If you had a dollhouse (not a hammer, in this case) what would you do with it in regards to your animals?

Dear Sts Friends:

Hi, well, I thought I'd just start this thread because I've been thinking about my collection, and wondering, does anyone else on this forum have a large wooden dollhouse? The question is, if all you collectors out there who _don't have dollhouses, well, if you had one, what creatures would you put inside it? See, I have a theory that _some, not all, but _some models in our collections could be used in a dollhouse, either as pets, or as residents. Okay, that's a bit weird, but if you do what I do, where your animals live in boxes, it's not so weird after all. So, if you had a dollhouse, a big wooden one like mine, what animals would you put inside? Hmm. Well, I suppose, for me, I would build a separate stable for my horses and fantasy creatures, but that's just my idea. Anyway, if anyone has any input on this topic, then let me know.

Aschuck

P.S. If you're looking for good places to get wooden dollhouses, try thrift stores, or online.

When I was younger my older sisters would play with their dolls and accessories (like houses) and I would play with my Schleich and Safari animals. Farm animals and pets were most common, but we also would set up camping scenarios and zoos etc. to play with my wild animals too. In fact while they were out one day I set up the entire living room with their doll stuff and my animals and when they got home we played for HOURS.

If it were me I would utilize any pets you have for the doll house (dogs, cats, budgerigars or parrots, turtles, fish etc.). As you said you can make or buy (thrift!) stables/barns for horses and other farm animals. Depending on how far you wanted to go with this idea you could even make a diorama/aquarium type setting for ocean animals etc.

The alternate route you could go, as I know you like fantasy animals too, is put whatever "weird" animals you have in the house. Why not a great white shark? No one is stopping you! Why not a stegosaurus having breakfast with the new Schleich flying lion cubs? I encourage the friendship! You could have a lot of fun setting up your AAA models and others this way and if you could set up a photo session I would love to see it all either way. Good luck Ana!

I don't have a doll's house, but I do collect and make things for dolls house scale rooms - I suppose you could call them dioramas, but they live in boxes and only get set up for photos cos I don't have any space to keep them out on display.
I didn't want to create a whole house, not only because of the space issue, but also there's a lot of rooms I'm not remotely interested in making cos I don't like that kind of furniture (bedrooms, kitchens, dining rooms - I've just done the library, study, and lounge, where my little 12th scale fossil and curiosity collecting man can keep all his interesting stuff!)

As for animals in miniature, he's got a pet macaw which perches anywhere I can balance it (we'll just pretend it's a very very well trained parrot which doesn't pull everything apart for fun like real ones would! )
He's also got a Schleich baby crocodile, but this is posing as a taxidermy piece he bought in a junk shop, so I tend to prop it at a crooked angle on top of a bookcase or in a random cupboard with some other clutter, to make it clear it's not meant to represent a living pet! As well as the crocodile, there's a pheasant in a glass case, and a kingfisher under a glass dome, all carefully presented to read as 'stuffed and mounted' rather than 'pet'

I've considered getting some other animal figures to represent taxidermy : native creatures like a fox or badger were popular in 19th century England, and for an upper class chap who was fascinated by natural history, some exotic specimens would fit in, too. He's an animal lover, so he wouldn't have gone big-game hunting in Africa himself, but he might've bought second hand or antique stuffed animals.

The only reason I haven't gone the route of getting more Schleich/Papo/Safari/Mojo animals is scale - I'd need to see them in person and pick ones which work at 1:12 scale. The Schleich baby crocodile is fine, as it's so obviously a juvenile it doesn't matter precisely how big it would be, they grow

Dollhouse hobby is transversal to our collecting habits. There are loads of dollhouse animal figures, mostly pets. If your idea is to represent a traditional house so pets are exactly what you will use, from parrots to dogs, cats, etc. Though, as Paige suggested, you can give use to your immagination and likings. Instead of a house for humans and their pets, you can use it for fantastic creatures once we know you love them. Why not a family with these humanoid cryptic creatures with dragons on the roof as guardians of the fantastic house? The important is that you enjoy. :)

Dear Sts Friends:

