My most recent road trip was to San Jose – a whole 30 miles from home. It seemed farther away only because when I got there, I entered another world, the world of miniatures.
Yes, that's a "working" 3-inch television (running from a programmed chip).
The annual Good Sam Showcase of Miniatures, a fundraiser for a medical library, attracts more than 100 dealers from all over the world. I'm there representing the world of fiction with my Miniature Mysteries series.
As a kid, I made tiny curtains for my dollhouse out of old hankies — I hardly imagined that one day I'd be writing mysteries featuring a character who makes tiny curtains out of old hankies. It's been pretty special to be able to combine two passions.
Right or wrong, I feel I can hold my own among mystery writers, but when I cruise the aisles of a show like Good Sam, I hardly admit to being a miniaturist myself. These vendors are artists; I tinker. These vendors produce exquisite items; I have a lot of fun doing crafts.
Here are samples of their work.
What a road trip! For 7 hours I lived among miniaturists and their wares, sold some books, and called it research!
Camille, I have to know: What exactly was that TV doing? You put 'working' in quotes but then said it was powered by a chip. Was it showing videos even though it wasn't showing current TV shows? You miniaturists are an ingenious bunch!
Posted by: Susan Shea | October 17, 2012 at 09:13 AM
Right, Susan, it's showing a program recorded as an mp4 file, not streaming as you could do with a phone, but I'm sure that's next.
Posted by: Camille Minichino | October 17, 2012 at 09:26 AM
Wow! This is pretty amazing. I love seeing all these teeny things... Thanks for including people "for scale." Sounds like you had a great time!
Posted by: Ann | October 21, 2012 at 03:33 PM