Miniature Life Lessons

 Good morning!  I'm sitting outside on a nice hot humid sunny day in Central Indiana.  As many of you know, I've decided to make Mod Pod Miniatures my part-time/when I feel like doing it gig.  Last fall, I withdrew from the Tom Bishop Show for 2025.  However, I kind of regretted it so a few months later I asked Tom to let me know if there was an opening.  Three weeks before the show I got an e-mail saying that he had an opening so, I decided to go ahead and do it and It was a blast!  I'm so happy that I did the show...lets face it...once you get hooked...you're hooked! So, I finished a couple of things and packed up what I had and went to the show. I was so happy to see so many of my regular customers and catch up.  Here are a few pictures from the show. 

I got the opportunity to finally meet Chelsea of Chelsea Makes. She is the sweetest person and gave me the cutest mini Caboodle makeup carrier.  It brought back some awesome memories of when I was a pre-teen and teenager because I had one of these as I'm sure many of us Gen Xers had.  Chelsea is an inspiration to me.  She's not only sweet and generous, she's a great business woman and sooo creative. 

Anyway, what I have learned being a full time miniaturist for the last two years is that being an artist is really a hard job.  If you think about it: we create the designs, buy the supplies, do the work which takes waaaaaaayyyyy longer than we think it will, market the items, sell the items, package the items and ship the items.  That is in reality the work of at least 4 people. I also learned that I have been making miniatures for all the wrong reasons...I started doing it for the money and for other people rather than for myself which honestly took a lot of the fun out of it.  I learned that being an artist is lonely and I am a pretty social person for the most part, I mean I am a Libra! Plus I had a hard time budgeting for the months where I didn't make any money (thank you, ADHD) and put a lot more money into it that I got out of it.  I've also learned that I have been underestimating the value of my work....For example, last fall I had a customer contact me and ask me to make her a mini Noguchi Free Form sofa and ottoman.  The funny thing is that I have been wanting and meaning to make one of these for years and just had not done it.  I've had it sketched out for years, so this was a great motivator to actually make one.  She also requested a Platner styled end table. I gave her a quote of $255 for the sofa and ottoman and $55 for the end table. Thinking that was a reasonable request...well once she received that little sofa and table, she was ecstatic.  

We talked on the phone for awhile about mid-century design and designers and she sent me payment for the items...what she sent me was $750 for the sofa and ottoman and $75 for the end table.  What?!?! Seriously?!?! I've also been told by many of my repeat customers that I don't charge enough for my work.....Not only have I been underestimating my work....this has been a problem my entire life not just with miniatures...I've been underestimating my own self worth as long as I can remember.  How fucked up is that?  This last 2 years has taught me so many things and I have been through so many changes that it truly blows my mind!  I'm very glad that I tried doing miniatures as a full time gig...I would have regretted it if I didn't give it a shot.

In January, I started a new full time job at Crate and Barrel as a designer.  Interior design has been a dream of mine since I was a little kid.  When I was little, my dad made me a basic dollhouse.  It had 5 rooms and I would decorate and redecorate it continually.  I would do chores around the house and save my money to buy wrapping paper at the drugstore to wallpaper the rooms. My mom would take me to the local Ben Franklin Store or Frank's Nursery and Crafts to buy miniatures for the house.  I would make furniture out of jewelry boxes.  I never used dolls in the house...just decorated it over and over.  When I was in College, my major was Fashion Merchandising but I fell in love with Interior Design.  I took a couple of years of Interior Design classes and really wanted to change my major to Interior Design, but that would have meant another year of school and I was too afraid that my dad would be mad because that meant more money. Seriously...this is where my mind has been my entire life!!! 🤪My entire life, I have been afraid to take up space or to ask for anything.  I have always just done what I thought other people wanted me to do.  As an adult, I asked for a dollhouse because the real house I lived in was basically finished and I needed to be able to decorate something. I got into miniatures because of interior design. Now, I am a designer! Granted, I don't get to do the construction bit of it which is kind of a bummer....and most of it is well....beige, but I get to help people make their homes a more pleasant, organized and beautiful space.  You don't know how happy it makes my when my customers come back and ask for me by name or send me pictures of their space because they are proud.

So, for these reasons and because I will only be doing miniatures when I feel like it and they will not be available on a regular basis,  I will be increasing the prices of my miniatures by a lot. I put a lot of time, thought and creativity into my work and for the first time in my life, I am learning my own worth and the worth of my talent and work.