a sculptural, art jewelry context. A way for jewelry to exist (safely!) inside a designed confinement when it's not being worn. I admire art jewelers who incorporate a display element into their work. (Tod Pardon and his wooden jewelry stands come to mind.)


Tiny vignettes, wonder-filled menageries… too fun. It ignites my desire for retreat into the miniature realm of fantasy I so relied on as a child. Where hours would pass without notice as I was literally living inside my dolls world without need for reality in any other scale.