Well, here it is, the story of my kingdom. See, the way it works is my queen (Eyela in party clothes standing) is married to Safari's Oberon. Besides that, the queen has a bunch of sisters, all princesses of course. Below the royalty, the the Court Band group. These are Safari Satyr, Various gnomes and fairies by Safari, two papo figures both playing musical instruments, and 5 Schleich elves, who are the choir. Below Court band is the cour scribe, a Safari gargoyle. Below him is the kitchen group, with Medusa by Safari in charge. In my stories, she wears sunglasses, so she doesn't turn people and things into stone. The cooks are all mer-people, but there's two more I forgot to mention, and that's Scylla, made by Safari, and her husband, who is a Schleich eldrador piece. Anyway, they work with the court scribe, writing books for the queen, among other things. Anyway, back to the list. Below the kitchen people are the warriors: 1 Safari Centaur, 2 Papo Centaurs, and a Papo dwarf warrior. Below them are the maintenance team, or palace handy men. This group consists of several Schleich eldrador pieces, and several safari pieces, as well as two mojo figures. Last but not least is the gatekeeper, who is the eldrador stone monster. He's the guy who stands at the castle gate, and he's the main guard. Below him are some other random people, mostly Lego and playmobil, whose job is to guard the supplies of the castle, mostly food, treasure, and other stuff like that. And basically, that's an overview of my kingdom. Oh yeah, and I also have a palace inventor, who is the Safari Mothman. He is married to the Safari Harpy. Anyway, if you want specifics of who I have, then let me know. The current Total of non lego and playmobil people is 73.

Aschuck

This is so imaginative and interesting- what a wonderful kingdom!
We love doll's houses here too, and they definitely fit well with this hobby as Roger says, with everything being in a miniature scale! I have a pet shop which is mostly filled with dogs- its currently the place where all the dogs from the doll's house brands live as they're generally made of a more fragile material! And it's filled with all the tiny accessories you would expect- leads, collars, food etc.- so you can easily customise yours to your interest, which I've seen you've done with your fantasy one!

Dear Sts Friends:

Well, as you probably know by now I do have a fantasy kingdom. But now you might be asking yourselves, what my people actually _do, you know? Well, my queen and her court have started a fantasy ranch, sort of like Fablehaven, from the book series by Brandon Mull, I think. Anyway, the ranch is a sort of preserve for mythical creatures and horses. There's unicorns and other things there too, so it's not just horses. There's pegasi too, and I have 3 guard dogs, 2 cerberus and 1 dog with two heads. That's the schleich Hell Hound from eldrador. Now as for the winged lion cub set, that would fit in great. I've even put it on my searchlist, although I'm only getting the set for the cubs, because they could be relatives of my manticore by Safari. Anyway, if anyone has any input for a fantasy ranch, I'd like to hear from you. Also, my fantasy preserve has a name. It's the same name as the castle, or dollhouse, that my queen and her court live in. The name is the Purplewood Preserve. See, it didn't feel right just naming my kingdom after Bayala, that felt wrong, because I thought I would be copying someone else's idea. So I settled on Purplewood instead. As for accessories, I'm planning on placing a playmobil order soon, so we'll see what that brings. Also, I've found that playmobil accessories, books, food treasure, and the like, work well in 1/ab scale dollhouses. Just thought I'd let you all know. Also, my dollhouse is still missing some furniture, but hopefully someday I'll find just the right things. Did you know that my kingdom has very little technology right now? They don't have computers, phones, or gramophones for that matter. They also don't have a typewriter. So the gramophone and typewriter I still need to get, but you know, you have to find just the right piece of furniture to make it all worth it. You see what I mean? Anyway, the current number of people which are not lego or playmobil is 73, and still going up. I'm hoping to get some fairies from Safari soon, so we'll see what that brings. Anyway, I can say that my kingdom has a stove, so that's good. As for other technology, they don't have TV or radio, but those will be an easy fix, because I'm going to be orderaing the playmobil parts for a laptop computer and radio. As for the TV? Well, I don't think they need that right away. They definitely need a gramophone and typewriter though. Anyway, if you want more info about the kingdom of Purplewood, then let me know.

Aschuck

Dear Sts Friends:

