Fantasia Dolls House Club Exhibition

On Wednesday, 11th August, we took our two grand-daughters to see this well-presented exhibition at the Hedon Museum, East Yorkshire. It was staged by the Fantasia Dolls House Club and we were greeted instantly by two members who were keen to inform us of many of their techniques, which was very interesting. The main display was of a set of Victorian terraced houses, all decorated in different ways. It was a bit awkward for children to see what was inside the houses, since they were all set up facing into the middle of the room, but Matheea and Evie were allowed to stand on a chair in order to see the insides - well worth doing. Matheea, who is 8, was so impressed she wanted to go and make a start on building a miniature house immediately! She sat down for ages, chatting to one of the women and looking at one of the books on how to create miniature items. Evie was impressed with the "Wedding Belle" house and the fact that there were so many small items hand-made. They did think about using their "Polly Pocket" dolls as part of such a creation, but soon realised that these houses and people in them are not designed to be played with, but are works of art to be looked at instead.

I was equally impressed with the whole exhibition - a couple of my favourites were the "Theatre Box" and "Sewing Box" which were part of another theme the club had used for a creation - simply by utilising a cardboard box (of a fairly small size) in an imaginative way.

These photos show most of what was on display. The exhibition is on until Wednesday September 8th and I would urge anyone with young children to go and have a look - or any of you with an interest in hand-made crafts of any kind. The tiles on the roof of most of the terraced houses, for instance, are mostly made of pieces of cardboard, painted individually and stuck on.

Another of my favourite pieces was the replica of the Preston Village Show - the cabbages and cakes were made from polymer clay and I was in awe of the detail that had gone into each piece.

Here are some photos of the exhibition that I took on the day.

Here's Evie admiring the row of Victorian terraced houses.

If you look closely you can see the mess left behind by a seagull or two on the roof of the house painted blue! The Wedding Belle shop on the left had a mirror on the back  wall at the top, which gave the impression of a much larger room inside - very clever!

This is the view of the houses from the back, looking over the tops of the other houses. Some of them had attic rooms, whereas others just had two levels.

My favourite box design was the Theatre Box above, but I also liked the Jewellery Box next to it, and the Hat Box and Sewing Box, below.

Here is a photo of the rear of "Mystic Maria" (I think, I've forgotten her name actually) - the lady at the exhibition turned the house around so that Evie could see the crystal ball properly!

Finally, here are 3 shots of the fantastically created replica of Preston Village Show:

The museum is only open on Wednesdays and Saturdays, from 10am to 5pm. I have exhibited some of my paintings there previously, and despite it only being a small museum, it's great for children and adults alike as they regularly have varied displays alongside the regular exhibits. It is on two floors, with refreshments available at a very affordable price and very friendly staff, too!