Well, here's some news, I'll be ordering from Safari in the future, and I'm going to be getting some toobs of fairies. I just thought I'd let you all know that my castle is getting some new people additions. Anyway, the total of people in my castle is currently (if you count the things coming from Safari) 86. The full total of my collection is now 1384. Also, I've put the Elven Cafe, magical Vet Bloom, Ice Giant, and Lava Demon on my searchlist, because I figure, well, it's always nice to have more gate keepers. Anyway, here's more info about my kingdom: there's like this giant transparent wall surrounding it, which is called the Veils of Time. I got that name from an ELO song, ha ha. Anyway, the Veils of Time separates my kingdom from the real world. So whenever I get anything new, the person or animal passes through the Veils of Time into the kingdom, and there they stay. One time, there was an ostrich named Sebastian who journeyed into the Veils of Time. Yeah, he got in big trouble for that, well, stunt, I guess is the best word to use here. Also, there are some fundamental laws in my kingdom. 1. The people and animals of my kingdom cannot practice Dark Magic in any way, shape or form. This translates as: Calls, including phone calls, emails etc, to the Land of the dead are not allowed. If anyone practices black magic, they are exiled for a while. 2. No person or animal can eat another animal. This law was put in place so that my collection could survive as a whole, and that that food wouldn't be a problem. In my kingdom, they eat magical and non magical food and drinks. Usually, the magical food is stuff like herbs and fruit, and flowers (yes they do eat flowers). The third law of the kingdom is no looking into the future, which means no time travel as well. See, if my animals and people started time traveling, then all the stories would all be messed up, because they would be writing, or rather rewriting, the whole kingdom, and we can't have that now can we? Anyway, these laws and a few others are the general guidelines for my kingdom. As for how the Veils of Time are strengthened, there are certain magical items in my kingdom (musical instruments, sculptures, etc) that no one can use at all, on account of these items providing energy to the Veils of Time. It's all very interesting when you think about it. Anyway, if anyone else has a kingdom or fantasy ranch like mine, let me know.

Aschuck

To be fair, I enjoy your idea and it sounds all magical to me. Veils of Time sounds quite poetic.
Oh, I wanted to suggest you to use a Colobus Monkey for the dark magic but you're not allowing it. Ther's a famous monkey on Paignton Zoo that was compared with Lord Voldemort.

What a wonderful kingdom, I love the sound of the guard dogs!

That sounds very fun and deeply thought out and a dollhouse could be perfect. Perhaps you may even find a Papo style castle when checking out thrift stores (I've seen one a couple times), or on Craigslist.

Have you noticed the writings of Gwaine here on the forum? She has her imaginary lands Horsevalley and Land Beyond the Fog (am I remembering that right? Sorry Gwaine if not), that has many fantasy as well as real figures. She often writes about it here, maybe you can check it out- you might enjoy it also.

Dear Sts Friends:

Tonight, I sorted my collection by brand, and man, that took a long time. But it was fun. Anyway, that's not the real reason why I'm writing here. The real reason is that I wanted to tell you all that yes, I do have a dollhouse that functions as a castle. All my royalty sleeps downstairs, and everyone else sleeps upstairs. As for the animal part of my collection, that's what this post is about.

See, it all started when I had just gotten this dollhouse. It was a huge wooden one, and at the time I was already collectthe pretty seriously. So naturally I thought, wouldn't it be nice to have a sandbox for the dollhouse yard? I could fill it with rice, instead of sand. Well, in the end the dollhouse sandbox, or rice box, was never made, but I liked the idea of an animal community so much that the name Rice Box was applied to the animal part of my collection, and it has stuck. As for my dollhouse, right now it is in my closet, since my queen and her court are on vacation. Anyway, maybe someday I'll build a barn for my animals, but now is not the time. See, the room where I store my collection is preetty small, so I don't have much room to spread out properly. Anyway, you get the point, right? Anyway, Gwaine, if you want to chat kingdom stuff, I would be glad to hear what the name of your kingdom is. Do you have a fantasy preserve like I do? Just wondering. What is the name of your kingdom? If it's Purplewood, then you can't use that because I've already claimed that name. Anyway, this is all the latest news, so I'll probably post here if there's more.

Aschuck

I have a big dollhouse (a vintage Lundby on 3 levels) but I never had really put Schleich in it.
I could be fun to try some things in it but I fear the figures will be too big

Neptune wrote:

I have a big dollhouse (a vintage Lundby on 3 levels) but I never had really put Schleich in it.
I could be fun to try some things in it but I fear the figures will be too big

It seems the most traditional Lundby dollhouses are in 1:16 scale. If yours is at this scale, you can find a good number of Schleich figures to use with it. Surely not rabbits but maybe sheep and animals of that size will work nicely. Schleich humans are actually of a slightly smaller scale , maybe around 1/18 but it won't make any relevant difference. Maybe some of the newer dogs are around the 1/16 scale too.

I have a 1:12 scale wooden doll's house that was made for me when I was twelve. The downstairs is a shop with a kitchen at the back and the upstairs is a flat with three rooms. When I first got it, I had a 1:16 scale pipecleaner doll family in there, and my collection of glass animals in the shop part.
Recently I finally got around to finding some porcelain 1:12 dolls for the shop; I now have a grocer and his wife who live there, with their adult son. They currently have three Schleich dogs, a French bulldog called Ethel, who guards the shop, a Yorkshire terrier called Fidget and a Chihuahua called Bambi. There's also a grey cat called Boots who sits on the bed most of the time. I'll be adding the puppies from the Schleich 42480 puppy pen set soon, in a basket in the kitchen.